MWLC 15

chapter 15

Elisia desperately tried to break the chains restraining her wrists, but before long, she collapsed helplessly onto the bed.

How much time had passed?

There was no clock in the room, making her feel as though she were alone, drifting endlessly in the middle of a vast ocean. Staring up at the white ceiling, Elisia desperately tried to think of a way she could die.

The chains.

The bedpost.

The kerosene lamp.

The dresser.

Her gaze moved from one to another, but while she was bound like this, she couldn’t think of any viable method.

Just then, the door clicked open, and Kaiel stepped inside.

“You’re awake.”

He spoke in such a casual voice that it sounded as though he were simply asking how she was doing. Elisia didn’t want to answer him, so she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Do you like this place?”

“……”

“It means a lot to me. I wanted it to mean something to you, too.”

Sitting on the armchair beside the bed, he quietly stared at Elisia, who still refused to answer.

“You’re really angry. If I tell you this was a choice I had no other option but to make, will you look at me?”

“……”

“So don’t think about dying whenever you please. It’s not as though I enjoy keeping you locked up here, either.”

Anyone watching this would think he actually cares about me.

Elisia was dumbfounded by his attitude, but she realized that if she wanted to escape from him, she would have to play along with his words.

“I won’t die whenever I please.”

“That’s an answer I actually like hearing for once.”

“So please, undo these. I’m trapped here anyway, so there’s nothing I can do.”

She wanted to ask him to let her leave this place, but it was obvious that Kaiel would refuse if she did.

“Exactly.”

Kaiel leaned forward from where he had been resting against the back of the chair. Gently brushing Elisia’s disheveled hair behind her ear, he spoke in a low voice.

“Go ahead and wish for whatever you want, and despair without end. Because you can no longer escape from me.”

His cold yet sweet voice brushed against Elisia’s ear like a snake coiling around the back of her neck.

“No one in this world remembers you. No one will come looking for you, and no one will come to save you. Because I’m the only one who remembers that you exist.”

Elisia felt as though she had fallen into an invisible trap.

She had known that Kaiel was insane, but facing him directly made her realize with every fiber of her being just how terrifying his obsession and madness truly were.

“So you only need to look at me while you’re here. Trust only me, and follow only me. That’s the only way you’ll survive.”

Kaiel met Elisia’s eyes, filled with shock and fear, and smiled faintly.

After gently stroking her cheek, he rose from his seat as though his business were finished and headed toward the door.

Elisia couldn’t move a muscle until his broad shoulders disappeared through the doorway.

“AAAH!”

Only after she was left alone in the empty room did Elisia finally release the scream she had been suppressing.

She couldn’t even shed tears anymore.

The only emotion left inside her was a desire for revenge.

I hate you. You destroyed me, my family, and my entire life.

Elisia bit down so hard on her lips that they began to bleed as she made a vow.

No matter how much pain or danger awaited her, she would wait for the day when she could wrap her own hands around his neck and choke the life out of him.

Enduring a room without even a window was harder than she had expected.

An expressionless servant brought her meals three times a day without fail, but no matter how many questions Elisia asked, she never received a single answer.

The servant simply brought the meals as instructed and returned later to collect the empty plates.

Kaiel hadn’t visited her once since that day, either, leaving Elisia completely isolated and utterly alone.

Fortunately, the room had a small bathroom attached to it, so she had no trouble taking care of her basic needs. But that didn’t make the suffocating confinement any easier.

This can’t go on.

If she wanted revenge against Kaiel, she couldn’t accomplish anything by remaining helplessly trapped here.

And so, Elisia chose to fast.

She neither ate nor drank anything.

She didn’t touch even a single bite of the meals the servant brought her. She simply lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling as though she were drifting alone in the middle of an endless ocean.

It might have seemed insignificant, but while trapped and bound inside this room, it was the greatest form of resistance Elisia could manage.

Finally, on the sixth day of her fast—

Kaiel finally appeared.

Glancing at him as he stood in front of the door, Elisia smiled faintly.

……You finally came.

“As I said, it’s no fun if you destroy yourself like this.”

As expected, Kaiel’s expression was cold.

Just as before, he sat down in the armchair beside the bed and looked over Elisia, who had steadily grown thinner over the past six days.

When he saw her already slender wrists reduced to little more than bones, a deep sigh escaped his lips.

“What do you want?”

“……Let me out of here.”

“Something other than that.”

She had suspected as much, and once again, her expectations proved correct.

“Then undo these.”

Having already anticipated his answer, Elisia didn’t make any further demands. Instead, she lifted the chains restraining her wrists.

She hadn’t eaten for days, and there was hardly any strength left in her hands, so she soon had to let them fall back onto the bed with a clatter.

“I can do that much.”

Kaiel reached out and brushed Elisia’s hair back.

His cold fingertips traced along her forehead, slid down her cheek, and moved toward her collarbone.

The touch was so creepy that Elisia unconsciously bit her lip.

“But in exchange, you’ll have to pay me a price of equal value.”

“……What is it?”

As I thought.

Elisia had expected that Kaiel wouldn’t simply grant her request without asking for something in return, so she asked calmly.

No matter what he demanded, she wouldn’t let herself panic.

“Ungh……!”

The resolve Elisia had firmly steeled herself with shattered in an instant.

She had never expected him to do something like this, and she could only accept it—

His lips pressing against hers.

His breath pouring over her.

……His warning that she could not simply escape from him.

Kaiel supported the back of Elisia’s neck so that she couldn’t pull away. Even when she pushed against his solid chest, it was useless.

The chains around her wrists rattled noisily.

“……That’s a pretty cheap price for freedom, isn’t it?”

When he finally pulled his lips away, Kaiel let out a light breath and chuckled.

He paid no attention to the glare Elisia shot at him and simply leaned back into the armchair again.

His expression was completely nonchalant, as though he had already forgotten the kiss he had just given her.

Crazy bastard.

Elisia sat up and furiously scrubbed her lips with the back of her hand.

She had no strength after refusing food and water for six days, yet at this moment, anger blazed through her entire body, completely consuming her.

Bastard.

Worse than the devil!

Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought that she had been defiled.

He had kissed her without permission, calling it the price for releasing her restraints. If she let him demand anything else in exchange, it was obvious what he might do.

What angered her even more was that Kaiel, the one who had done it, looked perfectly fine.

He even gave Elisia a smug grin.

Poor Alix.

Maybe it’s better that my little brother doesn’t have to see his own brother doing something like this to me.

Just as Elisia was furiously rubbing her lips until the skin began to peel, someone cautiously knocked on the door.

“Come in.”