Chapter 1: 1

Warning! The following content may be uncomfortable for some readers.

 

#001

 

“Where are you hiding? Do you want to play hide-and-seek like a child?” cough cough.

A hoarse voice filled with phlegm resounded in the darkness. Eliana shrugged her shoulders at the shapeless echo flowing through her room.

The Marquis’ skinny back, which glittered with red bloodshot eyes, rose like a hunchback.

The Marquis’ skinny back bulged like a hunchback as he moved his steps, glimmering his bloodshot eyes.

“Today, it seems that my wife is determined to arouse my anger.” cough cough.

The Marquis who was walking grabbed the wall and coughed dryly. The sudden rise of the lamp came up and down violently.

Her marquise, who had moved her steps, shuffling her legs, grabbed the wall and let out her dry cough. His back, which rose suddenly, went up and down violently.

“Huh, huh.”

His red eyes gleamed as he looked around. Not a single mouse could be seen in the dark room, but his eyes were constantly looking for something.

boom bang!

There was thunder that seemed to split the sky and was immediately followed by lightning.

Despite the terrifying sound, the red eyes of the man looking for prey did not waver. The curtains in the room where there was no wind swayed gently. At that moment, his eyes lit up.

He shuffled his legs and started walking. Eyes gleaming in the darkness lit up like an animal that found its prey. The slight smile on his lips was terrifying.

“……my wife, where are you?”

Contrary to his friendly call, with every step he took, the whip he was holding dragged the floor and made a strange sound. At that horrifying sound, Eliana closed her eyes tightly.

boom bang!

Every time lightning flashed, the man’s filthy body could be seen and then swallowed up in the darkness again.

Whenever that happened, the man looked at his shadow with a displeased expression. Small stature with a curved back, and a long waist that is different from short legs.

He looked at his own shadow with disgusted eyes.

Monster Marquis.

The man called the ugliest man in the empire loved beautiful things more than anyone. The only hobby he had was collecting all the beautiful things in the world and locking them in the dark.

On the outside, he loved culture and art and was a kind-hearted supporter of poor artists.

But his real intention was to spoil beautiful things. And the one who stole his heart at once was Eliana Hoffman. The most beautiful woman in the empire, the flower of the empire.

“Are you here?”

The Marquis pulled back the shaky curtain. But there was no one he was looking for. He gritted his teeth and looked into the room.

“Are you a rat stuck in a sewer? Get out right now!”

The Marquis, who gave up the role of a kind-hearted husband, shouted, revealing his ugly nature.

Eliana, who was hiding under the bed, held her breath.

Her frightened eyes started to get wet. The scream that reached her throat betrayed her will and seemed to burst out immediately.

She struggled to hide while holding her breath at the appearance of the man who could be seen whenever lightning struck.

“What’s this? It’s still early in the morning, but you’re already hiding again.”

The man’s eyes flashed as he found red drops of blood on the floor. The marquis, who licked the blood on his finger, moved swiftly, his eyes gleaming.

A long whip followed in his footsteps, drawing a red line on the floor. Maybe because he had tasted the thick blood, the sound of scratching the floor was loud.

“Ouch!”

Eliana, who was hiding under the bed, was pulled out once. The hand that tightly gripped her ankle trembled at her resistance.

“Can you just stay still?!”

The Marquis shouted, twisting Eliana’s ankle. Blood oozed from the tips of her fingers scratching the floor as she tried to escape from her husband’s grasp. Terrible pain followed, but getting away from her husband was the first thing to do.

“Naughty!”

The Marquis’ eyes grew even redder as the hem of her dress was turned upside down and her bare white legs were exposed.

With the power and money he had, he held the most beautiful thing in the empire. But he didn’t fully take the beautiful thing. Due to long-term use of drugs and old age, the Marquis’ thing did not function properly.

His delusion about barely getting what he wanted, but never fully getting it, grew worse with each passing day.

“What the hell is your relationship with that guy? What were you two doing!”

Eliana shook her head wildly at the marquis’ wrath.

“No! How many times have I told you that I have nothing to do with Rodin!”

Every time she struggled to get out of the Marquis’ strong grip, the wounds from the whip on her back opened.

boom bang!

Eliana’s scream was buried in the earth-shaking sound of thunder.

The Marquis’ eyes glistened with lust, looking down at his young wife, held in his hand, but not truly his.

“I heard you’ve been flirting with him for a long time.”

“Please!”

Eliana covered her ears and shook her head. No matter how much she said no, the Marquis did not believe her.

“If you were going to frustrate me, I have to tell you that it was a very good operation, my wife.”

The Marquis smiled fishily, sweeping up her white legs with a whip.

“……”

“Beautiful. Covered in red, crouching, and shivering. It’s something I want to keep for the rest of my life.”

The eyes of the Marquis looking at Eliana covered in blood shone strangely.

“……”

“You look like a deer just before you die. You know what, my wife? How beautiful are the eyes of a deer when it spits out blood when shot by an arrow.”

“……”

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“It looks exactly like my wife’s eyes now.”

