When we entered the dining hall, almost all the chairs were occupied.
Damien nodded at the man who sat at the head of the long table. I raised my eyes and saw the Head of Silverclaw family. He was a man with domineering presence. His head was held high as he watched me head to toe. He had dark black hair like Damien and silver eyes. He was just an older version of Damien. He was most probably in his early forties. How old was Damien? I had no idea. I should ask him after the meal was over. On his right was a smiling short woman. She had dark hair, a mix between brown and black, and freckles all over her face. The woman beside her gave me a small smile. She had hair as white as snow. Her eyes were golden like fire. She seemed timid. There was another woman on the Head’s left-hand side. She had only one eye. The other eyelid was sewn shut. So were her lips. I shuddered and gulped down the scream that almost left my mouth. Damien placed a hand on the small of my back and led me to three empty chairs beside the white-haired woman. He kept the chair next to her empty and took the other chair. He helped me sit down beside him. I could barely see other people in the room. There were many children, all aged between ten years old and early twenties. The Head had three wives and had a lot of children. “How was your wedding night?” the dark-haired woman asked. I could not even blush since I was scared of that woman with sewn eyelid and lips. “It was satisfactory,” Demian said. “It might as well be. You took my pet from me!” a girl yelled. She had red hair like the scary woman and red eyes. “Now, now, don’t be sad, sweetheart,” the dark-haired woman said. “Your father will give you another pet. This one belongs to Damien now.” I felt disgusted. They were talking about me like I was a pet, not a human being. The door of the dining hall opened and a young woman walked in. She was probably the same age as Damien. She had white hair and silver eyes. She wore a white dress the same color as her skin and bright red lip paint. She was beautiful, like a goddess. Her name was Rose. I had seen her before. “Am I late?” she murmured as she took the empty seat between Demian and the white-haired woman. That must be Rose’s mother. They looked very much alike. However, Rose did not have any of her mother’s timidness. In fact, her attitude and gestures were more like her father’s. Breakfast was served. I could barely eat anything even though I ate almost nothing yesterday. The maids forced me to eat soup before the wedding night. Other than that, I ate nothing the whole day. According to my family’s tradition, brides must remain hungry before her marriage. Only after the wedding could she eat. “She has beautiful body,” the dark-haired woman said. That should be Damien’s mother. If not, then that woman with sewn eyelids and lips would be his mother. “Did you see her breasts? Huge. You must like them, Damien.” Damien did not say anything. The woman winked at me. “My son did not like any of the women I sent him. He would always send them back. He must truly like you since he wanted you for himself right after seeing you.” “I wonder how your ex-fiancé would react. He must have gotten the news,” the Head said. It was the first time I heard him talking. He had a deeper voice than Damien. “What do you think, Sully Silverclaw? How will he react?” “He will be angry,” I murmured. “Ah, yes. He will be angry,” he said and threw his head back and laughed. “Very angry, indeed. Very angry.”The main mansion was in the ruins. Did my father’s men use some sort of explosive as well? Well, it certainly seemed like they did.Demian did not come to meet me. Instead, I was led by some servants to a mansion, quite smaller than the main one. Dela and Rosalia were staying on the mansion beside this one.The servants led me to a chamber. It was spacious and had red curtains which attracted my attention right away. Did Demian choose this chamber for me? For us?“Where is my husband?” I asked the butler. His name was Michael. I knew because he introduced himself. Other servants were filling into the room with my belongings.“I do not know the whereabouts of Lord Demian. However, he told me to tell you that you should not worry about him and that he will be back soon,” Michael said. He had floppy brown hair that reminded me of Leo and small dark brown eyes that looked black. “And he also suggests that you should not accept any invitation from anyone.”“Invitation? Who is going to send
