The ground exploded with a roar.
Countless sharp rock spears erupted from the earth.
They whistled as they tore through the air.
Aiming straight for Cecilia’s heart.
This was Bell’s strongest move.
He held nothing back.
Even if his opponent was his greatest nightmare.
“Too slow.”
Cecilia didn’t even move her feet.
She simply waved her hand—the one not holding the knife.
The air solidified instantly.
Then it burst.
Invisible wind blades formed an impenetrable net.
“Crack! Crack!”
The moment the hard granite spears touched the wind net, they shattered into a cloud of stone dust.
They didn’t even graze the hem of Cecilia’s skirt.
A gap in strength.
A chasm-like difference in power.
Bell gritted his teeth.
Cold sweat ran down his forehead and into his eyes.
It stung painfully.
But he didn’t stop.
Mana poured out of him frantically.
The floorboards churned.
Earth walls, spikes, stone bullets.
They rained down on the white figure like a storm.
It was useless.
All of it was useless.
Cecilia looked as if she were taking a stroll in a garden.
A leisurely, casual walk.
Every attack automatically shattered three meters away from her.
She was playing.
Like a cat with a mouse.
Watching Bell’s futile rage.
“Lilian!!”
Bell roared in his consciousness.
It was a command at the soul level.
The absolute compulsion of a master over a slave.
“Come out! Kill her!!”
Leovet had said it.
With Lilian’s strength.
Combined with Bell’s earth magic support.
Even if they couldn’t defeat Cecilia.
They could at least stall her.
As long as they stalled for a few minutes.
As long as they made enough noise.
His father and mother would wake up.
However.
There was no response.
At the other end of the consciousness link.
There was only endless terror.
A shuddering fear that reached the marrow of her bones.
Lilian was trembling.
Hiding in the next room.
Curled into a ball.
She couldn’t forget.
That day.
The scene where Cecilia had smilingly pulled her fangs out one by one.
That pain.
That despair.
It was more terrifying than the backlash of the slave contract.
“Lilian! Get over here! That’s an order!!”
Bell grew desperate.
His eyes were bloodshot.
The soul contract tightened violently.
Attempting to forcibly control Lilian’s body.
“Crash!”
The sound of breaking glass came from the next room.
Bell froze.
He felt it.
Lilian had jumped out the window.
The vampire who was supposed to be his strongest trump card.
She would rather endure the agony of defying the contract.
She would rather jump from the third floor.
Than face Cecilia for even a single second.
She had fled.
Completely fled.
Bell’s heart sank to the bottom of an abyss.
It was like being thrown into an ice cave.
It was over.
The only variable was gone.
All his calculations.
In the face of absolute terror.
Were nothing but a joke.
“What is Brother dazing off for?”
Cecilia’s voice was right next to him.
Bell snapped back to reality.
The demon had already walked through the dust and smoke.
She stood before him.
Her white dress.
Was spotless.
Only the small knife in her hand.
Was still dripping with Tia’s blood.
He couldn’t win.
He couldn’t escape.
No one was coming to save him.
The quartz sword in Bell’s hand fell to the floor with a clang.
His knees went soft.
“Thud.”
He knelt.
Dignity?
Face?
In front of Tia’s life.
They were worth less than dog shit.
“Please...”
Bell looked up.
His voice trembled.
He sounded like he was about to cry.
“Cecilia.”
“I beg of you.”
“Release her.”
“I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“You want me to play with you, you want me to never leave you, anything is fine.”
“Just don’t kill her.”
Cecilia tilted her head.
Looking down at the kneeling Bell.
The smile on her face grew more brilliant.
Yet more twisted.
“Brother is begging me?”
“For this woman.”
“Brother is actually kneeling to Cecilia?”
She laughed until she was doubled over.
As if she had heard the world’s funniest joke.
She laughed until tears came to her eyes.
“But what should I do?”
Cecilia stopped her boisterous laughter.
Her gaze turned cold in an instant.
Like a venomous snake.
“I don’t want anything.”
“I just want her dead.”
She turned around.
Walking toward Tia, who was pinned to the wall.
Her steps were light and airy.
“However.”
“Considering Brother is being so sincere.”
“I can let Brother choose a way for her to die.”
“Should I peel off her skin to make a lampshade?”
“Or should I pull out her bones one by one to make a necklace?”
“NO!!”
Bell wanted to rush over.
But he found he couldn’t move.
Wind.
The invisible wind was like chains.
Pinning him firmly to the floor.
He could only watch.
Watch as Cecilia walked up to Tia.
And raised the knife.
“Since Brother won’t choose.”
“Then I’ll decide for myself.”
“Squelch.”
The sound of a sharp blade entering flesh.
It was soft.
Yet it sounded exceptionally piercing in the deathly silent room.
The blade sank into Tia’s abdomen.
Right up to the hilt.
