I didn't cry or make a fuss. As a matter of fact, I no longer had the energy to do anything else.

Just setting up seventeen tombstones halfway up the mountain was enough to break my heart.

I stood in the cemetery for a long time and turned to leave. Before I walked far, I suddenly saw Jason. Erin was behind him.

"Jason. Do you think I was the reason why Danny died?"

Erin sounded really sad. She had an urn in her arms.

"How could it be your fault? Don't beat yourself up. The priest said that if we give Danny a solemn funeral, he will have a good life in the next life."

If I hadn't been so familiar with that voice, I would have thought I was hallucinating.

Could a cold-blooded person like Jason also believe in God?

But all that had nothing to do with me anymore.

I tried to avoid them, but Jason had already seen me.

"Why are you here?"

He was clearly questioning me. I knew he thought I was following him.

It was really unexpected for me to meet them in a place like a cemetery. But then I thought about how much they loved that dog the other day. So, it made sense that they wanted to bury the dog in an expensive cemetery.

"I was just in the neighborhood."

I responded indifferently, not wanting to waste time talking to them.

I stood up to leave, but Jason held my hand.

The moment his warm, dry palm touched my hand, I felt like throwing up. So, I immediately shook it off.

"Don't touch me!"

Jason didn't expect me to react so strongly. He was stunned for a moment, frowning.

"Grace Connor! What's your problem?!"

My eyes turned red. As soon as I saw Jason's face, all I could hear was the buzzing sounds of hospital equipment signaling death.

"Go away! I don't wanna see you."

Erin held the urn and said in a self-blaming tone.

"Grace, are you still angry about the other day? Danny and I had in a car accident that day, and it was urgent. So, Jason helped us and failed to deliver the drug to you. Please blame me for it, but don't be angry with him."

What a pretentious woman she was.

I laughed out loud,

"Yes, your minor collision with the electric bike is indeed a car accident. The situation was urgent. In comparison, my entire family of 17 in the intensive care unit was nothing."

"Jason is my fiancé, so it's only natural that I'm angry with him. Who are you? Why are you taking the blame for him?"

"You have no relationship with him, so stop flattering yourself!"

I almost yelled in the end.

Seventeen people died!

And the drug was already in Ashton...

They were almost saved, almost.

If it hadn't been for Erin and her dog, Jason wouldn't have broken his promise.

My family wouldn't have died.

Erin wept, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, Grace. I didn't want it to become like this."

Seeing Erin so sorrowful, Jason made her stand behind him as usual, as if I had bullied her.

"Grace, do you really have to be so aggressive?"

I sneered,

"Of course not. So I'm leaving."

In the past, I would argue with Jason and tell him how Erin sowed discord between us.

He would say that I was targeting Erin and told me not to be so hostile to the women around him. At that time, I just thought he was just being straight, and I would change him one day.

But now I wanted to give up. I didn't even have the mood to talk to Jason.

I left with no hesitation. Jason looked at my back with a strange expression.

That was the first time I hadn't made a scene before him and Erin.

Jason, for the first time ever, left Erin and chased after me.

"How are you doing lately? Did you bring the drug that day?"

It had been a week since my family passed away. If Jason had contacted me or cared about my family's condition, he wouldn't have asked me that now.

But no, he was still being condescending.

I looked at him and asked in a serious tone,

"Jason, do you really love me?"

Jason looked away and said nothing.

The answer was obvious.

I tried to feel my heart, and there was no sadness.

I understood that I no longer loved Jason.

The ten years I spent around him were all in the past. I could finally calmly tell people about it after getting drunk.

"Let's cancel our engagement, Jason."

Refusing to waste any time on him, I just left with these words.

Jason immediately grabbed my hand, and his tone sounded shocked,

"What did you say?"

Without answering him, I just gave him a cold shoulder.

Jason panicked.

"I'm sorry I ignored you last time. From now on, I will send you to the hospital the minute I get the drug. Just stop making a scene here, okay?"

He probably thought that I was just upset about the last time, so he humbled himself for the first time to coax me.

In the past, even ten days ago, I would have been glad to hear that and even consoled him that I was also wrong to be angry with him.

But at that moment, all my hopes were gone, as were seventeen families of mine.

Instead of speaking, I just tried to take my hand from his.

"I'm not making a scene here. In fact, I'm more serious than ever."

Jason was surprisingly strong as if he wanted to break my hand, and there was a sinister look in his eyes.

"Grace, I will pretend not to hear what you said today."

I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Why are you suddenly pretending to care about me? You don't love me, but you wanna marry me. Jason, who do you think you are?"

Jason still refused to let go of my hand. So, I bit his hand hard.

Feeling the pain, Jason loosened his hand and said in a cold tone,

"I've already apologized to you. What else do you want from me?"

"Erin is just my sister. Don't compare yourself to her. You two are different, and you'll be the only one who gets hurt."

