Chapter - 46

"You are looking at me like you want a third round, my Lady," Leo broke the silence, as a smirk played on his lips. "But I think your legs might disagree with your ambition."

Seraphine's face flushed a deep, lovely crimson. She buried her face in his chest to hide her embarrassment, hitting his arm playfully with a closed fist.

She looked like a teenage girl in love rather than a mature, refined woman.

"You are a beast, Mr Leo," she mumbled into his skin. "A complete monster. I can barely move my hips. I feel... so sore."

"Good," Leo said.

He reached down, grabbing her chin and gently forcing her to look up at him. His expression wasn't apologetic, instead he looked satisfied with her response.

"I wanted to leave a mark," he told her, his eyes boring into hers, "I wanted to make sure that every time you move today, every time you take a step, every time you sit down on your husband's cushioned chairs, you feel the ache. I wanted to make sure you think of me."

He leaned in, "I wanted to make sure you never even dream of another man."

Seraphine's eyes went soft and hazy, her pupils dilating. The way he owned her, made her shiver, "I won't," she whispered weakly, "There could never be anyone else after this. You have ruined me for all others."

She sighed, but then her gaze fell on the sun outside of the window and a flicker of panic flared inside her.

"I... I really must go," she said, her voice reluctant, "The servants might end up talking and Caelum might soon end up sending someone for me."

She tried to sit up, clutching the silk sheet to her chest in a futile attempt to cover her nakedness. The sheet slipped, revealing the curve of her back and the red handprint fading on her hip.

"I need to prepare," she murmured, swinging her legs toward the edge of the bed.

Leo watched her move. He admired the curve of her spine, the way her hair fell over her shoulders. But as she prepared to leave, his hand shot out. He grabbed her by the waist in a firm, inescapable grip.

He wasn't done.

"Eep!"

Seraphine gasped as he hauled her back. She lost her balance and fell backward, landing with a soft bounce against the mattress, right back into his arms.

"Not yet," Leo said.

His voice had changed. The playful warmth was gone, replaced by the seriousness of the man who had butchered seven assassins the night before.

Seraphine stiffened in his arms. She looked up at him, confused by the sudden shift in atmosphere.

"Mr Leo? What is it? I told you, I really must…"

"We have unfinished business, Seraphine" Leo interrupted, his voice calm but no nonsense "We were interrupted on the balcony last night."

The colour drained from Lady Seraphine's face. The warm, loving glow of the morning evaporated instantly.

She tried to look away, and pull back from his embrace, but Leo's hand on her waist held her firm.

"Why did you do it, Seraphine?" Leo asked. He didn't shout. He said it like a simple fact, "Why did you hire the Blackfang bandits to kidnap your own daughter?"

Seraphine flinched. She opened her mouth, the denial ready on her tongue, "Mr Leo, please... I told you last night as well. No matter how many times you ask, my answer will be the same."

"I would never…"

"Don't," Leo cut her off, his voice hardening, "Don't insult my intelligence. And don't insult what we just did by lying to me."

"I am not guessing, Seraphine. I know. I have Brena in the dungeon, and if I visit her again, she will surely sing something for me."

"I can give Sergeant Kaelen a knock as well. He must be itching to spill some beans."

He raised his free hand, wiggling his fingers, "And I have some skills of mine as well. I can make a maid whisper everything in my ears just as easily as I made you scream this morning."

"I will find the proof. I can connect the dots. The gold exchanges, the secret meetings, the orders, the timing of the patrol routes. It will all lead back to this mansion. It will all lead to you."

He leaned in close, his nose brushing hers. "So save us both the time. Save us the game. Tell me the truth."

Seraphine stared at him. Her eyes showed varied emotions. From surprise, to hurt to anger. She felt it all in that brief moment.

She pulled back as far as his grip would allow, her face hardening into a mask of cold nobility.

"Is this what this was?" she hissed, her voice trembling with a mix of rage and betrayal, "Is this why you seduced me? Is this why you bedded me? Just to gain leverage? To get me into your bed so you could extract a confession?"

Tears of humiliation welled in her eyes, "Are you blackmailing me, Mr Leo? Did you just fuck me to sell me out to my husband?"

Leo didn't get angry at her accusation. He didn't defend himself.

Instead, a slow, dark, and utterly terrifying smile spread across his face.

"You still don't get it," he shook his head in amusement.

He pulled her back into his embrace, ignoring her resistance, ignoring her stiff posture. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent deeply. His hands roamed her body possessively, claiming her skin again.

"I don't care about getting your bitch daughter 'Justice', Seraphine," he murmured against her throat, "I don't care about the law. I don't give a damn about what's happening in the Dargan house."

He pulled back to look her deep in the eyes.

