Human Skin Mask

The familiar knocking sound rang out. The pen in Erina's hand stopped for a few seconds. She sighed and continued to look down at the paper, raising her voice just loud enough for the person outside to hear.

"Young master, come in."

Every night, as a habit from when Henry was young, after finishing his homework, he would go to Erina's room, sit quietly, and watch her for a long time before returning to his room.

Today was no exception, as soon as he entered, he climbed onto the bed, his dark eyes with long, sad eyelashes looking towards the desk where the girl was busy with stacks of books.

Henry sat still and remembered when he was little, he often pretended to fall asleep on Erina's bed. At times like that, she gently lifted his head, placed a pillow under his head, and covered him with a blanket.

If he tossed and turned, she would gently comfort him and sing a lullaby, then quietly spread a small mattress on the floor and sleep.

However, when Henry had just entered the middle school gate, the distance between them suddenly became farther and farther, and the one who created that distance was Erina, not anyone else.

She no longer lovingly comforted him when he was sad or worried and cared for him when he was sick like before.

After seeing her hug her pillow and blanket and go to the empty room next door to sleep a few times, he stopped intentionally staying overnight in her room.

Erina's father, Riley, and Clement's father, Max, were both employees of Hubert. Riley was the assistant to the president of Young Market, while Max was just the director of a small branch.

Hubert favored his close assistant and Max more than other employees. Outside of work, he did not care about their status and treated them as family. His family's luxurious trips at home and abroad always include them.

The incident happened on a summer night sixteen years ago. The luxurious mini yacht at sea suddenly caught fire and burned Riley and Max alive, causing the two children who had already lost their mother to also lose their father.

When the disaster struck, Erina followed Clement to the deck to play, so she and he were lucky to escape the hands of death. As for Hubert, because he went out on a small boat to get a barrel of wine from the staff, he avoided a tragedy.

After completing the funeral for his two subordinates, Hubert took responsibility for taking care of the two poor children, Erina and Clement. He took them both to live with his distant cousin on the Young Market company's grape farm.

A year later, Henry's mother, Miyeon, suddenly fell down the stairs and died. Hubert immediately brought Erina into his house to raise her, or rather, to let her stay by Henry's side to take care of him, who was only six years old at that time. As for Clement, he still stayed at the vineyard with Nelly.

Although there were many servants in the house, since his mother passed away, Henry did not let anyone touch him and did not eat or drink. Hubert saw that in the past, Henry often followed Erina every time she and her father visited the villa, so he came up with the idea of bringing her here.

Entering the luxurious villa as Henry's future wife, Erina always fulfilled her assigned duties, she took care of his every meal and sleep.

Time passed quickly, and the children of the past gradually grew up. In Henry's mind, he considered Erina his wife, he loved her with all the sincerity of a young man who had just begun to experience his first feelings.

The clock's hour hand slowly moved towards eleven, Henry still sat motionless, staring at the desk. He knew that Erina was deliberately pretending to be busy.

He didn't know since when, but even in normal conversations, she was very economical with words, to put it bluntly, she was avoiding him.

"Aren't you going to sleep? It's too late."

"You go to sleep first, I haven't finished studying yet."

"I'm making you uncomfortable, right?"

"Why do you ask that? I don't have any discomfort."

Erina stopped writing and turned her head to look at Henry. It's been a long time since she's looked straight at this handsome face.

"I don't bother you anymore. Go to bed early."

Henry sighed sadly, stood up, and walked straight. When he got to his room, he threw himself down on the mattress, staring at the ceiling. She was close to him, but he felt as if she were on the other side of the ocean.

Every day, he had to witness Erina and Clement walking back and forth together, which made him extremely uncomfortable. She happily sat on the bus with that man but never once shared a car with him to school.

When she was in sixth grade, he was in fourth grade, the two schools were far apart, and he was eager to quickly go to middle school. When she was in tenth grade, he was in eighth grade, so he wished for time to pass quickly.

