Silly Bride

Chapter 274
Xavier froze for a while. He had tried his best to recall it, but he drew a blank.“Xavier?” Josiah was worried that something had
happened to Xavier when he noticed his unfocused eyes, so he gently patted his arm. “It’s fine if you can’t remember. Just get
well first.”“No!” Xavier did not want to end the topic just yet. He grabbed Josiah’s arm. “It’s true that I don’t remember much about
what happened after Yulissa showed me the video, but”—Xavier drew his brows together—“you know that Jacinta’s words can’t
be fully trusted. I’m still looking into her.”“I know,” Josiah answered. “We haven’t come to a conclusion for the fire at the Fairchild
residence yet. Even now, I still think of Jacinta as a suspect. But, Xavier, as I said, I was walking in front of Rachel back then,
and Winnie came down soon after me. Just as she came out, Christopher fell onto the roof of the car. She asked Christopher
about it. Although Jacinta’s words can’t be fully trusted, Christopher said your name. As far as I know, Christopher was an honest
man. Do you think he would lie before he died?”Xavier looked at Josiah in silence. A few seconds later, he frowned and asked,
“Do you also think that I pushed Christopher off? Do you think I killed him on purpose?”“That’s not what I’m saying, Xavier! Calm
down,” Josiah replied. “I just want to figure out what happened back then. You were involved, but you can’t remember anything,
and we can’t trust Jacinta’s words. That’s why the only thing we can do now is to reason. No one knows what happened—
whether it was you who made a mistake or it was someone else who pushed Christopher off. We know none of this right
now.”“What about Yulissa?” Xavier’s frown deepened. “Is she saying the same things as Jacinta?”“She... killed herself. You don’t
remember it, but she and Christopher are dead. Jacinta’s the only witness now.” Josiah sighed. “But don’t worry. Even if you did
push Christopher off, it’s understandable. After all, you were in a terrible mental state at that time. You were a victim too.”A beat
later, Josiah asked, “What did Yulissa show you that made you lose control?”“She said...” Xavier started, Yulissa’s words ringing
in his head again.She had said that Christopher and Winnie were willing to give up on their dignity for each other and that the
two of them had made a promise to be together in their next lives.She even said that he had been cuckolded a long time ago.
Without him, Winnie and Christopher would have been together.She also told him that everything Christopher did was to
separate him and Winnie and that Christopher wanted him gone from this world.That was not all. In the end, she even told him
that as long as he pushed Christopher off the building and killed him, Winnie would be his alone.Those were the things he could
remember Yulissa telling him. What happened after that was something he could not remember at all.“I think I took a look at the
video at that time. I saw Dumbo hugging Christopher, and Christopher wasn’t wearing any clothes. I was really...” Xavier could
not continue as he tightened his fists. Seconds of silence later, he suddenly said to Josiah, “I’ll turn myself in.”“What?” Josiah,
who was still reeling in from the shock, was snapped back to reality by Xavier’s words.“Why would you turn yourself in?”
Regardless of everything, Josiah was on Xavier’s side. “I told you that you were a victim too. You can’t be legally prosecuted for
what happened while you were mentally unstable. If we go by the books, even if you want to turn yourself in, you can’t do it in
Avenport. You’ll have to go to Yeringham in Manchernius instead.”“Is... that so?” Xavier stiffened for a second before curling his
lips into a bitter smile. “Do me a favor and ask Professor White whether or not the drug Yulissa injected me will affect my

intellect.”Josiah’s jaw dropped. “I don’t think there’s any issues with your intellect if you can say that. Still, what prompted you to
think that? Do you know how serious things will be if you turn yourself in?”“What prompted me to think that?” Xavier wondered
out loud. “It’s because it’s very likely that I was the one who pushed him. If that’s the truth, I’ll have to bear the responsibility for
that. Even Christopher himself said my name.”“Then maybe...” Josiah did not wish to suspect Christopher’s involvement, but he
could not truly dismiss that possibility either. “Maybe he said that on purpose. As Yulissa said, he wanted to sow discord between
you and Winnie. That’s not completely impossible, is it?”Xavier fell silent. He did not know the answer to that. Christopher was
dead, and the dead could not prove his innocence.Josiah fell silent as well. Truth be told, he did not wish to do mindless
guessing, but Xavier being the culprit was a genuine possibility.All of a sudden, a firm female voice rang out, breaking the silence
in the air.“That’s impossible. He would never do that. I have faith in him!”Xavier recognized the voice even before the owner of
the voice entered. He quickly got out of bed and hurried to the doorway.“Winnie!” Xavier pulled her into his arms and hugged her
tightly. “You’re finally here. I miss you so much.”Winnie, however, did not respond to the hug.She looked past Xavier’s shoulders
and met Josiah’s eyes.As she stared at him, she hissed, “He’s dead, so can you stop the mindless guessing?”Josiah did not see
her scolding coming, and he frowned in response.“I just refuse to believe that Xavier was the one who pushed Christopher off. I
don’t mean to tarnish Captain Bennett’s reputation; I’m only mentioning one of the many possibilities.”Winnie closed her eyes
and took in a deep breath. “Then I’ll tell you one more time that it is impossible.”Josiah tried to hold himself back, but he failed.
“So you’re telling me that Christopher is the only one who speaks the truth? Am I not even allowed to point out a possibility? If
you believe in Christopher’s words, that means you think Xavier was the one who pushed him off. Is that what it is?”Rage
suddenly crashed into Josiah like a tidal wave as he continued, “I know you’ve experienced some things with Christopher—even
life-and-death moments. But here’s the thing, Winnie. You, Xavier, and I have been through life-and-death moments too. When
you wanted to head to that place to save your granny, Xavier and I went without a word of complaint. Do the perilous situations
we’ve been through and the injuries Xavier and I sustained mean nothing to you? Are we not worthy of your trust? Xavier’s head
hasn’t properly recovered, and I’m still in a wheelchair. Yes, Christopher’s dead, but can only the dead gain your unwavering
trust?” Winnie had been overwhelmed with fury earlier when she heard Josiah’s harsh words toward Christopher despite the
latter’s tragic death. That was why she had been equally harsh with Josiah.She did not consider the consequences and did not
expect Josiah’s response to be that bad.Taking in a deep breath, she said, “I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just feel
bad. I can’t help the negative emotions from seeping out of me.”Josiah, too, felt that he had made a mountain out of a molehill,
as Xavier did not even say anything.A pause later, Josiah said, “Enjoy your talk. I’ll excuse myself now. Anything I say is wrong
anyway.”With that, he wheeled himself out of the ward.Winnie turned to look at him. There were some things she wanted to say
to him to diffuse the tension between them, but she was not in the mood to do that just yet.After Josiah left, Xavier and Winnie
were the only ones left in the ward.Xavier had already let go of Winnie when Winnie began arguing with Josiah.Now that Josiah
was gone, Xavier did not hold himself back from staring at Winnie in silence.Winnie lifted her head to glance at Xavier before
helping him sit up from the bed.However, Winnie remained standing.Seeing that, Xavier held her hand to guide her to sit down

