CHAPTER 285: CHAPTER 284 - “...ONLY TEN?”

A few seconds ago.

The king was no longer a man.

His resting chamber reeked of iron and rot.

Lorian lay slumped against the broken marble dais, his once-ornate robes shredded and blackened with blood.

Both of his arms were gone at the shoulder, and his legs ended at frozen stumps just above the knees, as Siris’s frost still clung like pale shackles of ice.

He was unconscious right now, but his breaths came shallow and ragged, every exhale a wet rattle.

Selena had been meticulous.

Every cut on his chest, every gouge along his ribs, was no accident. They weren’t designed to kill—only to make him remember.

"...Alone," she whispered, dragging a clawed finger down his cheek until it left a crimson trail. "That’s what I wanted from you. I wanted you to leave me alone because I knew I wouldn’t be loved."

Another slash.

The skin of his shoulder peeled back.

She didn’t look at the wound. She wasn’t looking at him at all. Her molten eyes were turned inward—burning through years of nights in a cage, nights in silence, nights with no one.

"But you never left me alone."

A talon raked across his stomach.

"You smiled when I cried and made me cry when I smiled."

Her heel pressed into his chest, cracking bone.

"For you, I was nothing but an expendable piece that could be used in exchange for authority."

Her hand speared through his thigh, ripping muscle apart before Siris froze the wound shut again, ensuring the body kept breathing.

"Do you remember when you tried to sell me to a merchant? I was not even fifteen at that time."

The king would regain consciousness because of the pain, but the same thing would send him back unconscious.

The room was silent except for the wet sound of Selena’s work, the faint hiss of Siris’s ice, and Lorian’s broken wheezing.

Then the doors opened.

Raven stepped inside, Velric dangling limply from his shoulder, Clara at his side.

"...Well," he muttered, lips quirking. "Didn’t wait for me, huh?"

Selena didn’t turn. She didn’t smile.

She just stood there, her fingers trembling faintly above Lorian’s chest, her eyes burning but empty.

Raven’s smirk softened.

Without another word, he swung Velric off his shoulder and let the boy flop to the ground with a dull thunk.

Then he strode forward.

Selena barely registered movement until his arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her against him.

Her fingers stilled.

"Are you done?" He murmured, his chin resting lightly on her head. His voice wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t sharp. It was low. Steady. The kind of voice that cut through storms.

"...Are you feeling fine now?"

For the first time in some time, Selena exhaled something that wasn’t rage. Her shoulders sagged as if a great weight had finally been pried loose.

Then she turned her head slightly, her eyes catching his, and pressed her lips against his without hesitation.

The kiss wasn’t frantic. It wasn’t sweet. It was grounding. Anchoring.

Across the room, Clara’s brow twitched, and so did Siris’s. But both of them kept their mouths shut.

Because if anyone deserved this moment, it was Selena.

She needed to be reminded of people who cared for her, and Raven was the best one who could do that.

Raven didn’t let go of Selena.

He held her until her shaking eased, until her breathing steadied, until the tremor in her fingers finally faded. His hand stroked her back once, slow and deliberate.

When she pulled away, her lips brushed his cheek, lingering just enough to whisper against his skin. "Much better."

"...Good." Raven smiled faintly, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. He hesitated a moment before asking, "Want to do the same with him?"

He nodded at Velric, who was sprawled unconscious across the floor. "I’ve got plans for him, but if you’d rather..."

Selena’s eyes followed his gesture.

For a long moment, she stared. And in that silence, memories pressed forward unbidden—Velric treating her like she was his maid, bringing his friends home, only to send them to her and ask her to entertain them, and always taking things that were meant to be hers.

When she was young, she had begged him to stop.

Whenever things became hard, like the time Velric had called his friends, she would run away, hoping that it would all be alright when she returned.

She had called him brother, only to be slapped across her cheeks and hear the guy call her a cheap slut and say that he would rather die than listen to her call him brother.

But then Selena recalled how Raven had made a plan with Velric as an important piece to be played, and her expression changed.

Selena blinked once.

Then, she slowly shook her head.

"No."

Her voice was quiet but steady. "Death is too quick. His blood would mean nothing."

