He Caged Me, Just to Guard His Lover

Chapter 5

On the eve of Julian and Winnie's engagement, Winnie cornered me in my bedroom at dawn, demanding I climb to the mountain temple for a blessing charm for her dying mother. "Go. Now." Her voice sliced through the air, leaving no room for refusal.

Outside, the sky hung like a suffocating black curtain, pregnant with storm. Climbing in this weather? Was I trying to get myself killed?

"Hell no," I shot back.

Unfazed, she twirled a pink dog collar like a trophy, her lips curling into a viper's smile. "Oh? What's this? Has the mighty Mia stopped caring about her precious mutt?"

My chest burned. Kuma—the dog who'd shared her food with me as a child, who'd curled around me for warmth—was long gone. Now her daughter, Kuro, was all I had left in this hellhole, my only tether to anything resembling kindness.

"Touch her," I snarled, "and I'll skin you alive."

Winnie arched a brow, feigning innocence. "Me? Oh, I wouldn't dare. But whisper the right words to Julian... How fast do you think he'd put that flea-bitten mongrel down?"

He would. My fists clenched.

Because to him, I was just the gold-digging witch who'd betrayed him at eighteen, while Winnie was the "martyr" who'd "saved" him—the poor, virtuous girl who'd carried her family's burdens since childhood.

"Your father dug his own grave," I spat. "I owe you nothing."

Lightning split the sky like a whip c***k, illuminating half her face in a ghastly glow.

"If not for Julian," she hissed, "my family wouldn't be in ruins!" Her laugh was a razor's edge. "If he loves you best? Then I'll make sure your 'happy ending' burns to ash."

The silence between us stretched taut, charged like the storm outside. Gritting my teeth, I shoved past her.

Kuro's life hung in the balance. I had no f*****g choice.

Jade Void Mountain stabbed into the storm-choked sky, its peak vanishing into the clouds. By the time I dragged myself to the midway point, the heavens tore open.

Icy needles of rain stung my skin, soaking me to the bone as the wind howled like a scorned spirit.

A dense fog swallowed the mountain trail whole, leaving me blind to everything beyond my outstretched hands. I had to scramble uphill on all fours, my knees scraping against jagged rocks.

When I finally reached the summit, the temple gates stood bolted shut, impervious to my desperate pounding. My fists hammered against the ancient wood until they ached, but only the wind answered with ghostly wails.

Then Julian's call sliced through the storm. "Mia," his voice crackled with irritation, "What's this nonsense? Hiking in this weather—are you trying to get yourself killed?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but Winnie's saccharine voice oozed through first. "Really now, Mia," she sighed with fake concern.

"Someone of your maturity should know better than to cause such worry." Her voice dropped to a purr, "Don't frown, brother, it hurts me to see you upset." The wet smack of their kiss made my stomach turn.

The gale-force winds nearly knocked me off my feet as I hung up, trembling too violently to feel anger anymore. Moving like a ghost through the torrent, I staggered downhill, blood trickling from my shredded palms and knees.

Somehow, I made it down alive.

Through the sheets of rain, I saw Julian rushing toward me with an umbrella—until Winnie's petulant whine cut through the storm. "Brother, the rain's too heavy!" He turned on his heel without hesitation, leaving me to trudge forward alone.

Two steps. That's all I managed before white-hot pain shot through my battered body. The cold had seeped into my bones, numbing all thought. Then—blackness. My body hit the ground with a sickening thud.