"A bride like you shouldn't be amusing herself with a hired hunting dog sent to kill her."
Her heart trembled violently.
Was it anger… fear… or that strange feeling that had begun to surface whenever he came near her?
She didn't know.
She shoved his hand away, her eyes burning with defiance.
"I don't belong to anyone!"
The corner of his mouth lifted into a cold, infuriatingly confident smile.
"We'll see."
Before she could step back, he suddenly caught her wrist.
Her breath caught.
Slowly, he pushed up the sleeve of her dress, revealing the black mark engraved into her skin…
The same mark that had started everything.
[A few days earlier…]
Ezel walked along the dirt road leading to the market, clutching her faded shawl around her slender body as if she were trying to protect herself from the entire world, not merely the cold.
Her steps were quick but weary, while snow slowly crept across the edges of the small village.
In the distance, she could hear vendors shouting, the creaking wheels of old carts, and the laughter of children.
Their voices seemed to belong to a world completely separate from hers.
But her mind…
Her mind wasn't here at all.
It was still trapped in that house.
The house where she had never truly felt at home.
Ever since her parents died, Ezel was no longer anyone's daughter.
She had become a burden.
A servant living under her uncle's roof, cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, and silently enduring the cruelty of his wife.
As usual, the woman's harsh voice echoed painfully in her mind.
"Don't you dare be late again."
Ezel tightened her grip around the old bag in her hands, ignoring the ache in her feet.
She had no idea that this day was about to change her life forever.
She sighed softly before finally entering the market.
The place was crowded with noise and movement, but Ezel was used to passing through people like a ghost no one noticed.
She lowered her head and began examining the vegetables, always choosing the cheapest ones.
Not because she wanted them…
But because they were all she was allowed to have.
Then, suddenly—
She felt something strange.
A heavy sensation.
As if someone had been watching her for a long time.
Her pulse quickened for no apparent reason.
She cautiously turned around.
And there he was.
Standing at the far end of the market.
He was tall, dressed entirely in dark clothes that looked strangely out of place among the villagers.
His black hair moved gently in the wind, while his eyes remained fixed on her, making her instantly uneasy.
But what frightened her most was that he wasn't handsome in a comforting way.
He possessed the kind of beauty that made a person feel danger rather than fascination.
As though getting closer to him would be a sin she would never survive.
Their eyes met for a brief moment.
Her stomach tightened.
She froze where she stood.
The corner of his lips curved into a faint smile—one she couldn't understand.
Ezel quickly lowered her gaze and walked away, convincing herself that he was nothing more than a passing stranger.
But before she could get far—
She collided with someone.
Something shiny fell to the ground in front of her.
She looked down.
A silver necklace lay at her feet, a small heart-shaped pendant hanging from it, glowing with a faint, unnatural light.
She bent down and picked it up carefully.
Then she looked around for its owner…
Until she found him standing directly in front of her.
"That's mine."
His voice was low and deep, sending a shiver through her.
She quickly held out the necklace to him.
But the moment her hand came close—
He grabbed her wrist.
It wasn't an ordinary touch.
A sharp coldness rushed through her veins.
He stepped closer until the air between them seemed to disappear, until even her breathing betrayed the sudden confusion inside her.
Then he said calmly,
"Keep it. It suits you."
Her eyes widened.
"No… I don't want it."
Before she could protest again, he lifted the necklace and placed it around her neck himself.
The moment the pendant touched her skin—
She felt the necklace tighten around her throat.
Slowly.
Almost as if it were alive.
Ezel immediately reached for it, trying to tear it away, but his fingers closed firmly around her wrist.
"Don't."
He whispered the words close to her ear.
Her eyes widened.
His voice was far too close…
And far too cold.
She tried to pull away.
"I said I don't want it!"
But he only smiled.
A small smile.
A deeply unsettling one.
Then he leaned closer and whispered,
"The moment you touched the necklace… it was over for you, Ezel."
She froze.
How did he know her name?
She stared at him in shock.
"What do you mean?"
But he…
Disappeared.
As if he had never been there at all.
Ezel frantically looked around.
Between the people.
The vendors.
The passing carts.
Yet no one seemed to have noticed anything.
No one was looking at her.
As though she were the only person who had seen him.
She placed a hand over the necklace.
It tightened around her neck whenever she tried to remove it.
Then suddenly—
The market disappeared.
The voices vanished.
Everything around her turned into a cold, suffocating darkness.
The ground beneath her feet shook violently.
And then—
She opened her eyes.
She was no longer in the market.
She stood before a dark castle.
Its towering windows glowed with a dim light, as though something inside was watching her.
The castle doors slowly began to open.
A heavy creak tore through the silence.
Then a deep voice emerged from within.
A voice that sounded…
Not entirely human.
"Finally…
You've arrived, my bride."
Her legs betrayed her.
Terror paralyzed her entire body.
A tall, massive shadow emerged from the darkness.
She couldn't make out its features.
But she could feel its eyes fixed upon her—
Like a predator that had finally found its prey.
"What… is happening?"
Her trembling voice barely escaped her lips.
But before she could receive an answer—
Everything began to disappear again.
The castle.
The darkness.
The ground.
Even the terrifying shadow.
The sounds returned.
The noise of the market.
People's footsteps.
The vendors calling out their goods.
Ezel opened her eyes wide.
She was standing in the market again.
The same place.
The same noise.
The same people.
She stumbled backward in disbelief, her heart pounding violently as though what she had just witnessed had been nothing more than a nightmare.
"Impossible…"
She placed a hand against her head, desperately trying to understand what had happened.
"Was I… dreaming?"
She drew in a shaky breath and slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself.
Then she lowered her gaze toward her neck.
Nothing.
There was no necklace.
She ran her fingers over her skin once…
Then twice.
A short, nervous laugh escaped her.
"Of course… It was just my imagination."
And yet…
The fear remained lodged deep inside her chest.
She raised her hand and lightly slapped her own cheek.
"Wake up, Ezel. It's just an illusion."
She hurriedly gathered the things she had come to buy without looking up, afraid that she might see him again.
Minutes later, she left the market with hurried steps, almost running.
"Damn it… I'm late."
She imagined her aunt's furious face.
Her harsh voice.
And perhaps the hand that never hesitated to strike her.
But as she walked—
She felt something.
Slowly, she placed a hand against her neck.
Her eyes widened in horror.
"The necklace…"
It was there.
Glimmering faintly.
Almost as if it were pulsing.
"No… no…"
She began desperately trying to tear it off, whispering in panic,
"You're not real…
This isn't real…"
Then—
The road disappeared.
The sounds vanished.
The world disappeared once again.
That terrifying coldness crept through her bones…
And before she knew it—
She was standing before the castle again.
Her entire body froze.
This time, there was no doubt.
It wasn't a dream.
It was real.
A curse.
"For God's sake… what is happening to me?"
Then a deep voice came from directly behind her.
"Whenever I summon you…
you will return."
Ezel squeezed her eyes shut as tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
Now she understood.
She couldn't escape.
Because the necklace…
wasn't an ornament.
It was a shackle.
And for the first time in her life—
Ezel realized that some doors, once opened…
do not allow anyone to return.