Chapter 2

I wandered aimlessly through the streets, with nowhere to go. My body was covered in gruesome scars, and my short-sleeved shirt was stained with dried blood, drawing strange looks from everyone around me in the cold winter.

However, I paid them no attention. I only stared at the vast river in the distance and kept walking, feeling a vague sense of relief deep inside.

In the very next instant, someone suddenly placed a hand on my shoulder. I reacted on instinct, dropping to the ground and shielding my head in fear. "P-Please don't hit me! I'll behave! I'll do as I'm told…"

That person furrowed their brow, looking completely bewildered. "Bennett Sorell? Is that really you?"

I cautiously took a peek as I heard that familiar voice and realized that it was Paul Guest, my former teacher. I had been on excellent terms with him back in my school days.

Mr. Guest asked, "What on earth happened to you? Does Delilah know about this? I mean, she treasures you more than anything in the world."

I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh after hearing that. I was no longer the younger brother Delilah valued over her own life ever since she brought Nathan, that poor scholarship student, into our home.

Nathan had constantly framed me for bullying him back then. He would accuse me of punching him whenever he had a bruise on his face, blame me for tearing his clothes whenever his clothes had holes in them, and hold me accountable for orchestrating the school bullying.

Delilah believed him without a second thought every single time, furiously screaming at me and punishing me. She grew even more infuriated by my explanation, believing that I was not only malicious but had also learned how to lie.

She eventually slapped me hard across the face and bellowed, "I provided you with a great lifestyle to give you a solid foundation, not to have you viciously pick on the vulnerable! You have truly been spoiled rotten! You must be taught a lesson this time, Bennett!"

She then locked me in the basement for a week, completely ignoring the fact that I was claustrophobic.

I nursed my resentment and refused to speak to Delilah for six months from that point forward. It wasn't until I placed first in the county on the SAT that Delilah offered to take me on a graduation trip.

I understood that this was her way of apologizing to me. I merely thought that since we were siblings, there was really no grudge between us that couldn't be resolved.

Yet, on the day of the trip, someone threw sacks over our heads and abducted us to Northern Marovia, and by the following day, Delilah had disappeared.

I was worried for her safety, so I kept looking for her throughout the compound, even though my body was repeatedly whipped raw, causing new wounds to be added before the old ones on my body could even heal. I never gave up searching for her, no matter how painful it was.

I was covered in burns from branding irons and narrowly escaped being fed to the pigs after being caught sneaking around again.

It was then that a kind man took pity on me and advised, "You should stop with all the searching, young man. Anyone who vanishes out of nowhere in this place is likely long dead."

In that instant, something inside me seemed to die. I drowned in guilt every waking moment.

If I hadn't stubbornly fought with Delilah, she wouldn't have taken me on that trip just to get me to forgive her. If it hadn't been for me, Delilah wouldn't have been dragged into this place, and she wouldn't have lost her life here.

I stopped fighting back entirely. I numbly accepted the daily beatings as part of a routine and numbly accepted the scars covering my body. I was so dead inside that I just wanted to end my life.

I had finally managed to get my hands on a bottle of sleeping pills, and just as freedom was within reach, I discovered a truth that hurt worse than death. It turned out that everything I had been put through was because my SAT scores had been higher than Nathan's.

It had triggered his depression, and Delilah had subjected me to this hellish punishment simply because her heart ached for him.

I suddenly let out a harsh, twisted laugh that sounded nothing like me before breaking down, the tears I had kept suppressed bursting forth like a broken dam.

Mr. Guest's eyes were brimming with tears. He tried to speak several times, his lips trembling uncontrollably. But in the end, he was unable to form a single word.

He finally pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly in distress. "If there is anything you need, I'll do everything in my power to help you, Bennett."

I shook my head wryly and said, "I don't need anything anymore."

I had technically died long ago, so I had long since stopped wanting this empty shell of a body. I would have already been at peace if Delilah hadn't suddenly shown up to rescue me.