The Witness

"What happened after she wanted a divorce?" A maid seemingly interested in the story Mary was saying couldn't hold back her urge to know more.

Noticing this, Mary chuckled a bit before she continued. "Lady Suzanne went to visit the Duke in his studies but what she heard from him surprised her that day,"

*****

Suzanne was informed about how the ring on her finger actually served as a witness to their marriage. The moment she felt the cuffs on her hands, her soul had been marked by the first demon Lord who is notoriously known as Vlad Lucifer.

Banished and exiled by unknown forces, Vladimir Lucifer is currently residing in the Dark Mirror Dimension as its ruler. The moment Suzanne had been marked, her body and soul had been cursed to join Vlad in his dimension once she is dead.

Being informed on this, Suzanne lunged towards Damon in ire with the aim of killing him. But rather than evading her incoming attack, Damon willingly welcomed her most brutal attack and died but soon resurrected from the dead as though nothing had happened.

Witnessing this and hearing the words he uttered next, Suzanne's heart clenched tight. It appears she couldn't leave the compound without Damon's consent and she couldn't remove the ring without his approval also.

Doing these things will result to her heart exploding on the spot. She subconsciously knelt on the floor after listening to such a ghastly news.

Though her initial intention of requesting a divorce was to live a life she wanted and to make her income the way she wanted since both her parents were dead. Now she had been deprived of both her wishes even before she could embark on it.

But a lifeline was offered to her, she had to give birth to three children for Damon and then in return Damon would find a way to undo the curse being placed on her.

Since this was her only chance of getting the hell out of the mansion, Suzanne complied to Damon's wishes with the aim of running away with all three of her children once her curse had been lifted.

******

Years passed by and now all three babies had been born but the world around Suzanne shattered into various shards of glass after she had been made to know an uncanny revelation.

Her aim of being released from her curse the night she visited Damon crumbled like a weak pillar, Suzanne had been informed about the Lustwood curse. A curse that had haunted their generations for years. This meant Suzanne wasn't really cursed directly but rather it was the Lustwoods.

She was used as a bargaining chip to Vladimir Lucifer in return for the posperity of the household. But for Vladimir to really accept her, she had to meet her demise indirectly by her children.

This meant that all three children were to verbally abuse her until she had no other reason to stay alive anymore.

This was just a sadistic pleasurable means of pleasing Vladimir as he witnesses how the life of a woman crumbles around her by the ones she had hoped to be loved by the most.

She couldn't kill a Lustwood family member, neither could she kill herself unless all three children were to show disdain towards her.

And witnessing the words a child shouldn't utter to his mother, Suzanne's hope of preventing the curse from happening began to dwindle down as the years went by. In other words, she had succumbed to her fate, which was to die by the hatred of her very own children.

A few years went by and a now 26 year old Suzanne could be found submerged inside a tub while 'scratching' herself. After witnessing what was going on in Suzanne's bathroom, Mary who had noticed a similar event occurring more than a few times decided to take a new approach today.

She invited a young eight year old Dante into the duchess room and was made to witness what was in front of him, Dante gnashed his teeth in frustration. He knew who had caused his mother to result to such measures and he didn't like it.

Mary had noticed the way Dante acted whenever the topic of his mother was brought up with his siblings.

He had even punched Darik right after he witnessed how both he and Deborah were belittling her as though Suzanne wasn't their mother.

"Y.....your Grace? W...what are you doing?" A worried Mary asked with her hands placed on her mouth in disbelieve.

"Hmm? Me? I'm only scratching myself that's all," With her eyes already blank white, a absent-minded Suzanne replied nonchalantly. Although she was clearly doing something in contrast to what she said, still she acted as though it were a normal thing.

After being affronted by her two children as usual, Suzanne came to the one place she could reduce her overwhelming emotional thoughts.

"I don't think there's anything wrong Mary. I'm only scratching myself and not doing anything wrong," A absent-minded Suzanne continued. Suzanne had yet to come to terms that she was actually making cuts on her skin with a knife.

Not knowing how else to cope, this was her way of briefly pausing and silencing the chaos in her head. Right now her body was bleeding and she was losing blood at a rapid rate.

Normally, Mary should have rushed towards Suzanne by now to heal her but this was the first time she had done such a thing.

Mary was used to Suzanne's usual hair pulling, Her ceaseless punching of the wall and on herself in frustration to how her life had suddenly turned around but this kind of act was completely new to Mary.

Mary had no choice but to inform Dante this time around because whenever Suzanne engaged in self harm, she feels a short-term sense of relief but since the cause of her distress is unlikely to go away anytime soon, she depends on it once again.

But to prevent the risk of Suzanne killing herself in the near future, Mary could only hope Dante finds a way to appease her heart.