By the time they entered the same university, Erina registered for classes that were completely out of sync with Henry's class time. He could only arrange his class schedule in the afternoon because in the morning he had to learn martial arts and shooting.

In the next room, Erina was no better, her heart was heavy with thoughts. During the months and days they were together, she loved Henry like a close relative.

The moment she arrived, seeing the little boy sitting huddled in the corner of the room, eyes filled with tears, looking scared, she hugged him and whispered that she would protect and take care of him.

It was not until the day Henry graduated from primary school that Clement suddenly told her that he suspected that their father's death was related to Hubert.

Clement said that once when Max was drunk, he accidentally lamented that Hubert was the reason why he had to raise his child alone, causing his child to lose his mother.

According to Max, he and Hubert were classmates in high school. After a while, they unexpectedly met again and Hubert invited Max to join him in establishing Young Market, a company specializing in the production and distribution of wine.

The agreement between them was very simple: Hubert contributed money, Max contributed labor, and the profits would be split equally.

However, when the company began to reap initial successes and gradually grew, Hubert said that the company's capital was insufficient and asked Max to contribute money, otherwise, he would have to find other shareholders.

Because Max trusted his classmate so much, the agreement when establishing the Young Market company was only verbal, the documents only had Hubert's name.

So, Max had to agree to hold the position of director of a small branch in a province and watch all his efforts be lost at the hands of his close friend.

Clement's mother was so sad when she saw her husband being tricked by his best friend that she became seriously ill and died.

Seeing the small Young Market company expanding day by day in the market made Max unable to accept it. He went to Hubert more than once to negotiate but only received gentle advice that he should be content with his current title and position.

A coincidence that made both Clement and Erina even more suspicious was that Miyeon and the future heir of Young Market, Henry, had not appeared on that fateful yacht from the beginning.

Many times, Erina sneaked into Hubert's study when he was away on business trips but found nothing.

Although she knew that no one would be foolish enough to keep things that would expose themselves, she always hoped to find some clues. As a result, she was disappointed again and again.

There was no other way, she and Clement had to wait patiently together and secretly search for traces of the person who drove the small boat to deliver wine in the past.

But many years have passed, detectives searched everywhere but still could not get any information about this man, not even a little bit. The money she and he inherited from their father was also gradually running out.

The lights in the two rooms next to each other suddenly went out. Erina leaned against the glass window, looking at the distant mountain, which was covered in black, with only a few dim high-pressure lamps. The warm sunshine of her heart was there, she didn't know if he was asleep or not.

While she was daydreaming, the phone in her hand rang softly, the screen clearly showed the number that she knew by heart and even though she didn't need to save the name, she knew it was Clement's phone number.

"Are you not sleeping yet?"

"You too. Missing me, right?"

"Yes." She replied shyly.

"I miss you too. What should I do? Even though we just met each other in the afternoon, I still miss you very much."

"Clement, tomorrow, I'll come to the farm to meet you. Remember, don't go anywhere."

"Okay, I'll wait for you. Erina, good night."

"You too."

Holding the phone close to her chest, she felt her heart beating rapidly. After being with him for so many years, she thought she was very familiar with him, but this afternoon, he suddenly confessed his love, making her so shy that she ran away.

Before, Erina thought that she was the only one who had a crush on him, but now that she knew that he had also secretly loved her for so long, she felt extremely satisfied.

She hopes they will quickly bring the culprit to light, avenge his father and her father, then go with him to a far away, peaceful place, build a home, and live happily together for the rest of their lives.

Erina came and sat at the prepared dining table. After more than ten minutes, Henry still hadn't appeared. Normally, even on weekends, when he didn't have to go to the martial arts school, he would still wake up very early and have breakfast with her.

"Young master hasn't woken up yet?" Erina turned to Lucia and asked.

"Maybe he has a day off today so he sleeps a little more. He came down here last night to get some wine to drink..."

Seeing Erina calmly take the bread and eat it quickly, Lucia stopped talking and quietly retreated into the kitchen to clean up.

