Time stretched infinitely in the grip of absolute terror, each second an agonizing century.
After what felt like an eternity, Seraphina’s tears had run dry, leaving only a raw, aching pain in her eyes. The cold that had seeped into her bones gradually numbed her trembling body.
She knew then that crying was the most useless thing in the world. It earned no sympathy, and it summoned no saviors.
Richard and Liliana had left her here to be destroyed. They would not give her any chance of escape. The only person she could rely on was herself.
The instinct for survival, like a tiny, flickering flame, was rekindled in the frozen wasteland of her despair. Seraphina forced herself to calm down, to still the useless trembling, and began to use every one of her senses to probe the cage that imprisoned her.
It was a completely sealed space with no windows. The only light came from a few faint slivers of moonlight filtering through cracks in the door. The thick scent of mold and rot confirmed the cabin had been abandoned for years.
Her hands and feet were still bound, but her captors had clearly been overconfident; the knots were not impossibly tight. Seraphina curled her body, contorting herself into an awkward position to work on the coarse knot behind her back with her fingernails.
It was a long and agonizing process. The rough hemp rope scraped the delicate skin of her wrists, sending waves of fiery pain through her. Her nails broke and splintered from the effort, and blood seeped from her fingertips, mixing with the dirt in a sticky, gritty paste.
But Seraphina didn't stop.
The pain kept her sharp. With every new flash of agony, her hatred for Richard and Liliana deepened. That hatred became her only fuel, sustaining her fraying nerves.
She worked until her fingers were completely numb, until she could no longer feel the pain. And then, finally, the wretched knot began to loosen.
A flicker of hope ignited in her chest, and she worked more furiously, twisting her wrists. At last, with one forceful tug, the rope on her right wrist snapped free!
Her freed hand immediately went to work on the ropes on her left hand, then her ankles. By the time the last rope fell away, Seraphina nearly collapsed onto the floor. She leaned against the wall, gasping, greedily inhaling the stale, moldy air of freedom.
After a few moments of rest, she immediately began searching for an escape route.
The main door was locked from the outside; she had no hope of breaking it down. She ran her hands along the walls, inspecting every inch. The cabin's wood was old and decayed; perhaps there was a weak spot.
Finally, on the back wall, her fingers found a loose plank. It might have once been a small window, boarded up crudely. After years of exposure to wind and rain, the nails had rusted and the wood had begun to rot.
Seraphina threw her entire body weight against the plank. Each impact sent a jolt of pain through her shoulder, and rotten splinters dug into her skin, but she paid it no mind.
Thud!
With a dull, heavy sound, the decaying plank finally gave way, creating a hole just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
A gust of night wind, carrying icy raindrops, whipped through the opening, making her shiver. She peered out into a pitch-black forest, lashed by a storm. The shadows of the trees swayed like phantoms.
She knew it was dangerous outside, but it was better than sitting here, waiting for those monsters to return and defile her.
Without a moment of hesitation, Seraphina gritted her teeth and, ignoring the sting of the splinters scratching her skin, painfully squeezed through the narrow opening.
As her feet touched the slick, muddy ground, she didn't bother to get her bearings. Ignoring her expensive evening gown, now torn and tattered, she broke into a desperate sprint into the depths of the forest. She had only one thought: Run! Get as far away from this hell as possible!
Icy rain hammered down on her, soaking her thin dress in seconds. The mountain path was treacherous, covered in slippery moss and sharp stones. She was barefoot, and she stumbled several times, her soles sliced open by the unforgiving ground, sending sharp pains shooting up her legs.
But she didn't dare stop.
Faintly, she heard the sound of the van's engine starting up behind her, followed by a few angry curses.
They were back! They had discovered her escape!
The realization sent her heart leaping into her throat. She cast a terrified glance over her shoulder. Two blinding beams of light cut through the rain-swept darkness, like the eyes of a demon, searching for her.
"Damn it! The bitch ran! After her!"
The men's shouts grew closer, a death knell at her heels. She could no longer feel the pain, only pure, unadulterated terror. Like a cornered deer, she plunged recklessly through the dark woods. Branches tore at her cheeks and arms, leaving burning scratches. Mud splattered all over her, a testament to her desperate flight.
She didn't know how long she ran. Her stamina was draining rapidly, her lungs burning as if on fire. But the sounds of pursuit were a relentless curse, drawing nearer and nearer.
Just as she was about to give up, her foot slipped. Her body lost its balance, and she went tumbling down a steep, muddy slope.
The world spun violently. Her head slammed hard against a rock. A sharp, searing pain exploded behind her eyes, and the world went black.
...
When she awoke again, Seraphina found herself in a dry cave.
The wound on her forehead was still throbbing, but it seemed to have been crudely bandaged with a strip of cloth. Her wet clothes had been taken off and were laid out to dry nearby. In their place, a large men's jacket, carrying the faint scent of tobacco, was draped over her small frame, shielding her from the cold.
A small campfire crackled at the mouth of the cave, its orange glow chasing away the darkness and bringing a touch of warmth.
What had happened? Had the kidnappers caught her? But why would they... take care of her?
Seraphina sat up warily, her eyes scanning her surroundings.
And then she saw him. A tall figure, leaning against the far wall of the cave.
