Chapter 4
Halbert's face was ashen.
My words hung in the air like an invisible noose, choking everyone present.
For him, who was about to have a grand wedding, what I said was the worst kind of curse and the boldest kind of challenge.
Unity cowered behind Halbert, her body trembling like a leaf caught in the autumn wind. The look she shot me wasn't defiance or smugness anymore, it was raw, bone-deep terror.
She wanted me gone for good, but the idea of me opening my mouth scared her even more.
Halbert finally acted.
He didn't say another word to me.
He just lifted his chin, his eyes so dark they seemed to drip with menace.
Halbert said, "Shut her up.
"Take her to the water dungeon."
His personal guards moved in instantly. These were the men who had crawled out of piles of corpses with him, their bodies reeking of blood and death.
There was no fear in their eyes, just the dull obedience of soldiers who had seen too much.
The water dungeon was where the general's estate threw the worst criminals and enemy spies.
It was dark, damp, and sunlight never touched its walls.
Halbert was really pissed now. He was ready to use the cruelest ways to make me yield.
Two guards seized my arms, their grip as unyielding as iron. Another stepped forward, clutching a piece of moldy cloth, ready to stuff it into my mouth.
I didn't fight back.
I just shot Halbert a cold, hard stare.
Right as that musty cloth was about to brush my lips, I spoke up.
My voice wasn't loud, but it pierced the thick, suffocating air like an ice pick.
"Halbert," I said.
Everyone froze.
The guard holding the cloth was caught mid-motion, his hand hanging awkwardly in the air, unsure whether to shove it in my mouth or pull back.
Halbert tensed up, glaring at me like I was the one he'd sworn to destroy.
I kept talking, my voice slow and steady, making sure he heard every single word.
"That horse you brought back from the northern border, Windchaser, is truly magnificent," I said.
Windchaser.
It was a legendary steed, a gift from the emperor himself, its coat jet black, its hooves as white as snow.
Halbert loved that horse more than his own life. He once told me it was the symbol of his honor as a general.
Halbert's eyes flickered.
I continued, "And that command banner hanging in your study, you nearly gave your life for it."
That banner was the enemy commander's, taken in the fiercest fight of his life.
Even with three arrows in him, Halpert never backed down. He seized it with his own hands. It was the mark of his authority and reputation.
I watched as his face grew stormy, my smile growing colder by the second.
I said, "Tomorrow, your horse will have its leg broken, and your banner will be shattered.
"Do you believe me?"
Unity shrieked, like my words had scalded her.
Halbert's forehead veins bulged.
He snatched a knife from one of his guards and pressed the blade to my throat.
The cold steel pressed against my skin, one more inch, and he could slit my throat.
"Say another word!" Halbert roared, his eyes wild and bloodshot, like a beast driven to the edge of madness.
I didn't flinch. Instead, I stepped forward, meeting the blade head-on.
The knife left a thin, crimson mark across my neck.
It hurt.
But that sting was nothing compared to the pain inside my heart.
I said quietly, my eyes never leaving Halbert, "What now? General, are you really going to kill me just to shut me up?
"Go ahead. Try it.
"Let's see what happens first, me dying, or my curse coming true.
"Or maybe you'll cling to Unity and we'll all go down together. We can be companions on the road to hell."
Halbert's hand shook, the blade quivering against my skin.
He wanted to kill me.
I could see it in his eyes.
But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Fear held him back.
He was scared I might, with my dying breath, say something even worse, like damning him to die suddenly tomorrow.
The courtyard was dead silent.
The only thing breaking the silence was the wind whispering through the leaves, and Unity's choked sobs she couldn't hold back.
Finally, Halbert withdrew the knife.
The murderous glint in his eyes faded, replaced by a deeper chill and ruthless determination.
"Shut her up and take her away!" he forced out through gritted teeth.
This time, Halbert's men didn't hesitate at all.
The rough, musty cloth was jammed into my mouth, silencing me completely, choking back anything I hadn't said yet.
My hands were forced behind my back and bound tightly with rope.
Two guards hauled me up by the arms, half-dragging me across the courtyard toward the darkest depths of the manor's dungeon.
I didn't look back.
But I could feel his gaze trailing me like a shadow, never letting go.
It was packed with rage, fear, and a hint of helplessness he'd never dare acknowledge.
He was wrong for thinking that gagging me was enough to stop all this.
The words I'd spoken were like water spilled. There was no way to take them back.
They were a judgment etched into everyone's fate, a sentence no one could escape.
The water dungeon was way colder and creepier than I ever imagined.
The air smelled like rust and something dead, and water kept sliding down the walls, dripping onto the floor over and over, never stopping.
I was tied to a wooden stake, the musty cloth stuffed so tight in my mouth that not even a muffled sound could escape.
They left me behind, abandoning me in the dungeon without a second glance.
The heavy iron door slammed shut with a final clang, sealing off every bit of light and sound from the outside world.
It was absolute darkness, absolute silence.
They thought locking me up like this would grind down my resolve, fill me with fear, and make me wish I'd never spoken.
Unfortunately, they had no clue.
For someone whose heart had died once before, darkness and silence weren't punishment. They were a kind of peace.
I closed my eyes and quietly waited for dawn.
I was waiting for my judgment to descend upon Halbert's most prized honor.
Time crawled by in the darkness, every second stretching out like an eternity.
I had no idea how long I'd been there. Then, faintly from outside, I heard the first crow of a rooster.
Dawn had come.