Miss, It’s Just a Cold

Chapter 59: It Remains

“Should I tell you two to make a child?”

I scratched my head, but no other thoughts came to mind.

“Fabian, your whole family is dead. Do you still want to live?”

“…And you?”

Fabian looked at me with a vacant expression.

“Emily, please, please spare Fabian, my firstborn! If Fabian dies, who will carry on the family name?!”

“Shh.”

Even with her shin shattered, Mother crawled toward me and grabbed my ankle. I kicked her head with my foot.

My kick was weak, so she didn’t fall, only staggered slightly before slipping on the blood pooled on the floor.

I landed on my rear with a slight ache, still clutching the pistol in my hand.

Mother, seeing her chance, grabbed the scissors and rushed at me.

Her fingers, half-severed and useless, didn’t make her attack hurt much.

A shallow cut ran from my left shoulder down my arm, beads of blood welling up from the wound.

It didn’t hurt.

After all, when something happens every day, it stops hurting after a while.

I shoved her away with both hands. With her broken shin, she collapsed on her own.

Approaching her fallen form, I pressed the barrel of the gun to her wrists.

One shot to her left wrist, another to her right, then one to each ankle.

While I reloaded, the foolish woman alternated between crying out in pain, begging me for her life, and cursing me, only to beg again.

Maybe the pain had driven her mad.

At this point, she could barely move, only writhing on the floor like an insect.

How pathetic.

That I had been at the mercy of someone like this…

It was a thought that crossed my mind often, yet each time, it enraged me anew.

I repeatedly struck her philtrum with the handle of the pistol.

Fabian mumbled something but fell silent.

The battered area turned red, then blue, then black before her upper teeth fell out.

One tooth dangled, so I grabbed it with my fingers and yanked it free.

The screams of a woman on the brink of death were truly unbearable to hear.

“Why… Why did I ever have to endure this from someone as pathetic as you?”

“You’re… you’re the curse God laid upon me!”

“How fitting. You’ve been the same to me.”

If she hated me so much, couldn’t she have just put me in a basket like those Somalian friends do and tossed me to the hyenas?

Or handed me to some voodoo priest to turn me into an aphrodisiac like an albino?

“Emily probably didn’t want to be born from you, either.”

“Who… Who are you?”

The woman asked as if she truly didn’t know.

I made eye contact but didn’t answer.

Who am I? The answer would always be Emily.

But somehow, it never felt right.

That’s why I didn’t know who I was.

This wasn’t some adolescent search for identity—what was this?

Did it matter?

Not in the slightest.

The only thing that mattered was that it was finally over.

“Anyway, I won’t kill you.

You didn’t kill me, after all.

Sure, you tried to sell me to some pig, but that’s worth no more than a couple of limbs.”

“So, is this all because I tried to arrange your marriage?”

Even without her teeth, her pronunciation was impressively clear.

I guess it’s just teeth, after all.

“Do you still think this is about that?”

I exhaled deeply and asked her a question.

“Did you ever, even for a single moment, even for one second, love me? Even at the moment I was born?”

When she didn’t answer, I fired a shot toward the ceiling.

“Not even for a single moment. Not even for one second. From the moment you were born, you’ve been nothing but filth to me.”

Her answer was brutally simple and precise.

At least, for me.

“Aaaaaah! Please, please, Emily, just shoot me! Shoot me instead!”

I aimed the gun at Fabian.

His weak gaze met mine.

Mother twisted her body, crawling toward me again.

The sight amused me, so I stomped on her head, rolling it underfoot like a child playing with a soccer ball.

I hadn’t planned on going this far, but leaving her alive now seemed pointless.

“Emily, do I… Do I need to apologize to you?”

“Who knows.”

“Did I deserve this? Did I do something to warrant this?”

“Not really. That’s why I gave you a choice—to leave tonight.”

“But if I left and came back to this, then I…”

“You’d inherit the family quickly, get married quickly—it’s not all bad.”

“What you said earlier…

Did Mother really say those things to you? Did she really do those things?”

“I softened the words a bit, but yeah, more or less.”

“…We ignored you, sure, but who could’ve expected it to come to this?”

“Too bad, isn’t it? Hah.”

Fabian took a deep breath and asked quietly,

“Do you hate me?”

“Not really.”

“Then, Ellie?”

“I don’t hate her either. If anything, I might like her. I’m her older sister, after all.”

