Charles lay sprawled across the cold stone floor, his chest bare, soaked in blood.
His cheek was bruised. His lips split. One eye was swollen nearly shut.
Around him, the faint echo of laughter and noblemen's footsteps drifted through the air like a cruel lullaby.
"This one won't last the night," murmured a voice from behind the bars.
"Good. I don't like meat that still talks," another replied.
They laughed—and left.
Charles remained still. His breath was ragged.
Every inhale sliced through his lungs like broken glass.
The ceiling above was cracked and shadowed. Rain leaked through its corners, dripping slowly onto the stone. Each drop ticked like a clock counting down to death.
He was too weak to move. Too battered to even cry.
But within the wreckage of his body, something still refused to die—
Hatred.
"Is this it…?" he thought.
"I die here like a dog… after everything they took from me…?"
His frail hand curled into a trembling fist.
Blood dripped.
"I… won't… die in this place…"
His eyes opened. They stared into the darkness above with a fury that could burn through stone.
And then—
As if something had heard the scream buried deep in his soul—
The air shifted again.
Black smoke slowly coiled from the corners of the room.
But this wasn't ordinary smoke—it was thick, alive, devouring the lantern's glow as it spread.
And from within that void… came a voice.
"You called for me again, Charles."
The voice was soft, almost like a mother's whisper in the rain…
Yet within it echoed something hollow—an emptiness that resonated from another world.
The smoke curled and gathered—taking shape.
A silhouette of a human… slowly becoming that of a woman.
Silver hair flowed down her back like moonlight on still water.
Her crimson eyes glowed with embers.
Her smile was subtle, ambiguous—caught somewhere between pity… and mockery.
But what froze Charles in place was—
Her face.
It was Catherine's.
His former handmaid.
The girl who always watched him quietly from the shadows.
The girl who was slaughtered along with the Milverton family.
Charles trembled. His lips parted.
"…Catherine…?"
The woman gazed at him with mournful eyes.
"No. I merely chose the form you'd trust the most."
Silence.
Charles could barely breathe.
"Who… are you?"
The figure stepped closer. Her steps made no sound, even as she walked through the pool of his blood. She crouched beside him—her gaze piercing straight into his soul.
"My name is Vespera," she whispered.
"And I've come… to make you an offer."
---
Dark mist slithered across Charles's battered body. Every nerve in him trembled.
"Charles August Milverton… your life was stolen. Your heart shattered. They trampled you without mercy.
This world… has been nothing but cruel to you."
Charles clenched his jaw.
"They killed my mother."
"And your family. And Catherine. And they'll keep killing—as long as they can."
Vespera leaned in, her face now level with his. Her cold fingers gently touched his bruised cheek—
Softly. Slowly.
Like a veil of night stroking a wound.
"But you can stop it.
You can make them pay."
Charles met her eyes—no longer empty.
There was now a flicker of black fire burning deep inside.
"With what…?"
Vespera smiled.
And in that smile… all of hell seemed to go silent.
"With your soul."
Silence fell.
Only the drip of rain.
Charles's shallow breaths.
And the hiss of shadows beneath his skin.
Then…
He laughed.
Softly. Bitterly.
"…If I must become a devil to make this world pay…"
He looked straight into Vespera's burning red eyes.
"…Take it. Take my soul. Burn it. Tear it. Devour it—I don't care."
"Good." Vespera leaned in.
The world stopped spinning.
A kiss landed on Charles's lips—not with passion, nor tenderness.
But cold. Piercing. Eternal.
A seal forged by darkness itself.
Charles's body convulsed violently. His eyes widened.
And then—his wounds vanished.
His bones knit together.
His breath grew steady once more.
But inside… something had changed.
His blood ran hotter.
The world slowed.
Distant sounds rang clear, as if time itself bowed to him.
Vespera rose, her expression serene.
"The contract is sealed."
---