18. What is Justice?
18
What is Justice?
R OSELIN kissed Ryu’s chest. The warm stream of the shower washed over them. He squeezed her butt, looking over her shoulder to see them. “I have to go to work,” Ryu said, kissing her neck as he turned off the water.
“It’s late.” Roselin pouted. Ryu put his finger on her lips, and she bit it playfully.
He pulled her in for a kiss. “I need the dark.” Ryu stepped away.
The cold air greeted her, and a shiver ran down her spine. She took the big, fluffy towel, the fabric soft on her skin. Ryu grabbed his suit and would look as dashing as ever. Naked was even better, though.
She grabbed her pyjamas, but he stopped her. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He threw the silky garments into the corner.
“Why do you need the dark?” she asked, wrapping a blanket around herself. Her stomach twisted as it dawned on her, and she wished she could take back the question.
“Hunting,” Ryu casually said.
As he walked away, she grabbed his arm. “Please don’t kill anyone.”
He stopped, meeting her eyes before scanning her face. “I thought we agreed on the one killer lowering the number and such.”
Roselin worried her bottom lip between her teeth. What if he didn’t consider all the evidence? Innocent people have been executed by enforcers before, and they had a complete trial. Had Ryu made mistakes like that?
“This is who I am. I kill to take their sins.” His warm fingers curled around her chin. “How many die before these criminals are stopped?”
With that logic… “How many died because some people wanted my death? Should I be killed too, then?” She averted her gaze, but Ryu jerked her head, making her look at him again.
“Don’t ever say something like that. It’s not the same, and you know it.” His grip on her chin tightened lightly.
Roselin took his wrist, and he let go of her. “Please be careful.” It didn’t matter what else she said. Ryu was going to do what he deemed right, and she had to trust he would. Trust… the thing she struggled most with. “I guess I have to trust you again.”
“You make it sound like a chore,” he said, but she stayed silent. She stared into the distance as her stomach knotted. “Put on some clothes, and come with me so you can see and judge for yourself.” Roselin opened her mouth to protest, but Ryu continued before she could. “You can wait in the car when it happens.”
“I’d rather not be an accomplice to your crimes!”
His lips twitched at your crimes . “You won’t be.” He kissed her cheek and smacked her ass. “Now, put something on. You can be naked later.”
Not long after, they sat in the backseat as the Driver drove them. Him being here only made her more uncomfortable. As if she was in their group—Ryu’s clan—and she was unsure if she wanted to be included in their organisation or the world below the surface. Did that mean she didn’t want to be part of Ryu’s life? Her fingers intertwined with his. No, she wished to be with Ryu. But not in every aspect.
They stopped in front of another warehouse built into a distinctive style, but not the Dutch one she got used to. They must’ve been in a different section of the city. There weren’t a lot of buildings close by, and most seemed abandoned. This didn’t seem like the New Arcadia she was familiar with. Or the one most people learned about. Guess the prosperous, safe city of the next generations was made on fake promises and a deceptive appearance. The question remained: was she glad she knew, or was ignorance bliss?
Even though spring neared, the weather was cold. Ryu took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She gratefully accepted the extra warmth. They went through the high iron doors. Something in Ryu’s posture changed as he crossed the threshold and into a different world where he needed to be another person.
It was dark inside, and she inched closer to Ryu, but he let her hand fall from his. The Richter brothers waited in the massive empty space, and she wondered how many people there were in Ryu’s clan.
Dust and sand hid the stone floor. The windows were close to the ceiling, and even if someone managed to get that high to peek in, black plastic covered the glass. Two women stood in a dark corner. A man sat knees down on the ground. They tied his hands behind his back, and fabric concealed his head. The fact he couldn’t see her somehow calmed her nerves, and she didn’t like it. The last thing she wanted was to become comfortable.
“You told me I could wait in the car,” Roselin whispered to Ryu so softly she hardly heard herself.
“Please be a spectator for a moment,” Ryu said.
Another man wearing a suit and black gloves joined the two women. Burn scars covered the left part of his face and neck. Roselin could only guess how much of them ran down his body. The man seemed to be with Ryu—she recognised him from Ryu’s home—but who were the two women?
As if Ryu heard her thoughts, he said, “Those two women are the surviving relatives. That man—” Ryu pointed at the person on the ground, “murdered their father and two sons when he set their house on fire. Every memory, photo, birth certificate gone with their loved ones. He’s an arsonist. Had three wounded before, and I’m not even counting the animals, but that doesn’t seem to deter him from setting fires again. Now he has killed. Will he stop?” Ryu asked.
She felt Ryu’s stare burning into her. Was he expecting an answer? “Maybe with help… therapy.”
Ryu laughed. “Do you really think so?” he said, and she shook her head. “Tell me, keeper of ethics, what am I supposed to do?”
