POV: Lianne
My feet automatically stepped in to investigate the room further.
It was mainly dark. The only light fixture I could see in the ceiling was unlit. It was a decent-looking room with an acceptable size. I first thought it was a recording room, but it was actually a monitoring room, with all the weird-looking gadgets, sound and equalizer systems, and a handful of tiny buttons laid in a slanting table a couple of feet away from where I stood, dumbstruck.
The room was a spectacle to behold, especially with the 12-inch flat monitor screens stacked way up into the ceiling. I deduced they were video surveillance monitors.
One… two… three… four… wow… there were actually sixteen monitors all in all. Each one showing different areas of the mansion. One showing the pool area. Another showing the front portico. The others showing the dining and the kitchen areas, the outside garden, hallways, and more hallways including the hallway that I had recently just passed by, a ballroom hall, a roof deck, an area of what looked like an armory, a laboratory with people actually wearing lab coats, and many more.
I scanned them one by one until my eyes rested on a certain monitor screen. My hands tensed up and my heart began to leap in haste.
‘My God! RUEN!!!’
Why was he in the dungeon?! And why was he being beaten up by two men?!
As if to stifle my shock, I dragged my hands to my mouth and covered it with great panic.
No…
My mind shouted the only syllable it could process.
No!
No!
No!
Ruen!
He was kneeling on the ground, both of his hands chained up behind him in a column. His trench coat was tossed up in a corner. His long-sleeved white shirt slightly torn up and bloodied, so was his denim pants.
The two men seemed to enjoy torturing him, and it looked like they didn’t have a hard time with it at all. I saw one man kicking him on the knees and the other, sending a powerful punch to his face.
I cringed upon seeing it. They both laughed with what they were doing, but surprisingly enough, they didn’t even get a successful reaction out of him. I just saw him kneeling there unaffected by the torturing. With the camera’s angle, I couldn’t see his face clearly, but what I saw was already enough.
‘Oh God, Ruen.’
I wanted to run to him and embrace him, but my eyes remained glued on the screen.
The men continued on beating him, irked by Ruen’s insensitivity. They kicked his ribs again and again until Ruen finally coughed up blood.
‘Stop it! Stop it please! Stop it!’
I shouted in agony as if they could hear me.
My heart broke. This time, I couldn’t keep my eyes from welling up with tears.
My God. I didn’t care about the necklace anymore. I just wanted to run to him and stop these men from inflicting more pain.
‘Where is the dungeon?! I had to be there!’
“Oh, so you actually found this room, ” I heard someone say from behind me and my skin erupted with goosebumps.
I whirled around and saw Cain standing in the middle of the wide entrance; his lips breaking into a smirk, his gaze sticking on me like I was a trapped mouse.
He noticed my wet eyes and a brief frown formed his eyebrows.
‘Cain! Yes! He could bring me to the dungeon!’
“Cain, please I need to go to the dungeon now!” I spoke with intensity, but the shakiness of it, I couldn’t control away.
“Ah, so you saw him, I see, ” he answered, clicking his tongue. “I apologize Princess Lianne, but I can’t take you to him. That just won’t do.”
“No Cain, I have to go to him!” I shook my head and raised my voice this time, but he only gave me a cold, hard glare. It was intimidating. Enough to silence me for a moment.
He stepped inside the room, passing me to a nearby mini microphone.
“Stop, ” he said on it in a loud, clear voice.
I saw the two men suddenly stopped, one man’s hand halfway in the air, and the other, already holding a knife pointed towards Ruen’s face.
I felt a surge of relief upon seeing it, but it was only brief.
Cain grinned once again, looking at me with sharp eyes. I was an arms-reach away from him, but it didn’t deter him from touching my wet cheeks. His touch was cold. I immediately sensed a foreboding feeling.
“Oh, Lianne. Your tears are precious to me. I don’t want to see you cry. It pains my heart.”
“Cain. Please. I need to go to him. He is already suffering! Look at him!”
“I can’t Lianne. That won’t do.” He directed his attention back to the screens and pointed to the microphone. “You see here. This microphone is connected to a speaker inside the dungeon. My men can hear me loud and clear. Whatever I tell them to do, they will do it.”
“I know. That’s why I’m thankful you stopped them from hurting him.”
