Samuel's POV
Location: Outskirts of Edenfall Cemetery – Earth
Time: 7:47 AM
---
The air snapped.
Not like thunder. Not like lightning.
But like reality itself flinching.
I had felt this only once before—long ago, when I crossed the threshold into the Crimson Labyrinth.
This was different, though.
Not hostile.
Not divine.
But personal.
Intimate.
I stopped walking, my boots halting on cracked stone. The birds had gone silent.
The sky above me trembled—fractures crawling across it like spiderwebs of stardust.
"She's actually doing it…" I muttered, running a hand through my silver-white hair, the grin already forming at the edge of my lips.
Roselle.
The Goddess of Darkness.
The one who ruled from her obsidian throne like a queen of ice and ruin—
And now she was tearing through dimensions just because I told her to come to me.
Bold move?
Yes.
Stupid?
Also yes.
But her style exactly.
The air thickened. Shadows began twisting unnaturally across the ground. The color of the sky bled into shades of purple and black, like the veil between life and death was being peeled open.
"Tch." I sighed, smirking. "She never could take a challenge lightly."
Then—a ripple.
Not a portal. Not a gate.
A wound.
Torn into space, glowing like an eclipse behind glass.
And through it—her presence hit me like a velvet storm.
Warm. Crushing. Addictive.
Roselle Vasalav had arrived.
I took a step forward, not flinching, not summoning my armor or my gauntlets—just me.
"So, the queen descends," I said aloud. "Is this your idea of foreplay now?"
The rift pulsed once more… and I felt her voice press into my mind—not like a whisper this time.
But a promise.
"You said come to you…
So here I am, Samuel."
A chill danced down my spine.
And for the first time in a while…
I felt excited.
________________________________________
Abigail's POV
Location: The Dungeon of Forgotten Shadows – Deep Below Bardot Industries
Time: Unknown, Nightfall Eternal
---
The cold stone walls pressed in on me, damp and unyielding.
Chains bit into my wrists, but it was the weight inside my chest that crushed me most.
I was trapped.
Not just in this cell—no, this was something far worse.
Trapped inside my own torment.
I didn't want to watch.
But I couldn't look away.
The divine mirror hung suspended before me, glowing like a cruel lantern in the darkness.
Through its shimmering surface, I saw them.
Samuel and Roselle.
They moved together with a wild, unbridled passion I had never seen before.
Every glance, every touch, every breath between them was a firestorm burning away everything I had ever been.
I was supposed to be the one he loved. The one who held his world.
But all I had done… was shatter it.
When I used to bring those men into our home, desperate to hurt him, to make him watch me betray him—I at least had the illusion of control.
At least I could close the door and pretend it didn't burn me alive.
But now?
Now it was different.
This wasn't a door.
This was a window.
A glass cage with no escape.
And through it, I was forced to witness everything.
Every kiss that wasn't mine.
Every whispered name that wasn't mine.
Every moment that reminded me I had lost him completely.
Despair curled around my throat like a living thing, squeezing tight.
I wanted to scream.
To beg.
To vanish into the shadows and never be seen again.
But all I could do was watch.
And regret.
You wanted to humiliate him,
You wanted him to suffer,
But in doing so, you only lost the man you claimed to love.
The tears burned my eyes, but I didn't care.
Because the worst punishment…
Was knowing I had given away the only thing I ever truly wanted.
And that it was gone.
Forever.
---
My sobs echoed in the damp silence.
Hollow.
Choked.
I had nothing left—not pride, not strength, not even the mask I once wore so perfectly.
That woman—the powerful CEO, the symbol of Bardot Industries, the one who once stood above all—was gone.
And all that remained…
Was this.
Me.
On the floor.
Shaking.
Tears staining my face as I watched Samuel find his solace… in her arms.
Roselle.
Why did I do this…?
Why did I push him away…?
But the gods didn't answer regrets.
And neither did the footsteps I heard now, slow and measured—impossibly clean in this place of filth.
I didn't need to lift my head to know who it was.
Kaisel.
Roselle's right hand.
Her hound.
Her enforcer.
"Ah, the whore still cries," he said coldly, stopping just before my cell. "Fitting."
I clenched my fists, but the chains tightened in response. The seals burned against my skin, dulling every spark of rebellion before it could even breathe.
"Come to mock me again?" I whispered, voice hoarse. "Go ahead. That's all you monsters do."
But he didn't laugh.
His tone turned darker—colder than the stone beneath me.
"No, Abigail. I came to remind you… this is justice."
He stepped forward into the pale blue light that leaked from the cursed glyphs carved into the walls. His crimson eyes stared down at me like I was less than filth.
"Do you remember Ted?" he asked, his voice like iron scraping stone. "The man you laughed with in Samuel's bed?"
I flinched.
"Or Joshua? Or that little side boy from the office you paraded like a toy in front of your husband's eyes?"
My stomach twisted.
"They're gone," he said softly, cruelly. "Each one of them. Samuel never lifted a finger, but I did.
His smirk widened, not in triumph, but in merciless satisfaction.
"I tore Ted's spine from his back and made Joshua eat his own tongue. I buried your office pet alive—with a sigil that ensured his soul screamed long after his lungs stopped."
Tears burned again—but now they were frozen.
Paralyzed.
I couldn't even move.
Kaisel crouched beside the bars, his tone dropping into something inhumanly low.
"You wanted Samuel to suffer."
"So now you will."
His finger tapped the bars. The runes pulsed in response.
"These chains will never break. They heal you… just enough. But never more."
I saw them. The red marks on my arms—the holes the rats had gnawed through the night before—already closing.
"The cockroaches will nest beneath your skin."
"The lizards will crawl into your throat."
"And the rats?" He smiled. "Oh, the rats here are special. They like the taste of living tissue."
I gagged.
"You'll never die, Abigail. You'll beg for it. Scream for it. Shatter for it."
He stood.
"But this cell was designed for eternal decay. One moment of peace… one breath of relief? You'll never have it again."
I screamed.
Not from pain.
Not even from fear.
But from the terrible, soul-breaking truth:
I deserved this.
And worst of all?
Samuel would never look back.
Kaisel turned, satisfied, and whispered one final line as the door sealed behind him—
"Sleep well, Abigail… if you can."