His Debt Paid in Flesh

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Three years after my death, my husband finally decided to come look for me overseas.

All because my cousin was now terminally ill, and her dying wish was to become his lawful wife.

For this, my husband specifically brought the divorce papers, wanting me to step aside.

After searching everywhere for me in vain, my husband furiously dialed my overseas number:

"Do you think hiding and stalling will work?"

"I'm telling you, you will sign these divorce papers! After I've made things right for Luna, I might allow you to remarry me and continue as my wife..."

But an aged voice answered the call:

"Are you a family member?"

"The owner of this number...passed away three years ago."

Elijah Stone actually laughed in anger.

"All these years abroad, and she hasn't grown up one bit."

"All she knows is playing crazy or playing the victim. Does she still think she's some naive little girl?"

This utterly mocking tone made Granny Sun surprised and confused.

"Young man, how can you talk like that?"

"Maya is gone. Whatever grievances you had, one should always show some respect for the dead!"

Elijah remained unmoved, letting out a cold snort instead.

"She's really crossed the line now. To get me, she's even dragged an elderly person into her act."

"Listen. However much Maya Sterling paid you, I'll pay double!"

"Just get her on the phone, now. My patience is limited. Tell her not to push me!"

Seeing he refused to listen, Granny Sun hesitated, then sighed deeply.

"A stubborn young man like you...will regret this terribly."

"Fine. I'll just give you the address. Come see for yourself."

"See with your own eyes whether this old woman is lying to you or not."

She hung up the phone, leaning on her cane, gazing sorrowfully towards the backyard.

There stood an inconspicuous little mound of earth, where my fragmented, broken body lay buried.

The pain she felt when she personally gathered my body back then mirrored the sorrow she felt for me now.

She knew. The man on the phone was my husband in our home country.

For six years, he never contacted me. He didn't even know if his wife was still alive.

And the first time he called, it's to rush through a divorce.

With Granny Sun's kind heart, she probably couldn't imaginehow could a husband be so cold, so detached?

But I knew.

Elijah would feel no sorrow or regret. After all, without love, how could he care?

Early the next morning, Elijah followed the address and arrived.

Granny Sun's legs were unsteady, but she still insisted on coming out to meet him.

He ignored her completely, brushing past her without a word and striding into the house. After searching every room, he stormed back out with anger.

"Where is Maya Sterling?"

"I'm here in person. How long is she going to keep hiding?"

"This childish game has gone on long enough. I don't have time for her jokes!"

Granny Sun gripped her cane tightly, trembling with anger.

"I told you, Maya passed away three years ago!"

"You're her husband. Don't you care at all about her at all."

"Do you have any idea how hard her life has been, how hard her life was all these years? She raised the child alone, endured so much hardship..."

Before she could finish, Elijah snorted with derision.

"Did Maya forget to mention, when she hired you for this act, we had no child?"

"I'd like to ask her some questions. You know, this marriage was something she stole in the first place. Now it's just being returned to its rightful owner. How dare she put on this pitiful act for me?"

"If it weren't for Luna's kind heart, she wouldn't have even gotten the chance to go abroad for a fresh start! Instead of being grateful, she has the nerve to keep pushing her luck!"

"She was always a pathological liar, utterly shameless. I see all these years haven't changed that. After all these years, she is still a trouble."

I thought I had long since stopped expecting anything from him.

But hearing those words now, a bitter taste still rose in my throat.

Granny Sun shook with rage upon hearing this.

Suddenly, someone intimately looped her arm through Elijah's.

Her voice was soft and timid.

"Elijah, if she doesn't want to, just let it be. Don't force her."

She then let out a few delicate, pitiful coughs.

"I don't have many days left anyway, so why insist?"

"Perhaps this is fate. You two are destined to be husband and wife for life. I'm just content to have walked this part of the journey with you..."

From the moment she appeared, Elijah's expression softened considerably.

He looked down at her, his eyes filled with tenderness and concern.

"You're just too soft-hearted. That's why Maya kept bullying you."

"Luna, you will be my lawful wife. No matter what, I'm finalizing this divorce today!"

The moment Luna appeared, my soul began to tremble violently.

Those memories of extreme pain, fueled by hatred, flooded my mind.

I remembered being thrown by her into a zone crawling with homeless men, the filthy, despairing rounds of violation.

The places on my body that had been violently beaten seemed to ache anew.

My ears echoed with her shrill, gleeful laughter as she slashed my face to shreds.

She made me watch as an axe brutally shattered and crushed my arm and leg on one side.

Amidst my distorted, soundless screams, she had laughed uproariously, amused by my agonized writhing in the pool of blood.