Looking at the food and the chair opposite, then looking up at the stairs, Erina sighed softly. Some things have become habits, and if they don't repeat themselves one day, they will invisibly make people feel disappointed.

After swallowing the last piece of bread, she hurriedly went upstairs. Her feet were half-heartedly wanting to step into his room, but half-heartedly refusing.

After hesitating for a few minutes, she went straight to her room, took her bag, and quickly went back down.

"I'll go to the farm for a moment. If the young master still hasn't woken up, please go up and check on him, I'm afraid he'll have a fever again..."

"Yes, mistress."

Seeing Erina's figure disappearing behind the gate, Lucia shook her head in frustration. The older a person becomes, the colder and more insensitive they become.

Previously, when Miyeon passed away, Lucia was very worried about Henry, and only when Erina appeared did she feel somewhat relieved.

Although Erina was only two years older than Henry, she took care of him meticulously and thoughtfully, just like an adult. And then time made that warm girl change.

If it was before, when she saw that Henry wasn't awake, she probably would have run into his room to take a look, instead of calmly eating and drinking, then just giving a few instructions and disappearing like this.

The grape farm is in the harvest season, and the bunches of grapes glistening in the yellow sunlight look extremely attractive. Erina walked beside Clement, nimbly cutting each bunch of berries and putting them into the basket in his hand.

When the workers saw her, they immediately greeted her. When she passed by, they gathered together and began to talk excitedly. Except for the outsiders, everyone on the farm knew that she was their future mistress.

But in the past eight years, they saw that she was never with Henry but always with Clement like a shadow, going to school together, working in the vineyard together, and sometimes even climbing up the mountain together to wander.

"Do you have any information from the detectives?" Erina leaned over and asked softly.

"Not yet."

"When we jumped from the deck to the small boat, I was so panicked that I couldn't remember his face clearly. Are you sure the person in the photo is him?"

"Of course. When I was with my father at the provincial branch, I met him once in the bodyguards escorting Hubert on an inspection trip. I was wondering if he was killed?"

"It's possible. If so, then we have no hope left. That's the only clue."

Clement smiled, took her hand, and led her around the rows of grapes, then handed the basket full of grapes to a worker, and then pulled her straight to the mountain.

Usually, he went up the mountain every weekend to meditate with his master, but Erina had told him to wait for her today, so he waited to take her with him.

After more than two hours, the two of them reached the top of the mountain. Although they had climbed the mountain together many times, this was the first time she had climbed so high.

This picturesque mountain range was like a boundary separating province J and city K. Standing from above, one could see in the distance miniature high-rise buildings close together, just like Henry's toy models when he was a child. Erina had never set foot in the city known as the capital of country X.

After passing through several streams, the two of them stopped in front of a house hidden under the trees. Clement raised his hand to lift the loose bamboo branch and led Erina into the yard.

The view of the house evokes nostalgia and peace, making people's hearts calm down.

Clement had just said hello when an old man around seventy years old, with a rosy face and a long white beard that reached down to his neck, leisurely walked out. Although his figure was quite small, his voice was like a bell.

"This girl..."

"Her name is Erina, she is..."

"Hubert's daughter-in-law, Henry's future wife, right?"

After speaking, he laughed loudly, gently stroking his beard.

Clement nodded slightly, but Erina could only keep silent. She really didn't want to carry this vain title anymore. Fortunately, no one at the university knew.

"Erina, this is Mr. Orson. Please say hello to him." Clement turned to Erina and said gently.

"Mr. Orson, hello, I have heard of you for a long time but now I have the opportunity to meet you."

"Since I handed over the dojo to my disciples, it's been more than ten years since I've gone down the mountain, so of course you haven't seen me." Orson smiled slightly.

The teapot on the wooden table gradually ran out. Clement and Orson slowly talked about martial arts and their origins. Erina sat next to them, quietly observing the surroundings. She's not a martial arts practitioner so she doesn't understand what they're saying.