Erin was brought into the Finley family by Jason's stepmother, so they were nominally siblings.

Jason pampered Erin so much that even I, his fiancée, felt uncomfortable, and I had no excuse to blame him.

They were sibling, so Jason always took Erin's side. People would appraise Jason for being a caring brother and laugh at me for being petty about it.

But was I really overthinking?

Which kind of girl would cling to her brother every day for hugs, love, and everything?

Erin's possessiveness towards Jason was terrifying. It was far from how a sister should behave.

I used to love Jason and could force myself to endure it.

Now, I no longer loved him, so I just felt disgusted.

I nodded indifferently. I was going to leave Ashton anyway. So I could say whatever I wanted.

Jason was angered by my reaction and threatened me,

"Stop upsetting me, Grace. Don't you want the imported drug?"

"No, I don't."

I said calmly.

Taking advantage of the moment when Jason was stunned, I quickly shook off his hand and walked away.

Jason's face turned sullen.

He unconsciously rubbed the fingers that had just touched my wrist, feeling that he was losing something for good.

He called his assistant.

"Send a month's supply of drug to Grace's family. Be quick."

Jason and I went to the same high school.

Back then, he was an aloof academic genius, a rich second-generation, a school hunk, and a straight-A student. All in all, he was like an idol.

I, on the other side, was pretty, had good grades, came from a wealthy family, and had a good personality. So, I thought I was good enough for Jason.

I created many chance encounters that I learned from movies and dramas, tried countless ways to pursue him, and worked hard for numerous days and nights to get into the same college as him.

My friends laughed at me for being obsessed with Jason.

But I didn't think so.

Jason was brilliant. I deserved a guy like him.

It took me five years to approach him, and when I was in my sophomore year, he finally agreed to be my boyfriend.

I was happy for a long time and cried until my pillow was wet.

Later, Jason and I graduated and began to work. I also walked into his life and met Erin.

For no reason, the life that I had longed for many years became suffocating to me.

"You can always have a birthday party, but Erin is ill."

"You can always celebrate the anniversary, but Erin is sick."

"I won't be back for dinner, so you can go first. The date is off..." What Jason said came to my mind.

Why?

Erin needed him.

I thought love was about tolerance and modesty, so I never cared about it, which only made them go further.

My family was sick, but Jason was still with Erin.

I was wrong.

I shouldn't have fallen in love with Jason in the first place...

As I walked back, memories of me pursuing Jason in the past ten years flashed through my mind.

Just as I walked down the mountain and out of the cemetery,

I received a call from the cemetery saying that someone wanted to demolish my family's cemetery, and he couldn't stop them.

Then, I saw the excavators moving upward on the mountain.

I became extremely anxious.

"Grace, we have suffered too much in this life. If you don't want us to suffer illness in the next life, please give us a tombstone without any words on it."

So, I set up seventeen tombstones without words for my family members.

"Jason. Danny said he wanted to be buried here and didn't want others to disturb him. Let's make this spot his home."

"We'll pay the deceased's family double. I'm sure they'll agree."

Erin said to Jason in a gentle tone, and the latter was as doting as ever.

He nodded slightly, and the excavators started working.

"What are you doing!?"

By the time I stumbled to the graves I left not long ago with my heels worn out,

three excavators had already reduced the seventeen tombstones to ruins.

Some of the ashes had been dug out and scattered all over the ground, dyeing the land gray.

"Stop! Stop!"

The noise from the excavators rendered my shouting useless.

In desperation, I rushed forward and held a tombstone that was about to be dug up.

"Stop!"

Jason shouted.

A giant sharp shovel suddenly stopped over my head.

"How could you do this?"

Erin didn't care.

"It's not your family that's buried here. Why are you so anxious? This entire cemetery belongs to our Finley family. You don't need to worry about the compensation."

I pushed Erin away angrily, picked up the scattered ashes with my hands, and buried them in the soil.

I couldn't help but cry out,

"Don't be afraid. As long as the sun hasn't risen, your soul won't fly away, and you'll be able to reincarnate..."

But as I cried, my tears dripped into the soil, blending the ashes into the earth. I could no longer pick them up.

How could it be...

The more anxious I became, the clumsier I became. In the end, I tripped over a tombstone, and the white porcelain urn broke into pieces. The ashes in it scattered everywhere in the wind.

"It's just a graveyard. Grace, why the hell are you doing here?"

Jason grabbed me and stopped me forcefully.

"Jason, the priest said this piece of land was a great burial spot for Danny, and it can't be changed."

Jason's sorriness for me disappeared immediately.

"Continue!"

Erin walked up to me.

"Grace, they are just strangers, and their death meant nothing. Why do you care about them? The deceased's family might be happier if we dig them up and compensate them with money."

I couldn't bear it anymore！

I pushed Jason's hands away, held the sharp porcelain piece in my hand, and stabbed Erin with it!

My hands were stained with blood.