No matter how she screamed for freedom, he did not slow, did not falter.
He simply adjusted his grip and kept moving, carrying her over his shoulder with the steady certainty of someone who believed he had every right to her. His steps were deliberate—heavy, controlled—each one thudding through the hall as if the entire estate bowed beneath his weight.
He climbed staircase after staircase, never once looking back.
She kicked, twisted, clawed at the fabric across his back, but he didn't even flinch.
He moved through corridor after corridor, passing doorways without hesitation, as though he knew exactly where she belonged.
Finally, he stopped.
His hand pushed open a door with a slow, final sound.
The room beyond was soft, warm, painfully beautiful—pastel walls, delicate curtains, touches of a girl's world untouched by darkness.
Without a word, he lowered her from his shoulder and let her fall onto the bed—
not violently, but with an unmistakable message:
she wasn't going anywhere.
Then a voice broke out.
"You're sick," she choked out, tears spilling fast as she dragged herself backward, palms slipping on the silk sheets. She pressed into the corner of the bed, shoulders trembling, breath breaking — but her eyes stayed locked on him.
He stepped closer, slow and certain.
"Do you remember the last punishment?" His voice rumbled like something ancient. "I will have you."
Aurelia's chest shook with sobs, but she lifted her chin anyway, defiant even through the tears streaking her face.
"Me?" she said, voice cracking but steady at the core. "That will never happen."
She wiped her cheeks with the back of her shaking hand, then pointed at him — a tiny, trembling gesture that still felt like a strike.
"Everyone fears you," she whispered, breath uneven but words fierce. "But I don't. Not anymore."
More tears fell, but she didn't look away.
"You can do whatever you want," she said, voice breaking open but still brave. "I'm not afraid of you."
Her whole body shook, yet she held her ground.
"Kill me if you like," she whispered through the tears. "There's no difference between death and the life I'm living."
"You speak of death as though it is a door you can open," he continued, eyes narrowing. "But listen well: I do not grant death to those who challenge me. I keep them alive… so they remember whom they defied."
Tenebrarum didn't give her a full second to breathe.
He seized her by the ankles and dragged her across the bed, the sheets twisting under her as her nails scraped against the mattress. Her body jolted with each pull, her breath catching in her throat.
Aurelia refused to make a sound.
She turned her head sharply away from him, jaw locked, tears streaking her cheeks but her expression carved in defiance.
"Shuuu," he breathed beside her ear—
not gentle, not soft—
a warning.
He had lifted his mask just enough to expose the lower half of his face, not to comfort her, but to terrify her with how calm he looked.
His lips were pale, cold, expressionless—beautiful in a cruel, inhuman way.
He tightened his grip on her wrists and pinned her harder to the bed, forcing her arms above her head. The mattress groaned under the weight of his strength. Aurelia's lungs squeezed; her body trembled from the pressure.
He leaned closer, his masked gaze inches from hers.
"You break so easily," he murmured, voice like iron dust in the air.
"But you never stay broken. That irritates me."
Aurelia glared at him through her tears, her voice hoarse but steady.
"Kill me then," she hissed tears flowing from her violet eyes.
"Do it. I'm not afraid of you."
That made him pause.
His hand slid across her legs, crawling slowly, possessively, as if reminding her she belonged in his hold whether she wanted it or not.
Aurelia forced herself to stay still. She would not give him a tremor. Not a sound. Not a victory.
Not long—
just enough for the room to tighten around the two of them, air heavy as stone.
His fingers clamped harder around her arms, almost bruising.
His hand tore off the white clothing between her thighs.
Then—
Knock! Knock!
The sound didn't just hit the door—
it struck the room, sharp enough to slice the tension clean in half.
Tenebrarum went still.
Then, without warning, he shoved Aurelia aside, the force ripping the breath from her chest. She slid across the bed, hitting the carved wooden frame with a dull thud. The whole bed trembled under the violence of the movement.
Aurelia sucked in air, shaking—
not from fear, but from the sudden release of his crushing weight.
She felt relief flood her chest like a gasp of cold water.
Tenebrarum dragged his mask down in one swift jerk
—mechanical, brutal—
and straightened his clothes with a precision that made it clear:
if the knock had come a breath later, the room would look very different.
He didn't turn back to her.
"Enter," he said.
The word hit the air like a blade.
The door opened, and the messenger immediately dropped to his knees, forehead pressing into the floor.
"My lord…"
Tenebrarum didn't move.
His voice cut through the silence.
"Speak."
"My lord, you're needed in the palace."
A muscle in Tenebrarum's jaw twitched.
Aurelia saw it from the corner of the bed—
a tiny movement, but one that carried the weight of a man barely holding his fury together.
He had been summoned recently.
To him it was pointless.
He had returned angrier than he'd left.
Now again?
"Leave," Tenebrarum growled, the command sharp and ice-cold.
"Get. Out."
The messenger trembled.
"It's urgent, my lord…"
A pause.
"The king is unwell."
Silence hit the room hard.
Tenebrarum stood completely still—
dangerously still—
like a blade suspended above a throat.
Then, slowly, he turned his masked face toward the messenger.
"What," he said, voice roughened with restrained violence.
Aurelia's breath caught.
The king… unwell.
A crack in their perfect monster-made world.
For the first time since she'd been dragged into this cursed estate,
a flicker of something warm slid through her chest.
Hope.
She was actually happy, this monster will pay slowly for all their sins.
Perhaps the heavens were always listening.
------------------------------
To be continued...