A pungent smell hit his nostrils as his consciousness slowly returned.
"Nngghh…" Elias groaned with pain; his eyes slowly opened, but he could not move to look around.
His whole body was aching, his head numb as if he was banged against concrete again and again. His throat was dry, and his body was numb with the pain. it hurts…everywhere.
He could hear the voice in the distance,
"This bastard needs to suffer more. Not only had this traitor committed an unforgivable sin by touching a noblewoman, but he had even refused to accept it, taking all of us as fools!" The man spoke with venom in his voice. "He must serve as an example. An example who would let people know the consequences of having vile thoughts about my daughter."
Elias could recognize this voice even in the depths of hell. Even if he forgot the pain, he could not forget this voice. The voice that had always commanded him like he was a damn dog.
"Do not worry my lord. My men would make sure he confesses his sin before we deliver the final judgment."
'Judgement…what judgment?' His mind was failing to register what they were saying anymore.
But before he could understand what happened and ask for it, he felt another lash touching his already cut flesh and ripping it apart again.
"Aghh!" He cried—his blood spilling down the gash.
The cold bit into his skin. The stone beneath him was damp and foul. His body trembling under layers of bruises, dried blood, and torn flesh. His shirt had long since been ripped away. His back was covered with wounds created by lashes he had received earlier.
Elias could barely move. His arms were twisted behind him, wrists shackled too tightly. Blood matted his hair and soaked his tunic. One of his eyes had swollen shut; the other blinked uselessly through a haze of agony.
He couldn't even shout…he knew he would be tortured further.
But he didn't do anything…he committed no crime! Why was he getting tortured?! He was not to be blamed for what happened! He was framed!
"You filthy rat," someone had hissed. Maybe a guard, Elias couldn't recall. "Crawling into her bed like she would ever let you touch her."
"You lowlife traitor," another voice sneered, right before a kick to his side shattered something inside. "Did you really think you were more than a mere servant? You should have stayed in the mud where you belong."
"Lady Claudia had treated you so well, yet you tried to defile her. You scum, I will make sure you suffer for eternity and beg for death!" he cursed and kicked him with more force, his face twisting with rage. "That is why I say we should not treat them as humans. They are nothing but vermins."
They called him names as they broke his body, each word a hammer against his crumbling mind.
He didn't remember how long he had been here. Every breath was a struggle. His ribs ached; they must be cracked or worse, broken. His mouth was dry and tasted like metal. Someone had beaten him so many times that he could not even remember.
But his mind felt nothing of it. An echo whispered in her mind. Lady Cladirea…it all started with her…two nights ago, it all happened.
His mistress, The noblewoman he served… no, worshipped. He would have died for her. He had followed her every command and did everything she asked. He had never questioned her requests even though some of them were not appropriate for a noble lady to make.
And when she asked him to hide it from her parents, he did. He had delivered the secret letters she wanted him to send to those dark alleys. The lies he had told her family and friends about her whereabouts wherever she disappeared from her manor.
She had told him she wanted to explore the world and he had taken all the blame so that she could stay free from all the chains binding her.
Although she saved him later, Elias always got cursed and beaten by his masters for being so 'careless'.
But even through all that pain and insult Elias believed that at least his mistress cared for him…
…and yet when a tall and cloaked man came through the window in her room two days ago, she had accused him instead.
When her parents arrived, the man had run out of the window. And in the moonlight, all they saw was his back and his hair. The man had a similar body frame and hair color to Elias. But he was not there. The cold never dared to raise his head in front of her, forget about touching her.
But that night, she had fed their doubts! His mistress had taken his name.
"Yes," Lady Caldria had said, standing pale and trembling before her parents, her beautiful lips whispering a lie with a broken sob "It was… him. Elias. He forced himself into my chambers…" The words cut deeper than any whip.
When he had been bullied as a child, she had saved him. When the commoners were abused, she told him that she cared. And now, he was nothing more than a scapegoat to save his real lover.
His fingers curled against the stone floor as laughter bubbled in his throat, cracked and bitter. He didn't know what stung worse: the betrayal, or the fact that he still remembered the softness in her voice. The way she used to smile and he craved it.
He still wanted to hold a silver hope that it was all a misunderstanding and she could come for him. Could anyone be more pathetic?
"I do not care about your background. It's all about who you are, Elias. My friend, my partner in crime~" she had told him often. Was that all fake, too?
The man left when he closed his eyes, thinking he was already dead.
A rat scurried past his shackles bringing him back to the prison. In the distance, thunder rolled, and he saw the bones in the corner, the meat rotting, and bile rose to his chest. He was going to die here for the crime he had never committed.
But then the lights flickered. The shadows in the corner of the cell shifted unnaturally. And a low, smooth, seductive voice whispered in his ear.
"Do you want to live… and make her regret ever choosing him over you?"
A woman stood in the darkness. She had pale skin and crimson eyes. But his eyes stopped on her fangs that glinted even in the dark room with no source of light.
He watched wide-eyed. His heart raced as he had heard about the dark creatures hiding in the shadows. But he never believed in those stories.
Nobles had ruled them for a long time. How could those proud and egoistic people be servants of others? No, it must be his illusion or the guards were playing a trick on him so that he could be accused of more crimes he had never committed.
He watched the figure with a blank face since he had learned to control his emotions for a long time. Even when he felt the pain, he would never reveal it.
The woman tilted her head and though he could not see her, he could feel her gaze on him. His chest tightened. He was sure there was hunger in that gaze.
He wanted to recoil to shrink into the shape of a fetus and hide. Something in him told him to do so.
"It seems I came too early."