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Chapter sixteen

last update Last Updated: 2025-04-14 18:02:31

Diana

I knew my mother’s face from the portraits my father kept of her at home, but here, she was much younger.

Maybe just as young as I am now, and she was smiling.

I don’t know how her picture got here, or who painted it, but it sure as hell gave me the chills to find it here.

It was also in the best condition out of all the paintings here, which meant it was relatively recent. I couldn’t even begin to fathom.

I didn’t know where to draw theories from, how to even begin asking questions…if I was going to even ask.

I just stood there, staring in awe, as the massive smiling face, almost double normal human proportions stared back at me.

Every little detail on her face was emphasized by the brush, and every color was represented accurately. Almost like she was right there…with me…in the room.

Oddly enough, it didn’t creep me out. I just felt the chills of being around my mother. On her face was an emotion I had never seen. My father’s portraits of her were always still. Like the painte
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    Diana I stacked the last dish onto the drying rack and wiped my hands on my dress, exhaling loudly. The room was finally clean...well, as clean as I could manage without scrubbing the floors until my fingers bled. Save for my room, I have never done this before, so it's impossible to quantify what serves as 'clean'. For a second, I just stood there, my arms limp at my sides. What now? I didn’t belong here. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next. My entire life, I had been ignored, hated, or simply tolerated in my father’s house, but I still had a place there, even if it was at the bottom of everyone’s regard. Here, in this cold, eerie mansion with a man who could very well be my executioner, I had nothing. No role, no expectations...nothing except the nagging fear that my existence was balancing on a knife’s edge...and that edge was this man's will. The monster, the beast, whatever he was...hadn’t spoken since ordering me to clean. He had barely even ac

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    EdricThe knock on the door interrupted my thoughts, but it was welcome. I needed to get out of my head every now and again.There’s only one person that would knock on the door.“Come in.”The door opened slightly, and she peeked through. “Can I come in?” she asked innocently.I tsked, “But I just said…” I held my tongue. “Yes. Come in.” I repeated, already annoyed, and we hadn’t even started conversing yet.“How are your wounds?” I asked. “They aren’t there anymore.” She replied, touching her side. “Even though it still sometimes feels like they are.”“Phantom pain.” I stood up and walked over to the window, feeling the need for some fresh air and sun. I remember my newfound romance with that bastard.“What is that?” she asked innocently.“It’s when you experience a pain that your brain knows should be there, but somehow isn’t…hence the name ‘phantom’.”She nodded, but I could tell she didn’t fully understand the concept. I didn’t know how else to explain to her, so I just changed

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter sixteen

    DianaI knew my mother’s face from the portraits my father kept of her at home, but here, she was much younger.Maybe just as young as I am now, and she was smiling.I don’t know how her picture got here, or who painted it, but it sure as hell gave me the chills to find it here.It was also in the best condition out of all the paintings here, which meant it was relatively recent. I couldn’t even begin to fathom.I didn’t know where to draw theories from, how to even begin asking questions…if I was going to even ask.I just stood there, staring in awe, as the massive smiling face, almost double normal human proportions stared back at me.Every little detail on her face was emphasized by the brush, and every color was represented accurately. Almost like she was right there…with me…in the room.Oddly enough, it didn’t creep me out. I just felt the chills of being around my mother. On her face was an emotion I had never seen. My father’s portraits of her were always still. Like the painte

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter fifteen

    DianaI have broken a rib before. Shocker? I was a rough kid with a rough backgrounds. I had to, once or twice…every week, run from the law, and in doing so, whether I got caught or not, sustained a few injuries.One of them was breaking my ribs.Now, all that is to say, I have never healed so fast.In less than a week, I was ready to go.Werewolves are known for having an extraordinary healing factor. For something like a broken rib, it would take the most advanced wolf I know about a week or two to recover fully.For me, and people that haven’t gotten their wolves, the healing factor was similar to being bare humans. A month, maybe more.There was definitely something in those balms that he applied on me and the spicy liquid he gave me to drink. Every single bruise around my body was gone.There wasn’t even scarring.In four days.It didn’t make sense, but I liked it. The pain was unbearable when he applied it, but the results were worth it.Like he said, maybe it would have worked

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter fourteen

    EdricWas I a little too harsh on her?Muzan’s reaction to me said everything I needed to know. He was my butler and did everything I told him to do, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be angry at me when I did something he didn’t like.And he was…pissed.He didn’t serve me breakfast in the morning, and when I came to the kitchen to ask, he simply showed me the pot.Also, he had been away from the house for a while.He didn’t run away or anything.Where would he run to? Here was his home.When he came back, he looked like he wanted to slap me all shades of silly. If he could, he actually would have.“It’s called tough love, Muzan,” I echoed after him as he brushed past me on his way into the house.“It’s not tough love if she actually dies,” he shot back almost immediately, “or worse still…if she suffers an injury we can’t treat. How would that make you feel?”“What? After she suffers from the consequences of her own actions?” I countered. “She fell into that hole, Muzan. I didn’t push

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter thirteen

    DianaAs soon as he dropped me, Muzan rushed to my aid.I dropped to the floor despite Edric placing me on my feet, exhausted from the crying, begging, and in pain from the injury to my ribs.“Well, at least, you won’t be able to run for a while,” he chuckled as he lifted me bridal style and carried me…not to my room.“You can’t be so sure,” I managed to joke, even after everything that I had been through. I looked over at Edric, I don’t know why.Maybe to hate him even more. To keep his face in my head, so that anytime I needed to get angry, I would remember him as the man who left me in a hole to rot.When we entered what looked like a hall, he placed me on a slim bed and went out of the room.There, I have never been more relieved.So relieved, in fact, that I passed out cold.I didn’t wait for him to come back to administer treatment or give me any further information. I just went to sleep.My throat was raw, and my wounds, though aching, were starting to enter that state where th

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter twelve

    DianaI didn’t want to scream.That would alert him. If he came to find me about to run away, he would do some really bad things to me. I hadn’t known him for more than three days, but at the same time, he did seem worse than my father.He hadn’t hit me yet, but I knew for a fact that I was running out of grace.Honestly, I didn’t want to take a hit from him.Hence, through the grueling pain, I just sat still, shivering, crying, and turning.There were insects in the damn hole, and the place smelled of damp earth and rotting meat.I would soon be the rotting meat here.I don’t know how long I was there before I finally succumbed to fatigue.His voice woke me up, and opening my eyes, the light from the sun hit me hard.“How did you enjoy your bed?” he jibed.I hated him.“I’m sorry,” I said, instead of the mouthful of insults I could have hurled at him. Because in reality, I actually wanted to get out of this dark, creepy hole, where only one ray of sun hit, depending on the time of th

  • The Cursed Alpha And His Rejected Bride   Chapter eleven

    DianaMuzan watched me as I went through the art pieces with a blank gaze like there was something else on his mind.I kept looking at them and trying to put myself in the mind of this painter. A lot of them were about nature and animals in their natural habitat.It kind of reminded me about myself again, and how genuinely trapped I was.I realized that this painter was just like me. He yearned to be free.Yet, he was hated, just like Muzan said.Again, just like me.All I wanted was freedom. I was hated for yearning to have autonomy in my life…about my life.And the both of us were cast out.500 hundred years apart and the story was still the same.I felt like I needed to fulfill these paintings.Like I needed to be free.“What are you thinking about?” Muzan asked me after a long silence that stretched between us.“Nothing,” I said instinctively. After the pressure died down, I pressed. “I should be asking you the question. What are you thinking about?”“A lot,” he hummed.He was so

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