On the road, I met a woman unlike anyone I had ever seen before. Her name was Janet Smith.

She seemed slow and almost childlike, yet she had been wandering alone for two years without ever going home. Even with one leg crippled, she had forced herself to climb the Highveil Mountains.

This time, however, she was caught in a blizzard. Injured and stranded, she could no longer make her way down.

As her vision blurred and her strength slipped away, tears covered her face. She placed a pair of small handmade clay dolls in my hands.

"I'm probably going to die here," she murmured. "Please give these to my adoptive brother, Chester Graham."

She was clearly at death's door, yet her smile was soft and unexpectedly serene.

"Tell him I've seen enough of the world. I don't love him anymore. And tell him he doesn't need to worry. I'm not so foolish now. I won't cause trouble for anyone again."

Chester? At the sound of his name, I stood rooted to the spot. In Riverton City, everyone who worked at the harbor knew him, the so-called Ship King. Right before I left for the mountains, news of his engagement had been everywhere.

I watched her eyes slowly close and held onto the rough clay dolls even tighter. "You have to keep living. Go tell him yourself!"

Janet Smith shook her head, her smile sweet and gentle. "He doesn't want to see me. He's the one who wanted me to climb the snowy mountain."

I only found out from the bits and pieces she told me.

For the last two years, Chester Graham had been the one sending her on trips all over the world. The last trip, the one to the mountaineering camp, was arranged by Chester's people too.

Even if she had not agreed, they would have made her go up that snowy mountain anyway.

Janet's voice was so faint, like it could disappear any second. "He said I grew up with him and the world seemed too small in my eyes... That's why I was always by his side."

When I heard that, I could not help but raise my voice. I was filled with anger. They made Janet, who was slow to understand things, climb up a snowy mountain.

"That's crazy! He sent you off to die!"

I looked at Janet, feeling so sorry for her, but she just nodded. "I know, but I'm okay with it."

I froze. She was so innocent that she had been tricked.

"Janet, do you know what dying means?"

She looked away, her eyes unfocused as if she were seeing something far, far away. "I figured it out three years ago when Chester gave me those little white pills."

It took me a moment to catch on. The little white pills were sleeping pills. Three years back, Chester tricked her into thinking they were just medicine for a cold. She swallowed them down without a second thought.

Janet suddenly smiled with a little bit of pride in her eyes. "I'm actually really smart, but Chester looked so sad. I didn't want to see him cry, so I took a lot."

Then, her expression changed to frustration. "But I still don't get what happened with Chester. Why did he break my cup all of a sudden? I hadn't even had the chance to think about dying. Death is like an endless sleep, and both Chester and I would find peace in that. "

Suddenly, my heart felt all mixed up. I almost wanted to toss those two clay dolls right back at Janet.

"You silly goose, why are you so head over heels for a guy who treats you badly?"

Janet, who never shed a tear even when she got hurt, had tears flooding her face the moment she heard me.

"It's because I'm a goofball, always causing trouble for everyone. When I was 20, I nearly pushed him over the edge."

Janet's voice seemed like it could be ripped away by the blizzard. "My dad took a bullet for the Graham family, so they took me in to repay him."

Before she turned ten, Janet was bright and clever, always acing her tests. However, after she got beaten up trying to protect Chester from his enemies, she was no longer the same.

Chester made a promise before her dad's grave that he would love her forever. Even when he worked his way up to running the docks, he never thought of leaving Janet behind.

However, when he turned 22, the Graham family set up a marriage for him, and his fiancée wanted Janet gone. Everyone thought they were perfect for each other. They said he should ditch Janet, the ditz, and marry a rich businessman's daughter who was pretty and wealthy.

However, Chester would rather leave Riverton City than give up Janet.

"Do you think he's even more foolish than I am?" Janet's tears froze on her lashes. "He gave up his title as the so-called Ship King just to drift from place to place with me."

The Graham family wanted Chester to learn a lesson, so they left him with no place to turn. To take care of Janet and her health, he had no choice but to fight in secret boxing matches.

Janet's tears would not stop as she shook all over. "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have had to work so hard. He wouldn't have gotten so badly hurt either."

I could not believe it, and my eyes went wide. "If he loves you that much, why would he want you gone?"

She looked confused, and I could tell that she felt guilty. "Because being with me must be really tough for him."

The guy who used to be super rich from his shipping business fought in those dangerous boxing matches and even carried heavy bags of cement for Janet. Then, one day, Chester's rich ex-girlfriend called while crying, asking him if he regretted any of it.

Chester's hands shook, and his voice did too.

"Seeing her like that, I can't have any regrets... What happened back then was my fault. I was the one who hurt you."

After the call, he got some sleeping pills ready for Janet. However, he just could not see it through and broke the cup of water instead.

I looked at Janet, feeling kind of sad. "Did you get it back then..."

Janet started to sweat. "I didn't get it at first, but Chester was really scary that day."

Chester had too much to drink, and Janet tried to make chicken noodle soup for him but ended up breaking a bowl. He lost it and knocked over the soup. "Janet! Didn't I tell you to stay out of the kitchen? You're always messing things up!"

