Within Manor hallroom,

The heavy oak doors groaned as Kaida pushed them open, her boots thudding against the polished stone floor.

The hall was grand, disgustingly so—chandeliers that probably cost more than her entire village dripping from the ceiling, and velvet drapes that smelled of old money and older sins.

But she didn't give a shit about the decor. Her eyes darted around like a hawk until they locked onto a small figure sitting on a plush rug near the hearth.

"Toby!"

The word tore out of her throat, raw and trembling. She didn't even wait for the door to close before she hurled herself across the room, skidding on her knees to reach him. She grabbed the boy, her calloused hands shaking as she checked him over—arms, legs, face. He looked clean. Too clean. Fed. Healthy.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Kaida demanded, her voice cracking. She cupped his small face, her thumbs brushing away a smudge of soot that wasn't there, just a ghost of her own panic. "Look at me, Toby. Are you hurt?"

The boy blinked, his big eyes looking up at her with a clarity she hadn't seen in months. He tilted his head, his small hand reaching up to pat her scarred cheek.

"Aunty...?"

Kaida froze.

Her heart slammed against her ribs, skipping a beat, then two. Her mouth parted, jaw hanging loose as she stared at him. The silence in the hall was deafening, broken only by the crackle of the fire. She turned her head slowly, neck creaking with tension, to look at Mira, who was walking in behind her, clutching her cloak.

"How?" Kaida whispered, the word barely escaping her lips.

Toby couldn't speak. Not like this. Not since the incident. He mumbled, he cried, he screamed, but he didn't use words. Not correctly. And definitely not with that kind of recognition.

Mira offered a small, tired smile, walking over to kneel beside them. "Now you understand," she said softly, her hand resting gently on Kaida's rigid shoulder.

Kaida stared at her friend, then back at the boy who was now fumbling with a wooden toy soldier. Her shock melted, replaced instantly by a cold, sharp suspicion that narrowed her gaze into slits.

"Don't tell me," she hissed, her voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "Is that due to that pig bastard?"

Mira flinched slightly but kept her smile, though it looked strained. "It's not 'pig bastard', Kaida. It's Young Master Viktor."

Kaida blinked, recoiling as if Mira had just slapped her. The reverence in Mira's tone... it was wrong. It was sick. She shook her head, standing up abruptly and pacing a tight circle.

"Fine. I accept it," she spat, throwing her hands up. "He has some way to heal Toby. Magic? Artifacts? I don't care. But 'what' is the price, Mira?" She spun around, pointing a finger at the door where Viktor had vanished. "In the end, he is just after a body. Men like him don't give charity. They give loans, and they collect with interest in flesh."

Mira didn't argue. She just let out a shaky breath, moving to sit on the rug beside her son. She ruffled Toby's hair, her eyes distant.

"Did you visit the village?" Mira asked quietly. "Do you see the burned hut near my house?"

Kaida stopped pacing. She frowned. In the rush to get here, the panic of seeing the signal... she hadn't asked. She had just assumed Viktor kidnapped them.

"I..." Kaida started, then nodded slowly. "I saw the burned hut. I forgot to ask."

"Bandits," Mira said simply. "They attacked us."

"Bullshit!" Kaida yelled, the sound echoing off the high walls. "Impossible! How could there be bandits on this country's borderline when there is nothin—"

Mira looked up, her green eyes shimmering with unshed tears. She shook her head. "I had the same question in my mind. How is that possible? I thought Toby would be safe here. I thought 'I' would be safe." She choked back a sob, wiping her eye. "But I wasn't. They came for us. And he... he helped me."

Kaida's eyes narrowed further, her brain working overtime. It smelled like a setup.

It smelled like a classic noble trap in those books.

"Don't tell me," Kaida muttered, stepping closer, her shadow falling over Mira. "Did that noble bast—" She halted, gritting her teeth. "I mean, did the 'Young Lord' send those bandits himself? To swoop in and save the day? To impress you so you'd spread your legs for a hero instead of a villain?"

Mira looked at her, really looked at her, with a sadness that made Kaida's chest ache.

Mira closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek as she played her role.

The role of a wife who just wants the best for her husband.

"Do you really think," Mira whispered, her voice trembling, "that he needs to do something like that for a woman like me? Look at me, Kaida. I'm a widow with a crippled son. Why would a man like him go to such lengths?"

Kaida opened her mouth to retort, but the words died in her throat. She stopped her thoughts, looking at Mira's pathetic, weeping form.

The logic... it was twisted, but it held.

Viktor was a noble. He could have any woman he wanted.

Why stage a bandit attack for a village washerwoman?

Kaida felt her anger deflating, leaving her exhausted. She sighed, rubbing her forehead aggressively.

"What happened, sister?" Kaida asked, her voice softening. She crouched down, reaching out to wipe a tear from Mira's face.

"Nothing," Mira sniffled, leaning into Kaida's touch like a wounded animal. "I was just trying to tell you this. Why are you not believing me? He is a kind man. He saved us."

"Okay, fine," Kaida groaned, though her gut was still screaming at her. She had seen too much. As a guard, she knew how these bastards operated.

They treated women like objects, fleshlights to be used and discarded.

They ruined lives, impregnating maids and commoners with fake promises of marriage before kicking them to the curb to rot.

'I need to get her out of here,' Kaida thought, her resolve hardening. 'I'll play nice, I'll wait for an opening, and then I'm taking her and Toby far away before that bastard—'

"I am pregnant," Mira blurted out.

The world stopped.

Kaida's hand froze on Mira's cheek. The air left the room.

Slowly, Kaida's eyes widened, the pupils trembling as the words processed. Pregnant.

'Pregnant.'

Her jaw clenched so hard a vein popped in her forehead.

The image of that smirk on Viktor's face, the way he looked at Mira, the way he looked at 'her' outside—it all crashed together in a blinding flash of red.

He didn't just use her.

He 'planted' his seed in her.

He trapped her.

Kaida stood up, her chair—if she had been sitting in one—would have been pulverized.

Her hands balled into fists so tight her knuckles turned white, her entire body vibrating with a murderous aura that made the temperature in the room drop.

"I WILL KILL THAT BASTARD!" she roared, spinning around, her hand instinctively reaching for the sword hilt that wasn't there, her eyes locking onto the door leading deeper into the manor with pure, unadulterated hate as she dashed in...

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