Chapter 3

I watched helplessly as Chloe moved into the estate, carrying herself with all the grace and arrogance of the lady of the house.

Gradually, my domain shrank from the entire mansion down to the dusty, cramped attic on the top floor.

One afternoon, while Chloe was out running errands, I snuck down to the sunlit living room and curled up on Nicholas's lap, basking in the warm rays just like old times.

Suddenly, a cold shiver crept down the back of my neck.

Chloe stepped into the room, walking over to drape herself weakly against Nicholas's shoulder.

"Nick, I don't know what's wrong. I barely slept last night, and now I have this blinding migraine."

"A headache is nothing to take lightly," Nicholas replied casually, as if he were simply ordering a maid to pour a cup of tea. "Mia, go on. Make sure Chloe's head stops hurting."

The command snapped around my soul like an invisible iron chain.

A sharp, needle-like pain stabbed straight through my core, and a terrifying wave of weakness washed over my limbs.

I tried to scramble backward to break the connection, but Nicholas clamped his hand down on my scruff, forcing me down.

"Oh! It really stopped hurting! Nick, you're incredible!"

"As long as you're comfortable, nothing else matters."

The midday sun beamed brightly through the floor-to-ceiling windows, wrapping around my trembling frame.

Yet, I felt colder than if I were freezing to death in a winter blizzard.

That night, after Chloe fell asleep, Nicholas came up to the attic.

His hands gripped my waist, pinning my back roughly against the freezing brick wall.

Between heavy, ragged breaths, he bit down on my earlobe, his voice husky as he coaxed me in the dark.

"This is your reward for being so obedient... Don't worry, this will be the last time."

A reward?

I didn't want any twisted reward bought with my own dying flesh.

Yet, whenever I thought of the "family" he had promised, I bit my tongue and swallowed the bitter bile, desperately lying to myself that once Chloe gave birth, everything would go back to normal.

Back then, I was too blind to realize the truth.

From that day on, every furrow of Chloe's brow became an excuse to casually discard another one of my lives.

A slight cold. A sore throat.

Even when Chloe complained that her back felt stiff and uncomfortable after they spent the night together, Nicholas would invoke the pact and make me burn away another life to soothe her.

And afterward, completely ignoring my trembling, frail state and the tears streaming down my face, he would force himself onto me to give me my so-called "reward."

My heart felt like it was being sliced into bloody ribbons, day after day.

Then, Chloe finally got pregnant.

Nicholas's joy was impossible to hide; it bordered on a manic obsession.

He hovered around Chloe day and night, waiting on her hand and foot, while I was cast aside and forgotten entirely.

Sometimes, when I crept down to the kitchen just to find a scrap of food, the maid hired to wait on Chloe would kick me aside like a piece of garbage.

Just when I foolishly convinced myself that the nightmare was nearly over, Nicholas walked into the attic once again.

"Mia," Nicholas said, his voice flat. He wasn't asking; he was declaring.

I lifted my heavy head, a wave of dread washing over me.

"Chloe's morning sickness is too severe."

"Go downstairs and make her feel better."

"Nicholas..." My blood ran cold, and I desperately begged, "Please... just spare me this once."

"I only have two lives left."

Nicholas softened his tone slightly, but beneath the gentle facade lay a suffocating, ruthless pressure.

"Be a good girl! Chloe is carrying an heir. Nothing can be allowed to go wrong."

"You're only spending one life. You'll still have one left, won't you? It's not a big deal."

Those few, casually tossed words drove into my chest like an icicle, shattering the very last glimmer of hope I had clung to.

To Nicholas, my lives were nothing more than disposable pills meant to settle Chloe's upset stomach.

I stopped fighting.

The magical pact tightened violently around my spirit, ripping into my soul with agonizing force.

I stared at his face, which had become so monstrously unfamiliar, until my vision blurred into darkness.

The attic door remained cracked open, letting a sliver of pale moonlight spill inside.

I lay limp on the freezing floor, lacking the strength to lift a single finger.

My eighth life had vanished into nothingness, spent on soothing a woman's morning sickness...

"This will be the last time. I promise."

SLAM—

I snapped my gaze over to the side. Minos had slammed his staff against the stone floor in absolute fury.

"What a pair of vile, disgusting scumbags! After all that, you still didn't run?!"

Watching Minos look ready to cross into the living world to tear Nicholas limb from limb, I let out a weary sigh.

"Run? Of course I thought about running. But some debts can't be escaped just by hiding away."