Roselin snapped her head at him. “Bring him before a judge?” she whispered, and her uncertainty echoed in her voice. Memories Roselin tried to bury away for so long flashed through her mind. She had been here before, and Roselin didn’t want to.
“We did. They did nothing. Not enough evidence, they say, but I found it pretty compelling. Fire burns all, but there are other ways to find the truth.”
Her stomach twisted, and she fought down the bile coming up. She still saw her mum’s lifeless eyes—blood on her hands, her hair… She met Ryu’s dark gaze. The muscles in his jaw twitched, his face betraying him for only a second as he waited for her to say something. Soft cries came from the corner where the women stood.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Please don’t make me part of this.” Her eyes begged him to let her go.
His finger grazed softly against her cheek before releasing her. Ryu beckoned the Driver. “Please take her home.”
The Driver nodded and held her arm. On the car ride back, Roselin fought against the tears that threatened to spill. Once at Ryu’s home, she rushed to the first room she could close the doors of. Ryu’s familiar cologne greeted her as she walked into his office. Her arms hugged tight around herself, and the silent tears she couldn’t stop streamed down her face.
The urge to control her feelings fought with her overwhelming emotions. Soft sobs pushed past her lips, and her chest tightened. She lowered herself to the ground. Shit, she longed for her mum. A scream wanted to escape her. She bit her bottom lip till she tasted blood.
Her nails dug into her arms. Roselin needed her mum to hold her, stroke her hair as she used to do, and tell her she’d be okay. She yearned to feel her mum’s warm skin once more, hear her voice, and laughter. The pain in her chest built up. Her sobs grew louder, and she buried her face in her hands. She would never see Mum again, hug her, kiss her.
Ryu’s scent intensified, and two comforting arms wrapped around her—shushing her, holding her safe in his embrace—his fingers wiping her tears away, but new ones quickly followed. His breath brushed against the skin of her neck. “I’m sorry, my Rose.”
“I killed him,” she stuttered between sobs.
Ryu squeezed her against him. “No, you did nothing. It was me.”
She shook her head. Another sob forced its way out of her. “No, I murdered him, and now I’ll never see my mum again.” Her lungs ached. Her heart hurt. The room began the spin.
“Deep breaths, Rose.” He kissed her cheek, his fingers stroking the little puncture wounds on her arm. “You’ll see your mum in the next life, Rose.”
“No, I won’t.” Her trembling hands wrapped around his arm, trying to find anything to hold on to and stop whatever was happening to her. “I took his life. I’m going to hell with all the other killers.”
Ryu held her chin and turned her face to him, resting his forehead against hers. “I’ll take every sin you ever had, Rose. You’ll see your mum again. You’ll go to the peaceful afterlife when you’re finished with your beautiful, fulfilling life here, and you’ll tell your mum all about it.”
“You can’t take other people’s sin.”
He kissed her, his taste lingering on her lips. “I’m a Sin Eater, my Rose,” he said, as if it explained everything in the universe.
Ryu picked her up and carried her upstairs to the shower. The water washed over them, their clothes still on, and the only one keeping her from falling was Ryu.
“Talk to me, my darling Rose,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
She looked up at him, his warm eyes meeting hers. “He killed my mum.” A sob left her lips. “And I murdered him, Ryu. I killed him because I was so angry. Because he was going to murder me too. But my mum—no one was helping me. Why was no one helping me?” Her voice broke off. “His face haunts my dreams, Ryu. Please… please , make him stop haunting me.” Her fingers tightened around his shirt. “You—Sin Eater… How—take my sins,” she stuttered between sobs.
Ryu took her face in his hands. “I can, but only after your death, which won’t happen for a long time.” His lips brushed hers again. “I’m sorry, my darling Rose.” He caressed her cheeks. “There’s a ritual I can do, and I’ll take all your sins like I’ve taken others. But, my love, this was not a sin.”
She tried to process his words, her body shaking against his. Her bottom lip trembled. “What did I do?”
“Self-protection, justice, the right thing,” Ryu listed.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know.” Ryu turned off the shower and helped her out of her wet clothes. The fluffy towel was soft on her skin as Ryu dried her off. A cold shiver ran through her. He grabbed his sweater and pulled it over her head.
“I thought you said no clothes?” She tried to smile, but the corner of her lips twitched awkwardly.
“Today is an exception.” Ryu tucked her in bed, nestling his warm body against her.
Her mind was empty, her body exhausted, and it didn’t take long before sleep took her over. Her last recollection was Ryu’s soft lips on her forehead and a quiet whisper telling Roselin he loved her. This time, when her ex tried to haunt her dreams, Ryu was there, his shadows protecting her. There were no scary faces. No dead bodies. Just Ryu.