Victor chuckled. “Envy you? Why on earth would I envy you two? Frankly, I think you both are rather foolish.”
“No one in the world would willingly die for you. You’ve never experienced true love. It’s rather pitiful,” Estelle responded brutally.
Victor remained unruffled by her words and calmly replied, “What’s gotten into you? Were you only pretending to be submissive before? There’s no need to keep up the act now, you know.”
“I’m going to die anyway. Pretending in front of you won’t change that. All I want to do now is curse you!” Estelle declared.
Victor shrugged, seemingly unfazed. “Sure, go ahead and curse all you want. I’m in a great mood right now, and your words won’t hurt me. Once you’re gone, Cristofer will be devastated, and that will bring me even more satisfaction. Thanks for giving me the inspiration to take revenge on Cristofer in this unique way,” he said casually.
Soon, Estelle found herself securely bound to a large tree in the heart of the forest. Despite her frantic struggles, it became evident that she couldn’t break free, and her heart sank.
Victor brushed the ashes from his hands, wearing a smile as he said, “Miss Hudson, I truly didn’t want it to come to this. But you made a foolish choice.” With that, he ignited a lighter, tossed it onto the ground, and retreated a few steps. “Goodbye, Miss Hudson.” He then turned and walked away.
****
When Victor returned to the hill, he found Cristofer leaning against a tree, holding a piece of paper. Victor asked, “What’s that in your hand?”
Cristofer turned around as he heard Victor’s voice and showed him the paper. “You want to know about this?”
“Yes.”
“It’s Estelle’s list of wishes.”
“Her wish list?”
“Yes, she made it before her twentieth birthday. I’ve helped her make all her wishes come true.”
With a hint of disdain, Victor remarked, “You rich people always spend time on such dull things.” He sneered and asked, “What are her wishes?”
“Having a dog, planting sunflowers in the garden, cooking for me, and so on.”
Victor nodded, saying, “So, you got her the dog. I wasted money buying that fake Samoyed. What else is on the list?”
“Watching snowfall in Hadale.”
“Is she crazy? It hardly ever snows in Hadale,” Victor rolled his eyes.
“But I made her wish come true and took her to see the snow,” Cristofer replied.
“Did you ask God to make it snow in Hadale?”
“Yes. You used to say I’m God’s favorite, remember?” Cristofer replied with a playful tone.
Hearing this, Victor regarded Cristofer as if he were a fool. “I wonder if she had any other absurd wishes,” he said.
“They’re not absurd, just interesting. Her last wish was for me to pick a star for her,” Cristofer said, showing Victor the list of wishes.
Victor was left speechless. “I didn’t expect Miss Hudson to be so childish. Did she want you to fly into the sky and move a planet for her?”
“I bought the naming rights to a planet for her,” Cristofer admitted with a sigh. “But I haven’t told her yet.”
“Haha! I’m afraid you won’t get the chance to tell her now,” Victor laughed loudly.
“What?!”
Victor smirked and pointed towards the forest. “Look over there.”
Estelle was trapped in a shrinking circle of fire in the nearby forest.
When Cristofer saw this horrifying scene, his eyes widened in shock, and he turned pale. “What have you done?” he asked.
“What did I do? Isn’t it obvious?” Victor replied with sadistic satisfaction.
Cristofer wanted to rush to the forest to save Estelle, but as soon as he took a step, he collapsed heavily to the ground, startling even Victor.
“Don’t waste your efforts. It’s too late. Just stay here and listen to her screams,” Victor sneered.
“Victor!” Cristofer shouted, his eyes blazing with anger.
“Don’t glare at me like that. I told you I’d seek revenge.”
“Then why didn’t you come after me instead of hurting her? She’s innocent!”
“But this is the only way to make you suffer!” Victor said with a wicked grin. “Cristofer, it’s all your fault. If you hadn’t loved her, I wouldn’t have wanted to kill her.”
Anxiously, Cristofer immediately took out his phone from his pocket and called the police. Standing aside, Victor didn’t stop him and just watched him with his arms folded. As he expected, Cristofer couldn’t even stand up, let alone save Estelle.
“How about you climb there to save her?” Victor squatted and said with a teasing smile. “I’d like to know who will arrive there first. You or the firefighters?”
In the forest, dark smoke billowed, and hot waves kept hitting Estelle.
Since Victor tied her to the tree tightly, she couldn’t break free no matter how hard she struggled. The blisters on her wrists hadn’t healed, and the skin on her wrists was rubbed raw again. And the rope was stained with her blood.
Finally, after she struggled for a long time, a piece of broken glass slowly slid out from her sleeve. Then, she held it in her hand with difficulty and began to cut the rope with it.
Yesterday, when she made preparations for escaping, she smashed a bottle in Victor’s house and hid the sharpest piece of broken glass in her sleeve so that she could protect herself if she were in danger. Now, it came in handy.
Just a moment ago, Victor asked Estelle to make a tough choice: either she dies or Cristofer dies. She decided to let Victor kill her because she thought Cristofer was too weak to escape if he stayed here. Estelle believed she might have a chance to save herself using a piece of broken glass.
As Estelle used the glass to cut the rope on her wrist, she scanned the area. She was searching for a way out, looking for a spot where the fire was smaller.
Suddenly, she noticed something black not too far from her. She glanced around and saw more black objects like it. These objects were wrapped in black, waterproof material, and some were partly buried in the ground. They were arranged in a circle.
‘What would Victor bury here? Money or his other belongings?’ Just as Estelle was wondering what those black items were, she suddenly smelled a familiar smell in the air. The next moment, she recognized the smell, and her mind went blank.
‘These are… explosives?! So, Victor didn’t plan to burn Cristofer to death but planned to blow Cristofer up?! No wonder he said that he would make Cristofer disappear in this place…’