Chapter 148

“You clearly said you didn’t want this.” Rezette’s voice was low, but his words carried the weight of a cold, inescapable truth. “I believe I also warned you—if you said something like that again, I wouldn’t just stand by and let it go. Did you forget?”

Elise stiffened, her fingers clenching the fabric of her dress.

“Whether I want it or not,” she whispered, “doesn’t change the fact that what has taken root inside you is my blood.” His gaze darkened as he took a slow step forward. “I’ve emphasized it countless times, Elise. This is our child.”

His expression didn’t waver. “What that means,” he continued, “is that you now bear a shackle you can never break free from—a bond to me that will last a lifetime. So if you intend to leave, you’ll have to sever it first. Voiding the contract means exactly that. You can’t simply announce that it’s over and walk away as if that’s the end of it.”

Silence.

He exhaled sharply, his patience thinning. “Or at the very least,” he added, “you should leave behind the result of this contract in my hands before you go.”

His ruthless words struck like an unrelenting storm, each one pressing down on her, making it harder to breathe. Elise squeezed her eyes shut, unable to listen any longer.

“So… in the end, you’re saying I have no choice?” she murmured.

Rezette’s gaze flickered, unreadable. “You’re the one who keeps bringing up that foolish contract. I’m merely responding in kind.”

His tone was cold, distant—but beneath it, something churned. Something unsettled. For over two weeks, their conversation had gone in circles, no resolution in sight.

Where had it all gone wrong?

Was it the moment she first confessed she liked him? Should he have answered her then, taken her into his arms before doubt could fester? Should he have handled Barnon Conrad differently when he first uncovered his schemes?

Or had the mistake been far earlier? Perhaps he should never have taken her to the capital after she stormed into his barracks. Never let his brothers learn of her existence. If he had kept her entirely to himself—

No. That wasn’t it either. That was never the root of the problem.

Because as long as he wasn’t an Arganian—as long as he wasn’t one of Elizabeth’s people—this moment would have come regardless.

Just as she had said, Rezette’s country was here. His king was here. And as long as that remained true, he was a vassal of Van Yela—a knight, a sword that cuts, a spear that pierces, a shield that defends. That was the role the once-young raven had carved out for himself fifteen years ago.

But Rezette had never been one to conform. Devotion had never come naturally to him. He was born to break and destroy, not to obey. Submission was nothing more than a chain—one he had worn only to shape himself into a man society found acceptable. Subjugation had always been his choice, never something imposed upon him.

Treason? That was no reason to stop him.

Rezette had never, in his entire life, encountered a person he could not control with his own abilities. The very notion was inconceivable. And so, he had wanted to be the only ruler in her world. That desire had never changed.

He loathed the thought of sharing even the smallest part of Elizabeth with someone else. Wherever her attention or affection strayed, an irrational displeasure stirred within him. Even now, dozens of ways to disappear with her—to a place where no one could ever find them—ran through his mind.

His grip tightened slightly as he cupped her cheek, tilting her face toward him. He didn’t want her to see the grotesque, inhuman arm before them.

“This is your last chance, Elise,” he murmured.

Her breath hitched. “What…?”

“The last chance for you to take my hand.”

She fell silent, her eyes searching his.

“If you let me go now, for some absurd reason like a contract or treason—” His voice hardened.

“Rezette.”

“—then I have no idea what I might end up doing.” His thumb brushed against her skin, but there was no gentleness in his touch. “Even I don’t know how far I’ll go.”

It wasn’t a bluff. It wasn’t an empty threat. It was the absolute truth.

Rezette despised losing control. He loathed the moments when the haze lifted and he realized—too late—what he had done. And he had experienced such moments far too many times.

So before it was too late… he wanted her to hold onto him.

Just this once, he wanted her to choose him again.

Just like the first time.

The first time she had reached out to him for help. The first time he had been her only refuge in the entire world. He still remembered the way she had clung to his sleeve with blind trust, how her trembling lips had pressed against the back of his hand as if he were her last hope.

And now—

Before I completely destroy your world.

“…I see now.” Elise’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but there was no mistaking the raw edge beneath it. “What you truly want… is to break me.”

Her lips, drained of color, trembled as she took a deep, unsteady breath. Then, she met his gaze—bold, unwavering, a golden flame refusing to be snuffed out.

“Go ahead, then.” Her voice did not waver. “If that’s what you want, I’ll spend the rest of my life in hell—wasting my days resenting you, hating you.”

Rezette said nothing.

“I’ll become nothing more than a lifeless doll, just another trophy decorating your tower. I’ll wither away by your side, breathing in the scent of death, until one day, I simply perish without a sound.” Her words were like a blade, slicing through the air between them. “If that’s enough for you, then do as you please.”

Her keen golden eyes held no trace of compromise. She glared at him with unwavering defiance, her gaze almost contemptuous.

“But will you really go that far?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. “Will you truly kill me?”

Can you?

The unspoken challenge hung between them, taunting him. 

Can you really do it?

The waves crashed against the shore, spraying foam onto his boots. Rezette let out a mirthless chuckle, one that bordered on a scoff.

Wave after wave surged forward, slipping through his grasp no matter how desperately he tried to push them away. A crimson tide of impulse slithered through the cracks in his reason, coiling around him like a serpent.

