Betrayal & Lies: The Garder of Sinners!

Eden Garden.

They called her a fairy.

The last one.

Elizabeth Hawthorne, daughter of the Main House, face of compassion, darling of the people.

She spoke little, smiled softly, and walked through the streets with bare feet, letting her toes touch the soil of her artificial garden like it were sacred. The children called her "Lady Green". The nobles said, she could make the dead world bloom and smile again.

She was everything the rest of the Hawthornes were not, kind, elegant, warm.

Even the council of domes feared her popularity.

They said she loved the old world.

That she wept when reading stories of birds, of rain, of rivers that once ran free without filters or rations.

Eden Garden was her sanctuary. Her gift to Aurelia.

A miracle in glass.

Nestled behind ten-meter-high concrete walls, guarded by electric wire and patrol drones, Eden was connected to the main manor by a singular glass tunnel, cylindrical, crystal-clear, and filled with icy solution layered between transparent walls. It bloomed as one walked through, like passing through a frozen dream.

On the other side, the world opened up.

A dome, six hundred square yards in radius.

Inside, the ground was soft with dew. Real grass blanketed the soil, damp and wild. Ancient trees grew along curved stone paths, their leaves rustling gently beneath hovering light orbs. Bright fruits, twisted, imperfect, left hanging from branches like offerings to a forgotten sky.

Butterflies flitted through the air, genetically-engineered wings, scent of damp moss and blooming mint.

There were no cameras. No soldiers, only peace.

And in the center of that peace...

A dead man lay on a table.

"...Come on, you pretty little corpse. Blink for mommy."

A sharp click of the tongue rang out, annoyed, sharp.

From behind a curtain of vines emerged a woman.

The woman.

Elizabeth Hawthorne.

But not the saintly fairy they adored.

She wore a wine-red alchemical coat, parted just enough to reveal a silk corset beneath, tight, shapely, effortless. Black latex stockings hugged her legs like a second skin, ending in polished leather boots crusted faintly with blood.

Her gloves, full-length, surgical, covered with gel stains.

Her once-soft expression was now focused, cold, intoxicated by the task in front of her.

She stood beside a bio-glass table, buried in the heart of the dome, surrounded by trimmed grass and flowerbeds, and on that table, a corpse, pale and naked, six feet long. Its skin had been stitched and re-stitched. Tubes ran into its skull. One eye socket flickered with a crimson node.

She held a glowing syringe. With casual precision, she plunged it into the dead man's arm.

Hissss… click!

The hand twitched.

Then stood stiff and upright like a puppet greeting its puppeteer.

"That's better..." she sighed, plump red lips curling into a grin. "Obedient boys always get more juice."

Around her, the floor was a mess, vials spilled like candy, greens and purples steaming beside surgical trays heaped with torn flesh and shattered spine.

A snapped rib cracked under her heel.

She didn't flinch.

In her hand, a fresh injector: Variant 7.98: Unstable.

She knelt, pulled the thin cloth from the corpse's crotch, and without a word, plunged the needle in.

Thup!

A twitch, then a violent jolt.

The shaft surged upright, like it remembered how to live.

"Oh… you really felt that, didn't you?" she whispered, licking her lips. "Dirty little thing."

She grabbed one final vial, black as oil, speckled with golden dust. The label was long gone.

This was it.

"One last attempt," she murmured. "Let's see if you come back to life."

She raised the injector, aiming above his heart, no hesitation. The man had once guarded her brother. He failed, now, his body served a better purpose.

But before the needle could sink in...

Knock! Knock!

Elizabeth's eyes twitched, face darkened.

"Which son of a bitch can't wait five minutes…" she hissed, spinning toward the tunnel.

A screen on the wall lit up.

Three figures.

She froze, "Shit. It's already time?!"

In an instant, she rushed to cleanup.

She threw the injector into a bin. A service droid zipped across the floor, she kicked it mid-roll, barked, "Clean, now!"

Bloodstains vanished beneath sprays of synthetic grass, the table screamed and sank into the ground.

She scrubbed her hands, wiped her lips, adjusted her coat.

Fairy mask back on.

____

Outside the door, Magnus stood smiling.

Beside him, Robert raised an eyebrow.

