[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-bound-to-my-enemy":3,"chapter-bound-to-my-enemy-bound-to-my-enemy-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Bound to my Enemy",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1600036,2067,"Chapter 98.","bound-to-my-enemy-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>I woke with a start, my heart hammering against my ribs. The room was dark, but I could feel it...someone is watching me. A shadow moved at the edge of my sight, a faint shuffle, a scrape against the floor. I freeze, my body going stiff, trying to convince myself it was just a trick of the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then when I open my eyes I see him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zane. Standing at the foot of the bed. My chest constricted instantly, the air thick in my lungs. I blink rapidly, trying to take in what I am seeing. His clothes were torn in certain places, and his skin glinting under the faint moonlight. My stomach twist when I notice the dark streaks smeared across him. At first, my mind tries to dismiss it....paint, maybe, or some spilled substance.....but as my eyes adjusted, horror settles like a stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dark, almost crimson, drying across his shirt and arms. My pulse jumps, my hands gripping the sheets, as a mix of fear and adrenaline surges through me. I force myself to sit up, shaking slightly. \"Zane?.... what... what happened?\" My voice is higher than I intended, tight with panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shifts slightly, as if uncomfortable under my gaze, and I notice his jaw tightening, the tension in his shoulders. He doesn’t answer immediately, and my mind races. Did someone attack him? Is he hurt badly? I want to reach for him, to touch him, but every instinct screamed to keep my distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, he speaks, his voice low and steady, but there is a weight to it that makes my stomach drop. \"It’s not mine,\" he says simply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My brow furrows. \"Not yours? Then whose...what happened?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turns slowly toward the bathroom, the motion deliberate, calm, and yet there was an unmistakable edge to it. \"Don’t worry about it and go back to sleep little spitfire.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shake my head, my pulse refusing to slow. \"No. You’re literally covered in blood Zane, I’m not going back to sleep. Tell me what happened. Now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pauses, his hand lingering on the doorframe. I can see the strain in his eyes, the shadows of bruises or maybe cuts along his face, and a sudden wave of fear washes over me. My mind tries to brace itself for the worst, but nothing prepares me for what comes next.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looks at me, and for the first time, I seee it: the raw, unflinching truth in his gaze. Pain, exhaustion and something darker lurking beneath. \"I... I killed him,\" he said quietly.m\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words hang in the air, thick and suffocating. My stomach drops , my chest tightening until it feels like I can’t breathe. \"You... what?\" My voice was trembling, disbelief slicing through every nerve in my body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He doesn’t flinch. He looks worn, but unbroken, standing there as if carrying a weight I could never begin to imagine. \"I killed him. He... he deserved it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My hands flew to my face, trembling. I sank back slightly into the bed, trying to process, trying to make sense. My throat ached, my thoughts scattered. Who? Why? My mind jumped to every worst-case scenario I could conjure, and nothing seemed enough to explain it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I... I don’t understand. Who? Who did you...\" My voice catches, fear and anger tangled together, and tears burn behind my eyes\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He walked closer, slowly and deliberate, but I flinch back instinctively. I couldn’t stop myself. My hands are pressed tightly against my chest, shaking, as I try to put space between us. \"Elaine... I didn’t want you to see it like this. I didn’t want you to.....\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zane!\" I shout, cutting him off. \"I don’t care what you wanted! You’re standing here, covered in blood! How am I supposed to just...\" I stop, my voice cracking as the weight of the moment hit me. My hands clutch at the blanket my knuckles white. \"How am I supposed to understand that?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hesitates, looking at me, the blood smear along his forearm catching the dim light. I can see his chest rising and falling, his breathing uneven but controlled. \"It had to be done,\" he said, almost in a whisper. \"It was him or... someone else.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swallowed hard, the bile rising in my throat. My mind refuses to wrap itself around his words. The thought of him taking a life....right here, under my eyes, before I even had time to process anything.....sent shockwaves through me. I wanted to scream, to run, to collapse, anything but face the reality of what he had done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zane... you... you killed someone,\" I said again, my voice barely audible this time, trembling, choked with emotion. \"You just... you... how?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knelt slightly, coming closer but keeping his distance, and his hand hovered in the air as if reaching out, then withdrawing. \"It wasn’t easy,\" he admitted. \"I... I didn’t want to. But he was going to do ... more. He...\" He broke off, swallowing hard and his gaze dropping for the first time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My breath came in shallow, rapid bursts. I could feel tears sliding down my cheeks, hot and fast. Anger, fear, confusion...all of it twisted in my chest. I wanted to run, but I was rooted to the bed, watching him, seeing him...the man I’d come to rely on, standing there covered in someone else’s blood, admitting to murder like it was a fact of life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t even know what to say,\" I whisper finally, voice hoarse. \"I don’t know what... how you can even do that.....\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I didn’t want to drag you into this,\" he said, softer now, almost painfully gentle. \"You don’t need to be involved. You’re safe now. That’s what matters.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Safe?\" I scoffed, wiping at my face. \"Safe? Zane, you just told me you killed someone! Safe is not what I feel right now!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He flinches slightly at my tone but doesn’t back away. \"I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t risk letting him hurt anyone else.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I buried my face in my hands, rocking slightly. My chest hurt from the sobs building up, from the adrenaline, from the disbelief. \"I... I can’t... I can’t...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He finally sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to crowd me. \"Elaine, listen,\" he said, voice low, insistent. \"I did what I had to. You don’t have to understand it. You just... let me handle this part.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I peek through my fingers at him, still shaking, still terrified, still processing. My body feels like it had been run over, and my mind refuses to settle. I want to be angry, I want to scream, I wanted to hit him...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zane... I...\" I faltered, voice breaking completely. \"I don’t know if I can... I can even...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know,\" he said softly, almost a whisper. His hand finally came down and brushed against my shoulder, light but grounding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re safe now. That’s all that matters.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1153,"2026-06-06T09:39:37.420Z",1,"novelbin.me","9c1c1810731e448e7b3f78de733bb5160bdee9d8833b2b08a9ec5051d8e30cb9","bound-to-my-enemy-chapter-99","bound-to-my-enemy-chapter-97",266,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbound-to-my-enemy-cover.jpg"]