Chapter 25: Chapter 24: The Light in the Dark (3)

Chains rattled, creating a lonely echo within the darkness. They rattled once again as if to confirm their existence.

“Ugh… it hurts.”

The boy stirred awake as a searing pain burned throughout his body. It was a type of burning he was familiar with; the kind that incinerated his very core.

This cursed contract, at least it isn’t fully activated.

The boy pulled against his chains, testing their durability. After a few minutes of strained metallic noises, he heard a not-so-distant groan in the darkness.

“Jun?”

“Yea, that’s me. She left the contract on. It hurts.”

“It does hurt…”

The pain of the soul contract was not something to be trifled with.

“Kid, what’s your status? I’m chained to a chair.”

“Just a chair huh? Heh, lucky. I’m chained everywhere.”

The boy rustled the chains once more, allowing the thick clanking noise to reverberate throughout the room. Jun could easily understand his predicament through sound alone.

“Seems like she went all out. Can you channel any mana through all of that?”

“Not a chance… well maybe there’s a small chance. I’ll need some time though.”

“How long.”

Jun’s tone didn’t sound like a question, but rather a command.

“A month… maybe two.”

“A month huh.”

“Yea, a month.”

Both of them turned quiet with their thoughts. A month’s time was incredibly precious to Jun as that was when he would finally turn 23 years old, signifying the end of his contract—and his death.

It was impossible for Madam Lexene to let any of them go freely once their contract was to expire. Jun witnessed many previous servants being taken away just a month before freedom, only to never see them again.

They once discussed a potential backup plan in the event they were caught. However, that plan was only a last-ditch effort. What was their backup plan?

Fight their way out of course!

Anything was better than quietly awaiting death. Unfortunately, their backup plan wouldn’t be viable in time since it was reliant on the boy’s unimpeded strength.

They waited patiently in the dark, each dealing with the unbearable pain of the soul contract in their own way. If it were any other pair of servants, they would have long succumbed to an endless session of tears and screams.

Before long, a heavy clunk sounded from the entrance—someone was unlocking the massive dungeon door!

“If it’s her, stay silent and let me do the talking.”

Jun rushed his words out quickly. He still believed he had some sway over Madam Lexene’s decisions.

The door creaked open; a blinding light entered the room. The two captives flinched and squinted at their visitors.

“Awake, are you? I brought you company.”

Madam Lexene’s imperial voice gave them a sinking feeling.

“Get in there you wretch!”

“Ah!”

A woman cried out followed by a thud.

“Manager Xin!”

Jun’s eyes widened with apparent panic. Manager Xin’s fate was the one thing he had been contemplating the entire time.

Madam Lexene stepped to the side and lowered the lantern in her hand. She gestured to the guards behind her.

“Get her tied up and leave us.”

“Wait, she’s innocent!”

Jun fervently struggled against his chains and pleaded with all his heart.

“She really has nothing to do with this! I coerced her into showing up! I can prove-”

Jun slumped to the side after receiving a swift, but powerful, strike.

“Quiet. I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

It didn’t take long before Manager Xin was also bound to a chair. Her position was just an arm’s length away from Jun.

The guards hustled out of the room, leaving the three captives alone with their twisted and terrible host. They wanted no part in what was to happen next.

Madam Lexene dimmed the lantern light before placing it on top of a nearby table.

“Ah, my precious little one.”

She walked toward the young boy, who remained hung in midair. Thick suppression chains wrapped around each of his four limbs, spreading his body out like a five-pointed star.

“You’ve been bad. You really hurt my feelings. Were you trying to run away from me? How could you do that?”

The boy remained silent despite the woeful appearance she created. Over the year there was one thing he understood, and that was how crazy this woman truly was.

He never knew when she would do something extreme. Additionally, he could never tell what her true feelings were.

“Why do you stare at me with such eyes? Is it because of the soul contract? It pains me so very much, but you know I have to leave it on. How ever will you learn otherwise?”

Her misty grey eyes welled up as she clasped her hands together in front of her chest. If one didn’t know any better, they might have truly mistaken her for a sorrowful maiden.

“Please let Manager Xin go…”

Jun spoke in a low voice. As if that were the trigger to something terrible, Madam Lexene whirled around with a snarl.

“What Manager Xin?! What Xin? Who are you to demand anything of me?! You who’ve betrayed me time and time again.”

She stood in front of Jun with bloodshot eyes. A steady stream of hot air exhaled through her nose.

“Did you think I would not notice?! Did you think of me as so incompetent?! You and your Xin both. You’re disgusting. No. You’re nothing to me.”

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Jun’s eyes widened in alarm. How could she have known? And for how long? Was all of this merely a farce? Or perhaps someone told her.

