Chapter 3

Only three of us were diving, and I was the first to surface.

Ryan's sudden accusation made it hard not to suspect if I had done something underwater.

In this era where sympathy often sways towards the injured party, his blood-soaked body and the unconscious Chloe instantly tilted the scales of public opinion.

The onlookers, unaware of the truth, started pointing fingers at me.

"That's so cruel, killing someone over jealousy?"

"You never know what's in a person's heart. She looks professional, but she's so wicked."

Faced with the accusations, I didn't immediately retort hysterically.

I looked at him calmly.

"Ryan, you need proof for what you say."

"You claim I turned off your valves? How exactly did I do that?"

I bent down, lifted my tank—which was still almost full—and showed it to everyone.

"Less than five minutes after going down, I initiated the ascent procedure."

"My dive computer clearly shows that I maintained a distance of over ten meters from you two at all times."

"Do I have magic, then? Can I wirelessly shut off your oxygen valves?"

Ryan was stunned.

He hadn't expected me to be so calm, nor for me to immediately present evidence.

But he quickly recovered and changed his argument.

"Then you stood by and watched us die! You're a professional diving instructor, you had a duty to protect us!"

"You knew it was dangerous down there, why didn't you forcibly pull us back?"

"You just wanted us to die!"

This absurd reasoning almost made me laugh out loud.

In my past life, I tried to pull you back, and you killed me.

This life, I respect other people's choices, and now I'm being accused of abandoning them.

"Ryan, are you a child?"

I looked down at him, sprawled on the deck.

"Before we even got in the water, I warned you three times that this season wasn't suitable for diving. But you still insisted on going down, even signing a liability waiver."

"Underwater, you gave me the finger and told me to get lost."

"Now that something's happened, you're blaming me for not stopping you from going to your deaths?"

"I'm an instructor, not your mother!"