Chapter - 50

"I shared everything with them," Lady Seraphine whispered, "I hunted in the rain while they sat by their fires. I fed their children when the winter was hard. I gave them medicine when they were sick."

Her grip on Leo's arm tightened, her nails digging in his flesh.

It was a memory from the past, but the coldness in Seraphine's eyes was still fresh. She lay in Leo's arms, her body trembling slightly against his chest.

She looked up at Leo's face. She expected to see horror. She expected him to look at her like she was a monster.

But she saw nothing of that sort. All she could see was interest. He was interested to know more.

"But when my family was being butchered... when Finn was screaming for help... Elara was begging for mercy, they closed their doors. They watched through the cracks. They let it happen."

She swallowed hard, her eyes pleading for an answer, "Weren't they ungrateful, Mr Leo?"

Leo didn't break the eye contact. He reached out and stroked her hair, his expression dark and approving.

"Ungrateful isn't the right word, my Lady," He said, his voice low and firm, "They weren't just mute spectators. They were accomplices. Ungrateful is just a polite word for betrayal."

Seraphine let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for five years. He didn't tell anyone. She was afraid no one would understand.

But he did. And he didn't judge.

"I didn't stop with Old Tom," she continued, her voice getting stronger.

Her mind drifted back to that day, back to Greenleaf.

After Tom's headless body hit the dirt, the silence in the village was absolute. The old blacksmith stared at the head rolling at his feet. His wife covered her mouth.

They were terrified. But at that very moment, Seraphine wasn't thinking.

"I killed them," Lady Seraphine told Leo, looking into empty space, "All of them."

"I moved from house to house. The blacksmith tried to run. I threw my knife. It penetrated him in the back of the neck. He died in the middle of the road."

"The old butcher tried to lock his door. I kicked it open. He died begging, just like Elara had begged."

"I didn't care if it was a man or a woman. I didn't care if they were old or young. If they were in that village, if they had stood by and watched, they were all guilty."

It wasn't a fight. It was an execution.

By the time the sun fully set, Greenleaf was a graveyard. The only sound was the crackling of the fire consuming the huts.

"But when my head began to clear, exhaustion took over and I collapsed among the corpses, my body finally gave out."

"I lay in the dirt, covered in the blood of the people I had once called family."

"Didn't they deserve it?" Seraphine asked Leo, looking for validation from him.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Leo smiled looking at her face, and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, "You simply balanced the ledger."

"When I woke up, the sun was rising again. But that time, I wasn't alone."

"I heard the crunch of boots and hooves on gravel. Heavy, and loud."

"I opened my eyes. And I saw a female soldier in leather scout armor was kneeling beside me, checking my pulse." Lady Seraphine told Leo.

"We have a survivor here!" the scout shouted.

"When I looked up, a heavy shadow fell over me."

"Standing over me was a man. He was a big, fat man with a thick neck and a greasy, unshaven face. He wore the heavy armour of the soldier from the City Patrol."

"He was Sergeant Voros."

The Sergeant looked around at the carnage, "What a mess," he grunted.

"He looked down at me and asked, 'What happened here, girl?'"

"I was still a bit foggy in my head, but I still had to think about something. Make a lie."

"'Bandits!' I softly whispered and told them. I told him that the bandits killed everyone, and I hid under the bodies."

"Sergeant Voros narrowed his eyes, scanning the corpses scattered across the dirt. Even through the confusion in my head, I could see him noticing the details. The cuts were clean, small and not so deep. Throats were slit. Blades driven straight into the heart. It was not the savage work of bandits."

"Then his gaze shifted back to me. I was covered in blood, my dress torn, skin exposed in places I didn't have the time to adjust it, but I could feel his gaze crawling all over me, stopping on my slightly exposed chest."

"He licked his lips, and I knew at that moment what he was thinking, and what he was going to do. Shut the case."

"'A tragedy,' That Sergeant muttered with a sleazy grin."

"He offered me his hand just to feel my touch. He said I was a lucky woman because he found me."

"He told me he would take care of me," Lady Seraphine sighed, "And I was too tired to resist. I needed time to plan next. So I took that hand that day."

