The hatred in Altan's stare was intense. His animosity towards her could be manifested into a human choking at her neck. But Lina stood her ground and held his gaze. He deserved this torture. This suffering… How dare he scheme with the Elders for her hand in marriage? Did he not have the guts to tell her himself? Were the Elders preventing him?

  If Altan had asked Lina sincerely, when they were alone, perhaps she would have agreed. It was all a matter of giving her freedom and not forcing her on the spot. If he had been considerate to her feelings, they wouldn't be here like this.

  Without a word, Altan stormed out of the room.

  "You should've treated him much better," Estella whispered to Lina a few days after delivering her the bare minimum food of stale buns and water.

  Estella said the lack of necessities was because it was difficult to sneak things out of the kitchen now that all the maids were strictly watched.

  Lina didn't mind. She was resourceful and would dip her hard bread in the water to make it easier to eat. The light was never turned on. Eventually, she began to hallucinate and imagine critters and mice that were nonexistent. She'd see shadows (even in the darkness)and try to befriend them, until her eyes no longer focused on anything in particular.

  Lina lost count of how long this torture had been going on for. Eventually, Altan appeared like her savior again, but she was mute from the lack of interactions and blinded by the darkness.

  "Mila has been sent out to train as a honeypot."

  Lina could barely speak without her voice breaking from the dryness at the back of her throat caused by dehydration and silence. She could only numbly stare at Altan who placed a tray of food beside her again. Everytime he came to visit her, he brought edible meals in an attempt to convince her.

  "There is assassin training on top of learning how to pleasure men."

  At this, Lina was startled. She turned to Altan who was standing in front of her. She was seated on the bed and he intimidatingly stared down at her. She couldn't read his facial features. All she saw was his terrifying expression that blamed her for her older sister's misfortunes.

  "If you had listened to me—"

  "Bastard."

  It was the only word that Lina could muster, because she knew it was the truth. The reason why Altan was treated unfavorably by his triad was that he was an illegitimate son. At her insult, his hands curled into fists.

  "Lina."

  Lina turned her head away from him, refusing to speak to him. Even if he was the bringer of news, she refused to listen. At her defiance, he stormed out of the room again, this time, slamming the doors loudly.

  Lina realized something. He wasn't afraid of entering and leaving her room. He walked through the doors as if he owned her. She understood Altan was sent by the Elders. Or, her parents. Either option didn't matter. Altan could freely walk in and out of this place. His purpose was to convince her into obedience.

  "I need to get out of here…" Lina realized, glancing down at the tray beside her. In his wrath, he didn't take the tray, nor did he remember to pick up the utensils.

  Lina picked up the fork and slid it into her pants. They refused to give her a knife, but a sharp fork was still helpful. As much as she didn't want to, Lina ate the food. She would need the energy, but before that, she finally decided to sleep a bit more, without appreciating just how broken her spirit was——

  "She refuses to listen," Altan said the second he was summoned back into the Yang manor the next morning. He deeply scowled and took a seat at the breakfast table where Lawrence was gathered alongside his children.

  "Perhaps this punishment is no use," Altan noted. "Let me watch over her in my house. This punishment never worked on her when she was a child and it'll not work now."

  "I do not understand where her disobedience comes from," Lawrence snarled, slamming his hands onto the table. "My patience has run thin. I want her to be brought downstairs this instant!"

  Altan held back a sigh of relief. It was what he had wanted all along—her freedom. For the past few days, he had been attempting to find ways to get her out of there.

  Altan had shown he had tried his best to make her obey, only for him to fail, the family was finally considering other options. Now that Altan could get her to himself, it would b be much easier to convince her.

  Altan knew how to coax Lina, but doing it in a dark room, the place that held memories of her childhood trauma, completely worked against his favor. Yeah, that'd lead to nowhere.

  "Fetch the Young Miss, Estella," Altan instructed her, still unfamiliar with the foreign name that rolled off his tongue uncomfortably.

  Despite studying abroad, Altan was having difficulties differentiating all of these random names that the girls of Ritan had picked up.

  Estella hurried off. In a few minutes, the family heard banging and screaming. Altan rose to his feet in confusion, wondering what the problem was. When he saw Lina in the light, he cringed only to flinch.

  "Lina—"

  "Let me go!" Lina screeched in horror, flinging her body to the wall, clutching onto the staircase tightly.

  Her head wildly turned left and right, resembling an animal cornered by its prey. She whimpered and trembled, deranged from whatever happened last night.

  "Y-you were in my dreams… t-they chased me… w-what…"

  Altan was confused by her words. "Lina, are you—"

  "T-there were clouds… I-I thought I was in Heaven… Papa s-sentenced me to d-death by beating—"

  "Lina," Altan curtly said, attempting to approach her. Without warning, she screamed at him.

  "Don't touch me!" Lina shrieked, taking out a fork from her pocket and wielding it as a weapon.

  It was then that Altan realized they had taken the punishment too far. What had she been hallucinating about in that dark room? What happened to her? He knew he should have gotten her out sooner when he saw how dazed she was a few days ago. Now, they were forced to pay the price of her detention.

  "Get her a doctor!" Lawrence barked, waving his hands to rush the servants.

  The servants scrambled out of the doors, running off to fetch the nearest private doctor they could find.

  The family watched in horror as Lina began to mutter to herself, glancing from the floor and then to them. Her eyes were out of focus and she was wilder than an animal. Suddenly, she latched a hand onto her hair and Estella rushed forward.

  "Young Miss!" Estella cried out, grabbing Lina by the wrists, but she was flailing like a fish out of water.

  "What is going on?" Lawrence demanded, approaching his granddaughter to talk some sense into her.

  "I have it handled," Altan growled, storming to Lina's side before Lawrence could. He nudged Estella out the way and quickly enveloped Lina in a tight embrace. She couldn't move in his restraining arms, but he intended for it to be that way.

  At the least, Altan could shelter her from her family's fury and her own madness. In the end, Altan realized it was the only thing he could do for her.

  "I saw you too…" Lina whispered up at him, her voice weary and light. "I saw you in white robes…"

  "It's just a dream," Altan murmured.

  "Father… tried to kill me."

  Altan's throat tightened. "It's just a dream, Lina…… It's not real."