The Marquis raised the corners of his mouth, making eye contact with Eliana, who was gripped by fear.

At that moment, Eliana just closed her eyes. It was clear who the whip in the Marquis’ hand would face.

“The foolish Viscount may not have known your shallow true self, but you can’t fool my eyes. How dare you deceive me?”

The Marquis stood up and raised the whip.

boom bang!

Just then, the shadow of the Marquis fell upon Eliana at the thunder and lightning. Eliana, who was lying on her face and curled up, pushed him without herself realizing it.

“Argh!”

The Marquis, who put all his strength into the whip in his hand to hit Eliana, stumbled and fell backwards.

The sound of something hitting hard was drowned out by the sound of thunder splitting the sky. Eliana jumped up and stiffened.

The eerie red liquid that clings to the soles of her feet was not hers. Perhaps because the Marquis’ head had hit the bedpost, red blood spurted from the back of his head.

“Ma-Marquis.”

At Eliana’s call, his red eyes glanced at her. Then he stretched out his hand towards her.

“Urgh.”

Eliana stopped her crying. The whip lying next to the Marquis caught her eye.

‘I don’t want to get hit. Being sick is terrible!’

“Help….., help me.”

Eliana stepped back at her husband’s call.

For the Marquis’ secret night, all the mansion’s maid had their eyes and ears closed, so now there was no one to stop Eliana from running through the silent corridor.

Eliana, half-conscious of the red bloodstain before her eyes, ran in the rain with a pale face.

 

***

 

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

The man who grabbed Eliana’s hand, who was following the light, looked at her with a smirk. There was no focus in her eyes wandering in the air. Even with the cold river wind that pierced her bones, her head seemed to have fogged up.

“What? You’re so pretty. But I think you have bold taste, miss. Haha,” he giggled.

The gangsters who saw Eliana’s face and outfit whistled badly.

One of the many bridges on the Lawrence River, the Anich Bridge is the only place connecting the slums and Barne Street, lined with manor houses. Rumors abounded that the wealthy nobles purposely built the bridge for their secret hobbies.

After the sun went down, there was no noblewoman who visited the place alone. Therefore, even the unknown gangsters did not think that Eliana was a noblewoman. They just assumed that she was a woman from the red light district, who had been kicked out by a noble.

“Let’s warm up first!”

One of the gangsters grabbed Eliana’s wrist, pulled her to and fro like a doll, and grinned viciously.

On the other hand, Grady turned his head to the commotion of the gangsters who were happy with the unexpected windfall.

“What makes them so happy?”

He felt like his head was about to break as he drank a lot of poison from an unknown source. Rosella’s ridiculous request had caused him to lose his place, and his anger had piled up in his chest, so he felt like he could only be caught by anyone.

“What? That woman is……”

Grady tilted his head as he saw Eliana, soaked by the rain, being pulled back and forth by a gangster.

Her pale cheeks resembled moonlight. Grady lowered his gaze as he scanned her face and clicked his tongue as he noticed her clothes. Her clothes are torn here and there.

If it’s pulled a little harder, it’s really going to fall off on the spot.

Every time she was pulled back and forth by that gangster, a long wound could be seen. Grady, who looked closely at her body with a red line as if she had been hit by a swung whip, raised his head.

It was not surprising because it is a place where people with special tastes gathered.

‘You seem to have a pretty rough taste, unlike what you look like.’

Grady stifled a laugh and turned his head to follow the woman’s gaze.

Her eyes were fixed on the distant river, despite the gangsters’ harassment.

It was said to have entered a lull for a while, but it was still raining. In addition, the water of the river overflowed as if it could devour even a slender woman without a trace.

“Are you trying to die?”

His vision was distorted because he was drunk, but somehow only Eliana’s face was clearly visible. Grady narrowed his eyes at the gangsters teasing her as she got closer to the river.

“Shall we go somewhere nice instead of doing this here?”

One of the gangsters was stroking Eliana’s cheek.

“See, your body is frozen. I’ll warm you up in a minute. Haha.”

It was then. Eliana’s eyes, which had lost focus for a long time, met Grady’s.

‘Ask for help.’

Grady, who made eye contact with Eliana, opened his mouth silently.

Then he waited for the desperate scream that came through her long, slender neck.

But even though she made eye contact with Grady, Eliana’s eyes were empty. The eyes facing the gangsters were clearly refusing his help.

“It’s dangerous there. You must be curious, but if you do something wrong, you’ll die.”

One of the gangsters said with a grin.

Eliana closed her eyes. The sound of the rain falling and the river flowing with the sudden swelling of water engulfed her whole body.

Eliana relaxed her body. It was about the time when she could feel her body falling forward.

“Dammit!”

In the end, Grady, who couldn’t stand it, stepped up.

“What? Who are you?”

At the sudden appearance of Grady, the gangsters blocked his way to Eliana. Grady grinned at those who stopped him. Then he said, “I am his husband.”

Just before she jumped into the river, Eliana opened her eyes wide, startled by the word ‘her husband’. At that moment, as if he had been waiting, Grady smiled beautifully.

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