Salvation of the Fallen - Chapter 25
Yet his gaze was directed at Arsena. It would never end. This vile emotion. The fact that he couldn’t take his eyes off Arsena, who was crying and disheveled in this desperate situation, was proof of that.
Morpheus staggered out of Arsena’s room.
He must atone. Could he atone? Would God ever forgive him? Could he escape this vile emotion planted by the devil?
Morpheus grasped a pen with trembling hands. He must confess everything and atone. He must break this filthy chain of fate. That was all that filled his mind.
And the next morning. Viareche’s scream echoed. Morpheus had hanged himself in his room. Along with a suicide note confessing his sins.
Amidst the chaos and silence, the Count’s house was once again engulfed in flames. The Count, who read the suicide note, said nothing. Viareche also asked nothing.
Morpheus died in an accident. Not by suicide.
Viareche, who committed a greater sin to cover up her own, didn’t look back. Even at the moment of announcing the death, she merely sipped Felita’s gla$s and contemplated what she possessed. Thus, Viareche covered up even her son’s sin and death with Felita wine.
It was truly an accident when Viareche slipped at the winery late at night. Would her mother have envied Viareche who died drowning in alcohol? Probably so, Arsena thought.
The wedding should have been grand and blessed. Instead of cheerful music, a funeral dirge flowed through the Count’s mansion. The slow and eerie melody was for Morpheus. The wedding, which should have been postponed due to the deaths of Morpheus and Viareche, was proceeding as scheduled at the Margrave’s insistence.
Everything prepared for Rosalyn was given to Arsena. From the voluminous dress made to Rosalyn’s taste to the sparkling accessories. Although nothing was prepared according to her wishes, Arsena complied. As she always had.
Leaving Rosalyn’s screams behind, Arsena, about to be married, fingered the lace that reached up to her chin. The hastily added lace to hide the clear red marks on her neck was as sharp as a blade.
Arsena quietly folded her hands and slowly repeated the dark melody scattered around her ears.
Arsena looked around her room, which she would have to leave after today, wearing the burdensome dress. Although she had lived here for a long time, there was nothing to pack. To Arsena, this luxurious Count’s mansion was no different from a burned-down hut.
Now Arsena had to embark on a long journey to a remote place where no one knew her. Would it be the start of a new life? Or the beginning of new misfortunes? Even weighing the options, there was no answer. She could only submit to fate.
Oh God. Please end this misfortune. Have mercy on Your young servant.
Arsena sought the God who had never shown her mercy. Is it deceitful to hope for happiness at the end of all these twisted misfortunes? The unanswered prayer continued long.
Click.
Suddenly, the door, tightly closed like a prison, opened. Looking up, she saw a figure at once. It was Rosalyn, with a strange expression and bloodshot eyes. In just a few days, her suddenly thin body looked like a bare winter tree, twisted and gnarled.
“You…”
Once brilliant golden hair was now stained with tears. It was an unimaginable sight for Rosalyn, who had once been like a blooming rose.
“You, you ruined everything.”
Staggering. Rosalyn approached, twisting her limbs oddly like a broken doll. She was covered in wounds as if she had scratched her entire body while locked in the silent room.
Arsena stepped back, seeing Rosalyn approach step by step, looking like a corpse scattered in the Tiota River.
“If it weren’t for you!”
As she teetered on the precarious railing, Rosalyn raised her hand, dark red with dried blood. In her hand was a blue dagger.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You who drugged me that day. You, who ruined me. You who took everything from me!”
The blade came close in an instant. Rosalyn’s blue eyes shone like an evil spirit. Arsena held her breath. She frantically grabbed Rosalyn’s hand, but the hand, bony like a dry branch, was powerful. It was hard to believe it was human strength.
“You ruined everything. You ruined it all. Mom, Dad, and even brother. Everything changed when you came. If it weren’t for you. Someone like you should have died long ago. I was stupid to realize only now. Why! You crept into our house and ruined everything. You should have been the only one to be unhappy! Just you!”
Rosalyn, engulfed in madness, with no trace of her former self who had been happy to have an older sister, muttered frighteningly and pushed the blade. The vertical blade tip dug into Arsena’s nape like a needle.
“Ro, Rosalyn. Please, just a moment… Listen to my story.”
“Shut up. Die! Just die! Just die like our mother!”
Arsena also pushed Rosalyn’s arm with all her might. She couldn’t die so pitifully. The entangled arms of the two trembled. She struggled with all her strength.
“Agh!”
With a terrible scream, Arsena collapsed. And then came the approaching terror. Rosalyn, who had been driving her to the brink just moments ago, had disappeared.
No way…. No. It can’t be.
Arsena barely managed to turn her body on wobbling legs that had lost all strength and looked down. Down there. At the end of her gaze was Rosalyn. A pool of blood was rapidly filling between the haphazardly sprawled golden hair.
Ah… No.
Arsena slumped down on the spot and wailed silently. To kill a person. And by her own hands. It was the first time. Her hands were stained. When Rosalyn is discovered, Arsena will undoubtedly be pointed out as the culprit. Even if she says it was a mistake, an accident, no one would believe her. Already, the sound of people gathering and murmuring grew as close as the footsteps of the devil.
I can’t escape.
Arsena shuddered with despair. Her hands trembled violently, and she couldn’t see ahead. This time, it wouldn’t end with just being locked in the room of repentance. People would drag her down, whip her, and hang her. There was no escape.
Why now of all times? Just when I was about to settle everything and leave for a new place!
Someone…. Please save me from this hellish fate.
A flash in the darkness appeared before the screaming Arsena. The deep shadow of a giant-like man pounced on Arsena.
***
Whenever she lost consciousness, memories of the past would surge like waves. However, the memories that unfolded one by one, like straightening bent fingers, weren’t important. When she opened her eyes, Arsena couldn’t think of anything in the face of the hellish pl*asure that began.
“Hnng. Now…, hnngh. Please, sob, stop. Haah.”
Arsena cried out at the man’s fingers that filled the narrow gap of her soaking-w*t womanhood. No matter how much she struggled against what must have been her umpteenth cl*max, there was no mercy in the man’s movements.
“Haa. You should see yourself like this. You. You’re so pretty right now.”
The man whispered in her ear while ceaselessly stirring between Arsena’s legs with his thick fingers. Arsena shuddered again at that long, low, cool breath. The man’s presence against her back was particularly vivid.
Arsena barely managed to take shallow, panting breaths. It was because the man’s hand, which grasped her round, swollen br*asts, pulled her into an embrace. Tightly bound, unable to move. Absolutely unable to escape.
“Shall I show you?”
The thick hand that had been crushing Arsena’s chest as if to burst it now grabbed her chin. As if pointing to something beyond the darkness that hung like a curtain.
“Hnnngh.”
Arsena shook her head violently, wailing like an animal that had forgotten how to speak. She was afraid. She didn’t want to know what she would face. Even if she knew, she didn’t want to confirm it with her own eyes.
“Alright.”
