Don’t Eat Rats.

"You should go and help him," Selena said when they were back inside the cave.

"I can't leave you undefended," Nathaniel said.

"I can handle myself!" she said. "But what about your sister?"

"Vincent won't put her in danger," he replied.

"Oh?? You seem to really trust him, even after what happened," she teased.

"I still love you," He took her hand. "You also feel the same, right?"

"This again? I loved you back then when we were kids," she shook his hands away. "But I belong to him now."

"He is not even human!" he shouted.

"He was at some point," she sighed.

"I should have killed him myself back then if I knew this would happen!" he winced in pain.

"How does it feel that your childhood sweetheart is taken by that very man?" she narrowed her eyes and placed a hand on his chest.

"Why do you hate me so much!" he scowled.

"Oh my! What made you think I hate you? Since you do everything I say," she leaned in closer, a bewitching smile stretched across her face.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in, "Please come back with me. I don't care that you had another man's child! How can you forget all the memories we had together!"

"Get off!!" She broke free from his grasp and glared at him.

Celeste walked in from the side while carrying a headless body of a rat. Blood dripped out of her mouth. She opened her mouth and crunched on its body.

Munch!

"No!!don't eat rats!!" Selena shouted.

Before her mother could snatch it away, she gobbled it all down and fled into the depths of the cave.

"Look at the monster you have created!" Nathaniel taunted.

"Don't you dare insult my daughter!" her eyes turned bloodshot.

She unsheathed her sword and pointed it at his throat; a single drop of blood trickled down and splashed on the ground.

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

"I apologise for my lack of composure," he slightly bowed his head to her.

"Humph!" she withdrew her sword.

Celeste ran back again, carrying two giant rats with her. She walked up to them with a playful smile and stretched out her two hands. Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders and took one of the rats while Selena swatted the other away. Celeste pouted in dissatisfaction.

"Well, rats are not that bad. I roasted some myself when I was stranded deep into enemy territory."

"Don't encourage her!" Selena slapped his back.

"Haha," Nathaniel gave a dry laugh.

"You should just forget about me," she said. "How long are you planning to hurt yourself like this?"

"I cannot betray my heart," he said. "Do you remember the oath we made back then?"

"A fool till the end," she shook her head. "Well, I already broke that oath."

"Can you be honest with me? When did it all start?" he asked.

"I don't think I loved him back then. I just found him amusing when he survived the ritual," Selena said. "That weak little boy was the only one who saw me like dirt when I was treated like a pampered little princess."

"So that's why you told me to beat him up and teach him a lesson?" Nathaniel asked.

"But he thrashed you instead", she laughed. "Why did you make that stupid bet anyway? The winner shall receive a kiss from the princess? So you just wanted a kiss from me."

"We were already engaged well before we were even born. So it made no difference if I wanted that," he said.

"But he rejected my kiss and looked down on me! I got so angry back then!" she stomped her foot. "I even kissed you in front of him out of spite, but he just walked away!"

"That was my first kiss and even yours," he said in reminiscence.

"Shut up! That was a decade ago!" she said. "I think that was the trigger that led me to his rabbit hole."

"He doesn't even love you," he said. "He just tricked you into letting him escape."

"I already knew that well before."

"Why are you still with him then?" he asked.

"I am a mother now," she turned to Celeste.

Celeste looked up to her mother while a rat's tail dangled out of her mouth.

Munch! Munch! Munch!

"Celeste!!!" she shouted.

"Like father, like daughter, haha, you used to throw rotten meat at Vincent and watch him eat that filth," he said. "Serves you right."

"I was a kid back then and did not know any better!" she said.

"He thought you were being kind to him," he chuckled. "No wonder he hated you."

"I abandoned everything for him!" she said. "There is no way he hates me now!"

"Selena, we grew up together, I may be a fool for you, but I know exactly who you are underneath," he said. "You are a venomous woman through and through."

"Shut up!" she shouted.

"Who is to say you won't betray him later on as you did to me."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she grabbed his throat. "So what if I am like that! I am venomous only for him! I will even plunge this world into chaos if he wants me to!"

Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders and freed his neck, "A madwoman!"

"I will keep being mad if it means I can keep getting his approval," a cold smile crept up her face. "Are you not also the same? here you are madly running after a woman who blatantly uses you for her own benefit."

"This is not the same!" he said.

"You sure? Why are you not leaving yet?"

"My duty is to protect you!"

"Your self proclaimed duty," she sneered. "Exactly as I said before, you are the same as me."

She took her daughter's hand and headed into the depths, leaving Nathaniel's lone figure in the cold damp cave.