Orson was a famous martial arts instructor, and his relationship with Hubert was very close. As far as Erina knew, Hubert and Max were both martial arts students taught by Orson.

However, since the opening of the martial arts school, Orson had retreated to the mountains to live in seclusion. As for Hubert, he was constantly busy expanding farms and factories, so after entrusting Clement to Orson, Hubert rarely visited his master.

Erina's mind was confused with thoughts. If Hubert had intentionally killed Max, why did he let Max's son live, give him a good education, and then entrust him to Orson to learn martial arts? Wasn't Hubert afraid that one day Clement would find out and come back to take revenge on him?

"Is Henry still healthy?"

Orson took a sip of tea, turning his eyes as bright as the stars to Erina. Catching that gaze, her hands and feet trembled, wishing Clement would quickly take her away from this place.

"Yes, the young master is still well." She bowed her head and spoke softly.

Noticing that the person beside him was quite confused, Clement picked up the teapot and poured more tea into Orson's cup, smiling lightly.

"Henry has almost completed his studies at the martial arts school. He will probably come here soon to greet you."

"Yes. I also look forward to seeing him again."

After eating a few dumplings, they said goodbye to Orson and went down together. He carefully led her to the majestic waterfall not far from the mountaintop.

It was summer now, so both sides of the waterfall were covered with a carpet of bright red Rhododendron flowers. The silver water poured down from the high ravine, creating white foam like a large curtain swaying in the afternoon wind.

"Clement, I see that Hubert has always treated us very well. Could it be that we misunderstood him? Could it be that it was just an accident?"

"I can't be sure of anything until I have solid evidence. But if I don't find the truth, I will live in torment and doubt for the rest of my life."

He picked a flower and carefully placed it in her hair. The color of the flower is so beautiful and vibrant, just like the girl he loves.

Erina looked into his eyes, the corner of her lips smiling slightly.

"Clement, do you know the meaning of this flower?"

"This flower symbolizes love between couples, the steadfast and faithful love between husband and wife."

Erina gently leaned on Clement's shoulder, closed her eyes, immersed in the melodious melody of the mountains and forests, of the waterfall, and listened to him tell the touching and bitter story about the flowers that are known as the flowers that bring happiness and prosperity to people.

The legend tells of a king of the Shu kingdom named Du Yu, who was killed by a treacherous minister and turned into a Rhododendron bird, crying every day in the queen's flower garden.

Then, when the queen found out that it was her husband, she was so sad that she fell ill and died, her soul turned into a fiery red flower, blooming all over the hills. That is the Rhododendron flower. The Rhododendron flower and the Rhododendron bird stay together forever, becoming an immortal legend in the human world.

"What a sad story." Erina took down the flower from her hair and spoke sadly.

"But in the end, they can still be together." Clement held her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Clement, I will always be by your side, no matter what happens, I believe that in the end, we will definitely be together."

Looking at Erina's steadfast, sparkling eyes, Clement's happiness surged like a tidal wave. Hearing these words from her, he wanted nothing else. He felt very lucky that life had favored him, allowing him to meet her, get to know her, and love her.

"Erina, I will use my whole life to protect you, unless I can no longer breathe."

"What are you talking about? You have to protect yourself. If you were like King Du Yu, I would be like that queen."

Clement laughed, gently pinching Erina's rosy cheeks. He liked her fake sulky appearance, it looked extremely adorable. His strong hand gently ran through her hair and touched her white neck.

The distance between the two of them was getting closer. Erina felt his warm breath spreading all over her face. The first kiss was still awkward, just like a dragonfly gliding on the water's surface but brought her a lot of emotions.

"Erina, I love you."

Hearing the words of love whispered in her ear, she shyly buried her head in Clement's chest. Love is something so wonderful, it makes people float between the levels of happiness, both happy to have it, and afraid of losing it.

At this moment, she only hoped that those doubts were not true, if they were true, she was afraid that the future ahead of both of them would be filled with storms.