She let her gaze harden, her cold eyes narrowing on her brother’s unconscious face. "He should feel it. The way I felt it. The loneliness. The silence. The years where every breath was a curse. He should live it."

Her claw flexed once, curling back into a fist. "Let him rot in the same way he let me rot."

She wasn’t doing this merely for Raven but because she felt like letting him suffer for a long time would be better than a quick death.

Raven’s arm around her waist tightened for just a heartbeat, an unspoken promise that he understood.

Then, just as naturally, he let her go, giving her space.

"...Alright," he said softly. "We’ll do it your way."

Selena closed her eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, there was still fire there—but it wasn’t the fire of despair anymore. It was something sharper. Something alive.

Siris let out a breath through his nose, muttering, "... Everyone in the Velmoria family is so bloody."

Clara crossed her arms, lips twitching. "Says the stabby imp."

Raven ignored them both. His hand slid into Selena’s once, grounding her again.

Selena rested her head on his chest, feeling his presence not just physically but also spiritually.

She smiled, as she knew that she wasn’t alone anymore.

She now had a man who loved her, and she, who had decided to live for him, didn’t care what kind of man he turned into.

She was just happy to be by his side.

For that, she was thankful to her family.

If they weren’t as shitty as they were, then she probably wouldn’t have met Raven like she had.

The silence that had settled over the chamber was broken by a wet, guttural groan.

It was Lorian, stirring awake.

His head lolled against the shattered floor, eyelids fluttering like they weighed more than stone.

His chest rose and fell in shallow, broken gasps. His limbs—or what remained of them—twitched weakly, uselessly, like a fish still flopping though the butcher’s knife had already done its work.

Then his eyes opened.

Not with anger. Not with authority. But with raw, bone-deep fear.

"...Sel...ena..." His voice cracked, rasping out of a throat torn by screams.

His jaw was shattered, and theoretically, he shouldn’t be able to speak, but somehow, he could.

His gaze, unfocused, found her silhouette in Raven’s shadow. "I... I understand now... why demons... are tempting..."

His lips curled into a broken grin, more grimace than smile, that showed his few remaining blood-stained teeth. "They don’t... show you the flaw. Not until... until you’ve fallen lower than dirt... lower than even despair."

Raven arched a brow, half-turning toward him. Selena didn’t move.

Lorian coughed, the sound wet and raw, before forcing his words again. "The one I bound myself to... it gave me power. Authority. Made me believe I was untouchable. But now—"

His body seized, jerking like a puppet on cut strings. Purple cracks spread across his skin, glowing faintly as light bled out from beneath. His eyes rolled in panic.

"Now that I’m at death’s door... it won’t even answer me. It... it took the power back!"

The fissures spread further, webbing across Lorian’s chest and neck, violet radiance spilling through every line.

His voice rose in desperation. "It’s trying to kill me! If I burst—"

He choked, pupils dilating, "—it’ll kill all of you—"

He didn’t get to finish.

Because—

CRACK.

Raven’s boot slammed down, crushing his skull into the marble floor like an overripe melon. The glow sputtered out, the cracks dissolving into nothing as his body twitched twice... then stilled forever.

The silence that followed was sharp.

Raven exhaled through his nose, pulling his foot back with a grimace. "...Did you really think I was going to let you finish that death monologue?"

He dusted his boot off on the floor with casual disdain, then glanced over his shoulder toward Selena. "...Sorry. Technically, that kill was supposed to be yours. But, you know, exploding dad guts? Not really the vibe I wanted for the evening."

Clara pinched the bridge of her nose while Siris snorted, not really minding the blood and gore lying around.

Selena, however, just stared for one to two heartbeats at the twitchless corpse that used to be her father.

Then she turned, stepping closer to Raven, her blue eyes lifting to meet his. Her lips parted.

"...You owe me ten kisses," she said softly, as if she were naming the price of bread.

Raven blinked. Then his lips curved, slow and amused. "...Only ten?"

Her head tilted, expression unreadable save for the faintest glint of mischief breaking through the storm. "For now."

He chuckled, warm and unbothered. "Gladly."