The sun had long vanished from
Mensis' heart.
Ten years had passed since she
swallowed the centipede—by the will of someone who gave her no choice. Ten years of silence, of submission, of a quiet battle writhing inside her like a snake dripping its slow venom.
The palaces had changed. The corridors had changed. The once-golden walls that dazzled her childish eyes had become a prison plated in gold, a glamour that couldn't hide its cruelty.
She walked steadily through the imperial palace hall. The polished white marble floor reflected her shadow like a ghostly wraith. Her black gown, embroidered with silver threads, dragged a long silent train behind her, as silent as her breath. Draped over her shoulders was a velvet shawl the color of midnight, fastened with a brooch shaped like a withered red rose.
A scent of amber and vanilla drifted from her cascading hair—but no one cared. People did not see her as a woman. They saw a shadow, a weapon, a curse walking on two feet.
The soldiers' whispers never ceased:
> "They say she hasn't smiled in seven years..."
"She's just a puppet moved by the Tenth Prince—or should I say, the Emperor now."
"Didn't you hear? One of the servants claimed he saw her talking to herself at night..."
But Mensis didn't stop. Her ash-gray eyes took in nothing. She responded to nothing. Her pale skin, her lips bruised from unconscious biting, her hands folded tightly over her chest—everything about her was still… terrifying.
Her steps led her to the western wing. The same room. The same place that had once held her father and mother. She opened the door.
The room was small. Simple. A stark contrast to the palace's grandeur.
A wooden bed with a faded gray sheet. A round table with a cracked mirror on its edge. A tattered old picture in a worn frame—once a symbol of unity. Their laughter still echoed faintly in the walls.
But now… nothing.
Ten years had passed.
Ten years of obedience, repression, silent screams behind a face carved in ice.
Mensis stood before the gates of the imperial palace, in her flowing black robes, her calm steps slicing through the soldiers' silence. The guards' eyes followed her, filled with a fear they dared not show, but the whispers slipped through like smoke:
> "She's terrifying..."
"They say she lost all emotion..."
"They say the Tenth Prince made her his slave… in his own way..."
But Mensis didn't care. Her face was marble. Her eyes, as dry as barren land. And her heart… she had no heart anymore.
Everything had changed the day the Tenth Prince—Alikar—forced her to swallow the centipede. That filthy creature that now dwelled inside her, gnawing at her whenever she disobeyed. It screamed in her veins, always reminding her that it was her weakness.
> "For him to become Emperor, I sacrificed everything..."
She thought as she walked, remembering how Alikar used her father's talent for organization and planning—only to destroy him like a broken puppet. He burned him alive before her and her mother, laughing as if at a grand joke. That night never left her memory.
Yet still, she carried out his commands. She gathered nobles, coordinated rebel movements, handed over every secret of the inner council—all just so she wouldn't die.
But something inside her had died long ago.
Every unshed tear had turned to ash.
And now, she returned to her old chamber, the one that once held her little family. The moment she entered, her icy mask cracked, and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing in wounded silence.
> "Mother… Father… forgive me… I swear I will take revenge."
That evening, her name was called.
She entered to find Alikar, the new Emperor, seated on his throne like a devil wearing a crown of gold.
He smiled at her—that same smile she had always loathed.
He stepped forward, holding up a black pendant with a small red gem, then fastened it around her neck.
He kissed her neck slowly, whispering:
> "I'm proud of you, Mensis… You made my glory. I love you, truly."
But Mensis didn't smile.
She didn't even blink.
Because she saw the truth.
> "This necklace is just another shackle… a new nightmare tightening around my throat. I am nothing but a prisoner—and now my cage is just more elegant."
The night was eerily quiet.
The sky was thick with clouds, as if ready to cry—but it didn't. Just like her.
Mensis sat on the ledge of the eastern palace window, wearing a long black velvet dress, draping down to the floor like her heavy shadow.
Her right hand clutched her chest...
There, deep inside, something was moving.
Something small. Alive. Crawling through her heart tissue slowly, each step a poisoned blade.
She didn't scream. She didn't cry. She simply… breathed. With difficulty.
> "Does it hurt?"
A soft, smooth, sick voice…
She turned slowly.
The Tenth Prince—Alikar—stood behind her.
He smiled.
His smile was always a tightrope between tenderness and cruelty.
> "This is the price of loyalty, Mensis… You chose this."
Her eyes held no emotion.
But within them, a storm raged.
And suddenly… time cracked.
---
[Flashback – Ten Years Ago]
The smell of burning human flesh is unlike anything else.
What troubled Mensis the most was that she could never forget it.
The screams...
They were her parents' voices, calling her name until their cries dissolved in the rising flames like a demon's fire.
She was tied to a pillar.
Forced to watch.
> "Look closely, Mensis," Alikar had said, standing beside her with a glass of red wine in hand, as if attending a royal ball.
"Your parents betrayed the Empire. They betrayed you… I'm only punishing them."
She wanted to scream. To rip his face apart. To burn with them.
But she couldn't.
The centipede had been implanted in her heart just an hour earlier…
The pain was electric…
Each time she resisted, the tiny creature bit into her heart with microscopic fangs.
> "Ah, my dear…"
He leaned down and whispered into her ear:
> "Do you feel it? It's part of you now, just like your loyalty. Painful? Wonderful."
Then he kissed her cheek while she cried in silence.
And that silence clung to her for ten long years.
---
[Back to the Present]
Mensis gasped as she leaned against the wall, hiding her pain behind a frozen smile.
Alikar entered at last, his steps slow and deliberate, as if walking into a temple.
In his small hand was a black velvet box.
> "It's time, Mensis..."
He opened it.
A black-gold necklace with a mysterious blue gem in the center, like an eye gazing with contempt.
> "You'll look stunning in this."
He approached.
With a hand cold as ice, he grasped her neck and gently lifted her hair.
She didn't resist.
But she slowly clenched her fist, until her ring finger trembled.
The scent of his skin, his heavy perfume, his breath so close… everything in her screamed to run.
He fastened the necklace around her neck, then whispered:
> "I'm proud of you..."
And I love you."
Then he smiled.
That smile was the final shackle.
He leaned in closer.
Placed a dark pill between his lips.
That pill… it looked like a tiny dead heart.
Then, suddenly…
He kissed her.
A cold, damp, poisoned kiss.
And as his lips pressed against hers,
she swallowed the pill… against her will.
She gasped.
Something new awakened inside her.
Perhaps… more dangerous than the first insect.
He pulled his face back slightly, and in his sweet voice, said:
"Now, you are mine more than ever."
But Mensis no longer heard him…
She was staring at the room's mirror, seeing her face.
A face with no tears. No life. No dream.
Just a woman…
A prisoner wearing her shackle in the shape of a necklace.