It was a man.
He appeared to be badly injured. One of his arms was in a makeshift sling, and his black shirt was torn in several places, revealing bloodstained bandages underneath. His eyes were closed, his brow tightly furrowed. The firelight flickered across his handsome face, making it look deathly pale. His lips were chapped, and his breathing was shallow and rapid, as if he were enduring immense pain.
The most striking thing about him was the half-mask he wore, made of silver.
It covered the left side of his face and forehead, its design archaic and intricate. It glinted with a cold, metallic light in the fire, shrouding him in an aura of mystery and danger.
Seraphina's heart leaped.
A stranger.
A stranger in despair, just like her.
He was clearly not one of the kidnappers. Had he saved her after she passed out?
As her mind raced, the man seemed to sense her movement and slowly opened his eyes.
And what eyes they were.
They were as deep as an abyss, his black irises seemingly devoid of light, yet possessing a magnetic force that could pull a person's soul right in. His gaze swept over her, cold, sharp, and full of a wary, assessing quality, like that of a wounded, lone wolf.
Seraphina flinched under his stare, instinctively clutching the jacket tighter around herself and shrinking back.
The man seemed to realize his intensity had frightened her. The sharpness in his eyes softened slightly. His hoarse voice, tinged with an almost imperceptible weakness, echoed in the quiet cave. "You're awake."
His voice was low and magnetic. Even in such a battered state, it carried an air of natural authority.
"Did... did you save me?" Seraphina mustered her courage and asked in a small voice.
The man didn't answer directly, merely grunting in acknowledgment. His gaze fell on the wound on her forehead, and his brow furrowed deeper. "That wound needs to be treated properly. It's not safe here. We need to leave as soon as possible."
"Leave? Go where?" Seraphina asked, bewildered. "There... there are people chasing me outside."
"I know," the man's tone was flat, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. "They're chasing me, too."
A common enemy.
The thought created a strange, inexplicable flicker of trust for him within her.
Just then, the sound of dogs barking erupted outside the cave, followed by the chaotic noise of footsteps!
"Search! Search everywhere! She has to be around here!" It was the kidnappers' voices!
The blood drained from Seraphina's face, and terror seized her heart once more.
A cold glint flashed in the man's eyes. He swiftly extinguished the campfire, plunging the cave back into darkness. He pulled Seraphina to his side, clamping a hand over her mouth and commanding in a harsh whisper, "Don't make a sound!"
His body was shockingly hot, like a furnace, the heat seeping through the layers of clothing to her skin. A potent masculine scent, mixed with the faint smell of blood and tobacco, enveloped her completely. Seraphina's heart hammered uncontrollably against her ribs, half from fear, half from this sudden, aggressive proximity.
The footsteps outside grew closer. Beams of light from flashlights swept past the cave entrance, casting dancing, distorted shadows on the walls.
Seraphina was so tense she could barely breathe.
In the darkness, she could feel the man's hot breath ghosting across the nape of her neck. He seemed to be growing disoriented, likely from his injuries and a rising fever. The hand over her mouth slipped away, only to be replaced by an arm that wrapped around her like steel, holding her tight as if she were a piece of driftwood in a storm.
In the disorienting dark, his hot lips found hers. The kiss was forceful, almost savage, and completely devoid of tenderness.
"Mmph—"
Seraphina's eyes flew wide with shock. She struggled desperately, but his uninjured arm held her pinned against him, rendering her helpless.
This kiss held no romance; it was a desperate, instinctual act of plunder, a raw confirmation that they were both still alive.
Seraphina's mind went blank.
The pursuers outside, the wounded man beside her, the kiss that was stealing her breath... everything felt like a surreal, terrifying nightmare.
The man's temperature was alarmingly high. He seemed to have succumbed entirely to a feverish delirium. His kisses grew chaotic and scorching, driven by a primal, instinctual need for comfort as he began to explore every inch of her cold skin...
No... please, no... she cried silently in her mind.
But after the successive blows of betrayal, kidnapping, and a desperate flight for her life, her spirit was at its breaking point. Held in the arms of this equally desperate and overwhelmingly powerful stranger, her struggles were utterly futile.
A stormy night. A dark cave. An impossible situation.
The fates of two strangers, in the most primal and uncontrolled way, became irrevocably entangled.
When the first rays of dawn pierced the rain-swept sky and filtered into the cave, Seraphina awoke to a bone-deep chill.
The cave was empty.
The mysterious man with the silver mask was gone. All that remained was the pile of cold ashes from the campfire and the jacket still draped over her body, carrying the lingering warmth of his skin, proving that the night before had not been a hallucination.
Her body ached as if it had been run over by a truck. The dark bruises on her skin were a mark of shame, a clear and horrifying reminder that, in the chaos of the night, she had lost something precious.
She had been framed by her fiancé and stepsister, kidnapped, and during her escape, she had been... taken by a complete stranger.
Tears of humiliation and despair welled up once more. She hugged her knees to her chest, curling into a tight ball, and let out a choked, painful sob.
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached the mouth of the cave.
Seraphina's heart leaped into her throat. Was it the pursuers, or the mysterious man? She looked up in terror, her eyes fixed on the entrance.
Of course. Here is the English translation of Chapter 003.