🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 6
“Y-you bastard! You expect me to believe that?”
Finally, when his hand reached for the strap of my shoulder, I saw my chance. As soon as the hand that restrained me was freed, I pushed him with all my strength. Fortunately, Sren stepped back obediently. Somehow, his expression seemed to anticipate my reaction.
I kept my inner thoughts hidden and responded coldly.
“I understand your feelings well enough. So just stop it.”
At my words, Sren’s lips twisted. Then, as if he couldn’t understand, he asked,
“Rachel. Why are you angry?”
“…!”
“Don’t you know who should really be angry here?”
I was dumbfounded at his words. He was the one who kidnapped me to this mansion at will and killed anyone who displeased him—and yet he thinks he’s the one who should be more upset…!
How could anyone be this unreasonable? True to his emotionless, psychopathic nature, Sren seemed utterly incapable of understanding me. I calmly tried to explain my feelings.
“Anyone in my situation would be angry. You never consider me at all, do you?”
His gaze faltered slightly at my words. Maybe I was starting to get through to him…
But then he replied coldly, in an even lower voice.
“Why would you say that? You told me it was fine, didn’t you?”
“…What?”
“You told me to put my feelings before anyone else’s, didn’t you? You said I could do anything I wanted.”
I was at a loss for words. When did I ever say that? Or… could it really be interpreted that way?
Perhaps, to Sren, those words came from the “real Rachel” before I possessed her. What could Rachel possibly have been thinking when she said such things to him? I hesitated, unsure how to respond. Meanwhile, Sren’s hand touched my cheek again. With a captivating smile, he whispered,
“Silence… does that mean you agree with me?”
His solid upper body pressed down on me again. I quickly covered his lips with my hand and said,
“That’s changed. I want you to consider others more.”
His gaze turned mischievous. Soon, he licked my palm with his tongue. I quickly tried to pull away from the ticklish sensation, but he bit down instead.
“Ah…!”
Blood trickled from my hand. The warm drops and the sharp sting from his bite made my heart plummet again.
“Now, I’ll bite you painfully at every opportunity.” He seemed to sense my flustered reaction and licked the blood from his lips.
“It’s a punishment. For hurting my feelings.”
“…!”
“So stop provoking me. I don’t want to destroy you.”
Finally, Sren got up and left the bed, muttering softly as he stepped away.
“Rachel. Remember only one thing.”
“…!”
“I can do anything to have you.”
Even if that means incurring my hatred, he would do the same. I understood that.
After saying this, Sren left the room. I couldn’t take my eyes off his retreating figure. Once he disappeared from view, I finally exhaled the breath I had been holding.
Looking around, I noticed a basin and a wet towel on the bedside table. Contrasting with how rough he had been with me, he had cared for me meticulously. Seeing that, I let out a deep sigh.
“I just can’t figure him out anymore.”
I could not understand Sren’s heart. His fanatical love, oscillating between tenderness and coldness, was terrifying. Would gaining his affection even help me advance in this game? I couldn’t decide.
When I opened my eyes again, my body felt perfectly fine. But I couldn’t suppress the rising curse.
“Ha… what a crazy bastard.”
Before me, handcuffs sparkled. Perhaps worried I might act out again after yesterday, Sren had shackled my hands and feet. Thankfully, I wasn’t tied to anything else—just my own body. Even a collar had been placed on me. I stuck out my tongue at the meticulousness.
Am I… a dog? A dog?!
I also noticed the collar seemed to spark whenever my emotions shifted. I had no idea what other functions it might have, so I had to be careful.
At this point, I thought it might have been better to just die once.
I realized Sren’s personality was truly twisted. He didn’t care about killing others but hated the idea of me taking my own life. What a contradictory, backward way of thinking.
I wanted to shout out that I might as well die right now, but I held back. Sparks flew from the collar when my emotions changed—who knew what would happen if I actually said I wanted to die?
“I need to find the Moonstone… or something.”
As I muttered this to calm myself, Adenhar flashed through my mind. What had happened to him after all this? I had been too focused on saving my own life to think about him. If he were to die… wouldn’t that make my own life meaningless?
“First, I need to get out of here.”
No window in this room?
With no way to tell the time, I couldn’t plan my next move. The room was entirely white walls, creating a stifling, eerily silent atmosphere.
Was this also Sren’s doing?
“Then maybe the door’s locked too?”
Cautiously, I tried the doorknob. Despite the handcuffs making it awkward, the door opened. But the view outside left me stunned, as if hit over the head.
“Ha…”
The corridor outside stretched wide, wallpapered entirely in plain white. No windows anywhere. Like being trapped in a maze. My own breathing was the only sound in the oppressive silence.
In the dining room of the Crochette estate, a long table was filled with a feast of delicacies. Sren sat before it, untouched, swirling a glass of red wine absentmindedly. The wine, sloshing at a steady pace, was as red as blood.
“Phew…”
Finally, a long sigh escaped Sren. His mind was completely filled with thoughts of Rachel. Recalling the angry expression she had worn earlier, he furrowed his brow slightly.
“Ha… I still don’t get it. Why was she angry at me?”
That was the first emotion Rachel had ever shown him. Always gentle, always kind, she was different from the others. For Sren, raised to be desensitized to abuse and cruelty from childhood, she was a new stimulus.
His stepmother, the Duchess of Crochette, was cunning like a serpent. Before his father, the Duke, she played the part of a graceful noblewoman; in front of Sren, she was nothing short of a demon.
Worse than her was the Duke himself. He knew everything but did nothing, hoping Sren would grow into a suitable heir. Perhaps because Sren’s mother had been tainted by scandal, the Duke found Sren’s very existence shameful.
But the Duchess rarely bore children, which made her cruelty toward Sren even more severe. One day, there was a dinner with the Faminion family, invited to strengthen alliances.
Sren had hated the Faminion family as well. The Duchess had been close with the Faminion matron. Sren despised his stepmother’s pretense: she abused him without care, yet wanted to appear kind and dignified to others. The touch of her feigned kindness made him sick to his stomach.
While hiding his emotions, a young girl spoke to him.
“What’s your name?”
“Sren… Sren Crochette.”
“Such a beautiful name. It suits you.”
“And yours?”
“I’m Rachel. Rachel Faminion. Let’s be friends.”
At first, he felt nothing. He simply hated the hypocrisy. Anyone close to his stepmother would obviously be the same—vile, vain people. So he scoffed inwardly.
Stop pretending. Why don’t you reveal that ugly heart of yours? You probably don’t even want to associate with someone like me.
Fueled by defiance, he deliberately took her offered hand.
