TSMMT Ch 117

Desperate Struggles

[Alexa] "Oh, what should I do, Sister? I'm terrified!"

Cupping her hands over her mouth, she cried out in distress. It was an astonishing performance.

When did she grow so adept at acting?

Dianna offered a hollow chuckle as Alexa buried herself in her arms, feigning fright.

She watched Emil being dragged away. She could have formally summoned her brother and executed him in her capacity as queen. The list of his crimes was extensive; she could condemn him for years of abuse or for instigating Mirva. She could even provoke him into attacking her publicly.

Yet, doing so would expose her past, laying bare her most vulnerable and miserable moments. Disclosing her family secrets to the Lodbrog nobility meant handing them a weapon to use against her. Public opinion currently favored her, but what if her past became ammunition for her enemies?

More than that, was it right to announce to the world that she had suffered such brutality?

Should her trauma become mere fodder for casual gossip?

Should Guiscard learn the full horror of what she had endured?

It was the most horrifying prospect imaginable. Thus, she resorted to this intricate scheme. He wouldn't die here as Emil Brienne; he would perish merely as Alexa's rogue errand boy.

She turned to the guards.

[Dianna] "Lock that lawless brute in the dungeon immediately!"

[Emil] "A-A-Ann!"

He shrieked in a frenzy. She watched his face, a contorted mask of frantic terror. As a helpless child, she had once worn that exact expression, yet Emil had never spared her a grain of mercy.

[Dianna] "What are you waiting for?!"

At her sharp command, the knights gagged his mouth and dragged him away.

Dianna pressed a hand against her pounding chest. It had been remarkably simple. Far too simple. She clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.

[Dianna] "Keep this matter quiet to avoid alarming the court."

[Knight] "However, His Majesty must be informed—"

[Dianna] "My sister is involved... Maintain strict silence. It serves no one to spread rumors that an assassin lunged at me."

Her icy tone left the knights hesitant.

[Knight] "Understood."

After a long pause, the knights bowed and withdrew.

Once the chamber cleared, she released a slow sigh.

[Dianna] "Alexa, you did well."

[Alexa] "It was nothing, Sister... I mean..."

[Dianna] "I must dress now. Would you give me a moment alone?"

Confronted with a direct request to leave, Alexa held her tongue. The moment she stepped out, Dianna rushed into the washroom.

Retching violently, she gripped the basin.

Just looking at Emil made her internal organs twist in revulsion. The sheer audacity of him walking in here disgusted her. Had he believed a few pathetic words would earn him forgiveness?

His pleased face, his eyes gleaming with greed, was nauseating. Emil had always assumed she would forgive him. Not this time.

Dianna trembled, her quivering eyes gradually settling into a cold resolve. She had made her choice and stepped forward. She was obligated to bring her past to an absolute end.

---

Sound couldn't escape the depths of the dungeon. Gagged and bound, Emil could only weep in isolation. He tried shouting his identity, but only muffled groans escaped his lips.

The space reeked of stale moisture and metallic blood, driving him to the brink of madness. One misstep, and he would perish in this abyss!

Muffled groans echoed from his throat as he thrashed helplessly. Bound securely to the wooden chair, he couldn't even bend his waist. Remaining fixed in a single posture proved excruciating.

Why is this happening?! Castration was agony enough, and now my own sister subjects me to this...

He wept bitterly over his wretched fate. Then, a voice echoed through the corridor.

[Dianna] "Does it hurt that much?"

He snapped his head up at the sound of the female voice. She stood before him. Dismissing the lingering guards with a flick of her chin, she unlocked the cell door.

She removed the gag from his mouth.

[Emil] "Ah... gasp! Ann! Ann!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "How... how could you lock your own brother in a place like this, Ann?!"

She smirked softly. Beneath the flickering red torchlight, her smile appeared terrifyingly beautiful.

[Dianna] "And why did you lock me up like that?"

Panicking, he blurted out excuses.

[Emil] "That was Father's discipline! I didn't lock you up!"

[Dianna] "What nonsensical rubbish, considering you eagerly whipped me alongside him."

He shook his head frantically at her frigid tone.

[Emil] "I didn't want to! He made me...!"

In his warped memory, his father had morphed into the villain, forcing Emil to strike Dianna, making him a pitiable victim of violence as well.

[Dianna] "Father made you?"

[Emil] "Yes! I didn't want to do it either!"

[Dianna] "Even so, you inflicted your own cruelty upon me. For instance, the very position you are bound in right now."

Father had gone out, leaving word that Emil could treat Dianna as he pleased.

He had giggled with delight.

[Dianna] "Save me, please! Forgive me, Brother!"

