Chapter 32

My eyes darted frantically between the maids, searching for anything—anything—that could justify my choices. I had no time to think, no time to hesitate. Only time to obey.

My gaze landed on Lily—the only one who had ever shown me kindness, the one who had whispered a quiet apology when no one else dared.

"I'll save her," I rasped, my voice barely my own. "Lily."

She let out a shaky breath, her body sagging with momentary relief, but she didn't move. None of them dared to move.

My hands clenched into fists. I forced myself to keep going. Another name. Another life.

"And her." My finger moved to the maid who had given me vegetables in the garden for Elsa. But when I met her eyes, something shifted. The way she looked at me... it wasn't relief. It was something else—something unreadable. Something I didn't have time to question.

I swallowed hard.

And then—the last one.

My eyes landed on an elderly woman, her frail body trembling so violently I thought she might collapse. Tears streamed down her face, her lips moved in silent prayer. I didn't even know her name, but the sheer terror in her eyes—I couldn't let her die like this.

"Her," I whispered, barely getting the words out.

Adrik hummed in approval, stepping closer, his presence suffocating. "Interesting choices," he mused, his fingers grazing my shoulder. A mockery of affection.

Then, his hand lifted. He pointed to the four remaining maids.

"Kill them."

The room spun.

The words didn't register at first. My breath hitched, my pulse a deafening roar in my ears.

No. No, I can't.

Adrik's fingers traced down my arm, slow, calculated. He picked up the knife from the table—the same knife that had butchered the maid before them. The handle was still warm. The blade was still wet.

He pressed it into my palm. Cold steel. Heavy. Final.

"You made your choice," he murmured, his lips brushing against my ear. "Now follow through."

The weight of the knife felt unbearable in my hand—cold, heavy, final. My fingers trembled around the handle, slick with sweat, my breath coming in shallow gasps.

I couldn't do this.

I can't.

The four remaining maids knelt before me, their eyes wide, hollow with terror. One of them—a girl barely older than me—clutched her hands together as if she were praying, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Another had her gaze fixed on the floor, her body motionless as if she had already accepted her fate.

But the worst was the third—Her lips quivered as she shook her head violently, her entire body trembling with raw terror.

"Please," she whimpered, her voice barely more than a breath. "Please, I don't want to die."

The others were crying too, sobbing into their hands, pressing their foreheads to the blood-stained floor in desperation. But she—the one who had given me vegetables for Elsa—was the loudest.

She wasn't just crying. She was begging.

"Please, mistress... please, don't do this! I—I'll do anything, just don't—" Her hands clutched at the hem of my dress, her fingers tight with desperation. She tried to crawl closer, but Adrik's voice sliced through the air.

"Joy."

His tone was sharp, a blade of its own. A warning. A command.

I stiffened.

His grip on my wrist tightened, forcing my trembling hand to rise. The knife felt like it was burning my skin, the weight unbearable, suffocating.

"You already made your choice," he murmured. "Now finish it."

A choked sob tore from the girl's throat. She pressed her forehead to my foot, clutching onto me as if I could save her.

But I couldn't.

I had no choice.

Because if I didn't do it, Adrik would. And if he did, he would make it cruel.

Tears blurred my vision. The knife felt impossibly heavy as I lifted it higher, my grip weak, my heart slamming against my ribs.

"Joy," Adrik said again, this time softer, almost coaxing. His lips brushed against my ear. "Don't make me do it for you."

A violent shudder ran through me.

The maid's sobs grew louder. She was shaking so hard she could barely breathe.

I swallowed the bile in my throat.

And then—I brought the knife down.

The moment the words left my lips, the room froze.

"I can't do it."

Adrik didn't move. For a long, suffocating moment, the only sound was the ragged breathing of the maids and the flickering buzz of the dying bulb above us.

Then, in a voice almost too calm, he asked, "Are you sure?"

I lifted my chin, forcing my voice to stay steady. "Yes."

Something dark flashed in his eyes. Amusement. Curiosity. Something worse.

I should have stopped there. I should have begged. I should have known better.

Instead, I pushed him. "What now, Adrik?" I whispered, my heart slamming against my ribs. "Going to kill me instead?"

For a second, he just stared at me. Then he smiled.

And that was when I knew I had made a mistake.

Without breaking eye contact, he reached for his holster, slow and deliberate.

The maids started whimpering again, their sobs rising, but I wasn't looking at them anymore. I was frozen, my body going cold as Adrik lifted his gun.

"No," he murmured, still smiling. "Not you."

Then—the first gunshot.

A deafening crack rang through the room, and before I could even scream, a body hit the floor.

Then another.

And another.

The smell of blood filled my lungs.

One by one, he shot them. Not just the four I refused to kill—all of them.

Lily.

The elderly woman.

Even the one who had given me vegetables for Elsa.

I screamed.

My body jerked back, trying to move, trying to do anything, but I tripped—the rope around my foot yanking me down.

Pain exploded through me as my weight landed on my injured foot. A sharp, unbearable agony shot up my leg, stealing my breath. I collapsed.

My vision blurred. My ears rang. The room spun around me.

And through it all, Adrik's voice cut through the chaos.

"See, Joy?" His boots stopped beside my crumpled form. "This is what happens when you defy me."

Pain burned through my ankle, hot and blinding, but it was nothing compared to the horror spreading through my chest.

I forced myself to look up, my body trembling, my hands slick with sweat and blood. The room smelled of iron, of death, of the consequences of my defiance.

The maids lay in lifeless heaps, their eyes frozen open in terror. Lily's mouth was still parted in a silent scream.

My stomach lurched.

No. No, no, no.

Adrik crouched beside me, his gun still warm in his hand, his other fingers reaching out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear—so soft, so gentle, like he hadn't just slaughtered them all.

I flinched.

He laughed.

"Did you really think you had a say in this?" His voice was smooth, taunting, like he was enjoying every second of my suffering.

Tears burned my eyes. "You—you killed them," I choked out, my voice barely more than a breath.

He tilted his head, studying me like a puzzle he had already solved. "No, you killed them, Joy."

I sucked in a sharp breath.

Adrik leaned in closer, his lips brushing against my ear. "If you had just obeyed, three of them would still be alive. But you wanted to challenge me. So tell me, Joy—"

His fingers traced the side of my face, tilting my chin up until I was forced to look at him.

"Was it worth it?"

My throat tightened, my body screaming at me to look away, but I couldn't.

I had lost.

I had lost everything.

Tears slipped down my cheeks, silent and broken.

Adrik exhaled softly, his smile never faltering. "You'll learn, little wife," he murmured, standing to his full height. "One way or another... you'll learn."

Then, he turned and left me there—

Alone.

On the blood-soaked floor.