"Don't say I wasn't mercifulcompared to a human slug, you've still got half a body left!"

"Look at your disgusting, pathetic self. Don't you look just like a repulsive maggot?"

After that, she sold me to the largest freak show in the area.

I became the novel "Human Maggot" on stage, living a life neither human nor ghost.

Those days, worse than death, were a nightmareI could never wake from.

And Luna was the source of that nightmare.

As I drowned in these painful memories, a small "cannonball" shot out from the backyard, clutching the yellow paper meant for burning offerings for me, and crashed straight into Luna.

But he was too weak.

Elijah, reacting quickly, kicked him away with brutal force.

The small, thin body flew like an insignificant pebble, crumpling as it hit the ground.

"Kai"

I cried out, forgetting I was already dead.

I lunged to catch him, but my hands passed right through his form.

It was Granny Sun who hobbled over urgently with her cane and gathered Kai into her arms.

Holding the child, now pale from the kick, her voice shook with pain.

"Even a vicious beast doesn't harm its own kids! This is your own flesh and blood! How could you be so cruel?!"

Elijah shielded Luna behind him tightly and said coldly,

"I suggest you call Maya out to see me, right now. Don't make me lose my temper!"

"If you or that brat dare hurt Luna again under the pretense of acting foolish, I won't care about respecting elders or protecting children!"

Granny Sun's eyes reddened.

"I told you, Maya is long gone!"

"Kai is the only blood she left behind. She and that child depended on each other all these years, and you, as a husband, never lifted a finger!"

"Young man, don't blame an old woman for harsh words, but look at your actions! Are you even a human?!"

Elijah let out a cold laugh.

Before he could speak, Luna's timid voice piped up.

"Elijah, look at that little boy... he looks so much like her!"

"He couldn't really be... her child, could he? But he looks only two or three... how could that be..."

Understanding her unspoken insinuation, my hatred burst from my chest.

Back when, I was driven abroad penniless, then I found I was already carrying Kai.

When Luna tortured me to the brink of death, I thought the child would be silently lost.

I never imagined he'd pull it through.

In the end, dragging my one remaining leg and arm, I gave birth to him in the back of the freak show.

Kai grew up with me, never having enough to eat or wear.

He was even locked in a cage by the handlers, raised like an animal.

Severe malnutrition meant that at six years old, he looked frail and smaller than a four years old kid.

And also, he couldn't speak.

If not for Granny Sun's kindness, spending all her retirement savings to buy our freedom, we mother and son would likely have been worn down to death long ago.

But no matter what, Kai was Elijah's child.

His origins were clear and clean. Luna knew that better than anyone!

Staring at Luna's feigned innocence, I gritted my teeth in hatred.

And Elijah's abruptly changed expression chilled my heart.

He clearly believed Luna, and his gaze towards Kai turned sharp.

"No wonder she doesn't dare face me. She was out here having a bastard!"

Kai didn't understand his words, only instinctively went on guard.

He dropped to all fours, positioning himself protectively in front of Grandma Sun, baring his teeth in a fierce warning.

"Let's see who the bastard's father is!"

Elijah strode towards Kai, reaching to yank him up roughly. But Kai erupted, sinking his teeth deep into Elijah's wrist.

Luna gasped. Instinctively, Elijah kicked out, his foot connecting with Kai's abdomen, sending the boy flying.

Watching Kai let out a piercing wail as he slammed into the ground, my heart clenched into a tight ball.

Tears spilled from my eyes.

"No"

Granny Sun, elderly, had never suffered such a shock.

She was pale and trembling, crawling to Kai's side, trying to gather him into her arms, to shield him.

Her voice was thick with sorrow.

"If you don't want to claim him, then from now on, Kai is my own grandson. I, an old woman, will raise him!"

"The child is innocent! You can reject him, but you can't hurt him like this!"

"Kai was unwell. You're going to kill him!"

Her words were a tearful plea, her aged body trying vainly to protect the child.

I watched Kai, weak and gasping, still forcing his eyes open wide, glaring fiercely at Elijah, preventing him from hurting Granny Sun. My heart ached so badly my soul felt ready to bleed.

That indifferent kick turned the last shreds of my lingering attachment to Elijah to ashes.

Malnourished even in the womb, Kai was born frail. Then, he developed kidney disease as a toddler.

Back when I was locked in the freak show's back area without freedom.

Only after Granny Sun saved us could I, with my one remaining arm and a crutch, start painfully collecting scrap each day to save money.

I wanted to repay Granny Sun's kindness, and I wanted to work to send Kai to school, to get him treatment, to give him a normal future.

I even found a black-market doctor who could do a kidney transplant for a low priceI planned to give one of my own kidneys to Kai.