Jun snapped his attention to his battered lover. Could he have been betrayed by her as well? Just like Aines?

Madam Lexene scoffed, easily guessing his thought process.

“You’re 100 years too young to outsmart me young man. No, your precious Xin did not betray you. How did you expect to escape the senses of a high ranker such as myself? Each visit to the hotel, I knew everything.”

A subtle form of relief and happiness swelled within Jun. It was enough to know he hadn’t been stabbed in the back by the woman he loved.

“Although, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t kept any secrets… now does it?”

Madam Lexene glanced towards Manager Xin with a crooked smile.

“Oh, but perhaps it’s not my place.”

The elated feeling that Jun felt soon dissipated. He and Manager Xin never kept secrets from each other, but from the sound of his master’s words—was there truly something he didn’t know?

“My Xin?”

“It’s nothing Jun…”

She gave a weak response.

“Her bearing your child really is nothing, huh.”

A snide voice cut in, followed by a deathly silence.

“What?!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?! I would have never allowed you to come!”

“T-That’s why I didn’t tell you!”

Jun felt like a stone had just dropped to the pit of his stomach. Nothing was going according to plan. Everything would have been fine if they hadn’t been caught, but that wasn’t the reality they lived in.

“Enough of this.”

Madam Lexene suddenly retrieved a short sword from her storage ring.

“W-Wait what are you doing?!”

“Huh? Who are you to question me? This wretch touched what was mine, and now…”

The speedy slice shimmied through the air.

Before Jun could speak another word, a decapitated head rolled to his feet. Manager Xin’s once bright and beautiful eyes now remained in a lifeless state of shock.

“Why… How… My Xin…”

Jun mumbled incoherently, never taking his gaze off the head at his feet.

“And you, my dear servant, have gone too far. Betraying my trust for how many years. Planning and attempting to escape. Even dragging my most favorite servant into your schemes.”

Madam Lexene stood beside Jun. Her face trembled in indecision, until finally.

“No, no, no. Your time has come.”

The sound of flesh tearing open was soon heard. She slowly pierced the short sword through Jun’s chest before finally letting go of the handle, leaving the weapon to rest within his body.

“This has been taxing on me, emotionally.”

Madam Lexene flicked her hair back and made her way to the exit. She glanced at her youngest servant, who wore a somber expression.

“I’ll be back to deal with you later, my sweet.”

She spoke with a smile, which caused an eerie contrast to the ghastly murder she just committed. With a solid boom, the massive door shut behind her, leaving the young servant alone with his thoughts.

The boy glanced at Jun, who remained perfectly still.

The sword piercing out of Jun’s body formed a jarring image. Blood soon trickled down the chair, pooling at his feet and intertwining with the remains of his beloved.

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Minutes of silence passed by, eventually turning into hours.

“Kid…”

The silence was broken by a cracked voice. Jun was still alive, but it didn’t seem likely to remain so for long.

“I’m here.”

“Yea…”

There was another pause. Jun’s body remained just as still as ever.

“My name is Jun Motan. My father, Skantis Motan. He owns…”

Jun coughed up a mouthful of blood, allowing it to splatter onto his legs.

“Anway. Please ruin that bastard. Yea.”

The boy remained silent. A tempest of emotions swirled within his chest.

Should I just agree? Everything here is my fault.

Even though Madam Lexene knew about Jun’s escapades with Manager Xin, it didn’t mean she knew about the plan. The escape plan was well thought out by Jun, and there was an extremely high chance of success.

Both he and Jun knew that the one truly at fault was him and only him. Due to his naïve stupidity, he ignored Jun’s initial advice. What was that advice?

Don’t trust the other servants.

Watching Manager Xin’s demise and now Jun bleeding out before him, it was like tightening a barbed wire around his already fragile heart. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible if they were caught only through dumb bad luck.

However, this wasn’t the case. They were simply caught because of him alone.

“Jun… I’m sorry- “

“Don’t.”

Another cough of blood followed.

“Kid, another last request. I’m greedy.”

“Anything.”

Jun struggled his head upright and stared at the young boy, a surprising motion considering how long he had stared at his deceased lover.

“One day, you’ll meet the one for you. She’ll make you smile… Don’t ever… regret…”

His voice trailed off before he nodded backwards—his body went limp.

The boy fought back tears with Jun’s final words echoing in his thoughts. The gentle lantern light cast shadows off the bodies before him and the scent of death permeated the air.

It was at this point that he felt truly alone.

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A few days passed by. The lantern ran out of energy long ago, plunging the boy’s vision back to stifling darkness.

“Hic…”

Alone, always alone.

The nauseating smell that filled the room was a constant reminder. A reminder of his foolish blindness.