Kai and Jenny stood quietly together.

"Still working? Even at night…" Robert muttered.

Jenny folded her arms, half in admiration, "Tch. Only if I had that kind of dedication…"

She glanced down at her fingers, then slyly reached for Kai's hand and gave it a squeeze.

He looked away, clearing his throat.

"I'll get you a music kit for your birthday."

"Hmm," Jenny smiled faintly. "That'd be nice."

Musical instruments were rare.

Priceless, reborn only because Elizabeth had brought music back to the domes.

But Magnus wasn't listening.

He hummed a strange tune under his breath…

The reinforced wooden gate creaked open in a hurry.

"Magnus... You're early."

Elizabeth Hawthorne appeared, composed, graceful, and faintly flushed. A fine sheen of sweat on her brow, hidden beneath the gentle waft of wildflower fragrance trailing from her cloak.

Gone was her provocative labwear. Now, a flowing blue cloak covered her from neck to toe, embroidered with silver threads, giving her the poise of royalty. Her smile was soft, as her eyes swept across the group.

Magnus raised his wrist, tapping the mechanical watch.

"Five minutes late, actually," he said, lips curling. "Shall we?"

He extended his hand, eyes scanning her from top to bottom, far too long on her bare feet.

'Once she's mine, I'll rein her in. Tie her down. Whip her until that beautiful skin cracks.'

Sadistic thoughts flickered behind his smile.

Elizabeth felt it.

A faint shiver ran through her. 'Why the hell did I agree to this?' Her public image would be ruined if they were seen together like this.

She smiled back politely, but her mind wandered elsewhere. 'Could I freeze him alive? Cut open his chest? Replace his blood with serum and see if he'd obey?'

She sidestepped his hand.

"I'd love to go… but first, tell me, where's the body?"

Magnus blinked.

"Body?"

He glanced at Robert, who looked equally confused.

Elizabeth didn't flinch. "Don't play dumb. I received word this morning, Prince Kael was seen heading out to deliver an Echo Crate to the southern research post. Under Aurelia's name. You really thought that wouldn't reach me?"

At the mention of 'Echo Crate', Kai's eyes twitched. Those crates carried high-level holographic recordings, used when no networks reached beyond the domes. And yes, it had been a trap. A clean excuse to sabotage someone under the cold sky.

Prince Kael, reckless and the best snowrat Thalor had to offer, had been assigned the mission.

Kai leaned in, whispering urgently to Magnus.

Magnus frowned. 'Why does she want the body? Did she figure it out? Should I deny it... or admit it?'

But Elizabeth stepped forward.

"I'm not a saint. He killed my brother, he deserved retribution. But your methods…" she paused, her voice cool, "...without the body, what do you think happens next? Soul tag. Evidence."

Magnus narrowed his eyes. "You're worried for me?"

He chuckled, almost touched.

He reached out, cupping her cheek before she could step back.

"To think I'd corrupt your kind little heart. Don't worry, I did it all for you."

Elizabeth's gaze hardened.

"Then let me bury the body. In my garden. No one will find it."

Magnus hesitated… then pulled his hand back, disappointed.

"No need. It's already handled… Right, Kai?"

All eyes turned to him.

Kai opened his mouth. Froze. "He… should be dead by now. We fractured his thermal suit. Even a snowrat wouldn't last that long out there. But… the recovery team didn't return."

"What?" Magnus snapped. "Then how the hell is he dead?"

Kai gulped. "W-We left him exposed. Even if he survived the blast, the cold would kill him. But… without the body, we can't be sure. Last retrieval unit may've… run into polar bears."

At that moment, the door behind Elizabeth shut, firm and final.

In seconds, she was gone.

Magnus stood there, silent. Something felt off.

He didn't know she had just used the excuse to vanish, the perfect escape.

Don't see me again until the body is confirmed, her message implied.

And though Magnus felt irritated, he couldn't blame her. Without the corpse, they couldn't recover the Soul Tag.

Soul Tags were implanted in elite units, especially royal ones. A recording crystal that stored only the last few minutes before death. Earlier footage auto-deleted. A perfect suicide note... Or a final confession.