beside him.Winnie continued to stay quiet, her silence fueled by guilt.Not long after she returned, the police had come to get a
statement from her.She and Christopher had sent important information back to the government when they were at Harold’s
place, but Christopher had been missing in action since then. That was why the police had come to her.Her time with the police
was not only to authenticate the information they had given to them, but they also ended up talking about Christopher’s missing
status as well.Winnie chose to be selfish about the matter.She lied to the police, saying that she saw Christopher falling off the
building, and didn’t tell them what Jacinta said.She said she knew nothing and heard nothing. All she knew was that the scene
on the rooftop had been chaotic and that many people had died at that time. She was uncertain how Christopher had ended up
falling off the building.As the incident happened overseas, the local police could not file an investigation in Avenport, and that
was how Winnie removed Xavier’s involvement from the incident.Winnie could not deny that she was selfish. She wanted to
keep her loved ones safe. Even if she had a second chance to make things right, she might choose to do the same thing.Still,
guilt would fill her insides. She felt sorry for Christopher, and that was why she could not bear to hear Josiah talk badly about
Christopher.At that moment, looking at Xavier only made her feel worse, so much so that when Xavier lowered his head to kiss
her, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she moved away.Xavier was startled by her action, but he soon came back to his
senses.“Even if I had pushed Christopher off the building when I wasn’t myself, you still couldn’t face me, could you?”Winnie
looked at Xavier, her eyes red. “I know you definitely didn’t mean it. I know you were a victim too, but you’re right. I don’t think I
can face you right now, and I don’t think I can face myself either.”After that, she choked out, “I just came back from the police
station after spending almost five days there. I’m tired; I want to rest. You... You should rest too.”She then stood up, planning to
leave.Xavier could understand what Winnie felt at that moment.If he were to put himself in her shoes, no matter how much he
loved her, he might not be able to bring himself to face her for a while if she were to lose control of herself and kill
Josiah.Although he couldn’t control his illness when he pushed Christopher off the building, he still wouldn’t forgive a mentally ill
person who killed his friend or family easily.Any normal person would hate the crazy culprit. Even if the law were to give the
culprit a verdict of not guilty, a normal person would still be cursing death to the culprit until their last breath on Earth.Xavier told
himself that, at that very moment, what he should do was let her go and let her rest. If needed, the two of them would stay
separated for a period of time.However, he could barely bring himself to do that.He was already reluctant to see Winnie go just
as she took two steps away from him.In the end, his emotions won his rationality, and he abruptly hugged Winnie from behind.As
he wrapped his arms around her, his chest constricted, refusing to let any fresh air into his lungs.“Winnie,” Xavier breathed. The
sorrow in his eyes was obvious to the naked eye. “You’ve never even asked if I’m fine since you entered the room. Do I no longer
hold a place in your heart? The first thing I did when I woke up was to look for you. Grandpa told me that the police took you
away, and Josiah told me that I might have accidentally killed Christopher. He told me you saw Christopher falling right next to
you. I even thought about turning myself in because I wanted to see you, even if it means that I’ll be at the police station. Winnie,
my head hurts. You came in and started talking to Josiah, but you never even talked to me. I didn’t have the chance to ask you
anything too. How is your arm? Does it still hurt? How did you leave back then? How have you been these days? Have you been

eating well? Have you been sleeping well?”Winnie’s tears fell. She turned around and buried her face in Xavier’s chest.“I want to
talk to you. I want to pretend that those things never happened. Love is selfish. The love I have for you triumphs over my
friendship with Christopher. To me, you’re more important than him. But he’s dead; he’s gone, and I can’t get over that yet. I
know why you lost control that day. It’s because of the video Yulissa showed you. I know that some of my words in the video will
upset you, but I didn’t betray you. He was dying, and I couldn’t bear to let him die without getting his peace. If this was why you
pushed him, then this whole thing is my fault. I was the one who said those words that made you lose control. I feel horrible,
Xavier. I’ve never felt as horrendous as this in my life. It feels as if I’ve fallen into the abyss. In fact, I also accepted a mission
from Wilhelm when we were in Jipsdale. I’m planning to make a trip back to Yartran in the next few days. I need to give my family
an explanation about that missing badge. Take care of yourself when I’m not around.”With that, Winnie wiped her tears away and
turned to leave the ward.