He Betrayed Me, I Took His Sight

After Kaelen Vesper lost his sight unexpectedly, I took care of all his daily needs and trained the dog I had raised since it was a puppy to be his guide dog. But on the very first day he regained his vision, he took that old dog with him to climb a mountain on a snowy night, accompanied by his young assistant, who was also blind. When I stumbled my way up to the summit, I found the dog already barely breathing. The assistant felt around on the ground, then as if by accident, stepped down hard and broke the dog's front leg. After that, she leaned lightly and helplessly into Kaelen's arms. "Kaelen, if this dog dies, do you think Ms. Corvyn will give me trouble over it?" I watched as Kaelen held her tightly in his arms. Then he turned and kicked the dog's body several times, his movements showing clear disgust. "It's just a dumb animal. Seeing this creature and Seren makes me remember those ten shameful years when I couldn't see. It won't be long before I make Seren end up just like this animal... scrambling away in total defeat!" Hearing those words, I couldn't help but laugh. Kaelen had probably forgotten that everything he had now was only because I had given it to him. If that was how he truly felt, then I would simply take it all back! …… I pulled my coat tighter around myself and walked calmly down the last few steps. "Kaelen, did you trade your wits for your eyes?" He froze for a moment, his arm tightening around the girl beside him, and his gaze turned strangely sharp as it settled on me. "Are you following me?" I ignored the question. Instead, I motioned for the people with me to quickly carry my dog down the mountain for treatment, and had them remove the tracking collar from around its neck. Clutching the collar in my hand, I looked at Kaelen and smiled. "A dog I have raised for ten years suddenly vanished. It is only natural that I, as its owner, would come looking for it." I saw the way his jaw tightened, he clearly understood the double meaning in my words. His already grim expression twisted with a fresh wave of humiliation. Chloe Hayes, who had been standing at his side, stepped forward, spreading her arms to shield him. Her eyes, though vacant, were clearly burned with a kind of defiance. "Seren, Kaelen is the fiancé you have loved for ten years. How can you speak of him as if he were an animal? Do you really think someone as wonderful as him is worth less than a dog?" Her frail frame seemed suddenly filled with boundless courage. And I could see that courage had been given to her by the man I had poured my heart into loving for a decade. The smile vanished from my face in an instant. I walked slowly closer, pulled the girl gently aside, then swung my hand and struck Kaelen hard across the cheek. As he stared at me in shock, I raised my hand and struck him again. "Does it hurt?" I asked quietly, looking at the red mark rising on his skin. Kaelen ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, then his expression softened. "You may hit me," he said, "but I will not let you treat her badly. She is just an innocent young girl who only ever wanted to find happiness." He accepted my anger without resistance, yet defended the girl without hesitation. When he looked at her, his eyes held a tenderness I had never known. From the time we were small children, through the years our families had arranged our engagement, and right up to this moment, he had never once looked at me with such deep, unmistakable affection. A heavy weariness settled over me. I remembered how, years ago, we had been kidn*pped by enemies of our families. It was Kaelen who had fought desperately to hold our captors back, giving me the chance to run and find help. When I finally returned with the authorities to that abandoned warehouse, I found him lying on the floor, covered in blood and barely breathing. It had taken specialists three full days and nights to pull him back from the brink of death. But his eyes had never recovered. He had been blind ever since. I had fallen to my knees beside him, weeping, and asked why he had risked everything just to save me. Back then, his eyes were covered in white bandages. He reached out, his cold fingers brushing over my tear-streaked face, and spoke in a voice soft yet unshakable. "Seren, protecting you is a duty I was born ready to carry, and one I will always choose." But now, it seemed, he had cast both me and that promise aside. A strange silence fell around us, broken only by the soft, continuous fall of snow. The sound brought me back to the present. The girl gripped Kaelen's hand tightly, then found the courage to speak sharply toward me. "Kaelen lost his sight because of you. Taking care of him was your duty all along. Do you really think you are something special? You only ever forced yourself on him..." "Be quiet!" Kaelen cut her off, his voice cold and sharp. He looked down at the Chloe, whose eyes were now brimming with tears, and spoke more gently. "Do not speak of things you do not understand." Over the ten years Kaelen and I had grown up together, our lives had been bound completely to one another. There were debts owed and wrongs committed on both sides. Even now, when love had turned to resentment, what existed between us was too personal for an outsider to judge. The girl did not understand this. She only felt wronged and began to cry. Kaelen gently wiped her tears away, laced his fingers through hers, and carefully led her down the steep steps. "Seren," he said without looking back, "I am no longer the blind man you could control however you wished."