"She is the last one… Compared with other weaklings, she is quite tough and daring. Instead of begging, she chose to fight as a warrior, look I even got a little scratch on my stomach," Dragging the last body to the main hall, while blabbering about how each maid faces their tragic end, Eric tried to entertain Aiden who was sitting on the sofa with a trembling body.
Hearing the words, Aiden peeked at the dead body of the maid who got the courage to fight back. But seeing her body condition was beyond his worst expectation. Her body was covered in blood, her bones broken, and torn flesh exposed through her skin. Seeing that, Aiden couldn't hold back his intense nausea and ran towards the wash basin.
"Here, drink some water," Concernedly offering a glass of water, Eric said.
His blood-dripping hands displayed brutality and care all at once. Anyway, even though Aiden felt disgust, but couldn't find the courage to refuse the glass that Eric offered, especially after witnessing all those things.
He heard the screams of those people, their begging voices to spare their lives, but the person who stood in front of him (Eric) never listened nor showed any mercy. Then why was he letting him alive? This question made him confused.
"A-Are you going to kill me?" Putting all his courage into one sentence, Aiden anxiously looked at Eric, who was drenched in blood.
"What? Why should I? Do I look that ruthless?" Instead of answering, Eric replied with a confusing question, almost mocking the idea.
"Huh!" Aiden couldn't believe, he could ask such a question. Eric almost killed eight people without any guilt or sympathy. The one who fought back for her life, died far more brutally than the others. If that person wasn't called ruthless and blood thirsty, then what was he?
"A Devil…" Aiden went silent, wondering if Eric had somehow read his mind. Eric couldn't help but laugh at Aiden's expression. "Don't worry, I don't have any intention to kill you.
You don't seem to believe me…Then how about I give you three choices!"
"…"
First choice... I'll give you a chance to kill me. I won't fight back, but… if you fail, never expect any mercy from me.
Second, if you are just afraid of me, I won't force you to stay here. You can leave this house and live your life the way you wanted.
Third, you can stay by my side. We can go through ups and downs together as before.
How about it? If you don't like my third proposal, I genuinely wish you to choose the second option," Giving three choices, Eric curiously waited for Aiden's answer while placing the knife in front of him.
Aiden wasn't sure what to choose. Each option only leads to a bleak future.
The first choice simply means kill or be killed. However, the chances of dying were higher than actually killing Eric. If he somehow succeeds, what awaits him is an even more horrific death at the hands of Jonas's (Eric's father) men.
The second choice seems like a fake, sparkling gem when compared with the other two, but if he chooses it, then what next? A penniless orphan with no home or relatives, where can he go? Perhaps the remaining life would be spent rotting in a slum or running all his life to escape the clutches of the Black and White Dragons' association (Black Dragon - a gangster group currently led by Jonas; White Dragon - an opposing gangster group working under Emile's father). One to erase and the other to gain evidence of the murders. It feels like death is calling him from afar.
And the third one is to face everything together as sworn brothers, putting trust and loyalty in each other. But is it possible now?
The heart that was once filled with trust and loyalty now has a new guest, fear. If he chooses this path, then there is no turning back even if he wanted to.
"However, I don't know what's the cause that made you change this much in one day, nor do I have any idea how the future would turn out... Let's face everything together as always. Then from now on, I will be in your care. Don't let me die so young, I haven't even lost my virginity yet." Aiden finally mustered the courage to respond, putting his whole trust in Eric as he chooses the third option.
"Is that your only reason to live? 'I haven't even lost my virginity yet'… Anyway, I really like you, dude," Eric said with a strange mix of seriousness and a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Hmm... Wait, what about these bodies? How are we going to explain? Are we going to end up in jail? What about our future then?" Aiden's heart raced at the thought of his well-planned future rotting away in a prison cell.
"Do not worry, simply call Butler Itt. He will handle this matter in his own way," Eric replied without any concern, appearing fully confident in the butler's capabilities.
"Have you lost your mind? How could he possibly handle this? You cannot just murder some maids, the master's second wife and her son are among them. If he discovers this, rather than resolving the issue, he will only complicate matters further."
"Then why don't you come up with a solution! How about that?" Eric turned to Aiden, and seeing him rendered speechless, he continued, "You have nothing to say now...
Do as I suggest, instead of wasting time... Right now, if anyone can help us, it is none other than Butler Itt."
Placing all his confidence in the future written within the novel, Eric decided to play his first chess piece on the board. Because in the game of survival and revenge, no one could rival Keith.
And in this fictional world, where conflict was inevitable, only two things mattered.
First, who would initiate the war, and second, who would survive until the very end.