Chapter 9 :- Endless Shadow

Rossaria takes a slip from the teacup.

She then placed the teacup down on the surface.

With a glance at Dark, she uttered,

"Dark let me tell you a fairy tale which is written by an unknown author, it's about a medicine specialist protagonist and his family.

They once had a nice time together, but their fate was cruel when his beautiful wife caught the eyes of a powerful man from that very empire, she forgot her protagonist husband, and he started meeting with that very man. They were now deeply in love with one another.

Like thousands of flowers blooming in the field, their love blossomed. and that love turns into a forbidden desire between men and women,

They listen to their desire instead of morality, they start spending even more time together behind that man's back.

But one day the wife gets pregnant by her lover, she tells her husband the baby is his and her innocent husband believes her words despite the fact he has a little bit of suspension about the child in her womb.

More like he chooses to believe in her obvious lie, after a few days later the women tell her lover about the child, and the man overhead them, tells her he will forgive her no matter what.

He decides to think that his wife was sexually assaulted without her knowledge, forcing himself to forgive her and show her the proper amount of love. He then holds himself accountable for not showing his wife the love she deserves.

However, the woman did not want to lead a typical life, so she informed her lover's mother about the child; the man was also married and had a small family.

However, there was not a single boy child. So his mother therefore considered having an heir, and in the unlikely event that she gave birth to a boy who might be an heir, they offered her the position of mistress under certain restrictions.

The first wife stipulated that if a boy was born, she would be given the title of second wife, but if a girl was born, the girl would die on the day she was born, and as for deceiving her innocent kind husband, the woman would have drunk the infertile medicine, and the entire process would be handled by the first wife.

She was determined to live with her lover, so she chose a life of love with him and abandoned her husband and daughter.

A few years later, however, the man's work and notoriety shook the entire Empire, Even a strong empire like Quiltoba bestowed upon him the title of Royal. This Empire had to hold onto him, so his wife started using his cherished daughter as a form of blackmail. Subsequently, they reached a harmonious consensus to remain in this Empire, with the daughter moving in with her father as compensation.

After his daughter grows up, she develops into a rare beauty as well as a stupid person. One fateful day, when she meets her mother, she encounters a perverted bastard who is about to approach her, but her father intervenes to save her from the beast's jagged claw.

Her father tried to protect her by warning her not to see her mother and even sending her to his old mother, but the foolish and unyielding daughter fought with her father and fled that night. Despite this, the beast still harbors feelings for her body. She seeks refuge with her mother, and her mother offers her assistance.

Her beloved mother decorated her with the finest jewels and fabric she spent hours decorating her beloved daughter, and the daughter was happy about the fact.

When she was a child she used to play with her mother this way, the mother-and-daughter pair loved expensive fabric and jewels.

The daughter marveled at the view as her mother led her to a stunning, opulent room that was embellished with a variety of flowers. But little did she know what her mother was planning deep inside.

When the stupid daughter entered the room, her mother carefully placed her on the bed. When her mother approached the door, she noticed someone in her room.

Upon closely examining the man, she noticed that he was only dressed in a robe. She immediately recognized him as the beast who had attempted to dishonor her the previous day, and as she gave him a fierce glare, smirks appeared on his face.

She realized her mother's true intention and hurried out the door to escape the room, realizing that she had been thrown to the beast's den as food.

Her mother closed the door from behind with a cold smile on her face, and the daughter started to beg and cry, she thudded the door with all her strength and screamed and begged her mother to save her from this place,

She sobbed aloud and banged on the door repeatedly, but her mother's heart did not soften. Rather than intervening to save her daughter, she instructed her dependable maids to watch over the door and instructed them to feed her doctor's prescriptions and bathe her.

After the mother left the place, The beast took that girl to bed. However, the girl did everything within her power to protect herself from that man.

In the end, she hit his head with a flower vase. The man becomes furious and rips her gown fiercely then ravages her all night. The girl cries and begs him to forgive her, but he doesn't forgive her.

He ravaged her until he was satisfied with her body that night; he was aware of that girl's mother's order, and he refused to let that maid administer infertile medicine to her.

After that night, he used blackmail to force her to pay a ransom and repeatedly raped her. A few days later, the girl discovered she was pregnant. She attempted to flee from the man, but he used the information her maid provided to justify forcing her and his family.

That man and his family forced both the father and daughter to agree to the marriage, And after the marriage, The girl gave birth to a dead child.

Their story didn't end there, Because before the marriage the girl had already someone else in her heart, Whom she had betrothed once.

And her youthful beauty drew the attention of powerful men to her in-laws, which is why she was slapped in the face by her husband's mother and has been abused by that woman ever since the marriage."

Dark understands to whom Rossaria is referring, his eyes lift with a mix of curiosity and sadness.

"How do you know all of this, Your Highness and how come he will listen to you?"

"Why do you think I chose to confront?" Rossaria asked, casting a chilly glance at Dark before heaving a gentle sigh. "Tomorrow if he said what I told him he would enter this bottomless pit with me he neither could betray me nor could disobey. And why am I so confident about his loyalties the daughter is his key point and that women will use this opportunity to relinquish both of them."

Dark's usually stoic expression softened as he listened intently to Rossaria's tale about Imperial Physician Callias and his innocent daughter.

His typically piercing gaze became gentle and pained, reflecting the immense sorrow he felt for them "Is it alright to use him and his daughter like a pawn your highness?"

A grin appeared on Rossaria's face. "I had no idea you would be this kind, or that you were attempting to recreate his image." Her green eyes sparkle in the absence of light.

A flicker of deep rage passed across Dark's face as if he couldn't absorb Rossaria's mocking. His brow furrowed with a mixture of rage and madness.

In that moment, Dark seemed to embody the embodiment of anger. His features, usually guarded and mysterious, now openly displayed his emotions.

"Oh! My goodness, did I hit your bottom line," Rossaria brushed into a laugh.

Dark kept quiet while gritting his teeth, It was as if Rossaria reawakened the pain he had buried deep inside of him. His anguish each time he recalls those experiences.

Dark grinds his teeth even harder and gets a taste of blood in his mouth.

When Rossaria saw the anger in Dark's eyes, her gaze softened. "There is a first time for everything, and if you need to stand, you have to use those whom you need," Rossaria said, "We are all standing in a meadow which is fully made of shadows, Sometimes the shadows seem real and sometimes it's aren't, this is all up to you how will you stand as a pawn or use others as a pawn in your game?

The same goes for physician Callias as well, it's now up to him to be a useful pawn for me, but if he fails he will be the one who has to bear the consequences of his action on his own."

Rossaria took a sip of her tea without making a sound; she enjoyed the tea Oslena had prepared for her.

Dark becomes quiet and the entire room emerges of silence.

(***)