Her feet dragged as the hand pulled her out.
The snow that wasn't cleaned off the path for several days had thickened, chilling her feet as she walked on them; foot marks were also left behind.
Reluctantly, Aurora gave up resisting and let the man drag her outside the gate.
A black car with dark tinted window parked outside. Caesar could be seen through the rolled window. He watched as she left the house without taking anything with satisfaction.
This was the outcome of Dominik's action. He shouldn't have run away.
Because his wife would have to suffer in his place.
Besides, Caesar had no compassion toward anyone. It'd be strange if he actually allows her to take anything from inside the house.
"It hurts."
Her voice was clear in the serene winter night, a soft complaint about how she was being treated.
Caesar's eyes fell on Senda's hand on her arm. Such thin and slender arms… what had Dominik been doing for her to look so thin despite living in luxury?
For her to be so fragile and scared of pain, Dominik must have pampered her. Caesar erased the brief and unwelcome unease when he heard her cry out.
"I'll give you a week. Find Dominik and bring him to me," Caesar told her before he turned to the man beside her. He instructed, "Make sure she doesn't die before I take what I want from her."
The window went up before she could respond, the engine started, and the car slowly rolled on the road.
Her arm still felt pain even though the man let her go as Caesar left. Aurora's gaze followed the car with an uncertain gaze. She didn't know what she wanted to do. The moment she saw Caesar again, she wanted to ask him if he remembered her.
But the moment the words were on the tip of her tongue, they refused to come out, no matter how much she wanted to speak.
The fate of her unborn child still depends on her words and actions. She couldn't gamble on someone's emotion and sympathy. Especially with Caesar, who was known for being feared and ruthless.
The fierce winter wind swept onto her skin. Instantly, her teeth chattered, and she curled her icy fingers in hopes of a bit of warmth.
She looked behind her, where the house was just right there. But the man also stood by the gate. He obviously won't let her in.
Compared to Romano, this man looked softer and younger. But Aurora knew looks could be deceiving. A man who worked for Caesar certainly wouldn't be soft to anyone.
"Excuse me… Can you please get my phone and a jacket?"
Yet she couldn't resist the urge to speak.
The man did not answer. His dark eyes fell on her figure.
Scared by his glare, she timidly said, "Uh… I was just saying."
No more sound came out again.
The silence was just too much for Aurora. It had been a month since she last spoke to anyone. When the housekeepers and the guards left, they didn't tell her. They disappeared without a word. The court office and the other people who came only spoke one-sidedly to her.
Speaking to Caesar earlier had been a welcoming chance for her to speak to someone, dissipating the bitter loneliness. But their conversation was unpleasant and resulted in her being thrown out in the middle of winter.
She didn't want to be surrounded by the gnawing silence again.
"Can we at least wait inside?"
"It's so cold."
"Are you cold, mister?"
Her mind didn't seem right. The man heard her constantly speak and didn't say anything in return. But she seemed fine talking to herself.
"It's so dark, yet the sky is so bright."
Finally, she settled on glancing up at the sky. There were no clouds in the sky. It loomed cold and distant, beautiful with the stars stripped bare of their usual haziness. They blinked and sparkled like gems.
If this were in the past, Aurora would have been with her family. A time so distant and blurred that she only remembered sharing a blanket with her siblings as they waited for their mother to finish cooking while their father was away. A rare moment of peace and happiness.
Suddenly, tears appeared in her eyes, and she couldn't stop them from flowing down her cheeks.
She could only wipe it away with her sleeves.
"I can't seem to stop sleeping, mister."
"But if I don't stop, I might end up freezing myself to death like this."
A hand appeared with a handkerchief in her line of vision.
Aurora followed the hand and met the man beside her. He didn't look like he was pitying her or trying to help. Rather, he looked more annoyed that she was crying.
Again, she was troubling people with her actions.
Stifling the incoming tears, Aurora gratefully took the handkerchief from his hand and wiped her tears. She even blew her nose and didn't notice the expression on the man's face as she did this.
That was the boss's handkerchief…
The man didn't say it, but a troubled look filled his face. He had gotten the thing from Caesar before heading to Dominik's house. It even had some stains of blood on it as it was used to clean his boss's hands.
With her wiping her face with it, the man couldn't say anything.
Consider this an effort to save her from freezing to death. The man no longer concerned himself with the fate of the handkerchief in her hand or the fact that it was dirtied with someone's blood.
He took a step back and returned to his earlier position.
Thud.
He quickly turned around at the sound.
Aurora, who had been crying, was no longer standing. She was lying in the snow with her body motionless.
Before closing her eyes, the red headlights of the car from a distance filled her sight before it completely disappeared.