The guards dragged me into the holding cell.

No warm bed tonight. Just the dim, cramped space.

Special silver chains bound my wrists and ankles.

With every second that passed, my skin burned. It was the cruellest punishment for vampires.

But I didn't cry out.

Compared to the hollowness inside me, this physical pain felt almost like a mercy.

After an unknown amount of time, the small door creaked open.

It wasn't Kieran who entered, but an elderly vampire in a white coat—Dr. Vane, Kieran's private physician.

"His Highness sent me to tend to your wounds," Vane sighed, opening his medical kit. "You were too impulsive this time, Miss Aurora. Miss Seraphina is the future mistress of this household."

I didn't respond.

Seeing my silence, Vane applied ointment to my injuries, speaking as if making casual conversation. "His Highness just bought out the entire top floor of the medical tower for her. Do you know how fragile that holy blood is? Even a minor injury requires the best blood therapy. His Highness has been at her bedside, never leaving."

I closed my eyes.

While I was injured and locked away in this dark, cold place, he was with her.

"And," Vane lowered his voice, "the assassin has been identified. They were sent by the Ashford family. His Highness is furious, but he feels… you brought this trouble upon yourself, that you startled Miss Seraphina."

I let out a small, dry laugh, finding the situation deeply ironic.

"Then let him punish me properly."

Two days later, Kieran finally appeared.

He wore a black turtleneck sweater, his face pale, with dark circles under his eyes.

He clearly hadn't slept well these past two days—no doubt, he'd been caring for his precious one.

He opened the door and looked down at me.

"Are you insane?" was his first question. "That was a silver knife. If it had gone a little lower, you would have crippled her hand."

"She wore my necklace on an animal," I said calmly, meeting his gaze. "If I had to do it again, I would have gone for her throat."

"It was just a joke!" Kieran roared, his voice echoing in the narrow corridor. "Seraphina said she just wanted to see the necklace's quality. She never actually put it on the cat! She was just jealous of your jewelry, trying to make you angry. How could you attack her over something so trivial?"

"Trivial?"

I looked at the man I had loved for five years.

Suddenly, he seemed like a stranger.

"That assassin's knife was less than an inch from my throat that day. And she only pretended to trip," I said, pointing to the fading bloodstain on my neck. "But you chose to save her."

Kieran's eyes flickered with guilt.

But he quickly regained his composure and spoke with indignation.

"She has no way to protect herself! You are a powerful pureblood, you could have dodged, couldn't you? Besides, you weren't seriously injured!"

"So, I'm guilty for being strong, and she's right for being weak?"

"I don't want to argue about this," Kieran said, rubbing his temples, his tone softening. "Miss Seraphina's holy blood is very unstable. This injury has severely depleted her energy. You will reflect here for a few days. When she is stable, I will let you out."

He turned to leave.

"Kieran."

I stopped him.

"Did you ever truly love me?"

He paused, his back to me. There was a moment of hesitation, but then he finally spoke.

"I…"

"No need to say it. I understand."

I gently cut him off.

Kieran's posture stiffened.

He turned around, looking at me with suspicion. "Understand what?"

Leaning against the cold wall, I managed a faint smile. "You are right. For her, anything is worth doing."

This wasn't something I would have said before.

The old me would have been hysterical, demanding promises.

But now, I simply offered my understanding.

Kieran looked at my eyes, as calm as a stagnant pool, and for the first time, genuine unease showed on his face.

He opened his mouth, as if to explain something.

But at that moment, his assistant rushed in.

"My Lord, Miss Seraphina is awake!"

He merely frowned, then turned to me.

"You understand."

"I have something to attend to. I'll see you later."

He then swiftly followed his assistant out of the holding cell.

I watched his back disappear, a hint of irony in my smile.

It's always like this. Whenever Seraphina is involved, I'm always the one left behind.

But that's alright.

He doesn't know that when a woman stops arguing, it means she's ready to walk away.

A week later, I was released.

Not because Kieran had a change of heart, but because Seraphina was out of the hospital, and he was in good spirits.

The sunlight was blinding the moment I stepped out of the detention cell.

The butler handed me an itemized bill.

"Miss Aurora, this is for your treatment, food, and lodging during your time in the dungeon. Lord Kieran has already settled it for you."

Looking at the astronomical figure, all I could do was laugh.

He imprisons and tortures me, then expects gratitude?

"Tell him I'll repay it."

I returned to Moonlight Tower one last time and found most of my things were gone.

That room had been completely transformed into Seraphina's "recovery suite."

Without pausing, I went straight to Christie's auction house in the city center.

During my treatment, Dr. Vane had let slip a crucial piece of information: to fund Seraphina's rare supplements and to punish my "disobedience," Magnus had decided to auction off a collection of family heirlooms.

Among them was the true Blood Moon ruby necklace.

So Seraphina had lied that day. The necklace wasn't with her but with Magnus, who was solely driven by profit.