[System Alert: Draconic Bloodline resonates with the desire for Dominance and Possession.]

"Seraphine, listen to me," he said, his voice intense, "You could tell me you worship a demon god in the dungeons of this castle. You could tell me you want to burn this entire kingdom to ash just to watch it glow. You could tell me you want to bury the Dargan family in a grave and piss on the headstone."

He paused, letting the words sink in.

"I. Don't. Care."

"You are my woman now," Leo declared, the weight of the words crashing down on her. "Mine to fuck. Mine to protect. Mine to keep. If you are evil, then I will be the devil you grovel in front of."

He tightened his grip on her waist, his fingers digging into her soft flesh.

"But," he added, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, "Because you are mine, there are no secrets. None. I need to know everything. Your past. Your present. And your future."

"Your kinks. Your fetishes. Your darkest, ugliest desires. You cannot hide anything from me. Not your body, and not your soul."

Seraphine stared at him, stunned into silence. She searched his eyes, looking for the lie, looking for the trap. She looked for some sort of judgment.

She found none.

She found only raw, possessive hunger. She found a man who looked at her darkness and didn't flinch. He didn't want to fix her. He didn't want to save her. He wanted to own her, own her, sins, own everything of hers.

Her eyes filled with hot tears. She let out a choked sob.

She threw herself onto him.

She didn't just hug him, she tackled him. She threw her legs over his hips, straddling him, her breasts crashing against his chest. She grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him frantically, passionately, a kiss of desperation and absolute relief.

Her hips ground down against him, and Leo felt the wetness rubbing against his hard dick. His words, his acceptance of her monstrous nature, had made her wetter than any foreplay ever could.

Leo kissed her back, tasting the salt of her tears on her lips. His hands gripping her ass to hold her close.

After a long, breathless minute, she broke the kiss. She rested her forehead against his, her golden hair creating a curtain around them. Her breathing was ragged, her chest heaving against his.

She stayed like that for a minute, and when she finally spoke, her voice was low and venomous.

"I hate them," she whispered, the words vibrating with years of suppressed rage, "I hate this house. I hate this name. I hate every stone in this mansion. I want to burn this godforsaken mansion to the ground."

"And Caelum..." She hissed the name like a curse, "I want to drive a blade through his heart. I want to watch the light fade from his cowardly eyes. I want to take everything he built, everything he loves, and burn it to the ground until there is nothing left but ash. And I will make him watch me do it all with that blade in his chest."

"You really hate that man," Leo stroked her hair, soothing the beast he had unleashed, "Is that why you targeted Aliana? Your daughter?"

Seraphine pulled back to look at him. Her beautiful face was twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated loathing.

"She is not my daughter," Seraphine spat.

"She is a monster of the Dargan House," she hissed, "Birthed by the first wife of that bastard Caelum. A woman as cruel and vicious as a snake."

"Do you know what I want for her, Leo?" she asked, her eyes wide and manic, "Death is too good. Too quick. Too clean."

Leo watched her, fascinated, "Tell me."

Seraphine leaned in, her voice trembling with dark, sadistic excitement.

"I want her broken," she whispered, "I want her stripped of her silks and her arrogance and her Divine Blessing."

"I want to tie her up and throw her into the barracks of the filthiest mercenary camp on the border."

"I want hundreds of men to use her," she said, the words tumbling out in a rush of hate, "Day and night. I want them to fuck her until her mind shatters."

"Until she is nothing but a piece of meat. Until she can't feel her pussy, until she can't remember her name, until she forgets she was ever a noble."

"I want her to be a dead, used sex toy," Seraphine concluded, breathless, her pupils dilated with the force of her malice.

"I want to break her to the point that she begs for more, just to feel something. That is what she deserves. For what she did to me."

Silence filled the room. The sheer scale of her hatred was heavy, suffocating.

Leo stared at her. Most men would have been horrified. Most "heroes" would have pulled away in disgust. But to Leo, this woman in front of her at that moment was the most attractive.

Leo just let a slow, dark smirk spread across his face.

He reached up and brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

"Well then, my Lady," he said softly, "It sounds like we have a lot of work to do."

Just as he spoke those words, a chime rang out in his head.

[System Notification]

[Hidden Quest Unlocked: Lady Seraphine's Vengeance]

[Objective: Assist Seraphine in the destruction of House Dargan.]

[Target Acquired: Aliana Dargan (Status: To be Broken); Target Acquired: Lord Caelum (Status: To be Killed)]

Leo grabbed the back of Seraphine's neck and pulled the vengeful, beautiful, broken woman back down for a kiss. It sealed their dark pact in blood and lust.

"Let's burn it all down," he whispered against her lips.

"Together."

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