Before boarding the train, Janet looked back at the train station once more. As expected, Rihanel’s figure couldn’t be seen.

It was okay. She hadn’t expected Rihanel to follow her right now.

She had told him she would wait until the end this time. So if Rihanel was at the end of that waiting, that would be enough.

Even so, Janet got on the train and looked back again. It seemed she couldn’t help it even though she told herself not to expect.

Then her eyes caught a glimpse of the profile of a man wearing a hat boarding a different car. That briefly seen figure somehow looked familiar.

However, since it definitely wasn’t Rihanel, Janet soon shifted her gaze elsewhere.

“What are you looking for?”

“Oh, nothing.”

At the station attendant’s puzzled question, Janet shook her head. And she moved her steps and entered the reserved cabin.

The cabin with two long sofas facing each other wasn’t spacious, but it was sufficient for traveling alone.

Soon the train departed with a loud noise. Janet pulled aside the curtain covering the window. Before long, untouched greenery spread before her eyes.

A light smile appeared on Janet’s lips.

Riding the train always made her feel new sensations. She might not be able to let go of Wilton Company because she liked that, Janet thought absently.

⟨Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable sitting so stiffly like that?⟩

At Rihanel’s voice suddenly ringing in her ears, Janet quickly looked ahead.

Naturally, there was no one sitting across from her.

Janet sadly looked down. It would have been nice if Rihanel had boarded this train with her. If they could sit together and she could tell him about her realization. If she could listen to his anxieties.

That would be nice.

That’s when it happened.

Knock knock, someone knocked on the door.

When she opened the door, a woman was standing outside. She was someone she’d never seen before.

“What’s the matter?”

At Janet’s question, the woman cautiously opened her mouth.

“Um…… someone from that room over there is looking for you.”

The woman pointed to a cabin several cars away. Who’s looking for me? When Janet slightly narrowed her brows with wariness, the woman said.

“You’re Janet Wilton, right?”

“Yes.”

“A man asked me to call you instead. Don’t worry. He seemed to know you well.”

Rihanel.

The moment she heard about a man who knew her well, Rihanel’s image came to Janet’s mind.

“Where should I go?”

Janet left her room and followed the woman.

For some reason, the woman’s footsteps were urgent, so Janet felt a strange sense of unease.

However, the negative impression was soon buried. Because the thought that Rihanel might be there took priority over anything else.

The woman who arrived in front of the cabin knocked on the door. Then sounds of small noise and unlocking came from inside.

Meanwhile, she felt a presence from the end of the corridor, so Janet unconsciously tried to look that way.

However, at the same time, the door burst open.

The woman pushed Janet’s back hard.

“……!”

In an instant, Janet fell forward into the cabin. She felt sharp pain in the wrist that touched the ground.

What on earth…… is this situation? The moment she raised her head, the door closed roughly behind her. And click, the sound of locking the door was heard.

“Mom!”

“Ellie!”

The woman who came in together cried quietly and ran inside. A small girl was crouched in the corner of the inner sofa.

The woman embraced the small girl while looking this way with fearful eyes.

No, to be precise, she was looking at someone standing behind Janet.

A chilling sensation rose along Janet’s spine.

Thump, thump, thump. Her heart began beating violently.

Janet hurriedly got up from her position. At that moment, a cold blade touched her neck. Gasp, she inhaled.

What was standing behind her wasn’t Rihanel. A completely different unpleasant smell from him vibrated in the cabin.

It wasn’t just the body odor from not washing for several days.

The peculiar stench felt from those full of malice. The kind of smell that the guards at Adif always carried stabbed her nose.

Suppressing the nausea, Janet opened her mouth.

“……Uncle.”

“So you do know I’m your uncle?”

Tailey’s gloomy voice was heard in her ear. He kept his voice low so sound wouldn’t leak outside.

Janet tried to speak calmly.

“I looked for you a lot, Uncle. So you were here.”

“You think I don’t know you’re looking to throw me into prison after pushing my life into a pit!”

Tailey trembled with anger. She felt the pain of the blade digging into the side of her neck. A red stream of blood flowed down from her neck.

