Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 85: Punishment For Her Grief

Chapter 85: Punishment For Her Grief

When Samantha regained consciousness and still found herself in the perpetual valley, her bleary gaze moved from left to right, slowly taking in the blurriness of the environment she was in till it became vivid before her glossy eyes. Heaving a shuddering sigh, she forced her weak limbs to move as she pushed herself up into a comfortable position, whilst she rested her back on a rock that was behind her, and only then did she take notice of the warmth that enveloped her, as it appears someone had made a fire to keep her warm.

Her dispirited gaze lingered on the burning woods for some minutes, quietly listening to the crackling sounds made by the fire as it glowed up her face, and after trying to get her disoriented mind working, the young maid looked at her palms as if shocked to find herself alive. Undoubtedly, anyone would be over the moon under the circumstances of finding themselves alive after that fatal fall, but the same couldn’t be said for Samantha who looked aggrieved to find herself back in a world that despised her, whilst her palms shook under the tremor as she kept staring at it.

Everything that happened came flooding into her muddled head, and she involuntarily hugged herself with her knees up, feeling utterly vulnerable and frightened of what else could be in store for her. The words of the caretaker kept singing in her head like a dreading tune that tore her fragile heart into two.

"He’s dead!" The caretaker had said. "Do not blame me for the bad luck in your miserable life!" He said. "You’re just a useless little bitch!" He said.

It was painful, but it was the truth.

Her life was a ridiculed mess, an unrepairable one, and she has known this all her life whilst she never complained. She didn’t mind it since she believed her pathetic life was worth living for others that mattered to her, and that was the life of her brother, whom she sacrificed so much for while they grew up. She promised him a good future, she didn’t mind doing three jobs at the same time back in the village as long as her brother would be the one to stand out in her family, someone needed to make them proud at least, but presently, all her efforts now seemed like broken glass that cannot be fixed.

"What do I do now?" She uttered as if confused on what step to take next. Everyone that mattered was leaving her alone in this unfair world, with no guidance, and there was no one she could possibly turn to for help. They were either gone, forgotten, or she was not worth helping at all.

Wasn’t she supposed to be dead?? If she had died maybe things would have been better... So how is she still alive?

Samantha didn’t believe in miracles since miracles never existed in her dictionary, but finding herself alive after that fatal fall had turned out to be a mystery on its own.

Who had set the fire??

Once again, her eyes which were starting to turn red from her endless crying returned to the burning woods in front of her. The glowing light softened her despondent countenance, and as if tranced by the dancing flame that called to her, the young maid stretched her hand forward, already tempted to touch the flames, but before it could burn her hand, another hand had grabbed her dainty wrist on time, snapping her out of her tranced state and back to the present.

"The hell are you trying to do to yourself?!" Ivan’s voice was laced with urgency as he withdrew her hand on time, but when he looked at his little lamb so he could scold some senses into her, she unexpectedly bursted into tears in front of him, leaving the vampire Lord dazed whilst she freed her wrist from his grip before glaring at him.

"So it was you." The tears in her red-rimmed eyes didn’t go unnoticed as she grabbed his collar with her trembling fingers. A few of her hairs had been caught by her left eyelashes, but she failed to notice them.

"Did you do this to make fun of me?" She screeched angrily at the dazed vampire Lord. "You know how much the world hates my existence, I don’t want to be here anymore but you... I am suffering since it is written in my fate that I am not destined to find happiness, but I never asked you to save me, maybe not saving me at all would have been my way of you saving me, but now I’m stuck here and I don’t know what...."

Samantha was half-yelling at him, her actions could trigger certain consequences if she did it to any other higher-ups, but with Ivan, the confused vampire remained silent as he watched her cry, just letting her take out her fury on him without saying or retorting back, and then suddenly, her anger was gone, as if she had grown exhausted from the yelling.

He saw the helplessness in her eyes, and then he could feel himself fall apart when she said.

"I don’t know what to do."

