Chapter 491: I finally told them the truth about my past life-All of it

I leaned my head against the cool glass of the car window, watching the city lights of the capital shrink into tiny, insignificant dots and the sun setting quite beautifully in the distance.

It was nice to have rides like this from time to time.

The higher we climbed into the hills, the more the air seemed to clear, losing that heavy, suffocating scent of Alphas and expensive perfumes.

The silence in the car wasn’t awkward—it was expectant, as if we had all lived for this day.

Hah, to think it only took two days for Seo-Jun to make the call and find a house like this.

Come to think of it, the mansion was originally his before he sold it for their collective stay.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he owned this house before now, but never had a use for it.

Ah, I wish to find a secret library in it if this was once his house.

"We’re almost there," Ki-hoon murmured. He was sitting right next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. He wasn’t grabbing me or pulling me into his lap. He was just... there. Giving me enough space to feel free.

I didn’t answer. I just kept my eyes on the dark trees passing by. My heart was thumping frantically against my ribs, a countdown I couldn’t stop.

Once I’m on my own ground. Once I can lock the door... It was like a promise to myself. A heavy promise.

The car finally slowed, the tires crunching over gravel before coming to a smooth halt.

"The weeping willow," I whispered, seeing the massive, swaying tree in the center of the courtyard.

Gosh, I expected a tree, but it looked even better than I’d imagined. It looked like a place where a person could actually breathe.

"Told you I’d get you a tree," Seo-Jun grunted, stepping out of the car and holding the door open for me.

He reached for my elbow, but he didn’t grip it. He just hovered there, making sure I didn’t trip over my own shaky legs.

I stepped out, the mountain air hitting my face like a cold slap. It was refreshing. I walked toward the front door, my hips still aching with every step, a blunt reminder of the last forty-eight hours.

The house was way smaller than the mansion, but it was beautiful, made of stone, wood, and massive windows. No cameras. No biometric scanners that only they could open.

"Here," Jin-Yeok said, stepping up beside me. He didn’t reach for the handle. Instead, he placed a heavy, silver key into my palm.

My fingers trembled as I took it. It was cold, but it was real.

I turned the lock myself. The sound of the bolt clicking back was the loudest thing I’d ever heard.

Inside, the house smelled of cedar and brand-new silk. It was empty of their scents, a blank slate waiting for me to fill it. Min-Cheol rushed in behind me, dropping my bag on a plush sofa and looking around with wide, anxious eyes.

"Do you like it, Hyung? We can change anything. The rugs, the lights—just say the word."

"It’s perfect, Little Min," I said, my voice sounding small in the high-ceilinged room.

I walked to the center of the living room and turned around. They were all standing in the foyer, silhouetted against the light of the setting sun outside. They looked like giants, like the powerful Alphas the world feared, but right now, they just looked... waiting.

"Sit," I said.

It wasn’t a request. It was the first command I’d ever given them in this house.

Seo-Jun blinked, his jaw dropping for a split second before he smirked and dropped onto a leather armchair. Ki-hoon and Jin-Yeok shared a look before sitting on the sofa, and Min-Cheol hovered by the edge of the coffee table, looking like he was ready to bolt or cry.

I reached up, my fingers brushing the gold lily brooch on my chest. The metal was warm from my skin.

"I told you I’d tell you about my past lives, right?" I began. My voice was shaking, but the clarity was there. The spark of the anger I’d been burying for three lives finally flickered to life. "And you said you’d believe me. You said you’d listen."

"We’re listening, Jo-Pil," Jin-Yeok said, his baritone grounding the room.

I looked at them—really looked at them. I saw the hands that had massaged my feet, the mouths that had fed me strawberries, and the eyes that had watched me sleep with such tenderness.

Then, I let the memories of the other hands, the other mouths, and the other eyes flood back.

"This is... my third life," I stated.

The silence that followed was heavy, like the air right before a lightning strike.

"In my second, I was no one. Just an orphan who lived like everybody else."

I saw Seo-Jun shift, and I wonder if he remembered when I told him about my dream of living another life before this one.

The one where I told him I had been alone and, of course, died alone too. I told him I had drowned but...

"The reason I get scared of the water right now is because I died by drowning," I said. I specifically committed suicide just to come back to this world, but let’s not get into details.

I saw Ki-hoon’s hand tighten on the armrest. I saw Min-Cheol’s face replaced by a sudden, sharp frown.

"Anyway, that was my second life, but my first..." I placed my hand over my face, the words about to leave my lips and create chaos in their lives. "In the first, I was Jo-Pil, just as I am now. I was unfortunate, landed in debt thanks to my brother, and became a slave. Pretty much everything that started in our beginnings."

My heart was racing, hammering frantically in my chest like a trapped bird.

"But there was a very stark difference from then and now. Unlike now, in my first life, you... You didn’t love me then," I continued, my voice growing colder, sharper, and slowly breaking. "The love you’re so proud of right now? It didn’t exist. Back then, I was a slave, and you very well treated me like one. A breeding machine, chained to your beds. I was beaten until I couldn’t scream. I was choked by these very hands that now hold me gently."

My voice got caught, and I covered my mouth, the memory coming back in waves, and then I closed my eyes.

"There was not a day that you did not torture me into submission, breaking me and doing whatever you liked. I was bruised everywhere. I was..." The tears began to fill my eyes before I could even hold them.

It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s all just a bad memory. It’s all gone now. It’s not... real.

I couldn’t look up at them at this point. I could just... keep talking.

"After all the torment, I got pregnant and fulfilled my role as your breeding slave. Four times, I got pregnant. Four times, I went through hell of childbirth and four times... I cursed you all. And then, after the fourth child, I... Died. I threw myself out of the window while you all begged me to forgive you and start over. You claimed you loved me then, a love that was nothing but obsession and cruelty. I lived through the horror and finally ended it with my hands. That..." I sniffed and finally lifted my head. "Is the hell I had to go through in my first life. And that is why the nightmares never go away."

I watched the color drain from Min-Cheol’s face. I watched the way Jin-Yeok went perfectly, terrifyingly still. I watched how Seo-Jun looked like he had completely lost his soul. And I watched the disgust creep up Ki-hoon’s face to the point he wanted to puke.

"So," I whispered, the weight of the secret finally lifting, leaving me feeling raw and dangerously light as tears rolled down my face. "Now that you know... now that you know what monsters you were to me... what are you going to do to atone for a life you don’t even remember?"