The shiny black car slowly drove into the university gate. Through the glass window, Henry looked for a familiar figure in each group of female students hurriedly walking out.

The dream of picking up Erina every day was far-fetched for him. He just wanted to go with her once like when he was a child, but it was so difficult.

Erina didn't want anyone to know about their ambiguous relationship, and he was afraid of making her angry, so he didn't dare stand in the middle of the schoolyard and shout to the whole university that she was his wife. But now, his thoughts were different.

As soon as Henry got out of the car, Mei suddenly ran up to him, clinging to his arm like a boneless snake. Her face was cheerful and her voice was sweet, giving him goosebumps.

"Henry, Happy birthday to you. Do you have any plans tonight, pub, bar, or club?"

"My dad is still on a business trip, I will have a party at home, not going to those places anymore."

"What? You've always held birthday parties at those places." Mei pouted.

"If you don't like it, you don't have to come. I haven't invited you yet." Henry removed her hand from his body, speaking indifferently.

"Who said I don't like it? Brother, are there many guests? Since when have you invited them? I didn't see any invitation cards from you."

"Just a group of close friends, about twenty people. I didn't invite them in advance, I'll tell them this afternoon, if anyone can arrange the time, they can come."

Mei chuckled. She knew he was just saying that, but once he opened his mouth, those twenty people would definitely be there.

She knew every nook and cranny of that villa very well. She thought that tonight if she showed off a little, she could make the tails following Henry fall off.

Although she always boasted that she and he had a close relationship since childhood, everyone pouted and didn't believe it because they never saw him pick her up or drop her off, even when she went out and got drunk, he didn't take her home.

The group of friends she played with were all children of tycoons, so even though the young ladies knew she was the daughter of Charles, a major shareholder in the Young Market company, they did not see it as an obstacle to retreat.

"It's time for class, are you going to stand there laughing forever?"

After saying that, Henry went straight to class. Mei hurriedly ran after him.

During the whole class, Henry couldn't concentrate. He was drunk that night so he woke up late in the morning. He heard Lucia say that Erina said she would go to the farm for a while, but in the end, she didn't come back until it was dark.

Because he was worried that she was tired and wanted to sleep early, he didn't dare to crawl into her room and tried to wait until the next morning. Unexpectedly, before the sun rose, she disappeared. Until now, he still couldn't see the figure of the person he loved.

"Young master, are you okay?"

A soft call rang out, bringing Henry out of his thoughts. He turned to the side and saw Venn's chubby face like a dumpling staring at him.

"You startled me."

"You're so strange. When she followed you around, you acted cold, now you're sitting there staring at her, completely absent-minded, forgetting to study."

Henry frowned and followed Venn's gaze, finally stopping on Mei's back. At this moment, she also turned her head, her pink lips pursed, her eyes flirting, making him cough a few times.

He didn't know that at the moment he was thinking about Erina, his eyes were glued to Mei.

"Come to my house tonight to attend the party." Henry leaned over and whispered.

"Do I have to bring a gift?" Venn chuckled.

"Just bring your body."

Venn nodded happily and looked up at the lecturer. For several years, he had always gone to the young master's birthday party for free, without giving him a gift.

His father was a worker for Hubert. After a few meetings at the farm, Henry considered him a friend. When he was old enough to get his driver's license, Henry asked him to be his driver, so he followed in his father's footsteps and continued to earn money from Henry's family.

After class ended, Henry quickly returned home. Although the servants had already taken care of and prepared everything for the party, he still wanted to personally check it out to make sure it was neat.

Tonight he wanted to officially announce his future wife's identity to his friends because he knew that only by doing so would she be shy and not dare to go out with Clement anymore.

"She didn't come home all afternoon?" Henry looked at Lucia and then looked out the main gate.

"No, sir." Lucia also looked at the gate, looking as impatient as him.