It was the first time he ever saw her run out of ideas, just like how he saw her when he invaded her home ten years ago. Her voice trembled in despair as her head fell forward in defeat, resting on Ivan’s chest, but the young maid was too emotionally shattered from within; she didn’t mind seeking the comfort she sought-after from the one she had been planning to run away from.

"What do I do?" She asked between sobs, unable to contain the pain. "My brother is gone and I don’t know what else to do with my life. Those slave traders took him away from me, I begged them those years ago, I did as they said, they promised they’d keep him alive but now that he’s dead they laughed at his demise? You’re a vampire, your own actions can be justified but they’re humans too, I mean.... how can humans be so cruel to their fellow humans?!" She looked up to meet Ivan’s crimson gaze, but she was too overshadowed by her own grief to notice her actions were hurting him as well.

"I don’t-"

"No." She cut him off, pulling away from him as she let out a shuddering breath. "I want them to pay for everything they’ve done. The young girls they’ve abducted, the souls of those they’ve killed, I want them to suffer for it! I don’t care if they die!!" Her body shook as she continued to cry out in anguish, her right hand clutching to her chest as if the pain was too much for her to deal with, and Ivan’s heart twinged at her grief, the only thing he was capable of doing at the moment was pulling her into his embrace.

She didn’t pull away this time around, she didn’t feel like it, and Ivan could only bring himself to stay silent as he allowed her to pour everything out of her system. It felt like her spirit was slowly crashing, and he never knew how much he hated the sound of cries until he heard his little lamb cry out in his arms.

They stayed that way until her sobs finally subsided. Gently pulling her away, Ivan took off his cloak and wrapped it around her small frame, shielding her from the cold night air as he felt her shiver from time to time in his arms. She had stopped with her sobbing, but her gaze was so distant, he could see the despondency in her green eyes, and it struck a feeling in his heart.

This wasn’t his little lamb.

Unable to bear the sight, he stood up and left, giving her some time to grief.

He barely knew how he arrived there, but he found himself returning to the end of the cliff where he had tied the four slave traders. Their shirts were taking off, and on their back were deep nasty gashes Ivan had mercilessly used his dagger to engrave on their skin. He had drawn an intricate symbol using the blade, and he watched with an empty gaze as they looked totally distraught, bleeding all over whilst they incurred bruises on their skins too.

At the sight of him, the four men flinched with evident fears in their gazes, as if the devil himself had decided to pay them another visit. They shivered impulsively when the dark Lord crouched before them, and his crimson eyes turned chilly as he said to them.

"I don’t think I’ve ever been this upset in my many years of living." He sighed deeply, running his fingers through his hair before locking gaze with the caretaker.

"Now let’s begin, which one of you dared to hit my precious little lamb in the face? Hmm?" He inquired, looking between the four men who were already in tears after receiving agonizing torture.

"No one? That means all of you are responsible for the red mark on her cheek. Where did I drop that dagger? Clearly the carving of repentance needs to be increased."

"No!" They answered in unison when they noticed he was indeed looking for the dagger, and one of them finally revealed. "It was the caretaker’s doing! He slapped her across the face!"

"Oooh." Ivan’s unreadable gaze moved to the caretaker who was trembling like fish on dry sand. "You’re the abuser."

"I..."

"You made my little lamb cry, what gave you the right to do that?" Ivan let out a dark low chuckle before the smile on his lips terrifyingly vanished, "that’s a button you shouldn’t have pressed. Now, your souls will scream for mercy, and trust me when I say, you will have none. Since you enjoy throwing people off the cliff, it’s your turn! Get up!"

"Please! We regret our actions!"

"Keep regretting in hell." Forcing all four of them to their feet, it felt like an invisible force was pushing them back against their will. All of a sudden, their feets began to heat up drastically, and when the heat intensified, the four men immediately caught on fire without him using any fire or matches.

Their agonizing scream filled the air as they were being burnt, and then they fell off the cliff. The shimmering glow in Ivan’s eyes cooled when he watched them burn to their misery, but when he turned around, his little lamb was standing there, and the paleness on her face proved that she had witnessed everything.

>>>>>>>>>Vote! Vote! Vote! <<<<<<<<<<<<<