Janet’s gaze wavered. She bit her lips tightly.

Should she scream for help from those in other cabins? However, if she did that rashly, something might happen before anyone came. If she made a mistake, even that mother and daughter would be in danger.

“Hurry up and put your seal on it.”

Tailey holding the knife grabbed Janet’s hand with his other hand and lifted it. And he wiped the blood flowing from her neck with her thumb.

“There.”

Tailey who released her hand pointed to a paper placed on the sofa. Janet picked up the paper with trembling hands.

[Janet Wilton acknowledges that she instigated the embezzlement of Wilton Company funds and irresponsible stock issuance but shifted the responsibility to Tailey Wilton. Feeling guilty about this, she transfers all rights of Wilton Company to Tailey Wilton.]

“Hurry up!”

It was a written agreement trying to pin his wrongdoing on Janet. Of course, it wasn’t true.

However, there was no other way right now. Before considering the validity of such an agreement, she had to escape from the current situation.

Janet slowly put her seal on the agreement. And she tried to cool her head as much as possible and opened her mouth. She had to persuade Tailey.

“I’ll give you this agreement. Aunt wants to see you too. You should go back together……”

“You, did you buy off Vanessa too?”

However, Tailey had already lost his reason. He was in no state to listen to words.

“You, someone like you should have died when you were shot. If only you weren’t here…… I could find my place, my position. So don’t resent me too much.”

Tailey spat as he poured out words. Then he raised the knife that had been touching Janet’s neck.

That was the moment.

Bang bang! Someone pounded the door violently from outside.

Tailey glared at the woman inside. The woman who had been holding her breath shook her head frantically.

“N-no. I didn’t tell anyone. Maybe they came because of the noise.”

At those words, Tailey cursed and raised his voice in a fake nonchalant tone.

“What’s the matter?”

Silence flowed from outside for a moment.

And the next moment.

Thud! A dull resonance shook the cabin. Someone outside had thrown their body against the door.

“Ugh!”

Tailey momentarily staggered. Janet hurriedly escaped from Tailey’s arms.

Enraged, Tailey swung his hand holding the knife toward Janet.

Crash! The knife that missed struck and broke the window.

“Ahhh!”

Tailey, who scratched his hand on the broken window, screamed.

“Get out quickly!”

Janet shouted to the mother and daughter in the corner. Then Tailey’s eyes rolled back as he grabbed Janet’s hair and pulled.

“Kyahhh!”

Janet fell with a scream. She was engulfed in great fear. The man with the knife seemed like he would stab her at any moment.

At the screaming sound, the person outside began throwing their body at the door even faster. Thud, thud, thud. As if it didn’t matter if their own body broke.

“Die!”

Tailey raised the knife toward Janet.

At that moment, the door fell.

And a man entered as if about to fall.

It was Rihanel.

His face crumpled frighteningly upon witnessing the situation before his eyes.

***

Rihanel barely managed to board the train. However, he couldn’t rashly go to Janet’s cabin. He just stood at the end of the corridor, at the connecting passage between cars, hesitating to go inside.

Finally, he who finished making up his mind opened the door leading to the corridor. But Janet was heading somewhere following a woman.

Where is she going?

Rihanel watched them while hiding his body. Because the door opened outward, the two people’s figures were hidden. And the next moment, Janet had already entered the cabin.

Are they acquaintances? Or do they have separate business?

Rihanel slowly moved his steps to the corridor. Due to the rattling train noise, voices couldn’t be heard.

However, somehow he had a bad feeling.

Bang bang, Rihanel knocked on the cabin door.

And the voice he heard was……

‘Tailey Wilton……!’

For a moment, dizziness seemed to stab his throat. Without further consideration, Rihanel threw his body against the door.

However, the door didn’t open immediately. Bang! Bang! Rihanel threw his body at the door several more times.

Janet is inside there. Together with the disappeared Tailey Wilton.

Recalling that fact made him feel like going crazy.

Crash! When he even heard the sound of a window breaking, he was almost going insane. Bad imaginings swept through his mind. It was difficult to keep his sanity.