The sky was getting darker and darker. The party was about to start but Henry still didn't see Erina return. Her phone was unreachable, making his heart feel hot like it was on fire. But he couldn't keep the guests waiting for long, so he pursed his lips and went back inside.

Mei tried to act like she was the future mistress of the villa, enthusiastically greeting and arranging seats, and showing people the way to the restroom, making the rich girls annoyed.

"She really is Henry's childhood friend, you see, she knows his house so well." A girl spoke up.

"That doesn't mean anything. Her father is a shareholder of Young Market company. If she comes here often, then it's only natural that she's familiar with everything." Mabel curled her lips and replied.

Mabel is the daughter of the Niccol family, a famous family in J province and K city on the other side of the mountain range, specializing in the construction industry. As soon as she entered high school, she met Clement and admired him.

When it was time for her university entrance exam, although her father wanted her to move to the city to continue her studies, she refused and asked to stay in J province.

She used the excuse that she was familiar with the fresh climate here, afraid that the dusty environment would make her sick and affect her study results.

Although Mabel expressed her feelings more than once, in return she only received a firm statement from Clement that he already had someone in his heart.

Although she did not ask, she also knew that the girl was Erina because they were always together.

Once she shamelessly followed them, she discovered that Erina lived in Henry's magnificent villa. Because Mabel wanted to find out about the identity of the girl who held the heart of the man of her dreams, she quickly became close and became friends with Henry to ask him questions because she knew that his family had no daughters.

But after a long time, she could not get any information from the heir of the Young Market company. Henry just said that knowing him is enough to be friends with him, don't be curious about other things.

This afternoon, when he announced that he would be holding a birthday party at home, Mabel immediately skipped the family reunion dinner and ran here, just to find the answer.

But from the time the party started until now, Mabel did not see Erina anywhere, not even among the servants.

The road leading to the Villa area at night was completely still like a still-life painting. All the houses were closed, and the quiet atmosphere was far different from the bustling street outside.

At Erina's request, Fayre stopped the car a short distance from Hubert's villa. Fayre was the only friend Erina was close to, and also the one who understood her feelings.

Both of them have been close friends since middle school until now. Fayre studied Medicine, while Erina and Clement both registered for Business Administration following Hubert's orientation.

After class this morning, Erina and Clement went to the library to find some documents, then he went home first, while she called Fayre to meet her at school. Both girls took each other shopping, eating, and walking around until evening.

In previous years, Henry had celebrated his birthday at entertainment venues with his friends, but today he suddenly changed the location, so Erina had to wander outside, intentionally waiting for the party to end before returning.

If she hadn't accidentally heard the servants gossiping in the morning, she probably wouldn't have known about this house party. She secretly blamed Henry for not telling her. Could it be that he wants everyone to know about his relationship with her?

"Here are your things." Fayre took the paper bag from the back seat and gave it to Erina.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

"You bought these rolls of wool to knit a scarf for Clement, right?"

"No. I wanted to knit a scarf for Henry, I promised him I would give him one every year on his birthday when we were kids."

"Why are you just starting to knit now? Today is his birthday."

"I had finished knitting it a long time ago, but this morning when I took it out and put it in the box, I accidentally spilled the dye on it, so..."

Seeing Erina grimacing and complaining, Fayre couldn't help but laugh. She could only encourage Erina to try to stay up all night to finish knitting the scarf to give to her fake husband.

Waiting until the car was out of sight, Erina slowly walked towards the villa. Hearing that the courtyard was quite quiet, she reached out to ring the bell. A moment later, the maid ran out to open the gate.

"Mistress, you are back."

Erina nodded slightly and hurried into the house. When the main door opened, she stood rooted to the spot when she saw that the party was still not over.

On the expensive wooden sofa, Henry sat like a king in the middle, while his classmates stood around. It seemed like the whole group was singing karaoke.

Erina's legs had no strength left to lift. The maids had clearly said that the party would be held outside, so why was it taking place inside?

The door was soundproof, so she couldn't hear any sound. If she could hear it, she wouldn't have come here.