Chapter 7
2427words
The iron door—covered in those strange symbols—responded to Sean's touch. Chains slithered away with an ominous scraping. As the door swung open, a blast of frigid air hit us, carrying a malevolence that cut straight to the bone.
Absolute darkness greeted us. Sean waved his hand, and sickly yellow lights flickered to life, revealing what lay beyond. I couldn't stop my horrified gasp.
This wasn't a collection room—it was a prison. Row after row of massive iron cages stretched into the darkness, disappearing beyond where the weak light could reach.
Each cage contained a different entity. Some were barely visible—shifting mists with vaguely human outlines. Others had solid forms with grotesque features and missing limbs, radiating hatred so intense it was almost visible.
The creatures snarled and whimpered, their eyes—those that had eyes—burning with hatred and accusation.
【WARNING: Toxic energy levels critical! Life force depleting rapidly!】
【Life remaining: 9 days 18 hours 55 minutes...】
The room spun around me, bile rising in my throat. I stumbled backward, but Sean's hand clamped around my arm. His grip was freezing yet unbreakable, anchoring me in place.
"Remember your promise," he murmured, his voice soft yet carrying unmistakable command.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to look at the caged horrors.
The entities sensed us immediately. They hurled themselves against their cages, creating a cacophony of screeching metal and inhuman howls that threatened to burst my eardrums.
In one cage crouched what had once been a woman, dressed in tattered silk. Her face was sunken to the skull, empty eye sockets somehow still containing burning points of hatred fixed directly on me.
"Help... me..." Her voice scraped like rusty nails on glass, the desperate plea somehow worse than any threat.
I could feel my life draining away with each passing second, death accelerating toward me like a freight train.
The malevolent energy worked like acid, eating away at me from the inside out. My breathing turned shallow and rapid, my heart hammering painfully against my ribs.
Sean pulled me against him, his supernatural aura forming a protective cocoon around me, blocking the worst of the toxic energy.
The drain on my life force slowed to a trickle. I sagged against his chest, his cold power somehow comforting in this nightmare place.
"What are they?" I whispered, unable to keep the tremor from my voice.
"The disobedient ones," Sean replied with disturbing casualness, as if discussing unruly pets rather than these nightmare creatures. "Vengeful spirits I've had to... contain."
Subdued? He could actually control these monstrosities? I stared at him with new understanding—and yes, fear, but also a grudging respect. His power was far beyond what I'd imagined.
"They're extremely dangerous." Sean's hand moved to my back, a surprisingly gentle gesture at odds with our horrific surroundings. "If released, they would consume every living soul they encountered."
I watched the twisted entities hurling themselves against their prisons, their howls a symphony of suffering and rage.
A strange sadness washed over me. These monsters had once been people—human beings who had somehow transformed into these tortured abominations.
I realized Sean wasn't just imprisoning these spirits—he was containing them. Controlling them.
Was he protecting the world from them, or building his own twisted kingdom? I couldn't tell. I only knew he wielded power beyond comprehension—power that terrified me, yet somehow made me feel protected.
I leaned into him, his cold aura now feeling like a shield rather than a threat. With him, I was separated from the horrors surrounding us—both the caged ones and whatever lurked beyond these walls.
"Sean," I whispered, unable to stop the tremor in my voice, "you wouldn't... you wouldn't put me in one of these, would you?"
He looked down at me, those ancient eyes seeming to peer straight through to my core.
"No," he said softly, his cool fingers tracing my cheekbone with surprising tenderness. "You're nothing like them."
After we left the basement, exhaustion hit me like a physical blow. The malevolent energy seemed to have seeped into my very bones, leaving me drained and weak.
Sean didn't mention what we'd seen, nor did he ask about my reaction. He simply remained beside me, a silent presence until my trembling finally subsided.
Back in my room, my life force finally stabilized. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring into the darkness beyond my window, the basement horrors playing on endless loop in my mind.
Those caged abominations. Their desperate cries. Sean's disturbing calm while explaining it all. His world was far darker and more complex than I'd imagined—and I was now hopelessly entangled in it.
I started spending more time with Sean, not just for my mission anymore, but to understand both him and this dangerous world I'd stumbled into.
