[And then… he slapped Alice.]
Love's voice trembled with rage and revulsion. Nyx's expression froze. The air around him felt heavier, colder.
[Before she could understand anything, before she could even ask why—he pushed her down.]
Nyx's breath caught in his throat. He didn't want to hear the next words, yet he couldn't stop listening.
[He… violated her.]
A long silence followed. Nyx stared ahead, eyes wide, expression unreadable—caught somewhere between disbelief and numb horror.
[The man who called her "daughter"… who smiled at her, celebrated her birthday, promised her a happy future… destroyed her completely.]
Love's voice was no longer calm. It was full of sorrow, fury, and shame.
Nyx didn't move. His fingers curled into fists.
The silence returned, thick and suffocating.
[After that… everything changed.]
Love's voice was steady but chilling, like a distant winter wind brushing over an open grave.
[He began visiting her chamber every night.]
Nyx didn't move. The calm on his face had vanished, replaced by a subtle, growing horror—like a storm quietly gathering behind his eyes.
[His gaze wasn't the gaze of a father. His touch wasn't the touch of love. And the silence in the palace hallways was no coincidence.]
Nyx clenched his fists. His knuckles turned white. But he said nothing.
[At first, she tried to ignore it. Deny it. Convince herself it was her mind playing tricks. But soon… it could no longer be denied.]
Love paused. Even her voice needed a moment to steady itself.
[He took from her what was never his to take.]
Nyx inhaled sharply, but he was a little disturbed by these scenes imagining in his mind.
[And it didn't stop. Not that night. Not the next. Not the one after.]
Nyx trembled. His body was frozen, but his soul was thrashing inside him.
[Until one day… she collapsed.]
A long pause followed. Nyx was silent
[She had become pregnant.]
The words hit like the toll of a mourning bell. Heavy. Final. Irrevocable.
[Sixteen years old. Carrying the child of her own father.]
Nyx swallowed hard, but it didn't help the burning in his throat. His lips moved, barely forming the words: "And that child… was me."
[Yes.]
The answer was simple. Cold. Unforgiving.
[You were born not out of love… but out of the darkest act imaginable.]
Nyx sat there for a long moment, staring into nothing.
___
[After finding out that Alice was pregnant… Nero changed again.]
Love's voice had grown hollow, like it was echoing from the bottom of a well filled with sorrow and rot.
[He stopped touching her. Stopped speaking much. But he didn't leave her side.]
Nyx's eyes were narrowed now, locked in a storm of thoughts.
[Every day, he sat beside her bed. Silent. Watching.]
[He stared at her stomach—not with guilt, not with remorse—but with obsession. As if waiting for something holy to emerge. As if the child inside was some divine miracle he'd been promised.]
[There was no care for Alice's condition, no kindness in his presence. He never asked how she felt, never offered comfort. He was simply… there. Like a shadow that refused to disappear.]
[Alice—weak, exhausted, shattered—lay in bed as days turned to weeks, and weeks into months.]
Nyx's voice came out in a whisper. "Did no one come for her?"
[No one was allowed.]
[He forbade the palace staff from entering her chambers. Her food was left outside the door. Not even the royal physicians were permitted without his explicit command. Nero had locked the world out.]
[He isolated her completely—sealed her away like a precious relic, guarding her not out of love, but out of twisted possession.]
[Every day, he would come, sit beside her bed, and just… watch. Sometimes he would speak softly to the unborn child, whispering promises and dreams. He never once looked her in the eyes again.]
[She cried in silence. Alone. With no one to hold her hand. No one to tell her she wasn't at fault.]
[She was his daughter. And yet, he treated her like a vessel—nothing more than a carrier for what he saw as his perfect creation.]
Nyx's breathing grew heavier. His voice cracked as he said, "He didn't care about her… just the child."
[Yes.]
[He believed you would be the ultimate heir—born of royal blood on both sides, his and Bryanne's. In his mind, you were the destined ruler, the rebirth of his beloved, the perfect continuation of his twisted legacy.]
[He believed you were everything.]
[Alice didn't get a moment of relief.]
[Not even after he stopped touching her.]
[Because the fear never left.]
[From the moment Nero found out she was pregnant, his gaze changed. He no longer looked at her—he looked through her, straight to her stomach. Like it was the only thing that mattered.]
[His eyes weren't human anymore.]
[They were like a ghoul's—empty, soulless, desperate.]
[Every time he sat by her bedside, Alice held her breath. Afraid. Afraid that one day… he'd snap. That he'd lose patience.]
[That he'd take a knife… and tear her open just to get to the child sooner.]
[That thought never left her mind.]
[She couldn't sleep. Could barely eat. Her body was weakening more with every passing day. But she clung to life.]