A Journey from Bitterness to Truth

Matilda’s eyes brimmed with tears, laughter shaking her like an autumn leaf in the wind, Her voice, once sweet and melodious, now carried the tragic weight of a nightingale singing with Its last breath. She called out to Yvan with a teasing familiarity, reminiscent of their intimacy five years prior. But the fleeting joy was quickly smothered by an onslaught of frigid agony, every sense amplified and wailing in despair.

“Yvan, oh Yvan, my brother’s dead! Can’t you crack a smile for me? If I were you, I’d be laughing in my dreams! You keep accusing me of lying, but today was truly my brother’s birthday, now forever marred by his passing! Yvan, you wanted revenge, didn’t you? You wanted me to suffer worse than death! Well, congratulations, you’ve succeeded!”

Her last words tore from her throat with the force of her anguish, gesturing towards the door, a metallic taste of blood in her mouth. “Get out!”

Yvan felt an inexplicable panic, gazing at the Matilda before him, drained of all strength.

Why had it come to this?

“Get out, I said! Leave!” The Matilda of the past would never have unleashed such fury on Yvan, not even if she was deeply wronged. But now…

“Could you both please calm down? The deceased has passed; let’s show some respect.” A nearby nurse, witnessing the volatile emotions, intervened out of concern for maintaining order in the hospital.

But the phrase ‘The deceased has passed‘ drained the color from Matilda’s face, leaving her feeling as if crucified in the next instant–bleeding profusely, her pain bone–deep and excruciating. Every cell, every inch of her skin screamed with a pain that made life feel worse

than death.

“I’m a murderer…” Matilda suddenly laughed, a bizarre and chilling sound. “I really am a

murderer.”

It was her who had killed her brother.

When Yvan heard the word ‘murderer‘ escape her lips, his heart clenched as if slashed by a razor– sharp blade.

No, that wasn’t the Matilda he knew. Even when she was reviled by everyone, she stood tall, never admitting any wrongdoing to Rachel, not even when she was sent to prison. Her eyes always held defiance and hatred. But now…

Matilda turned to him with a twisted smile. “I really am a murderer, aren’t I, Yvan? Why don’t you throw me back behind bars?”

“Shut up!” Yvan’s body ached all over, but Matilda’s laughter grew more hysterical. “Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to admit it, to take revenge for her? Look, I’m admitting it now. If your have the guts, let me die again!”

10-27

Yvan stumbled backward, his heart racing with fear at the sight of Matilda’s torment.

The nurse, concerned by Matilda’s state, quickly sent a young assistant to fetch a sedative, then turned to Yvan. “Does she have a history of mental illness?”

Depression, she suffered from depression.

Yvan quickly explained Matilda’s condition to the nurse and requested that the hospital provide Matilda a room for rest and recovery. The shock she had endured would surely lead to a breakdown.

“You want to make me out to be crazy again, don’t you!” Matilda, held down by the medical. staff, pointed at Yvan, her expression one of laughter but her face etched with pain. “Yvan, the biggest regret of my life is ever meeting you!” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Her words were a dagger to his heart, a dull pain tearing from within.

Matilda guarded her brother’s bedside, refusing to let the hospital staff take him away. But the body that once held life was now just a shell, no longer of this world.

A dose of sedative was injected into her hand, and the nurse’s worried voice echoed in her ear, “She also needs immediate hospitalization for rest. Sir, please take care of your wife’s

admission.”

I’m not his wife! I’m not! Matilda wanted to shout the truth, but her mind was clouding. consciousness slowly slipping away from her.

Gideon, she wanted to leave… to leave this world where she had nothing left.