Celine dismounted from her horse and handed the reins to her second in command, heading towards her tent.
The people mingling around the tents turned their heads towards their leader, bowing their heads slightly.
Celine waved her hand at them in dismissal, entering her tent.
"May," she called out.
A maid rushed to her side in seconds. Clothed in male's clothes and a cap covering her hair.
Celine ordered her to prepare a bath.
"With cold water," she told her, "And hurry."
Maya didn't dare ask for more information. She left the tent and sent a group of men to fetch her water.
Celine sat on a chair behind her desk, preparing for the pain that was about to come.
Her eyes closed and she inhaled sharply when the heart in her chest skipped a beat, like an invisible hammer had struck it, and it was trying to beat again, but the hammer kept hitting it harder.
'The awakened shackleds will do everything in their power to make you trust them, just so they could betray you when you least expect it,' she recalled the classified information only a few had access to, 'That's what the Gods made them for, to make us feel the betrayal we inflicted upon Them.'
That's how the awakened shakleds operated. They were like tyrants who would first start their rule with sweet lies and promises. And then they would show their true nature, bringing paranoiac fear into the hearts of the people.
They would betray their spouses, their houses, their families, their friends, their loved ones, their kingdoms…
She gritted her teeth and grabbed her chest. The pain spread across her whole body, as if she was being torn apart from the inside.
'Dying from heartbreak would be pathetic,' she cursed at herself. 'I didn't survive just to die from heartbreak! I can't die yet. Not before I make them regret the day they made an enemy out of me! I'll slaughter them all and decorate my halls with their heads!'
She could see the blood on the floor of the throne room, the smell of death in the air, and the heads of all those who dared defy her. It was a beautiful sight.
The numbness slowly took over, the pain fading away from her body.
Lucian, she remembered. Her heart clenched again. The image of a crying man appeared in her mind and her body went back to its painful state.
'You just had to ruin my fun, didn't you, Lucian?'
The pain was short-lived, and the feeling of emptiness started to take over.
The shock from nothing to everything was always a struggle to go through.
Her head fell backwards, and her eyes opened to the ceiling of the tent.
Lucian could make everything feel more enjoyable. Even when he was a headache on two legs, playing the victim in front of her. His charms still worked, and she wanted to punch herself for it.
The memories of his soft voice, and the way he spoke to her when they were alone, how he looked at her as if she was the most beautiful and perfect woman in the world. His eye candy smile that could melt her heart like it was made of butter...and the way he kissed her...
Her heart shut down further, forcing her to face the harsh reality of their situation instead.
What if Lucian's was still a first stage shackled? It was her first time seeing a strange case like his.
'He thinks he can trick me? No, if he was a first staged shackled, he probably knows that he can't hide it from me anymore.'
Nightmares? Her? Couldn't he find a better excuse than that? Did he think she was dumb or something? That she could not figure out what had happened to her?
He should have cleared the traces, not leave a whole trail for her to follow. He would have if he had the time, but he was in a rush to save their lives.
'It's either Edmund or Lucian who are the awakened shackleds.'
Celine recounted the events. Neither admitted to saving her. They were both trying to hide something from her.
'Could they be both shackled?'
She needed more proof to be sure.
Edmund's limbs were still broken at that time, so he shouldn't be able to move. But then he managed to successfully pass the emerald stage, which gave him some strength back.
He said it was her knight, who sacrificed his life for hers. He also confirmed that he left her in Lucian's care. Their stories matched, except the evidence was pointing out the opposite.
The rain prevented the fire from destroying everything in its path. It was a bad attempt to hide the truth. It didn't take long for her to realize that she had been deceived.
She warned father about Edmund, who was now under observation. How she wished to be proved wrong sometimes.
'Edmund better not be a shackled.'
She kept her silence about Lucian around her father.
Celine raised the hand that touched Lucian, above her face, as if she could still feel him on her fingertips.
Her heart went numb at the worst possible time. Analyzing the events from a cold and distant point of view, violence and cruelty were the only things she could think of at that moment.
It was impossible to tell if Lucian was a first or second stage shackled, but him being a first staged shackled this whole time would change everything she knew about him.
'What does he mean he will be fine with me killing hundreds of his soldiers?'
He acted the opposite of the Lucian she knew. He wasn't supposed to be so nice to her. He should have made her beg and beg and beg for his approval, not the other way around.
'Guilty. He feels guilty about what he's doing. What did he do that made him feel so guilty?'
He would intentionally go into disputes with her, making her look like she was the crazy one.
'Something is holding him back. Something he doesn't want me to find out. Something he has to keep hiding.'
He knew she would have accepted him even if he were a shackled.
'He has a secret that is more dangerous than being a shackled.'
'What could be so important that it could make him turn into a liar, and then lie to hide his lies?'
'Sometimes I think that he prefers when I act crazy, even though he doesn't like it.'
'Sometimes I think he is terrified of showering me with his love. Crazy women deserved no love, which gave him an excuse to love me less...'
'He might be one step away from getting his wish granted and awakening. It's obvious the wish has something to do with his little wife.'
As if she would ever forget about her first rejection because of someone's dream girl.
'Reaching an understanding doesn't seem to be possible, and if hate is all we can have, then I'm ready to become the villain he needs me to be.'
The numbness she felt quickly changed to despair and grief, and then back to the usual numbness, on repeat.
She was really going to go crazy at this point.
'What if Lucian is an awakened shackled?'
'Then there's only one way to bring him back.'
The only reason she let him roam free around the world was for him to collect enough sacrifices she could use later on.
The closest people to him had to die, sacrifice them all, one by one, until one of their wishes was fulfilled.
'He will hate you forever if you do this.'
'So?'
Was she supposed to move on from him?
Live a normal life without him?
The only reason she wasn't howling like a wounded animal was because she would make the world howl in her place.
She would not give her enemies the satisfaction of seeing her cry or suffer.
They would be the ones to do it, and she would be the one to laugh at their misfortune.
Only winners could write history, and she was going to write a bloody one.
She would make everyone understand that they could not take her Lucian from her.
Not the royals, not the shackleds, not the Gods.
Nobody.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Sorry for the slow updates, I'm a slow writer. 🙏
Sometimes the craziest people are the most sane, imo. 🤣
Celine feels absolutely no remorse about what she had done to Lucian. She grew up surrounded by tough love after all. She knows crossing a line would make him hate her, he made sure of that, so there are at least some boundaries, which are slowly being striped away.
While Lucian uses selfbrainwashing as a coping mechanism, Celine shuts down her emotions, keeping only her motivations. It doesn't stop her mind from being obsessed with him though. 🙏
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