If Kael had suspected betrayal, and he likely did, that tag could be the dagger that ends Magnus.

If someone else found it…

Everything would be exposed.

"AHHHHHHH!"

The scream ripped through the blizzard winds like a dying animal's howl.

Echoing across the ice fields outside Dome Aurelia.

Three hoverboards shot across the blinding white expanse, two in front, one trailing behind. Tied to the rear board like a ragdoll, Kai was being dragged across the ice, his body scraping violently over jagged frost and thorny ridges. He wore no thermal suit. No breath mas, just skin, blood, and agony.

"PLEASE—! PLEASE!!" he choked, voice already breaking. "MAGNUS—!"

His flesh shredded with every foot. A bloody trail following their path.

At the front, two of Magnus's personal guards rode in silence.

Behind them, on the third board, Magnus watched through his breath mask, unmoved.

His eyes focused.

He hadn't even brought Robert this time.

He already knew what had to be done.

Twenty miles out from Aurelia, he signaled the guards to halt. Robert and Jenny, who had followed in a secondary route, were ordered back. Only the two guards remained.

Back on the return path, Robert rode in silence.

But he knew.

Magnus wasn't planning to let the guards come back.

He'd kill them too, no loose ends.

Beside him, Jenny sat stiffly, her face bruised, lips bleeding. She kept tapping a device, aggressively, like it was the only thing keeping her sane.

Robert glanced at her, the bruises.

She had fought to stop it. She lost, magnus had slapped her.

"Fucking bastard…" she muttered under her breath, not noticing Robert slowing down.

"Miss Jenny," Robert said quietly. "I'd prefer if you didn't curse the boss."

She froze, trembling.

The small device in her hand vibrated once.

A signal sent.

A one-way SOS beacon.

To Prince Kael Eiriksonn.

Robert's eyes flicked to the device. He already understood.

Planted by Eiriksonn family, posed as Kai's lover. And now… exposed?

Jenny didn't speak, she couldn't.

Her heart raced, her lips parted. Guilt, fear, and realization flooded her eyes.

She had known nothing about Kai sabotaging Kael's suit.

And now she understood, Kai never truly loved her.

He never told her everything, purposefully misleading her.

But now he was dying.

And Magnus knew.

So did Robert.

And if he didn't follow the signal, the next death... might be hers.

Slash!

"Ah!" Jenny screamed, clutching her stomach instinctively as the sound of tearing flesh rang out.

But… there was no pain.

Startled, she turned around, eyes wide, "You—?!" she gasped, stunned by the sight before her.

Robert stood there, face pale, arm trembling. A five-inch steel rod was buried in his own chest, blood pouring down his coat.

"Pretend I never saw you," he rasped, coughing blood. "And run."

Her eyes widened.

Then, she ran.

Jumped onto her board.

Not back to Aurelia, but straight toward Dome Thalor, her dog house.

Robert watched her silhouette vanish into the snow. His breath fogged.

He smiled, bitterly.

"Please… let her warning reach Kael. Let them all kill each other."

He staggered, holding his bleeding shoulder.

They deserved it, every single one.

"Fucking cunts…"

He spat blood, his voice cracked.

"All of them… royal cunts in gilded towers... I'm tired. I'm so tired..."

He dropped to his knees.

'I bugged every single hoverboard. If they really found Kael... none of them would make it back. By the time the scouts arrive, they'll all be corpses on ice.'

His body shook with laughter. Quiet, and broken.

He never wanted this life. Never chose it, he was just a wireman who once pulled the wrong kid out of a shaft.

"I should've left you to die, you fucking lunatic..."

He looked up one last time, at the grey sky swallowing Jenny's trail.

'Thalor has spies? How many more are there? How deep does this go...?'

But the question was swallowed by black dots in his vision.

With trembling fingers, he pressed a red SOS button, his last act.

It was Aurelia's emergency signal, the only working tech for long-distance comms.

Too weak to cover longer distances...

'Prince Kael might never get it... Hell, he might be dead.'

He collapsed.

Somewhere behind him, the bugged hoverboards carried Magnus toward a silent grave.

No one knew the trigger.

No one saw it coming.

But today, too many would die.

And it all began with a tired man… pressing a button.