Burn Me Once Burn With Me (Ruby Grayson) novel Chapter 657

Ruby offered a faint, fleeting smile before her expression flattened into total indifference, as if the moment had never happened.

Monica's passive-aggressive whining meant absolutely nothing to her.

Perhaps the old Ruby would have spiraled into self-doubt or guilt upon hearing those words, but the current Ruby had mastered the art of shutting it all out.

Grandma rubbed her temples in exasperation. She stole a cautious glance at Ruby, searching for any sign of a reaction, but found absolutely nothing. Not a single ripple of emotion.

"Get out."

Suddenly, after biting his lip in prolonged silence, Cassian finally spoke.

Monica's eyes lit up immediately, acting as if she had just found her ultimate shield.

She straightened her back and glared triumphantly at Ruby. "What are you still standing here for? Didn't you hear him? He told you to get out!"

She lifted her chin arrogantly, practically vibrating with smug satisfaction.

Ruby raised an eyebrow.

Hugging Mira close, she turned to leave without a second of hesitation.

The sky wasn't entirely black yet; there was still time to make the drive back to Southgarde Estate.

"I meant you."

Cassian snapped urgently, his jaw clenched tight.

Though his words were directed at Monica, his eyes remained desperately locked onto Ruby's retreating back, terrified that if he didn't speak fast enough, she would vanish completely.

Monica froze instantly, her triumphant expression shattering. She stared at him in utter disbelief.

She pointed a trembling finger at her own nose. "Me?"

Cassian shot her a freezing glare, then looked away, entirely unwilling to waste another breath on her.

Monica felt her entire world crash down. Humiliation burned through her, turning her face—and neck—a deep, mortifying red.

Grandma inhaled sharply, forced to step in to do damage control once again. "Alright, alright, Monica. He just woke up, he needs absolute quiet to recover. He clearly meant for all of us to leave."

"We'll leave one of the staff in here to keep an eye on him. Everyone out! Let's go!"

Grandma pressed a hand to her temple, waving her other hand to herd everyone out the door.

The moment the bedroom door clicked shut, the desperate light in Cassian's eyes completely extinguished.

His shoulders slumped heavily into the pillows, his entire body radiating the aura of a man who had just been doused in freezing water.

The maid assigned to stay behind held her breath, shrinking into the corner and sneaking cautious glances at his devastated expression.

"Tell me... If someone made a terrible mistake. A mistake that inflicted severe damage on someone else. If that person wants to apologize, wants to fix it... how do they do it?"

Sent to prison for a year... Lost her dream career...

Wasn't that exactly what happened to the ex-wife?!

*Gasp—*

She inhaled sharply, realizing that every hypothetical question he had just asked was directly about his dark history with Ruby.

Her survival instincts kicked into overdrive, and she frantically tried to backpedal.

"Well... maybe it's not entirely impossible! But I think if someone truly wants to earn forgiveness, their attitude has to be absolutely sincere."

At the word 'sincere,' a tiny, fragile glimmer of light returned to Cassian's pitch-black eyes.

He looked back up at her. "Sincere? How much more sincere can I be? Money, power, love—I'm willing to give her everything."

The maid shook her head. "That's not how it works. If a person already has access to all those things, the woman they're entangled with usually doesn't care about them either."

Cassian sank back down, pressing his lips tightly together in silence.

Seeing this, the maid rushed to explain. "True sincerity means walking in her shoes. It means forcing yourself to walk the exact path she was forced down, to genuinely feel the exact suffering she endured. Only when you achieve true empathy do you even earn the right to ask for her forgiveness."

Cassian didn't respond immediately. His eyes shifted slightly, deeply absorbing every single word the maid had just said.