Tia’s body arched violently.
Her eyes bulged.
The veins on her forehead stood out starkly.
She wanted to scream.
But the wind sealed her mouth.
She could only make a gurgling sound.
That was the sound of blood surging up her throat.
Cecilia gripped the handle.
She slowly twisted it.
One turn.
Two turns.
Mashing the organs inside into a mess.
Fresh blood gushed from the wound.
Staining the white nightgown red.
Dripping onto the floor.
Gathering into a massive, shocking pool.
“STOP IT!!”
Bell went mad.
He struggled desperately within the wind locks.
His bones made a brittle sound as they reached their limit.
“Stop it!!”
“Mom and Dad are right downstairs!!”
“If you kill someone, you’ll be exposed!!”
“You’ve played the good girl in front of them for so many years!!”
“Do you want to throw it all away!!”
This was his final roar.
And his last hope.
Cecilia’s hand stopped.
She looked back.
At Bell.
A hint of innocent confusion was on her face.
“Exposed?”
She pulled the knife out.
A string of blood droplets followed.
She stuck out her tongue.
And licked the blood off the blade.
“Brother is so silly.”
Cecilia raised her hand.
She pointed at the ceiling.
Then pointed at the floor.
A faint ripple shimmered in the air.
It was a barrier that isolated all sound and mana fluctuations.
“The moment I walked through the door.”
“I sealed this place off.”
“Forget about killing one person.”
“Even if I tore this building down.”
“As long as I don’t undo it.”
“Mom and Dad downstairs.”
“Will continue to sleep very soundly.”
Cecilia smiled.
That kind of smile.
Pure.
Cruel.
Devoid of any humanity.
“Now.”
“No one can disturb us anymore.”
“Brother.”
Cecilia suddenly stopped her movements.
Her small, blood-stained hand gently stroked Tia’s flat abdomen.
The movement was soft.
As if she were caressing a rare treasure.
“Inside here.”
She tilted her head, her smile impossibly pure.
“It seems there is the aura of a tiny life.”
Bell’s breathing stopped.
His mind went blank.
It was like a bolt of lightning had struck him directly through the skull.
A child.
That was his and Tia’s child.
“It’s Brother’s child, isn’t it?”
Cecilia asked with a beaming smile.
But her eyes were a void of deathly cold.
“How wonderful.”
“Brother has a child.”
“Cecilia is going to be an aunt.”
Before her voice even faded.
The knife in her hand stabbed down violently.
“Thuck!”
Blood splattered.
It sprayed across Cecilia’s fair cheek.
Like a blooming spider lily.
“Hahahahahaha!”
Cecilia laughed so hard her whole body shook.
But her hand did not stop.
One stab.
Two stabs.
Three stabs.
Every strike precisely avoided the vitals.
Yet delivered the ultimate agony.
“Since it’s Brother’s child.”
“Then Auntie should show it some proper love.”
“NO!!!”
Bell’s sanity snapped completely.
The corners of his eyes tore.
Bloody tears flowed down his cheeks.
A roar like a dying beast erupted from his throat.
It was a rage that transcended fear.
It was the fire of a burning soul.
“DIE!!!”
Boom!
The wind locks that were suppressing him actually developed a crack.
Bell didn’t know where the strength came from.
Perhaps it was a final burst of life.
Perhaps it was demonic possession.
He violently broke free from his restraints.
The shard of the quartz sword was clutched tightly in his palm.
He lunged forward recklessly.
Without any form.
Without any technique.
There was only the madness of taking her down with him.
“Oh?”
Cecilia was slightly surprised.
Just as she was about to raise her hand.
Bell slammed into her embrace.
It was speed bought with his very life.
Squelch.
The sharp quartz shard slashed Cecilia’s cheek.
A thin red line.
Appeared on that flawless face.
A few drops of blood.
Slowly seeped out.
The entire room.
Became deathly silent.
Cecilia froze.
She reached out her finger.
Gently wiped the blood from her cheek.
And put it in her mouth to taste.
Iron.
It was her own blood.
“Brother...”
Her eyes lit up.
Terrifyingly bright.
As if she had discovered a marvelous new toy.
“You hurt me.”
She looked at Bell.
There was no anger in her eyes.
Only a kind of morbid excitement.
“This is the first time.”
Bell was repelled by a massive force.
He slammed heavily against the wall.
The sound of ribs snapping was clearly audible.
But he couldn’t feel the pain.
He could only watch helplessly as Tia slid down the wall like a broken ragdoll.
Falling into the pool of blood.
“What a pity.”
Cecilia glanced at Tia on the floor.
Then she looked at Bell.
“I wanted to play for a while longer.”
She smoothed her skirt.
Even though it was already stained with blood and filth.
“Since Brother worked so hard.”
“I will be merciful.”
“And leave you some time to say goodbye.”