And why wouldn’t I?

The dragon’s nature, fanged and coiled, answered in his stead.

Shall I, Elizabeth?

Since you keep defying me, should I make you mine, even if it means killing you?

That would be the simplest solution, wouldn’t it?

Rather than living in fear—never knowing when or where you might disappear—wouldn’t it be better to preserve you exactly as you are?

Forever.

Before he even realized it, Rezette found himself agreeing.

Not a bad idea.

Shockingly, it even seemed like a rather good alternative.

His hand moved without hesitation, reaching for her throat. Beneath his fingertips, he could feel the steady pulse of her blood—fragile, vulnerable, just beneath the surface. If he raked his claws against it, a wound would form. She would feel pain. And if she cried…

He already knew he wouldn’t be able to resist finding it unbearably endearing.

Perhaps it would be better to lull her into an endless slumber instead.

Mangjonghwa.

That drug—she was weak to it, wasn’t she? If she never woke up, she wouldn’t be able to run. Wouldn’t be able to glare at him with those defiant eyes. Wouldn’t be able to spit out those sharp words he despised so much.

It’s a perfect idea.

And at the same time—

It was an utterly insane one.

By the time he realized how far his impulse had spiraled, it was already too late.

His right hand, as if possessed, moved of its own accord.

A streak of yellow light flared to life, flashing forward—

Narrowly grazing Elise’s neck.

A few strands of her silver hair drifted, severed, into the wind before vanishing.

Rezette’s pupils dilated, gleaming with an eerie golden madness.

And in that instant—

He snapped back to his senses.

“…Damn it all.”

With a sharp exhale, he shoved her away. The motion was rough, desperate, as if forcing distance between them could somehow rewind what had almost transpired. A few charred strands of silver hair fluttered soundlessly to the ground.

Elise, unaware of what had nearly happened, looked up at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

Her expression was so innocent—so painfully oblivious—it was almost cruel.

“…Rezette?”

The moment her voice reached him, a chill ran down his spine.

A second sooner. A single misaligned angle.

If the binding spell hadn’t activated in time—

Her head would have been severed from her body.

His heart, frozen solid, fractured with an audible crack.

Rezette’s entire face twisted in anguish.

This is madness. This is truly, utterly, irredeemable madness.

Even now—even at this very moment—he had no control over himself.

Instinctively, he took a step back.

He needed distance. He needed space.

He needed to get away from her before it was too late.

High above, the watching dragon roared with laughter, its mirth rolling across the heavens like thunder.

“Didn’t I tell you, Rezette? That when love becomes all-consuming, you’ll end up wanting to destroy the very thing you cherish?”

“Shut up.”

Rezette ran a trembling hand over his face—his left, the only one still unscathed. His voice was hoarse, raw.

“Shut your mouth and leave. Please. I’m begging you.”

His head was still ringing from the shock. Murderous intent? Toward his own wife?

It felt as though his human and bestial selves had been forcibly split in two, his humanity being devoured whole.

Yet, looking back… had there ever been a moment when he was truly in control around Elise?

He hadn’t even realized how steadily he had been inching toward monstrosity, unaware that every step had carried him closer to the abyss.

Rezette’s gaze dropped to his right hand—the one that had nearly acted on its own. The half of himself that had yet to wear the skin of a man.

Once, he had taken solace in the thought that no matter how far he lost himself, the dragon’s binding curse would never allow him to harm her with his own hands.

But now, that reassurance felt like a cruel joke.

Because hadn’t he already wounded her, time and time again? Without even realizing it? Hadn’t he driven her to the edge of a cliff over and over, waiting to see if she would fall?

And in this moment, standing before her, he knew with terrifying certainty—

One day, inevitably, he would wrap his fingers around that lily-of-the-valley throat and extinguish her fragile life.

“Elise. Are you alrigh—”

His voice caught, choking on the words before he could finish. He clenched his jaw and scrubbed his face again, unable to meet her gaze.

She tilted her head slightly, as if confused. Unaware of the storm raging inside him.

That innocence—her ignorance of just how close she had come to death—twisted something deep in his gut.

Treason.

Elise had accused him of treason, but it wasn’t some abstract crime against the throne. It was this.

The moment he had reached for her throat, the moment he had even considered silencing her forever—that had been the ultimate betrayal.

And the most terrifying part?

There was no guarantee he wouldn’t do it again.

Suddenly, clarity struck like a blade to the chest. The root of this madness—the reason everything had spiraled so far out of control—was himself.

Not the contract. Not Elise’s resistance. Not even the dragon’s cursed blood burning in his veins.

Him.

From the moment he had convinced himself that a single contract bound her to him. From every time he had mistaken possession for devotion.

He had been wrong.

He had been fighting fate, trying to force an outcome that had already been decided. And in doing so, he had driven himself to the brink of insanity.

“…I see.”

A hollow sigh slipped from his parched lips.

“If this was always the answer… then no matter what I do, I will never be your king.”

From the moment he had been sold as a gladiator. From the day his own brother bartered him away like a hound.

Rezette had spent his entire life lowering his head in servitude.

Yet not once had he ever declared his own surrender.

Never had he bowed. Never had he admitted defeat.

But now, for the first time in his life—

Rezette raised a white flag.

Fine.

I’ve lost.

You win.