The Villianess's Redemption (HYUNJIN ff) ✓

37. Fractured Mask and Buried Pain

Chapter 37: Fractured Mask and Buried Pain
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Y/N's pov
The room fell into a stunned silence, the weight of her words crashing over us like a suffocating wave. My heart thudded painfully in my chest, each beat echoing the disbelief I felt. Jasmine… she wasn’t denying it anymore. She was admitting it. The truth was now out in the open, and it was worse than any of us could have imagined.

Hyunjin stepped forward, his face contorted with anger and hurt. "Why, Jasmine?" His voice trembled with rage, but beneath it was a deep, raw pain. "Why did you have to do it? Jisung…" He swallowed hard, his fists clenched at his sides. "He had feelings for you, Jasmine. Did you know that? He liked you."

Jasmine’s expression didn’t change, she just had a neutral face.

Hyunjin’s anger erupted, his voice rising. "Jisung was going to confess to you! After the ball, he was going to tell you everything! And you......." He stopped, his voice choking with emotion. "You killed him. You betrayed him."

I flinched at the raw emotion in Hyunjin’s words. Hearing the truth, laid bare like that, made the reality even harder to swallow. My throat tightened, and I fought the urge to cry, the weight of Jisung’s loss pressing down on me like a vice.

But then I had to ask the question that had been gnawing at me ever since we discovered the truth. "Jasmine," I began, my voice barely a whisper. "You’re Changbin and Donghyuk’s sister ? This whole time… you’ve been working with them?"

Jasmine’s laugh returned, but this time it was bitter, almost self-mocking. “Yes,” she said, her voice carrying a tinge of exhaustion. “I’m their sister. I’ve done everything I had to prove my worth to them. To show them I’m not the failure my family sees me as.”

Everyone in the room exchanged shocked glances, but I kept my eyes on her, watching as her mask of bravado began to crack.

"Since I was born," Jasmine continued, her voice trembling, "I’ve been nothing but a disappointment to my parents. A girl, born into the Seo family. They looked at me like I was a mistake....like I didn’t belong. I wasn’t even allowed to step foot outside the house. I lived my entire life locked up, hidden away because they thought I wasn’t worthy of being part of the family."

Her words hung heavy in the air, and I could see the flicker of emotion cross Hyunjin’s face, the anger warring with something close to pity.

"The only reason I was ever allowed outside was because of my brothers. When they came up with this plan, I saw my chance. I could prove to them that I wasn’t useless, that I could be someone they respected, someone who had value. By helping them, I got the chance to finally see the outside world." Jasmine smiled to herself, but it was a broken smile, her eyes distant as she lost herself in the memories of her confined life. "I would’ve done anything for that. Anything to feel like I belonged."

My heart clenched at her words. For a brief moment, I felt the weight of her pain, the unimaginable isolation she had endured. But then the anger returned, sharper than before, as the reality of what she had done crashed back down. She had killed Jisung. She had betrayed us.

"But You won't understand." Jasmine whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "None of you could ever understand what it’s like to be treated like you don’t matter, to be hated for something you can’t control. I didn’t ask to be born a girl in that family! And when my brothers came to me with their plan, I wasn’t going to waste the only chance I had. I wasn’t going to be locked up again."

Her tears fell freely now, but she was laughing too, a hollow, bitter sound. "None of you will ever sympathize with me. You’ve all had freedom. You’ve all had lives. I’ve had nothing. I know I killed Jisung, but I had to! I wanted my family’s affection so badly… and if that meant killing someone to get it, I was willing to......."