36 Anastasia (1)

When I was most active as a serial killer in my past life, I only chose two types of Victims.

The first type was People I found somewhat disgusting, dull, irritating, or rude. People that I wanted to take my time torturing.

The second type were the ones I wanted to eat. They purely satisfied my hunger and my carnal desire for violence. These people were usually very attractive; something about them just looked delicious, either they were physically fit or they had a unique quality to them that attracted me.

Anastasia fit into both of those types.

From the moment she stared at me with those haughty and belittling eyes I wanted to peel the skin off of her flesh like an orange, scalp her and beat her for days in my torture room. But, there was something beautiful and timeless about her. She looked like a doll; her large green eyes were clear and gleamed like glass, her skin appeared silky smooth like porcelain and slightly bouncy. I wanted to touch her cheeks, I wanted to bite into them and feel the soft meat wrapping around my molars.

Her skin was so pale that I could make out her veins, beating blue, through it. I wondered what her blood tasted like, was she bitter or sweet. I wanted to take my time cooking her, taking her apart piece by piece and using her in a new dish each time. I wanted to make a crown out of her perfect pearly teeth and a bracelet from her smooth nails.

My lips felt dry and I licked them as I continued to look at her.

She noticed the movement of my mouth and my hungry gaze, and she shot me a repulsed look as if to say 'eww'.

***

THREE HOURS EARLIER

It had been a week and a few days since Kang Seung and Alexis had that talk. I wasn't there for any of their subsequent meetings, but they had smoothly arranged everything. That morning news of our engagement was already being circulated. Min Ho had even shown me an article about our union at breakfast.

Before I had even finished my morning meal, Kang Seung came into my hotel room with his secretary and a large entourage of stylists.

I was then put into a double-breasted custom made Alexander McQueen suit from their latest collection. My hair was given slight curls and they even put blush on my nose and rouge on my lips.

The stylists squealed, "Oh my god he's such a little angel just look at him!!! He's too beautiful, such a little cherub!!"

Before I could ask anyone what this was all about, I was taken to a car and driven to the Romanov's Vienna Estate.

Despite their claims that they were losing money and facing bankruptcy, the Romanov's lived lavishly, well...at least on the outside. Their estate matched the size of the one that belonged to my Kang Family, in fact, it seemed like they had even more land than us.

Of course, once we entered, we could see the signs of poverty.

The Estate was made up of buildings that were a few hundred years old and needed constant maintenance. While we walked through the halls of their main house I noticed that certain wings simply had 'out of order signs' due to broken floors or structures that they didn't have the money to repair. There were markings on walls where old furnishings used to be which they had likely sold off. There was also a small amount of staff. For an estate this big I expected at the very least to see 10-30 workers per building, but I barely saw four as we were taken to their large sitting room.

The main figures of the current Romanov family were there to welcome us.

There was Grand Duchess Anna and her husband Prince Alexis, their two teenage sons Prince Boris and Prince Michael and their Grandfather Duke Panteleimon Romanov of Russia. Other members of the House of Romanov didn't seem to be present.

Likely because they didn't respect this arrangement and didn't want to give the Kang Family and me any face. This was understandable, we weren't from any noble royal lineage. Some probably found the whole arrangement to be degrading for them.

Prince Michael's eyes shone once we entered the room and he saw me, "Amazing! I thought the photos were edited but you really are that adorable. You're like a painting." he gasped.

Alexis coughed, "Michael your manners."

"Oh" Michael blushed with embarrassment and then politely went up to me and kneeled to reach my height, he said in English, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ho, I'm Prince Michael the eldest son of Grand Duchess Anna of Russia and Prince Alexis."

I politely nodded and shook his outstretched hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Ho Kang, from the Kang Family of the KangMung group." I used Russian to say this and when the Romanov family heard me their eyes lit up and they made small gasps and sounds of approval.

"Wow, you speak like a native, you're as impressive as all the rumours claim." Michael smiled with pleasure and then proceeded to politely greet Kang Seung.

Once everyone had said hello to each other and sat down and were served some beverages, Seung raised a steady eyebrow, "Where is Anastasia?"

Alexis smiled awkwardly, "She'll be coming in a moment, she's just...taking her time to get dressed this morning."

"I see" Kang Seung gave an understanding smile as he sipped his tea.

It was clear that the child was likely putting up a fuss about the whole thing and her maids were struggling.

"Anastasia is a very strong-willed young madame," The Grand Duchess said, her voice was clear and smooth. The Duchess was a very beautiful and elegant woman, every move she made was poised and proper I couldn't help but stare at her.

She continued, "Anastasia likes to have her way and she throws a lot of tantrums. It's my fault for spoiling her. After my older brother and his wife died in a car accident I wanted to do everything for Anastasia so that she could live in comfort and luxury, and not be reminded of her parent's absence. But that makes her think that she can do anything she likes, so unfortunately she is quite opposed to this marriage. I apologise for her attitude in advance."

"Why apologise to these commoners!?" A loud voice announced from the doorway. That's when I turned and I saw Princess Anastasia for the first time.