He let out a sarcastic chuckle in response before stepping closer to me and cupping my chin.
“Please bear in mind that I didn’t do it for him. You should expect that this would cost you.”
I quickly felt a chill flooding all over my body. He was blackmailing me. The bastard.
“What are you trying to imply?” I clarified, still with a shaky voice, my eyes shifting back and forth to him and Ruen, who was breathing heavily on his knees. This reprieve was but momentary only. I knew then that Cain could command those men to continue where they left off.
Damn it. I was once again hurled into his dirty game.
A wave of panic started to flicker inside me and it was growing, and growing fast, drowning me so much so that my chest tightened.
I felt like every nerve of my body contorted to create an unbearable pain shooting first from my limbs and then to my head, then focusing on my left lower torso.
I looked at Cain who seemed oblivious of what was happening to me. I then peeked at the monitor screen, focusing on Ruen’s bloodied clothes. Then in an instant, it all came to a blur, my reality held hostage by another spur of vision.
***
My senses jumped anew as I found myself cringing with the same amount of jolting pain, but this time, in a different place. In an open balcony. My bedroom’s balcony, in fact, in the Regaleria mansion.
It was raining moderately. The white satin nightgown I was wearing stuck to my body like a second skin. My feet felt cold against the wet marble floor. My left hand was pressed up against my left lower torso, cradling what looked to be a wound, while the other, clutched the emerald necklace.
Terrified.
That was the first thing that registered in my mind. I bent my head to see my fingers bloody from what seemed like my own blood slowly gushing down to the tip of the sword that had passed through my abdomen. It was a macabre sight. I almost vomited when I saw myself getting skewered like meat.
Then, I held my face up. I was greeted with Ruen’s pained, disturb expression. It was crystal clear, and it sank my heart.
“No…” he said, his voice shaking. “NO!”
Utterly stupefied, I collapsed forward towards him and he immediately supported my balance with his strong arms, easing me down carefully on the floor.
“JARED! CALL THE DOCTOR NOW!” I heard him say with the most authoritative voice I had heard from him.
My God. He looked in such a panic that I had to touch his face to calm him down.
That’s when I realized, this was it. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. Even my heartbeat felt weak and thready. I was also beginning to exert effort in my breathing. I tasted something metallic under my tongue and I realized blood was coming out from my mouth.
I heard a commotion over my head, and in the periphery of my eye, I saw Cain being dragged out of the balcony by Ruen’s guards. Of course, I remember it now. This was his sword that had lodged deep in my flesh.
I knew it was a stupid move, but I had to do it still to save my love — my beloved — from death. Yes. Death. General Cain was quite adamant about making that clear.
Now, as I was cradled by Ruen in his arms, surrounded by my own pool of blood, it seemed like it was a good idea after all and not a stupid one.
He is the king of this kingdom. He had the power to make things better for all his subjects, to establish peace and unity in all the places that Garlow had destroyed. I couldn’t take that chance away from him. The people needed him. And although deep inside, I selfishly declared that I needed him more, it was still the right thing to do — to let him live.
I pulled my eyes away from Ruen who was muttering that it would soon be alright. That I will live. But I knew better. My weak state was quite obvious already. I just needed one more breath and soon everything would go black.
Staring at the dark sky, the raindrops kept dropping incessantly. It was ethereal, but it was mocking me at the same time.
The pain. The heartache. The melancholia. All of them. I just wanted to end.
“My love, Ruen…” I strove to push the words out of my mouth.
Ruen squeezed my hand in response and then kissed me without any reservations. Not even the blood in my mouth kept him from doing so.
His kiss was soft and full of yearning. Very reverend. Very true. His lips were so tender against my own. It was the best feeling a dying person could have.
‘This would be our last kiss, ‘ my mind pointed out and with that alone, tears started to flow rapidly from my eyes.
If anything. If anything at all. I wanted to wish I could have another chance with him. Another lifetime with him.
In another place? At another time? I didn’t care at all. I just wanted to be with him. To feel his love and give him his well-deserved love in return.
I stared at the emerald necklace, remembering the hidden powers it kept. It was a long shot, but it would be great if the emerald stone heard me.
If anything. If anything at all. I wanted for that wish to come true.