Chapter 55.2

Elisha almost frowned. She wondered if she had ever smiled at Marco before.

“Why?”

“Well, if you promise, I’ll go along with you. There must be a direction in which you want me to move towards next time.”

Elisha was bewildered by him. But his prerequisite was easy for her, so she nodded.

‘But… … . Can it be this easy?’

She was anxious that there might be other traps.

“Why are you following my directions if you don’t trust me completely?”

Elisha inquired.

“First, if your information is correct, there is no reason not to heed you.”

“… … .”

“Secondly, even if this is a trap, I can handle it. Even if you’re a traitor, it’s not a losing business for me, is it?”

Lucerne raised Elisha’s chin and explained,

“Then you would fall into my hands and what would there be to regret? I just have to deal with you and fix you.”

Goosebumps sprouted on her back. Elisha turned away, conscious of the red eyes that bore into her.

To Elisha, he was a mysterious man; she could not fathom how sincere he was.

***

“Get some rest. I’ll be back after work.”

Elisha tried to calm herself down. As Lucerne left the room, the tension in her body relaxed.

‘Still, it’s the situation I wanted … … . I’m glad it worked out well.’

As she gathered her thoughts, she tried to pull herself together. However, her body and mind were stirred up by someone.

‘Is sex usually like this?’

Her body felt utterly limp and heavy. She had not only run herself into the ground but had also used up all her future reserves of energy too.

‘I have to think, I have to think… … .’

After 30 minutes, Elisha dozed off. It was the first time in both of her lives that she had become so defenseless.

‘Maybe he’s trying to control me… he’s… … .’

Even though it was a very short time, she had a vivid dream. However, this time it was different from usual because she knew that it was a dream.

Maybe it was because she had listened to Lucerne’s childhood story. Elisha had had a similar experience.

It was about a year before she died.

After Carola uncovered the secrets in the Yurif forest, Jacob and her used that fact to drain Marco’s blood.

Carola, in particular, had a knack for bullying people. She drove Arien to the brink of a nervous breakdown.

‘You’re going to do this for Carola. Give us this, too. Yes, get that!’

She smiled and took Arien’s jewels and dresses. Even the things in the temple weren’t safe from her.

Even in Elisha’s eyes, demons didn’t compare to her viciousness.

‘Deliver this letter to Arien!’

Carola made sure that Elisha always delivered her threatening letters.

After Arien’s temper tantrum upon receiving the blackmail, she vented her anger out on Elisha. At that time, she had an intense hatred for Marco and Arien.

One day, after Elisha had routinely brought a message, Arien detained her. She had suffered bitterly during her imprisonment.

‘Hungry.’

Elisha didn’t eat well in her previous life. Due to the relentless terror and danger her life was under, her chronic anxiety manifested in her suffering from stomach pain.

Even so, being starved was genuinely horrifying.

‘Tell me what you know! How the hell did Carola find out the secret in that forest? Fuck! Am I inferior to that dumb, big-breasted bitch? Huh?’

The truth of the matter was that Elisha didn’t know anything.

Rather, she discovered more about what had happened after being caught and tortured by Marco and Arien. Piecing together questions during interrogations and inferring through arguments, Elisha began to paint a picture of what had happened through the daze of her harrowing abuse. She begged to be released; she had no information and was thus not worthy of being a hostage. But, of course, no one listened to her.

And as expected, Jacob didn’t come to find Elisha. So… … . From the beginning, Arien knew Marco well.

There would be no consequences if ‘someone’ touched Elisha.

Moreover, bizarrely, even from before, Marco was prone to harassing Elisha. There was no way that his wife did not know it, so Arien had been holding a grudge against her from since before.

‘You’re already a retarded, crippled bitch, but I’m going to cut off one of your arms and send you back.’

Arien looked at her cruelly and sneered. Then one day, she proposed a terrible game to Elisha.

‘Let’s play tag. If you hold out for an hour, I’ll let you go. If you get caught, I will dig your eyes out.’

So she covered Elisha’s eyes, tied her hands, and made her run away. She then used her knights to drive Elisha like a rabbit.

‘Hey, ugly witch! Run away!’

‘Next time I catch her, I’ll take her clothes off!’

Elisha frantically sprinted off with those knights taunting and pursuing her. She had never been so terror-stricken before.

In the first place, Arien had no intention of returning her unscathed. Elisha already knew it.

A sense of horror and dread pressed on her panicking heart as she ran when someone suddenly caught her. A firm hand had grabbed her as she was about to fall.

‘Let me go, please.’

Then she burst into tears. Her heart was beating so hard in her ears that she didn’t even notice that their surroundings, while the man was holding her, were cold and quiet. Blindfolded, Elisha had no idea who her opponent was.

‘Who is it? I will never forget your grace, so please let me go just once! Please pretend you didn’t see me.’

In wide-eyed desperation, she groveled. Elisha’s enduring dignity was completely shattered. She just cried and begged, not even knowing to whom.

‘I can’t see— my eyes—hiccup—Please… … . let me go. Please pretend you didn’t see me.’

‘… … .’

‘Help me… … . Please, save me just once… … .’