To my surprise, I discovered he wasn't the heartless monster I'd imagined. When insomnia plagued me, he would sit beside me, his cool palm against my forehead somehow chasing away the nightmares. His touch remained cold, yet brought unexpected comfort.
During my anxious moments, he'd prepare strange herbal teas that calmed my nerves. The fragrance alone seemed to untangle the knots of tension inside me.
He taught me chess to pass the time. Though he won every game—sometimes in embarrassingly few moves—he never gloated, instead patiently explaining strategies I'd missed.
He told me stories of forgotten gods and lost civilizations, his deep voice weaving spells of words that transported me to worlds long turned to dust.
I found myself growing accustomed to his presence, even looking forward to it. His coldness no longer frightened me—it had become a strange comfort, a coolness that soothed rather than chilled.
I stopped flinching from his touch. Worse, when he was gone, I felt his absence like a physical ache—a hollow space where something essential should be.
I started wondering about his feelings. Was this mere possessiveness? Or could there be genuine affection—the very thing I needed from him?
【PROGRESS UPDATE: True Love's Kiss - 10% Complete】
The system's mechanical voice jolted me from my thoughts. Ten percent? That meant I was actually developing feelings for him. Panic surged through me.
I couldn't fall for him! I needed to keep my head clear!
I started deliberately distancing myself. No more casual touches. No more smiles. I even avoided meeting his eyes whenever possible.
I wrapped myself in emotional armor, desperate to shield myself from his influence.
Sean noticed the change immediately.
Something wounded and confused entered his expression when he looked at me—like a kicked puppy wondering what it had done wrong. Guilt twisted in my chest, but I ruthlessly suppressed it.
That night when he held me, my body remained rigid in his arms. His embrace was as cold and powerful as ever, but I refused to melt into it as I had before.
"What's wrong?" he murmured, his voice uncharacteristically tentative, laced with concern.
I said nothing, feigning sleep with closed eyes. My racing heart threatened to betray me—surely he could feel it hammering against his chest.
He sighed—a sound of ancient weariness—and tightened his hold. I felt the vibration in his chest, the possessive energy radiating from him in waves.
"Sophia," he whispered, resignation heavy in his voice. "Are you fighting me again?"
My heart lurched painfully, but I maintained my pretense of sleep. My breathing quickened despite my efforts to control it.
After a long silence, he spoke again—his voice carrying a vulnerability I'd never heard from him before.
"Are you still planning to leave me?"
My eyes flew open at the raw emotion in his voice. His face showed naked pain and fear—emotions I never expected to see from the powerful Ghost King.
Something inside me softened, warmth spreading through my chest like sunlight.
Then I remembered the system's directive about the "kiss of true love." I couldn't afford to soften. The mission had to come first.
I pushed myself up, breaking his embrace and putting distance between us. The conflict raging inside me must have shown on my face.
"Sean," I said, my voice shaking despite my efforts to sound resolute, "I need my freedom. You can't keep me caged here forever."
The light in his eyes dimmed like a candle being slowly extinguished. His expression shifted to something so desolate it was almost unbearable to witness.
"Do you truly feel nothing for me?" he asked, his voice rough with emotion, almost pleading.
I closed my eyes and steeled myself. Cruelty was my only path to survival.
"Nothing," I lied coldly.
The moment the words left my mouth, the temperature plummeted. The air thickened until it felt like breathing underwater. His power surged around us, an oppressive weight that made me shrink back instinctively.
His eyes blazed with fury so intense I half-expected to be incinerated on the spot. His face went deathly pale, lips pressed into a thin line, his entire body radiating lethal intent.
"Nothing?" he echoed, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Sophia, what makes you think you have any choice in the matter?"
In a blur of movement, he pinned me to the bed, his body trapping mine completely. His overwhelming presence crushed down on me, making it hard to breathe, impossible to move.
His face hovered inches above mine, those bottomless eyes now swirling with rage and possessiveness. His breath burned against my skin despite its coldness.
"Did you honestly believe I would ever let you go?" His voice rasped with barely controlled fury. "Did you think you could escape me?"