She smiled.
Like an angel granting charity to a beggar.
“Brother must be grateful, okay?”
Cecilia took a step back.
The space behind her began to distort.
Like a shattered mirror.
Ripples spread out.
“By the way.”
Just as she was about to disappear.
She suddenly stopped.
She held up a finger.
And placed it against her lips.
“Shh.”
“Brother shouldn’t think about telling on me.”
Her gaze pierced through the floor.
As if she could see their parents sleeping soundly below.
“If Mom and Dad find out I killed this woman.”
“I’ll be very sad.”
“And if I’m sad.”
“I might even kill Mom and Dad too.”
She smiled until her eyes were crescent moons.
“Brother doesn’t want to become an orphan, right?”
With that.
Her figure slowly receded into those ripples.
And vanished completely.
The barrier in the room shattered.
The wind stopped.
Leaving only a floor covered in blood.
And the girl lying in that crimson pool.
“Tia!!”
Bell scrambled toward her on all fours.
The blood on the floor was too slippery.
He fell several times.
But he didn’t care.
He threw himself by Tia’s side.
His hands shook.
As he tried to cover the wounds on her abdomen.
But there was too much blood.
He couldn’t cover it.
No matter how he tried to block it, it wouldn’t stop.
That was the speed of a life slipping away.
“Quick... use healing magic...”
Bell’s voice was trembling.
“It’s no use...”
A cold hand.
Gently rested on the back of Bell’s hand.
Tia opened her eyes.
Her once bright pupils.
Had already begun to lose focus.
“Don’t waste your strength...”
Her voice was very light.
Light as a feather.
“Don’t talk... I beg you, don’t talk...”
Bell cried like a child.
Tears mixed with blood dripped onto Tia’s face.
“I’ll save you...”
“I can definitely save you...”
Tia looked at him.
The corner of her mouth barely curved into a smile.
“So...”
“So the junior has been working so hard to get stronger... because of this...”
Because of fear.
Because there was a demon constantly chasing him from behind.
That was why he didn’t dare to stop.
That was why he didn’t dare to love.
“Silly boy...”
Tia raised her hand.
She wanted to touch Bell’s face.
But halfway up.
She lost all strength.
Bell grabbed her hand.
And pressed it against his own cheek.
“I’m sorry...”
“I’m sorry...”
If it weren’t for him.
Tia wouldn’t be dying.
If he hadn’t brought her back.
She might still be suffering.
But at least she would be alive.
“Bell...”
Tia looked at the ceiling.
Her gaze was somewhat hollow.
“Hug me.”
Bell froze for a moment.
His memories were like a floodgate opening.
That day under the sunset.
In front of the dessert shop.
The girl sitting on the bench.
Opened her arms.
And said with a smile.
“Hug me.”
At that time.
He had refused.
Because of fear.
Because of cowardice.
Bell suddenly leaned down.
He hugged the girl in his arms with all his might.
So tightly.
As if he wanted to meld her into his own flesh and blood.
To never be separated again.
Tia leaned against his chest.
Listening to that violent heartbeat.
A satisfied smile appeared on her face.
That was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
Scenes from the past flashed before her eyes.
The way they looked when they first met.
The way he frowned while eating cake.
The clumsy way he acted when giving her a gift.
And that night.
The way he promised her a future in her ear.
It was enough.
This life.
Was worth it.
“Bell...”
Tia’s voice grew smaller and smaller.
Like a candle in the wind.
“Pull my soul... out.”
Bell’s body froze instantly.
“What... did you say?”
“I know you can...”
Tia looked at him.
Her eyes held a final plea.
“That bottle... you always carry it with you...”
That was the bottle used to hold the souls of shadow wolves.
The container used to create puppets.
“I’m not afraid of the pain...”
Tia’s fingers gently clutched Bell’s collar.
“I want to... protect Bell... forever...”
“Even if I become a monster...”
“Even if I can only be a tool...”
“As long as I can stay by your side...”
“It’s enough...”
Her voice cut off.
Her hand fell.
Her pupils dilated completely.
Fixed on that final, gentle gaze.
The unborn child.
The unfinished wedding.
In this moment.
Everything came to an end.
...
The next day.
The morning sun shone through the broken window.
Illuminating the mess on the floor.
Bell was curled up in the corner.
Like an orphan abandoned by the whole world.
In his arms.
He clutched a crystal bottle tightly.
Inside the bottle.
A soft ball of white light.
Floated quietly.
It wasn’t violent like the shadow wolves.
It didn’t struggle like a magic beast.
It was very quiet.
Very gentle.
Just like the girl when she was alive.
Bell’s eyes were hollow and lifeless.
Dried bloody tears were still on his cheeks.
He lowered his head.
His cheek gently rubbed against the cold bottle.
He murmured to himself.
Over and over again.
“Good morning.”
“Wife.”
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