But mercy, it seemed, was wasted.
He returned. And this time, he didn't come to beg.
He came with a blade, dipped in poison, and eyes filled with madness. He tried to kill her while she was walking through her courtyard one night. Gu Jin didn't hesitate.
She struck first.
No hesitation. No emotion.
But she remembered his eyes even now—wide, disbelieving. Not because he was dying.
But because he hadn't expected her to kill him. He had mistaken her one act of mercy as a weakness.
Word spread quickly.
And it reached the hospital too.
Three days later, the boy—the assassin's son—dragged himself all the way to Gu Jin's mansion gate. He looked thin, fragile, and angry. He had removed his IV and oxygen mask just to come.
The guards tried to stop him, but he screamed so loudly that it echoed across the walls.
"Gu Jin! Come out! You demon!"
Gu Jin had been reading in her study when she heard it. At first, she didn't move. But the voice kept shouting.