I never imagined Luna would find out.

Just as I'd finally saved enough for the surgery, ready to go to the black-market doctor, Luna found me first.

She had her men tie me up, cut open my abdomen without anesthesia, and forcibly removed my kidney.

Then, right before my horrified eyes, she dropped the whole organ into a meat grinder, making me watch as the high-speed blades turned it into a pulp of minced meat.

That kidney was our only hope.

I wept, knelt and begged her.

I even slapped myself madly, just begging her not to touch the kidney. But she did it anyway.

Luna smiled innocently, and the malice in her eyes was plain to see.

"A bastard born from a bitch like you doesn't deserve to be Elijah's child."

"He's tainted by your inferior genes, of course it's a defective product that can't even develop properly. Better to die cleanly than drag out a miserable existence!"

"With this burden gone, your life might actually improve. I'm helping you!"

I hated her to the bone, but could only lie there, bleeding and weeping, utterly helpless.

Without that kidney, Kai's condition lost all hope. He soon developed multiple complications.

Elijah's kick had landed squarely on that diseased kidney.

I only hated that I was already dead, couldn't grab him by the collar and demandask him if he had a heart, ask him why he wouldn't even spare his own son!

But I had underestimated his cruelty.

He didn't know how fragile Kai's body was.

Seeing Kai clutching his stomach, collapsing weakly, Elijah actually snorted.

"You really take after your mother. Such a good actor."

"That kick wasn't that hard. It couldn't hurt that much. You think I'll fall for your pitiful act?!"

He found a hatchet, hefted it, and slowly walked towards Kai.

A terrible premonition grew in me.

I rushed forward to stop him, but my soul-state couldn't touch anyone or anything.

No!

Elijah!

That's your own son! Please, don't hurt him!

But my pleas were futile.

Elijah snapped Granny Sun's cane, kicking aside the old woman who was desperately trying to shield Kai.

"Maya, I'm giving you one last chance. Show yourself now!"

"Come out now, and I'll forgive this betrayal. Send the bastard far away for good, and I'll let bygones be bygones."

As the words fell, Luna's triumphant smile froze.

I felt no honor.

Elijah closed his eyes, then spoke through gritted teeth.

"But if you still refuse to come out... don't blame me for chopping off this little beast's limbs, turning him into a 'slug' for the freak show!"

My mind went blank with disbelief. I'd never felt he was so alien.

This level of cold-blooded cruelty made my whole being freeze.

Granny Sun, horrified, tried desperately to appeal to any scrap of conscience.

"Kai is just a child! Take it out on me, an old woman! Don't hurt the child!"

"Maya is already gone! Must you harm the only part of her left?!"

"What sin did that mother and child commit, to deserve you hunting them to extinction like this?!!!"

Seeing this tragic scene, pain, regret, and hatred finally bloomed in my heart.

I was wrong.

Wrong to have known him, to have married him.

If I were alive, I'd sign those divorce papers this instant.

Take Kai and Granny Sun far away, never return.

I wish I'd never met him at all!

But I was deadand had even dragged innocent Kai and Granny Sun into this.

Granny Sun wept bitterly, trying to crawl over, kicked away again and again.

One kick, harder, sent the frail old woman flying like a ragdoll.

Her head struck the doorframe with a sickening crack, and she went limp, unconscious.

"Granny Sun!!!"

My tears gushed forth, a torrent of agony and helplessness.

I tried to help Granny Sun, tried with all my might to push the blade away. But I couldn't touch anything.

Elijah waited. His expression grew colder.

Finally, he let out a scornful laugh.

"Since you refuse the face I'm offering, I see no need for mercy."

"Maya, I hope you won't regret this."

He raised the hatchet high, brought it down hardthrough my futile, grasping handsand straight onto Kai's arm.

Blood sprayed. The entire arm flew off in an instant.

Kai's eyes went wide. A sharp, shrill scream tore from him, an animal-like cry.

"Mama ma Mama"

His first word.

'Mama.' Learned in such despair.

I couldn't take it anymore. Sobbing, I threw myself at Elijah, wanting to perish with him, but only passed through air.

"I regret it! I regret meeting you, being with you!"

"I regret marrying you most of all!!!"

"Elijah Stone, I never owed you anything! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Elijah couldn't hear my heart-rending screams.

He looked coldly at Kai lying in the spreading pool of blood, raised the hatchet againand was interrupted by the ringtone of an incoming call.

Frowning, Elijah answered.

"Mr. Stone, we've found Mrs. Sterling's hospital records from after she went abroad."

"The medical file shows... she was one month pregnant at the time."

The words hung in the air.

He froze.

The hand holding the hatchet began to tremble, spasming uncontrollably.