"What?" Livina, who was on the bed, also stood, her eyes blinking, visibly taken aback given that she did not expect further infiltration to happen so soon, especially since she had sent a messenger to the border to stop the attack for tonight. She wanted to claim Victor for herself and use his seed to secure the rightful position by giving birth to the new heir of the clan.
Her thumb naturally went to her lips as she bit her nail, confused as she looked towards Luna, her eyes narrowed.
"Mind your language, Luna!" Victor pushed Luna back as she found herself stammering, unable to even balance. The emotional pain of the appreciation she had hoped to receive from her husband was already numbing her feet, and it was further shaken by a slap. A hand that she thought or hoped would caress her cheek landed sharply.
Smack.
'!'
"Ahh... yes." Luna, whose face was lurched back, seemed to shut her eyes as tears veiled her vision. Everything seemed to slow down, and even with all the emotion bordering on her heart, there was a small hope that maybe things would be alright. But while falling, she realized, '...a fool.'
How big of a fool she was to hope for even a small hint of affection.
Affection from her father, who was cold until the day he died, from her aunt or uncle who looked at her with fake masks just to get the property left behind by that cruel father, from a sister whom she hoped to have a soft position as a friend but met with nothing. Rather, she took everything from her and had a husband who never valued her, no matter how hard she tried to be a good wife.
She was indeed a fool.
Thud.
"Argh!" She would not have groaned if not for the pain of hitting the cold, firm, rigid surface, which was too tough to let her cry fully as she struck her head. She felt the bleeding slowly emerging, as the force was strong enough for her human body to endure.
Indeed, even being a Luna, who should have possessed the spark, she didn't have any. And the result was simply that she was getting killed now by her mate, first abandoned by her father for this and now dying like this for being this weak.
"Oh, Sister!" Livina sprinted. Her eyes, though clearly wanting to watch this scene unfold, changed as she saw those eyes, which she loved to see suffer, closing. She swiftly moved, arriving as she used her own spark, the one possessing the affinity for healing on the woman she had healed so many times. Just to break and enjoy. Every time she broke, she felt she was achieving what her mother couldn't.
"Tch, you are too kind for your own good, Livina." Victor clenched his jaws as he moved towards the wall to take his sword, clearly feeling how even being blamed by her sister Livina was this kind, completely different from a wife who just smiled, never reacted enough to make him feel like he was holding something, just following his lead like a doll he had married.
'Again...' Luna, lying there while feeling her pain slowly vanish, though the wounds in her heart suffocated her heartbeat irrespective of the healing, counted how many times she had experienced this moment. Initially, when healed for the first time by her sister, she had hoped it was the final gesture of love, intending for her to become strong; that was why she hurt and healed her. But now that foolish girl had died, and even this body did not want to awake.
Her life could be depicted by a pink blossom flower with five petals. Among them, one withered the day she was born with the death of her mother after being poisoned by her aunt. The second petal withered the day her father died, even though he was cold and cruel to her, but she had hoped for affection, and with his death, that hope too vanished. The third petal disappeared the day she hoped to get a family, new parents, even though she had uncles and aunts.
Though she had withered three times already, like a fool, she offered her fourth, following everything her sister said, slowly withering even that fourth petal while finding herself with only the single one clenched tightly, not wanting it to wither while standing beside her groom.
Yes, she accepted that she didn't have the bloom and the petals to offer him, though the one she had tightly clenched, she hoped to offer to him one day. And she did, in the form of her loyalty, her duties, handing over her soul, mind, and body, everything to him.
But even that last petal slowly started to wither as he frowned at her body, feeling disgusted by her mind and repulsed by her soul, using her to fulfill his dreams while using even the last petal that withered, leaving her in the state she was in.
And then, as if a hammer fell down on that remaining stem, which was still green, came a voice from Livina, who cleaned her nonexistent sweat while holding her seat with one finger poking Luna's cheek and revealing why she saved her.
"Phew, come on, get up sister; you still have to please the arriving savages... keeping them busy by using your bodily..." Livina said as she used her finger to tuck a strand of Luna's hair back behind her ear to let her hear what she wanted her to do clearly, adding, "...manners until my love and I escape."
"...I will kill myself before falling as low as you..." However, Luna mustered her voice as if still having some remaining traces of those withered petals fallen on the ground; she was not going to fall as low as this woman.
"....You know how to make me angry," Livina said before lifting her left arm, eyes glinting purple as she landed a slap on Luna's face, scattering the red hair she had tugged on from Luna's ear with a sharp sound resonating.
Clearly feeling bored not hearing any cry from her, she sighed, "So, you are not going to cry like this? Huh?"
Seeing how there was a clear gash from her slap on Luna's cheek, yet no tears, only a blank gaze looking straight with those crimson pupils, made Livina feel bored. She then looked towards Victor, who had put on his clothes and was prepared to leave, and asked, "Give me that."
"...What?" Victor looked towards Livina, who was seated, holding a seat with her bare back covered by her long cascading purple hair. Blinking, she gave a knowing smile that made Victor narrow his gaze, slightly frowning as he looked back towards Luna, then breathed, 'Why care about her... I need to save Livina.'
He finally killed his moral, which was thinking for a second about that lying woman, as he took out a strong aphrodisiac from his dimensional ring.
"Fufu~" Livina just chuckled before grabbing Luna's face, turning it, and lifting it while pressing Luna's mouth open. She opened the bottle of a strange pink bubbling liquid while looking towards Luna, shoving it between her lips as Luna's eyes trembled in remark.
Livina declared, "Now, I will see who falls how much low and who acts like a bitch in heat... accompanying those brutes."