Episode 14 : Dark Days

Imperial City, the Manor of Count Amber

Count Amber angrily shouted "How about it?! How dare he kill my son! That bastard child! Even if he has become the missing son of a newly ascended family, I will make him pay for it! He will pay for my son's death in the most painful way!" his cry had made an entire manor groan. Trembling with fear, an assassin appeared behind the knight. Count Amber looked at the assassin, "Aiden Scarlet. You will torture this person with everything you know. Make him regret coming back. Bury him in the dark!" the assassin chuckled and disappeared after grabbing the gold pouch thrown at him.

Imperial City, The Scarlet Family

With Aiden's arrival, there was a festival on the evening of the day. The second princess Anastasia and the sixth prince Norm attended the festival. Princess Anastasia gathered more information about Aiden from the surrounding maids and other nobles who attended. Prince Norm was friendly towards Aiden. He even invited her to his palace.

Aiden was very happy on this beautiful day spent with his family. This was the first time he was laughing like this after a year of training.

He trudged wearily to his room, and as he reached his bed, someone behind him covered his mouth and nose with a cloth. Aiden tried to activate his fire, but he couldn't use his magic power because of a substance that had faded from the cloth. He immediately activated his genealogical power and got rid of the assassin's hand. The assassin retreated a few steps, and Aiden was stabbed in the stomach before he even tried to escape. With a heavy dose and blood loss, his eyes darkened and he fell on the bed...

(1.Point of View - Aiden)

When I opened my eyes, I looked around. I could smell mold and the smell of manure coming into my nose. And the ground I stepped on was rotten soil. A land that has completely lost its life.

When I tried to feel my magic power, something was not allowing me to reach my magic power. I was too weak to even use my Half-Dragon lineage. As I was examining my surroundings, the wooden door standing in front of me suddenly opened. A man came in with a wrinkled face. There was a mask covering half of his face, but since I saw his facial features, I realized that this person was old. I think they hired a very experienced assassin to kill me...

The assassin looked at me "I mean you're awake~~" his voice was echoing in my mind. My body was very weak due to an overdose of medication. I didn't even have the strength to open my mouth and talk. I just looked up and looked at the assassin in front of me. The assassin put the box in his hand on the table next to me. Then, when he cut the box with his sharp dagger, a lot of torture materials were spread on the table from the box.

My heart was beating fast with fear. I looked at the assassin with unbelieving eyes. When the assassin saw this look of mine, he grinned, "How do you feel when things change? The fact that you burned a person alive and got a lot of pleasure from it. And now you should share this pleasure with me a little~" as he spoke in a sarcastic voice, the nail he put in his hand came towards me with a clamp.

The assassin came up to my bottom "I'm going to give you a nice masterclass these days. There's a chance you'll use my teachings in the next world. Eheheh~~" He opened the spiked clamp and took it to my finger "No matter how strong your body is. You can overcome this hardness with the magic power contained in the human body. This can also happen by spreading the power of magic to a material in your hand." he stuck the spiked pincer into the beginning of the nail on my left index finger.

I grimaced with pain and looked at the spiked clamp that had entered my finger. The assassin chuckled as he looked at me and passed the other clamps in his hand through my fingers one by one...

After a while, I couldn't feel any of my fingers. The assassin chuckled again and, turning to the table, picked up a rusty and non-cutting knife. In fact, most of the knife parts were shattered. As he was coming towards me, he rubbed the knife on my shoulder, "And now you will learn how to skin with a knife that doesn't cut. Firstly..." as I was telling, he started peeling the skin off my shoulder. Sometimes he would tear my flesh instead of the skin, and that would make me scream. I was feeling more pain than I've ever felt. I was praying that he would kill me as soon as possible.

The seconds were like minutes, and the minutes were like hours... I don't know how much time had passed, but there was no piece of skin left on my body to be cut and removed. And the place that hurt the most was my face. He cut off my lip while I was struggling on my face, and blood was constantly flowing from my jaw to the ground.

I was about to die. I could feel it. I felt a different liquid enter my mouth as my eyes darkened and my mind became blurred. When I swallowed the liquid, my vision became clear, and the cut places healed. It was a healing potion! The assassin smiled, "You're not going to die easily, Aiden, we still have a long way to go..." I've been tortured all night long.

I didn't know how much time had passed, just like in the dungeon. It's been years for me, but how long has it really been? I have been incessantly brought to the extreme of death by the most painful methods, and I have been cured again. Then again and again... this cycle was going on without stopping. During this time, I no longer had any feelings left in my heart. I could feel it. The gaze radiated endless emptiness and coldness. There was not even a trace of any vitality.

The assassin walked through the wooden door again "I found it nice, Aiden~" and walked over to the table next to me. He mixed up some plants and gave them to me. After eating hard, my body again fell into a state of weakness. I was becoming immune to such poisons over time. The assassin was aware of this, but he had always made me powerless with different poisons.

I've been to the brink of death about seventeen or eighteen times today. Late at night, the assassin left. And I was covered in blood on the floor. I could see my own pieces of meat on the floor. These were all my flesh and my blood. I opened my mouth and ate the meat. No matter what happens, I'm going to get out of this place and take revenge on this person. And then I will give hell to the one who ordered this assassin!

As time passed, my poison immunity finally increased to the highest level. However, I did not show the assassin this, and I acted for several days..

I was finally ready to run away from this damn place now. I tore the tight ropes in my hands with my magic power. I approached the table. I picked up the rusty dagger that the assassin had left and proceeded to the wooden door. Thanks to the fact that the assassin told about his experiences all this time, I had a little knowledge of the map of this place. When I came out of the wooden door, it was completely dark. It was as I thought! This was the lowest part of a cave.

I barely made it out of the difficult path to the top. As much as I could use my magic power, there was a certain limit at the moment. My body hadn't recovered yet. When I got to the head of the cave, the moonlight hit me in the face. I got out of the cave and started running at my last speed.

I was running in an unfamiliar forest. I didn't mind any danger and just ran without looking back. It was very cold, but I didn't mind that. I had to get away from here even if I froze! I ran and ran... I haven't looked back even once.

Thanks for reading (: