My Wife Said Only Death Could Set Me Free

Chapter 9

It no longer mattered to me whether she came back. I was not the same person I used to be; what I used to care about didn't matter to me at the moment.

I let out a light sigh and said, "Lyra, what's done is done."

Lyra suddenly pushed her chair back and straightened my body, forcing me to meet her gaze.

"Isaac, if you really feel so indifferent like you claim, then you wouldn't have been so stirred up when you saw that brooch!"

I scoffed. "That's just because I find your dramatic reaction amusing; it proves you can't live without me."

Out of nowhere, she slapped me. Her sharp nails instantly scratched my face, stinging a bit. I turned my head, pressing my tongue against my back molar, still unfazed.

"Get out!" she shouted, "Isaac, just get out!"

I obediently got out of the car. It had started to drizzle outside, and a cool breeze blew, carrying droplets that misted my face and brought me a bit of clarity.

Looking back at the luxury car, I saw it disappearing down the road with Lyra behind the wheel. She probably stopped loving me a long time ago; the only thing left was a bit of resentment.

After all, I was the one who abandoned her back then.

The sound of the rain grew deafening. I desperately wrapped my clothes around what I was holding, but it seemed futile.

Luckily, Roman showed up just in time. He was like a savior, bringing me back to his house. I quickly dried off and opened the box I had clutched, fearing the rain would ruin its contents.

Fortunately, aside from those old books, everything else was fine. These were Mia's favorite books, filled with her thoughts and notes, but now the rain had soaked them, making them unreadable.

Holding a cup of hot tea, I squatted by the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the rain and losing myself in thought.

When the rain finally stopped, I saw a small hill in the distance, shrouded in mist, looking surreal. From that cliff, you could see another sea. There was a popular fortune-telling shop on the hill that had very accurate tarot readings. When we were students, everyone loved going there for divination.

Roman followed my gaze and glanced over. "How about we go take a look?"

I nodded and decided to bring along Mia's ashes. Mia had said before that she wanted to see the sea.

Roman stayed close, taking care of me, which made me feel a bit embarrassed. He said he didn't want to go to work, wanting to take this time to relax. But I knew he was really worried about me.

The fortune-telling shop was still as accurate as before. I tried a few readings, but all my fortunes were bad. Eventually, I just put the tarot cards back.

The shopkeeper was a young lady. She gestured, spreading all the tarot cards out in front of me.

"Look, you've seen them all now. Pick the best one, and I'll interpret it for you, okay?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her. The pain of losing a beloved one eased a bit.

The fortune teller said that when someone is down on their luck, they eventually find their fortune again.

But that was okay. In this world, I had nothing left to hold onto.

However, I didn't expect that after leaving the fortune-telling shop, I would still run into someone who could stir my heart.

Roman and I planned to walk to the edge of the cliff at the mountain top and scatter Mia's ashes into the sea.

This mountain had a rich history, and at the top, there was an ancient tree said to be hundreds of years old, with all sorts of love locks hanging from it. Below the love locks were small transparent bottles; as the breeze blew, the bottles clinked together, sounding like wind chimes.

By scattering Mia's ashes from here, it would also let her see this beautiful scene. Mia had been so frail when she was alive; now, turned into ashes, she was even lighter.

Just as Roman and I scattered the ashes and turned back, we saw Lyra and Luka at the tree, tying love locks.

At that moment, I didn't want to cause any trouble, so I planned to avoid them and hurry down the mountain. But Luka wasn't going to let me go.

He intentionally raised his voice, ensuring I could hear him clearly. "Lyra, isn't this a love lock written by an old person? I see the names are you and Mr. Smith."

My foot, which was just about to step forward, froze. Images flashed back in my mind. That love lock was something Mia wrote for us. That year, Lyra and I accepted her as godmother, and she said she wanted to give us her best wishes. So, Lyra and I took the love locks back to the old man to write, and then we hung them up ourselves.

"I hope my Lyra and Isaac can be happy together for a hundred years and let me hold my grandchild soon."

Snap! I heard the sound of the love lock being yanked off. When I came to my senses, Luka had already torn it down.

He said, "How can something written by the dead be effective?"

As he said this, he made a move to throw the love lock off the cliff into the sea, and I instinctively rushed over.

"Don't move!" I shouted in anger.

Luka looked surprised to see me. I asked him for the love lock, but he didn't hand it over immediately. Meanwhile, Lyra grabbed the love lock from his hand and without hesitation, threw it off the cliff, sending it plummeting into the sea.

The note Mia wrote was likely still in the small bottle at the bottom of the love lock.

But when I looked down, I found that perhaps due to time, the thread holding the bottle had loosened. The love lock had been thrown down, but the bottle had fallen to the ground.

I dashed over and picked up the small bottle from the ground, cradling it protectively. There wasn't much left from Mia, but this was a small piece.

Lyra stared at me with a fixed gaze, her displeasure clearly visible. It took me a few seconds to realize she probably misunderstood, thinking that I was trying to protect the love lock with our names on it.

I scoffed, a bitter smile creeping onto my lips.

Ignoring the two of them, I called out to Roman and headed back to the fortune-telling shop. I could have gone straight down the mountain, but my body wouldn't allow it, so I needed to rest for a bit.

The fortune teller seemed to notice my pale face and hurriedly poured me a glass of water to help me recover. When she saw that my ashes box was empty, she asked, "How about you leave the ashes box here? I can keep an eye on it for you, so you have a memory to hold onto."

I considered it for a moment but ultimately declined. Given that Lyra and Luka would likely return, there was no need for them to disturb Mia.

Gazing at the scenery outside, a wave of sadness washed over me. "Roman, promise me, if one day I'm gone, let my soul return to the sea."