“Daniel, Father, and Regen?”

Regen was the fourth sibling, right?

“I don’t hate them. I just think they’re… disappointing people.”

He shouted, “Then why?!”

I kicked the head of the woman sprawled on the floor and answered.

“Because she loves you all. And I’ve lost so many things I love.

Honestly, if there had been even one piano left, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“Because of that instrument?”

“That instrument,” I scoffed, “is far more important than you. It’s more important than all the humans living in this world.”

I tapped my head lightly.

“Do you even understand how much is stored in here?

You, who marvel at waltzes while calling them worthless, need to understand your place.”

In the end, Mother’s favorite child was Fabian.

Her firstborn, the heir to the family, the one who always upheld the household.

He was the only one taught about family affairs and, ultimately, the only one who could handle it.

Even during tough times caused by me, she claimed that Fabian brought her comfort.

I didn’t respond to Fabian’s earlier remark.

I thought of an answer but couldn’t come up with anything appropriate. Scratching the back of my head, I aimed the gun at his stomach and pulled the trigger.

With a groan, Fabian crumpled forward. He was still breathing, though.

I walked over to Mother, who was now gasping, tears streaming down her face and forming a puddle on the floor.

I stroked her head as I spoke softly.

“Mother, Fabian is dying because of you.

Fabian is dying because of you.

If it weren’t for you, he would have inherited the family estate, married someone he loved, had children, and lived a happy life.

But because of you, another decent person is dying.”

No, it was all me.

I killed him.

I was just angry, and I snapped. I shot him because of it.

Because I wasn’t special.

I wanted to be, but I wasn’t.

So I pulled the trigger.

Everyone will call me the bad guy.

After all, who else in the world grabs a gun and shoots everyone in their family just because they were bullied at home?

What could I have done?

“You can still save him.

I aimed for his stomach on purpose.

If you call for a doctor right now and they arrive in time, he might survive.”

Mother slowly started crawling.

Her wrists and ankles were too damaged for her to stand, but she dragged herself across the floor.

Since she couldn’t leave the punishment room, I kindly walked over and opened the door for her.

When I turned back, Fabian had lifted his head, wheezing and looking at me.

I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying, but tears streamed down his face.

Perhaps it was both.

It must have seemed ridiculous to him—such a meaningless death.

Fabian had to die meaninglessly.

So did Ellie.

And Father.

Daniel, even more so.

They had to die like that so that Mother would grieve.

If she bled out and died, that would be regrettable, but even that wouldn’t be too bad.

Like a maid, I opened the front door wide for her to leave.

Mother crawled so slowly, painfully dragging her body.

But just to make sure she didn’t actually get away, I stepped on her back.

Whenever she tried to move, I stomped on her wounds.

Watching her squirm and attempt to crawl again was nothing short of amusing.

Even if she ran at full speed, it would take ten minutes to reach the hospital. How did she plan to make it crawl?

By then, Fabian would already be dead.

I reloaded the gun, pointed it at my temple, then decided against it.

Maybe seeing Daniel die like that left me disinterested in a gunshot to the head.

Instead, I aimed at Mother’s ankle and pulled the trigger twice.

Reload. Fire. Reload again. Fire again.

Until her limbs were nearly severed.

When there were five bullets left in the cartridge, her hands and feet were barely attached, dangling grotesquely.

I poked one with my finger, and it swung loosely.

“Did you really never love me, even for a single moment?”

Mother flailed, trying to answer.

I stepped on her head, cutting her off.

Then I shut the door.

The curses, the jeers, and the condemnation faded behind it.

Feeling exhausted, I wiped my face dry and went to the bathroom.

I washed myself, dried off with a towel, and changed into fresh clothes.

Then I walked to the kitchen, brewed a cup of coffee, grabbed some fruit, and moved to the dining table.

The faint smell of blood lingered, but it seemed to complement the aroma of the coffee.

I hummed a tune softly, letting time pass.

Having brought the story of this family to its conclusion, it was now time to decide my own ending.

“Surely, our love remains here♫.”

Humming the altered lyrics of an old song, I nudged Daniel’s corpse with my foot, matching the rhythm.

The fresh dress I had just put on was stained with blood. Oh well, I could always wear something else.

Parents are supposed to love their children.

I simply returned the love Mother had shown me.

Love lingers here, doesn’t it?

In the bloodstains on the floor, in the punishment room where I was beaten, in my memories, and in my room…