Atheline rubbed tiredly at his eyes then glanced up at the ceiling again. He knew she was somewhere up there, arguing with her council.

A small sigh left him.

"What’s gotten you so bunched up?" Helther asked.

Atheline shrugged. He rolled his left shoulder then glanced at him.

"I’m going to sleep."

Helther blinked in confusion." At this time when there is a war hanging over our heads."

"Isn’t this the best time before everything escalates and none of us will be getting any rest?"

Helther chuckled in slight anger.

"You’re something else."

Atheline lifted his hand in farewell before heading to the door. Helther didn’t even try to stop him.

Servants scattered instinctively from his path as he walked down the corridor to their room. The palace remained louder than usual even deep within the palace. News of the ultimatum and impending wars had transformed the Court into something restless and filled with excitement.

Atheline eventually reached the chambers. He closed the door quietly behind him and silence greeted him immediately.

The room looked strangely peaceful compared to the outside world at the moment.

The truth was, he didn’t want to sleep at all. Something else has been constant in his mind besides the oncoming war.

The events in the book.

The system had given it to him, the opportunity to get a glimpse of what had happened in the novel but he couldn’t do it in front of Lily. He didn’t know what he might see or his reaction and didn’t want to alarm her.

It would have been better if she only known he had little to no memories of what happened in the novel before he could understand everything.

He stared at the bed for several seconds then collapsed onto it face-first. He wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

"...System."

The small screen flickered faintly before his eyes.

[Awaiting Command.]

He closed his eyes tiredly.

"Show me."

[Confirming Request.]

[Displaying Original Timeline Memories.]

[Warning: Mental synchronization may cause emotional instability.]

"That sounds unpleasant."

[Proceed?]

Atheline exhaled slowly into the pillow.

"Yes."

His eye closed and darkness took over.

.

.

.

The first thing he saw was darkness, not the comforting kind that comes with sleep, but the suffocating kind, heavy, damp, and old, like a roof. that had been absorbing water for far too long.

Then the image sharpened. He was standing in a damp hallway. Blood seeped into cracked stone from the locked cells around him.

It was clear at first that he was inside a dungeon prison. Probably built near a water source or above it. The moisture in the air prevented wounds from healing easily.

Whoever owned this prison was very averse in the way of torture. A small cold can turn deadly in this prison. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’Where on earth is this place. I thought I was going into a memory of some sort. It feels too real’

The air was cold enough to sting even in memory.

Chains clinked softly somewhere further down. He headed to the sound and came to a stop five prison cells down. And there, inside a cell chained directly to black stone, sat a man.

His eyes widened. He touched the bars for a sort of balance but his hand passed through. He walked into the cell.

Before him was a very familiar man, Elydrah dusk, the man Atheline had replaced as Lilith’s husband. He looked half dead at the moment.

Since he couldn’t recognise the place, it meant it was probably Lilith’s palace. There wasn’t a place like this in the High Elven kingdom.

The man inside the cell was thinner than memory allowed for comfort. Not skeletal, but worn down in a way that had nothing to do with physical injury and everything to do with time. His light blue hair hung loosely, slightly unkempt. His posture was bent like he had finally collapsed or was on the verge of it.

He was staring at the trickle of water down the wall, his dead eyes unmoving. Atheline froze at the weird imagery. He had once tortured the man but not broken him to such an extent.

’What did he do to Lily?’

That was the only thing he could come up with. This was a sort of punishment. He must have done something to Lilith for him to be locked up.

He frowned slightly as a memory came to him. In the novel he had cheated on Lilith with Yander or so he believed.

’Did I just get thrown to the end of the novel?’

Footsteps echoed above.

Atheline watched as Elydrah’s gloomy face transformed into a much happier one. His lips moved slightly forming a crooked smile.

Atheline’s eyes widened in interest as he read his lips.

"Yander... my saintess, please save me... I’ll do anything for you," he mouthed over and over again at the approaching footsteps. It was clear who was being expected.

The footsteps stopped then a shadow fell across the barred doorway. The figure became clear under the glowing plant veins.

Atheline’s gaze widened.

Lilith or the novel’s original version of her.

She did not enter fully into the prison. She never needed to. The air itself seemed to tighten when she arrived, as she belonged to this godforsaken place.

Elydrah lowered his gaze slowly the blank expression returning. Atheline could see his body shaking slightly.

He frowned at that but his attention went back to her. He couldn’t help it.

"It seems you’re too much of a coward to kill yourself, " she coldly said.

Even when angry, Atheline has never heard her speak with such coldness.

"As if I can do that," Elydrah said, his resentment leaking," don’t your shadows appear at every attempt. "

A small cruel laugh escaped her at that. She raised her gloved hand and lightly wrapped it around the metal bar.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He said quietly, "I am your husband, not a prisoner. It’s only been a week after our marriage, must you do this?"

Her eyes darkened slightly.

"When have I ever said you’re my husband. I do not need a worthless and spineless thing as my husband, " she coldly said, "a man who has already been dirtied disgusts. The fact that you tried to bed one of my maids on the wedding night..."

She chuckled, a cold sound that sent shivers down Atheline’s spine. He glanced at Elydrah in shock.

Just how stupid can someone be? He understood why Lilith’s reaction was so extreme, this was basically insulting her.

He also felt like choking the man, in her stead.

Elydrah had the gall to look guilty but only for a moment before his gaze became blank again.

"You will remain here and only come out whenever there is an important event," she quietly said, " if you do anything that angers me, I will skin your whole family before you."

"You cannot do that, it’s against the pact."

She smiled softly at him, the kind of smile that scared even Atheline.

"I do not care, I’ve got everything from the pact," she started to walk away, " you will stay here indefinitely and reflect on your mistakes."

Her footsteps faded away with that.