Chapter 4

Seraphina frequently entered and exited Ethan's study, using the excuse of "discussing research topics."

Sometimes I'd come home late from work and find her sitting in the living room, waiting for Ethan.

I had reminded Ethan to be mindful of boundaries.

He impatiently cut me off.

"She's just my student, can you stop being so suspicious?"

"Why are you so neurotic all of a sudden?"

I spent half a year compiling a collection of extremely valuable annotations for a rare historical manuscript.

I planned to give it to Ethan as a surprise on his birthday.

I knew he was writing a new textbook, and this material was the final piece he needed.

However, on Ethan's birthday.

Seraphina Hayes got ahead of me, put her name on this material, and presented it to Ethan as a "research report."

Ethan was greatly surprised.

In front of me, he praised Seraphina for "possessing rare academic talent."

I immediately pulled out my manuscript and confronted her.

Seraphina's eyes instantly welled up, her voice trembling.

"Elara, I didn't know you were working on this too..."

"I just wanted to help the professor so badly..."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault..."

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.

Ethan looked at his weeping student on one side and me, angry, on the other.

He frowned and said something I remember to this day.

Something I will never forget, even in death.

"Elara, you're regressing. You can't even tolerate a student?"

"How much effort did she put into organizing this material, and you just claim it as yours?"

"Aren't you ashamed of how jealous you are of her? Your jealousy has made you unrecognizable."

I froze, the hand holding my manuscript trembling.

After that, I didn't say another word.

I placed the manuscript on the table, turned, walked into the bedroom, and packed a suitcase.

Ethan stood in the doorway, watching me, his face livid.

"If you leave, don't come back."

"Every time we argue, you pull this 'running away' stunt. You're thirty years old, isn't it annoying?"

I dragged my suitcase to the front door and looked back at him.

I wanted to say so many things.

In the end, I only managed.

"You owe me an apology."

"Ethan, when you understand what you've done, then come find me."

He didn't follow.

I waited for half a month, but I never got his apology.

What I got instead was a text message, sent by Seraphina pretending to be him.

And that address led to an abandoned factory.

My burial ground.

When I came to, it was already dawn.

Ethan hadn't gone home; he had sat in his car all night.

Suddenly, the car window was tapped forcefully by an Officer Kim.

"Professor Vance! Detective Dawson!"

His face was ecstatic, holding up a transparent evidence bag.

"We found it! We found crucial evidence!"