Chapter 50 Once Given, It Can Never Be Taken Back
"Actually..." Juniper was about to tell him. About to reveal that Jennifer was actually his daughter.
Magnus pressed a clean bandage to her bleeding chest firmly and urged, "Shut up! Juniper, listen to me, we're almost at the hospital; you're not going to die! You need to conserve your strength and stay conscious!"
Juniper winced in pain, furrowing her brow.
Holding her hand tightly, Magnus said firmly in her ear, "Listen, Juniper, I haven't forgiven you yet. What you owe me, you'll pay back personally! Cheating death is the easy way out, and I won't let you atone that way. That would be letting you off too easily!"
"Consider this stab I took for you as payback for the one you suffered in prison. But... Magnus, I might not be as lucky to barely survive... like you did. Promise me, even if... even if I don't make it and you learn some things, don't blame me, don't hate me anymore. I... I hope you can start over..."
Start again.
But before she could finish her sentence, Juniper's grip on the diamond ring loosened, and her hand fell limply to her side.
"Clang—"
The ring, hanging from a silver chain, rolled onto the floor.
Magnus froze.
His body rigid with shock, he could only watch as Juniper passed out before him.
"Juniper..."
He tried to call out to her but found himself, in desperation, voiceless.
The man's eyes were bloodshot, as if they were bleeding themselves.
He didn't dare to move her, just stood helplessly by her side, his voice sinking with helpless urgency, "Juniper... wake up... Juniper... please, wake up... Didn't you want to go see the ocean? I'll take you... just wake up..."
But Juniper lay there, unresponsive.
Magnus's hands were covered in Juniper's blood, and he looked around in a daze for the ring that had fallen to the ground.
He picked up the ring and tried to place it in Juniper's hand.
But Juniper couldn't hold it.
The ring fell to the ground again.
It was as if it could never be held onto.
A crushing sense of loss washed over him like a turbulent wave, engulfing Magnus entirely.
Magnus knelt there, his eyes bloodshot, his expression numb.
A single tear rolled down.
It landed on the back of Juniper's hand.
...
Finally, the ambulance arrived at the city hospital.
Juniper and Anthony were both rushed into the operating room.
Magnus stood outside the OR, silent.
Until a nurse came over with the surgery form asking, "Who is the family of the patient?"
"I am."
Magnus held the pen with a slightly trembling hand and swiftly signed his name on the form.
"How is she doing now?" he asked.
The nurse replied sincerely, "It's unclear at the moment, the dagger penetrated her left chest, possibly reaching the heart. We can't say for sure right now!"
Magnus slumped into a seat, despondent.
Throughout the surgery, Magnus hung his head, lost in thought.
Unable to gauge his emotions, Joseph walked over to the vending machine to buy him a bottle of water, "Mr. Blackwood, have some water. The longer the surgery, the safer Miss Beaumont is likely to be. She'll pull through."
Magnus took the water and held the bottle without opening it, murmuring, "I won't lie, I've imagined her feeling the same pain, a blade piercing her chest. But tonight, she stepped in front of me and took the stab for me..."
"So, Mr. Blackwood, do you regret seeking revenge on Miss Beaumont?" asked Joseph.
Magnus shook his head uncertainly, "I don't know, I truly despised her."
Magnus was always resolute and decisive.
He knew precisely what he wanted, more than anyone else.
His ambitions were formidable in their clarity and precision.
In the bloodstained arena of fame and fortune, he was an ambitious force to be reckoned with—a byword for decisive action and thunderous tactics.
Each decision he made was chillingly correct, sending shivers down his rivals' spines.
Yet, when it came to Juniper... He despised her to the bone, yet his heart softened to a fault.
Joseph had never seen Magnus so paradoxically torn.
It was as if a steadfast belief within him had been suddenly unsettled by Juniper.
The knife she took for him tonight could easily crumble the impregnable fortress inside Magnus's heart.
...
Juniper had an extensive dream, seemingly set in a marshland.
The harder she struggled, the deeper she sank.
A dull ache throbbed in her chest—lacking any sense of reality.
She found herself enveloped in an endless expanse of white light.
Behind her, Jennifer was calling out, "Mom! Don't go!"
Instinctively, she turned to look.
Jennifer ran towards her. She wanted to embrace her daughter, but as if Jennifer couldn't see her, she passed right through her body!
Stunned, Juniper looked down at herself, her body gradually becoming translucent...
Meanwhile, in the operating room.
"We've got a problem! The patient's blood pressure has dropped to forty!"
"Beep—"
...
Was she dying?
But there was so much left undone.
On the day Jennifer and Ophelia celebrated her birthday, she had made three wishes over her birthday cake—
She wished Magnus would let go of his hatred;
She hoped to save enough money to take Jennifer and her mother out of the Big City, to start anew where nobody knew them, together forever;
And, she wished for Magnus to find happiness.
Yet as death approached, it seemed Magnus had still not forgiven her.
What would become of Jennifer and her mother, left alone in the world?
A wave of sorrow washed over Juniper.
Darkness engulfed her suddenly.
She saw Magnus standing before her, his face stern as he uttered each word with resolute finality, "Juniper, I can never forgive you."
The scene shifted, and she saw Magnus holding Jennifer by the collar, his demeanor as ferocious as a demon's.
"Do you really think I would accept that bastard child of yours? She's a mistake, she never should have existed!"
Magnus suddenly released his grip.
Jennifer screamed as she fell into the bottomless abyss.
"No, don't..."
She couldn't die; she had to save Jennifer.
For four relentless hours, the long surgery finally came to an end.
The doors to the operating room burst open.
Three lead surgeons emerged.
"The dagger has been removed, thank goodness. Although it was deeply embedded, we're lucky—it missed the heart by less than half an inch. The patient is out of critical danger now."
Every tense nerve in Magnus's body relaxed in that instant.
He completely relaxed, losing all his supportive strength.
As he stood up, his tall and proud figure swayed slightly.
As he stood up, swaying slightly, a sense of relief washed over him.
...
Juniper was out of danger, but due to the severity of her injuries, she couldn't wake up for some time.
Magnus remained by her bedside, vigilant.
Joseph brought midnight snacks. "Mr. Blackwood, you haven't had dinner, please eat something."
Magnus had no appetite and only asked, "How's Anthony?"
"I just checked with the doctors; he's not as badly hurt as Miss Beaumont, he should be fine."
"You keep an eye on Anthony. Tonight's assassin must have been sent by an enemy to silence us."
Joseph pondered, "Could it be... Alexander Beaumont?"
Magnus glanced at the still unconscious Juniper.
"Let's wait for Juniper and Anthony to wake up before we discuss this further. Keep it quiet for now. Handle the hospital matters."
"Okay."
Once Joseph left.
Magnus leaned over and placed the silver chain with the ring back around Juniper's neck.
Lyra Callahan had said returning the ring would restore it to its rightful owner.
But Lyra Callahan was wrong; Juniper was the true owner of the ring.
Some things, once given, could never be taken back.
Like those unintended fleeting moments of infatuation, plunging him deeper into enchantment.
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