I Will Die for You, My Darling! - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
***
In the dining hall of the Glass Dome mansion, Isaac ate a lunch of chicken and potatoes. Staring at his empty plate, he was suddenly reminded of the processed chicken-flavored nutrient paste from his childhood—a memory of a small, dirty, rat-like existence.
Creatures from Downstream couldn’t be eaten without processing. Pollutants accumulated in their veins and organs, causing shock or even death if consumed directly.
Purification was essential, making the food processing plant Downstream’s most vital facility. The problem was, processed meat tasted foul.
Additives were used to mask the taste, the most popular being chicken flavoring. It was so sought after that Isaac rarely had a whole portion to himself.
Back then, he thought it was the world’s greatest delicacy. Now, with chickens raised and slaughtered within the Glass Dome, eaten without purification, he knew the truth.
Compared to real chicken, the paste was garbage. And once, Isaac had starved because he couldn’t even get that garbage. Driven to delirium by hunger, he’d craved even contaminated mud.
Meanwhile, Ariett’s kitchen cupboards overflowed with purifiers and food. She’d offered him charity every time they met, a sweet smile playing on her lips.
But behind her silver-grey eyes, a cunning expectation lurked—the expectation of owning Isaac’s entire life. It wasn’t salvation, it was a trap.
Now, Isaac no longer needed her charity. All of Downstream lay at his feet. The girl who had once mocked him with her pretty lips while handing him a bag of supplies was now his captive. And she lay unconscious, mortally wounded.
Isaac scraped his fork against the plate, the sound grating on his nerves. He should have been the one to end their toxic connection. Since childhood, he had planned to repay every humiliation, every insult, before leaving her to die in agonizing pain. But Arieta lay injured because of someone else.
Gwen, implicated in Arietta’s fall, had her tongue cut out and was banished. The head maid, who had allowed Gwen near her, was whipped and imprisoned. But it wasn’t enough. She hadn’t awakened.
‘Who will be purged next?’
His golden eyes flashed.
***
The next target was the man who had impersonated Isaac and spent a night with Gwen. Isaac put out a public call for his capture. The reward? A meal with him, the same menu as his own, along with a fine cigar.
The Glass Dome had many eyes and ears. The slightest loosening of Isaac’s grip on resources turned them into informants. They became bloodthirsty for the hunt, their eyes burning as they searched for useful information.
However, Isaac’s capture of the impersonator wasn’t through these informants. It was anticlimactic. Isaac’s personal guard, the “Black Tiger’s Dogs,” apprehended the man as he tried to escape the Dome with stolen supplies.
Isaac’s punishment was more brutal and relentless than the previous two. The searing of Gwen’s tongue and the head maid’s whipping seemed mild in comparison. For days, the stench of blood and decay emanated from Isaac’s quarters.
Nippers, clamps, saws, and syringes were used. The screams, once constant, eventually stopped. No one knew what he had done to the man’s vocal cords.
The mansion’s staff held their breath. This wasn’t rational punishment. It was Isaac ‘passing the time,’ fueled by Arietta’s continued unconsciousness.
“It’s his own fault,” Gamon, Isaac’s right-hand man, said simply. “Anyone who uses Big Cat’s name should expect the worst. And he stole from him too. It’s justified.”
He wasn’t wrong. Downstream was like that. Wrong choices led to harsh consequences, regardless of intent.
But the staff was terrified. Once Isaac was finished with this man, the cruel Big Cat would find a new target. He would find someone else connected to Arietta’s fall.
Few within the Glass Dome could claim to be completely uninvolved. Someone had recommended Gwen as a maid. Someone had sold her the hallucinogens. They were all intertwined.
The impersonator hadn’t realized that a night of reckless pleasure, using Big Cat’s name, would lead to this. The further the connections stretched from the incident, the more brutal the punishment would become. Isaac’s rage grew with every hour Arietta remained unconscious.