For the umpteenth time, he calmed his beating heart and coldly plotted.

A month is all I need. I can feel it, the rate of my growth. If I can accumulate enough energy to shatter these chains in one go, then I’ll be free. No one will be able to stop me.

He stared at the darkness like a corpse, and the darkness stared back.

I’ll burn this place to the ground. I’ll make sure she regrets her every living moment. I’ll torment her in honor of…?

He thought about Jun’s final requests, one of them being revenge.

But Jun didn’t ask me to kill the she-devil. He wanted me to ruin his father. Even to his dying breath, he never thought about revenge against Madam Lexene.

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became.

Just what was Jun’s relationship with her? Did he care about her on some level that I can’t perceive?

His thoughts were cut short by the sound of heavy metal moving. She had returned. Harsh light spilled through the doorway, followed by the impatient snapping of fingers.

“Quickly now. Get this mess cleaned up. Set up the tools and materials over there.”

Madam Lexene commanded her guards and made her way to the boy. The guards bumbled about with urgency.

“You and I, we’re going to have a lot of fun. Just the two of us.”

Madam Lexene gazed at the boy with cloudy eyes, while a love-struck smile remained plastered to her face. If he weren’t chained in the air, her words and actions could have appeared endearing.

The boy watched as the guards removed Manager Xin’s headless body out of sight, Jun’s corpse followed. Chairs were set aside, and new tables full of materials were placed around the room.

Various tubes, instruments, and vats of liquids that he couldn’t recognize were just a few of the new decorations.

There’s no way all of this is for me… right?

A kindling of fear burned in the depths of his heart. He watched Madam Lexene scoop out a vial full of liquid from one of the unknown containers.

“My sweet boy, do you know what this is?”

Between her two fingers, she dangled the vial in front of the boy’s face. The luminous azure liquid sloshed around viscously. Without context, one might even think the thick liquid was a precious tonic.

Nevertheless, the boy shook his head. It didn’t really matter what the liquid was because he knew that Madam Lexene wouldn’t cause him lasting damage—at least…that’s what he thought.

“This is known as Heaven’s Tears. From the name, one might deduce its rarity, and rare it is. However, its name was not born from its rarity, but from its effects.”

The boy suddenly had a sinking feeling. Madam Lexene pursed her lips and her eyes glowed.

“Heaven’s Tears, a toxin born from ingredients only harvestable from the tenth floor. Does it kill? No. Perhaps it paralyzes? No.”

She moved her face dangerously close to the young boy and whispered.

“What do you think?”

Heaven’s Tears… a toxin made from unobtainable ingredients… how did she even get this?

“I… don’t know.”

His voice, almost a whisper, was barely audible. The kindling of fear blossomed into a fragrant and rich bonfire, causing the boy to unintentionally tremble.

He didn’t know what this substance was that Madam Lexene had gone through incredible lengths to acquire, and that feeling of the unknown was terrifying.

“You’re thinking of breaking these chains one day. You’re thinking of exacting your revenge. You’re thinking of your grand escape. It pains me so much to know this.”

The boy refused to respond, a silent admission to his plan.

“But you know? I wouldn’t have it any other way. Wouldn’t this be an incredible love story? The talented and valiant hero, broken down, piece by piece, by his lovely mistress.”

She chuckled and made her way to one of the tables.

“This attention. I want you to focus everything you have on me, and me alone. I want to become the center of your world. I’ll be the only thing you’ll ever think about, and the only thing you’ll ever live for. And then…”

Her voice lowered into a whisper.

“Then I’ll have completed my floor trial and have found true love in the process.”

She snorted before finally picking up a small syringe, filling it with the substance in the vial.

“Well, let’s see its effects! I have plenty of it to go around. After all, I’ve been preparing for this day all year.”

Without another thought, she stabbed the syringe into the boy’s arm and emptied its contents. Her eyes glimmered with intrigue as she watched his face slowly warp into one of uncertainty.

The boy’s heart leaped as he felt the viscous fluid mixing into his blood. He felt tired, like a butterfly that had flapped its tiny wings one too many times, or a sun that decided it no longer wanted to share its warmth with the universe.

“Can you feel it?”

He heard Madam Lexene’s voice, but he couldn’t locate her—he couldn’t be bothered to.

“Heaven’s Tears, its name derived from its effects. The heaven’s favored. The talented. Should we remove their talent, their innate potential, then the heaven’s will forever weep.”

His last remnant of hope, his immeasurable potential, was now being polluted and eradicated. Before, he had felt alone, but now he felt despair.

“Don’t get too comfortable.”

Madam Lexene stood before one of the tables, skimming her hand over the plethora of devices and materials.

“This is only the beginning.”