Terror unlike anything I'd felt before gripped me. He'd been controlling before, but never like this—never with this edge of madness. I'd pushed him over some invisible line into dangerous territory.
"Sean..." I whispered, unable to keep the fear from my voice.
He didn't acknowledge my plea. Instead, he crashed his lips against mine in a brutal kiss that felt more like punishment than passion, as if he wanted to devour me whole.
He bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, forcing his way into my mouth. The metallic taste spread across my tongue as I struggled helplessly beneath him.
I fought wildly against his grip, but might as well have been trying to move a mountain.
His hands gripped my waist with bruising force, molding me against him as if trying to fuse us together. Spots danced before my eyes as oxygen became scarce, consciousness beginning to slip away.
【PROGRESS UPDATE: True Love's Kiss - 20% Complete】
The system's update hit me like a slap. Even this violent kiss was advancing the mission! Despair washed over me. I couldn't let myself fall for him—couldn't let him win!
His kiss remained punishing, cold with fury yet burning with possession.
My body lay completely at his mercy, powerless to resist. My thoughts scattered like leaves in a storm—the system's cold voice, Sean's fury, my own conflicted feelings swirling together as darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.
Just as consciousness began to fade, he suddenly released me. He pulled back, looking down at me with eyes now filled with something beyond anger—a raw pain that seemed to cut him from within.
My blood stained his lips, the crimson startlingly vivid against his pale skin.
"Sophia," his voice broke on my name, desperation bleeding through every syllable, "why won't you love me?"
I stared up at him, my chest tight with conflicting emotions. The pain in his voice was real—raw and unfiltered.
My heart twisted strangely in my chest. With sudden clarity, I realized he wasn't punishing me—he was punishing himself.
I reached up, my fingers trembling slightly as they traced his cheek. His skin remained cold as marble, yet sent that familiar electric current through my fingertips.
He froze at my touch, then trembled like a wild animal unused to gentle contact.
"Sean," I whispered, not having to fake the emotion in my voice, "please let me go. We're... we're not meant for each other."
He closed his eyes, a visible shudder running through his frame. His fingers curled into white-knuckled fists at his sides.
"Not meant for each other?" A bitter laugh escaped him. "Sophia, do you think anyone else could even survive that... 'quality' you possess?"
I went still. What "quality"? A chill of foreboding crept up my spine.
He opened his eyes, revealing depths of ancient pain. His fingertips traced my cheekbone with surprising tenderness, the gesture gentle yet weighted with significance.
"You radiate an energy that draws spirits like moths to flame," he said quietly. "Wherever you go, they will hunt you. They'll swarm you like sharks in a feeding frenzy."
My heart stuttered in my chest. How had I missed this? The spirits' reactions in the haunted house. The attack in the garden. It all suddenly made terrible sense.
"Why do you think I was in that haunted house?" he continued, a hint of mockery entering his voice. "Do you believe in coincidences that convenient?"
The memory of the haunted house flashed vividly in my mind—the system forcing me to kiss the white-robed ghost in the corner.
I had approached him—the most powerful spirit there—and he had been waiting, as if he'd known I would come. Had he sensed my "quality" even then? Had he been expecting me?
"You... you planned this from the beginning?" My voice shook with disbelief.
He didn't deny it. He simply watched me, pain etched into every line of his face.
"I needed to bring you here," he said simply, his gaze never wavering. "Only I can shield you. Only I can keep you alive."
The truth hit me like a physical blow. From the very beginning, I'd been manipulated. His appearance wasn't chance—it was calculated.
He'd known about my desperate need to survive. He'd known I needed protection. He'd orchestrated everything to make me dependent on him. Rage and humiliation surged through me. I'd been nothing but a pawn in his game!
"You manipulative bastard!" I spat, tears of fury spilling down my cheeks.
He didn't defend himself. He just watched me with those pain-filled eyes.
"I'm not manipulative," he said hoarsely, desperation bleeding through his words. "I just... needed you with me."
He yanked me against him suddenly, holding me with desperate strength as if afraid I might vanish. His cold embrace felt like iron bands around me.
"Sophia," he whispered against my neck, his voice breaking with naked need, "please don't leave me."