"They brought me back to Auravale. But Voros didn't take me to the authorities."

"Instead, he took me to an expensive inn."

"He paid for a room for a week. He bought me food. He bought me a new dress."

"Then he started visiting me daily. He would visit in the morning once, and then after the sun drowned."

"He played the noble saviour. With his soft voice, he would put his hand over my shoulders, his fingers grazing my skin for way too long and his eyes always staring at my chest."

"He talked about how lonely I must be without my family, about how women should be grateful to the men who protected them.

"And I played into his ego, played the part of the broken damsel perfectly."

"I cried in front of him. I let his hands rest on my arm. I let him believe I was desperate and helpless."

"And when I knew he was in my palms. He wanted to please me any way possible. I asked him to help me get a job. Particularly… Help me get in the Lord's castle."

"He was surprised by my request. He told me it wasn't easy. I was too low born to even think about it."

"But I knew how to make him dance. I held his hand, looked him in his eyes and told him that I can clean, I can write, I am a hard worker. I told him I need to feel the same way I feel around him."

And I knew it worked when I saw the ugly, greedy grin on his face. He saw this as the perfect opportunity for what he wanted.

"Well... For you... I can pull some strings. I know the head of the kitchens. But favors... They cost, sweetheart. Nothing in this world is free."

"I will do anything," I looked at him with desperation.

"Anything?" he asked, his voice thick and wet with lust.

"Anything."

"A week later, he burst into the inn late at night, reeking of cheap ale."

"He told me he got me the job. I could start the next morning."

"'But tonight!' He grabbed me by my wrist, 'Tonight, you thank me!'"

"He was too drunk to keep up that gentleman facade. But he didn't want to do it in the inn. He wanted a thrill. He took me into the castle grounds through a side gate he was in charge of."

"He dragged me to the empty training barracks near the guards' quarters."

"I knew what was coming."

"He told me nobody would come there that night. That we had the entire place to ourselves. That I could scream to my heart's content."

"He pushed me onto a pile of straw mats."

"Voros began shedding off his armor piece by piece. When he was done, he yanked off his trousers and kicked them aside."

"He stood over me naked from the waist down, fully aroused, breathing hard through his nose like an animal."

"'Come here, girl,' he ordered me, pointing to his crotch."

"'Show me what that pretty mouth can do. Show me how grateful you are.'"

"I looked up at him. I looked at that disgusting thing. I wanted to chop it off. Yet, I made myself look submissive and terrified."

"Then I got on my knees and crawled toward him."

"Voros closed his eyes and leaned his head back, grinning like he had already won. Like I was nothing but a trophy he had purchased and was about to break."

"He never saw my hand slip toward my boot. My fingers wrapped around the handle of the hunting knife I had hidden there. It was the same blade that Voros gave me to project myself. Huh… That guy was just too dumb."

Slash!

"It just took me one swing. His disgusting dick that was rock-hard, standing in salute was gone. One swing and it was gone."

"Voros's eyes snapped open. It took him a moment to feel it. For the pain to reach his brain as he looked down.

"His manhood was gone. Severed clean at the base. Blood erupted from a perfectly clean cut and splattered my dress."

"But before he could even scream, before he could even reach for the gushing mess between his legs, I stood up and drove the knife straight into his left eye."

Thunk!

"The knife penetrated his eye socket and went straight through his skull.

"That bastard convulsed violently. He tried to scream, but I stuffed the hay I had in my hand into his mouth, stifling his cry."

"I stood over him and watched the light fade from his remaining eye."

"I removed all his clothes, emptied his pockets and found a letter signed by the Lord himself. It was the proof of my appointment."

"Then I grabbed his own blade, and carved on his meaty, sluggish chest, 'DEBT REPAID'''

"I wiped my hands on his discarded shirt, and left him there, naked, mutilated, pinned to the floor, bleeding out in the dark."

"The next morning, the entire castle was in chaos. A sergeant was found dead in the barracks, butchered beyond recognition. A lot of gambling houses were raided that day, many hands were chopped."

"But no one even glanced at the quiet new kitchen girl."

"No one suspected me."

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