[Emil] "Shut up. You aren't human; you're a slave. A substitute for that slave bastard!"

He had ordered the Brienne knights to bind her tightly to a chair.

[Emil] "Do you still think you're human? You need proper discipline. Reflect on your place."

As the door swung shut, Dianna watched her brother through tears. Emil had walked away briskly with an amused bounce in his step, brushing aside her desperate shrieks.

[Emil] "I-I was wrong, Ann! I was young back then...!"

In truth, he had resumed his daily life comfortably after confining his sister to that room. He had studied, slept with women, attended noble banquets to feast on fine delicacies, and slept soundly.

His sister being treated like a dog and tortured in a cellar never disrupted his life. Yet, he convinced himself it was a mere childhood mistake. If Father ordered it, he struck; if she talked back, he struck her first, rationalizing that otherwise Father would beat her worse.

[Emil] "It was all for your sake! If I hadn't stepped in, he would have—"

[Dianna] "Bullshit."

A vulgar curse slipped from her lips. Stunned that his sister dared to curse at her own brother, he gaped in disbelief.

[Dianna] "Are you still this foolish? When he severed your manhood, you should have learned your place and stayed quiet. Do you still intend to kill me?"

[Emil] "Dianna!"

[Dianna] "I have decided to inflict a fitting punishment on your mother by making her watch you die."

[Emil] "What?"

He looked around in confusion. Dianna thrust a torch toward the opposite cell, illuminating Mirva slumped inside.

Gaunt and gagged, Mirva resembled an abandoned stray dog. The horrifying sight made Emil shudder. Seeing his mother weeping at the sight of him sparked a sudden surge of fury in his blood.

Whatever her flaws, she was his mother! How dare she lock her up like an animal! He glared at his sister.

[Emil] "Hey, this is too much!"

[Dianna] "What?"

[Emil] "I didn't kill you like this! What are you doing to her?!"

He roared in anger. Realizing Dianna had no intention of letting him live, he understood that her sole purpose was vengeance.

In that case... what should I do?!

He thrashed violently, shaking the chair.

[Emil] "You filthy bitch!"

Dianna entered the cell but kept her distance as he thrashed. A venomous glint returned to his eyes.

[Emil] "You were disciplined because you freed that slave whenever you pleased!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "You dare inflict this upon your brother over simple discipline?! Do you think I will just die quietly?!"

Glaring wildly around the room, he knew guards would eventually return to patrol the dungeon.

[Emil] "I will tell every knight and soldier every single detail about you!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "How abject you were! How hideous you looked, weeping with tears and snot streaming down your face!"

He burst into maniacal laughter, his eyes wild. Clearing his throat, he mocked her voice in a fragile tone.

[Emil] "I am a slave! I am a slave! You sobbed like that while crawling on the floor, didn't you?! Ha! A spectacle money couldn't buy, a future queen crawling on the ground!"

[Dianna] "Shut up!"

[Emil] "I am not human! I am a slave! I am the next slave after him!"

Mocking her delicate, mournful tone, he felt a surge of satisfaction.

[Emil] "I am a slave, Master! Master! Master!"

[Dianna] "Stop it!"

[Emil] "I am a filthy dog! A dirty bitch! A creature crawling on the floor that suddenly thinks she's human again!"

He rocked the chair back and forth, roaring at the top of his lungs.

Go ahead, kill me! If you kill me, I will drag your prestige into the dirt! If you gag me again, I'll bite off your fingers!

He glared at her with bloodshot eyes.

[Emil] "Regret this! Had I known, I should have beaten you more when you begged me to stop! Before a whip, there is no noble or slave!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "Do you know how filthy and hideous you looked bound to that chair for three days? Soaked in your own waste! A pristine noble lady smelling worse than garbage a dog wouldn't touch!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "I know men! Word of this will reach his ears eventually! That slave bastard only wanted you because you were an unreachable tree, a filthy slave coveting a highborn lady!"

[Dianna] "..."

[Emil] "Men know men! Once he realizes you were just as filthy, that bastard will discard you too!"

He snickered maliciously, repeatedly stabbing at her heart.

[Emil] "Ah, I remember that stench—AAAAAH!"

Heavy footsteps echoed sharply through the corridor. In a flash, his chair lifted into the air and slammed violently against the floor.

Emil raised his head, preparing to scream at Dianna. But seeing the man standing under the crimson torchlight, the words died in his throat.

Violet eyes blazed with fury like a wild predator.

Standing towering above him, the man looked like the Grim Reaper himself.

---

A reader request—hope you enjoy it. If you do, feel free to leave a rating or review on Naver Series and KakaoPage.