The hot soup splashed on Janet. She burned her arm pretty badly but just twisted her shirt and said sorry. "Chester, I'm sorry. I'm such a klutz."

She looked up at Chester and held out her hand, trying to make things better. "Do you still have that cold medicine from before? I've got a cold again and want some more."

Chester's feelings suddenly overflowed like a broken dam. "That's not even the right medicine! Why are you still so clueless even after all these years?"

He grabbed Janet, borrowed their neighbor's car, and drove to a quiet place outside of town. There, he left her standing alone in an empty field.

Janet looked lost.

"Chester asked if I did it on purpose. The doctors say there's nothing wrong with my brain, so why am I still clueless?" she said.

I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her pain.

"He just left you there?" I asked.

Janet nodded weakly.

Chester stormed off, but minutes later, he came back. He sped straight to her. He was trying to hit Janet with the car. She fell to the ground. However, the car stopped just inches away from her.

Chester yelled like he was losing his mind, "Janet, why are you so clueless that you can't even dodge a car?!"

However, when he calmed down, he picked her up and put her back in the car. "Let's just forget it. I owe you one. It's my fault," he said.

Janet's tears dropped onto my hands. "I had never heard him sound so hopeless. I wish I could be smart," she whispered.

"I didn't mean to not dodge. But a voice in my head kept telling me that if I were gone, Chester would be happy."

Her voice was different then, no longer sweet and simple, just full of sadness and hopelessness.

"That's not true. You're not clueless," I told her.

I hugged her close. "You've been to so many places on your own. You're brave and amazing."

She tried to smile at me, but her thoughts were all mixed up again.

"Nathalie, you're so nice. Thank you, Nathalie. But at the time, I really wanted Chester to be happy, so I secretly called his fiancée."

Janet pleaded with Rose Collins to come and bring Chester back to Riverton City. As she shared her story, her tears soaked into my arms.

"I had asked him to leave so many times. But he would just pat my head and say that I had grown up with him, so we were stuck together… Inseparable."

Suddenly, Janet grabbed my wrist with amazing strength. "Rose told me he did everything for me!"

To get back into the Graham family's good graces, Chester would have to make up for it big time, like sacrificing one of Janet's legs.

Janet only hesitated for a moment before begging Rose to come to Alavon City in secret without Chester finding out. Janet snuck out that day, ready to have her leg crippled.

Rose was so mad at her that she handed the person responsible for hurting Janet a big, heavy stick. Hitting her leg with the stick did not draw blood or break it right away, but it hurt so much that Janet felt like she was dying.

Janet took hit after hit. It hurt so bad, but Janet sounded proud.

"Thinking of Chester gave me so much courage. I didn't even try to hide."

She closed her eyes, bracing for more hits, but Chester stopped the stick.

"What's going on here?!"

Rose, with her fiery temper, did not hold back. "This silly girl wants to trade her leg to help you come back. I'm just helping her out."

Chester saw Janet, beaten and barely awake, and got really angry. "I never wanted her to sacrifice herself like this!"

He picked up Janet and rushed her to the hospital, while Rose ran off, crying.

"Alright, I know you don't need my help. I guess I was just being silly," Rose said with a sigh.

Chester stood still for a moment, but then he suddenly dropped Janet onto the cold ground and chased after Rose. Snowflakes fell thick and fast that day.

Janet could not move her legs and was left shivering in the snow. It was so cold outside that she could have frozen to death. Slowly, she felt her body turning to ice. However, she did not cry out or try to call for help.

She just lay there quietly, almost frozen solid.

When I heard about that, I could not help but think badly of Chester. "He's such a meanie!"

Janet got really sick with a fever, and even talking was hard for her.

"Nathalie, maybe it would've been better if I'd just died back then?"

That thought scared me, and I did everything to help her calm down. "Don't be silly, Janet! Don't talk like that. Save your energy," I told her.

Janet was so weak that she could not even hear me anymore. She said Chester was usually kind-hearted. He did not want her to lose her legs or leave her in the snow.

He came back quickly after Rose disappeared with a pendant in his pocket. He took Janet to the hospital. The doctor said it would be tough to fix Janet's injured leg, and she might not walk again.

It would cost a lot of money to try.

Chester said he was broke. He wondered if he had to sell his blood to make things right with her.

Janet just trembled as she spoke to me. "After that, he didn't want anything to do with me anymore."

After they left the hospital, Chester would not talk to Janet at all. At night, he would just look at the pendant, his ticket back to the docks. By day, he fought in secret boxing matches, trying to earn whatever he could.

His injuries were getting worse, and Janet was so worried that she did not know what to do next.

Everything changed the day Rose made another call to Chester.

"I'm calling you for the last time today. I'm getting engaged tomorrow. I don't believe you've never cared about me! And how can you just keep living like this? If you don't show up, I'll have to move on for good."

Chester looked deep into Janet's eyes. Then, all of a sudden, he could not take it anymore. He pushed Janet out of the way and ran outside.

By now, Janet's voice was barely a whisper. I had to lean in close to hear her say, "Even then, he was worried I'd try to escape, so he locked the door from the outside."

However, they had both forgotten that something was still cooking on the stove that day. When the soup boiled over, gas filled the house. The fire started so quickly.