I sat in the carriage uncomfortably because comfort was not an option when you were traveling via a carriage.Dalia sat on the seat opposite mine. She was inspecting something in her nails.“I want to ask you a lot of questions, my lady. But I think you might get offended,” she said without looking at me.“If you talk to me while looking me in the eye, I might not get offended,” I said. I hated it when someone did not look me in the eye while talking. Especially, if that act was deliberate, not something unconscious.Dalia raised her head and looked at me. Her eyes were blue like the ocean.“It’s about Leo, isn’t it?” I said.She nodded.“He talked to me about you and quite tenderly as well. He told me that you two have been friends for a long time, since you two were basically children. I wanted to know if you two had any previous physical relationship.” She was direct. She did not sound impolite, just direct.“I never had any physical relationship with anyone before my husband. Leo
Demian did not come. But he sent a carriage to take me back to the estate. I still did not know exactly what transpired there. But I knew the gist.Three days ago, in the early morning, I got the news from Asher that Jade Star was dead. Asher seemed rather pleased about it and he kept staring at me with curious eyes as if he wanted to see me break. He gave me the impression that he would enjoy to see me break very much.‘Is he a sadist or something of that sorts?’“Who killed him?” I had asked.“No one knows,” Asher had said in a way that clearly meant something else; it was as if he had been saying that- ‘no one but I knows.’“What do you mean by that?” I had asked again.“The Head had him locked, but someone went in there and killed him. Decapitated his body. Before killing him, the killer tortured him as much as possible.”It was Demian. I did not even have to ask anyone to know that. Perhaps there was no proof of Demian actually doing it, but I knew it was him. He did it for me. H
Jade Star was chained to the wall, blood dripping from the tips of his fingers where his nails had been.I felt nothing but anger when I looked at him. He should be suffering much more.“What are you doing here, boy? Came to talk?” Jade Star asked. He was angry too. He was frustrated. He just tried not to show it.“You hurt my wife,” I said.“Your wife?” He let out a bitter laugh. “You took away my daughter! Your father took away my sister! And you are saying I hurt your wife?”“Sully went to you because she thought you would protect her, just like you should have, because she is your daughter. You asked her whether she was raped by me or not and she said she consented. You did not like it when she told you that she was pregnant. You beat her up cruelly and you caused a miscarriage.”“I do not regret a single thing I did,” he spat.“You hurt the woman I love. You hurt her not just physically. You caused her to lose a father even when he is alive,” I said calmly. I did not feel calm.“
Ten days passed in horrifying waiting. I was worried about Demian. There had been no word from him. I heard that some of the members of the Silverclaw family were gravely injured. I just wished that my husband was not one of them.“Are you okay?” Leo asked. He handed me a cup of tea.I took the cup and peeked inside. “Why is it green?”“It’s green tea?”“I hate green tea.” I handed the cup back to him. Leo shrugged and took a sip.“That’s all they had,” he said.Leo sat down beside me on the bed.“You are worried about your husband,” he said. It was not a question. He stated it like a fact.I nodded. “I haven’t heard from him in a long time. I’m worried about him. With all the news coming from everywhere… If he gets hurt…”“The Silverclaws basically won this stupid war,” Leo said. “Some of the men of House Star was doing rampage around here, but that will be sorted soon.”“Last night, I dreamed my father’s men coming to this inn and…” I actually had a nightmare about those men trying
“I don’t think my husband told you to keep an eye on me like that!”“Like what, my lady?” Asher asked. A smirk was playing on his face.“You were eavesdropping,” I said. “Now, love, there is no reason for that, is there?”“I was wondering if the rumors were true,” he said.“The rumors?” I repeated. For a while, it did not make sense. And then it clicked. “Ah! The rumors about me and an alchemist!”“Your husband even put you two in the same chamber for the night. Well, that intrigued me,” Asher said.“You kept an eye on us in the room as well, did you not?” I asked, although I did not have to.“I was disappointed though,” Asher said coolly.“Seriously? Why would I have an affair with another man when my husband is everything I wanted?” I said.Leo went out for a while. Asher and many of the guards were told to keep an eye on me in case someone tried to attack me. They were supposed to be stealthy, but Asher, for some reason, was not being so.“For starters, he chained you up,” Asher sa