The auction house was opulent, a hub for New York's elite.

I sat in a corner, wearing sunglasses.

Before coming, I'd sold off all my assets, raising fifty million.

It should have been enough. I had to get my mother's last possession back.

"Next, we have lot number 8, from the ancient Nocturne family, the legendary Blood Moon ruby…"

The auctioneer's voice boomed with excitement.

The necklace lay in its black velvet box, like a drop of solidified blood, radiating a mournful glow.

It was the only heirloom my mother had left me.

"Starting bid, five million dollars."

"Ten million," someone called out.

"Twenty million."

The price kept climbing.

I gripped the armrests of my seat, my fingernails digging in.

Finally, I raised my paddle:

"Fifty million."

But someone immediately countered:

"Sixty million."

A familiar voice echoed from the VIP box on the second floor.

I looked up.

Kieran was seated there, a wine glass in his hand, appearing utterly at ease.

Seraphina was beside him, playing the role of the demure woman.

He was buying the necklace?

A faint, almost absurd flicker of hope ignited within me.

Perhaps… he was buying it to give back to me? As an apology? After all, it was my mother's heirloom.

"Lord Kieran bids sixty million! Are there any higher offers?"

The hall erupted in murmurs.

Sixty million dollars for a necklace. It was an exorbitant sum.

"Sixty million, going once, sixty million, going twice… Sold!"

The auction hammer fell.

My heart sank with it.

A server carried the packaged necklace up to the second-floor box.

I removed my sunglasses, staring intently at the box.

I saw it all too clearly.

Kieran took the box, opened it, and removed the red necklace.

Without even glancing down at the crowd, he turned and gently fastened the necklace around Seraphina's neck.

"This is a get-well gift for you." Though I couldn't hear his voice, I read his lips.

Seraphina shrieked with delight, throwing herself into his arms for a kiss.

I felt as though I was plunging into an ice cellar.

Something inside me shattered completely.

He knew perfectly well it was my mother's heirloom, yet he bought it without hesitation and then hung it like a mere trinket around the neck of the woman who had ruined my life.

I stood up and pulled out my phone, dialing the number I had sworn never to call again.

"Lucian," I said into the receiver, my voice eerily calm.

Lucian's concerned voice came from the other end, "What is it, my little fiancée calling me out of the blue?"

"Come pick me up in a few days. Once I've settled things here, we'll get married," I said, looking at the embracing couple on the second floor, speaking each word with deliberate precision.

After the auction, I found them near the VIP exit.

"Name your price, Kieran," I said, blocking their luxury car. My voice was cool and businesslike. "I want that necklace."

Seraphina, nestled in his arms, flinched. She clutched the large ruby at her throat, as if I might snatch it away.

Kieran frowned. "You don’t have money, Aurora. Your accounts are frozen."

I met his gaze, playing my last card.

"I’ll sign a lifelong contract. I’ll be the Nocturne family’s exclusive perfumer. Just give me back my mother’s necklace."

Within their bloodlines, a lifelong contract was practically servitude. Even with different terms, it was a deeply agonizing commitment. For a noble pureblood, it was a grave insult. But I didn’t care anymore.

Kieran paused, a flicker of complex emotion crossing his eyes.

Then Seraphina tugged his sleeve, her voice soft. "Since the necklace was purchased, it’s now family property. I want to wear it. How about this? Once I’m done with it, I’ll give it back to my sister, alright?"

Kieran glanced at me, a hint of hesitation in his expression, then finally nodded.

But that afternoon, when Seraphina reappeared, the necklace was gone.

I waited a moment, then finally spoke.

"…Where is the necklace?"

Seraphina gasped. "Oh! I was playing with Snowball and let him try it on. I completely forgot to take it off him."

Snowball was the pet cat she kept in the back garden.

As she spoke, she blew a whistle from around her neck.

A pure white cat sprinted over instantly, my mother’s necklace dangling from its fur.

"The red looks so good with his fur, doesn’t it?" Seraphina smiled, lowering her head to stroke the cat’s fur.

My sanity shattered in that instant.

I didn’t think. My body moved faster than my brain, lunging directly at Seraphina.

I didn’t care about the consequences. I just wanted to sever the hand that desecrated my mother’s memory.

But the next second, my dagger never reached her.

A surge of immense shadow power slammed into my chest.

I was flung backward, crashing hard against a pillar in the corner of the garden.

The crack of breaking bones was sharp and sickeningly clear.

"Enough!" Kieran’s furious voice boomed.

He stood before Seraphina, dark mist swirling around him. He looked down at me, sprawled on the ground and coughing blood, his eyes devoid of pity, filled only with disappointment and disgust.

"I gave you a chance, Aurora. But you’ve disappointed me far too much, trying to harm Seraphina twice over a mere trinket."

"That… that was my mother…" I struggled to rise, but the searing pain in my ribs sent me crashing back down.

Kieran turned away coldly, issuing his command to the guards behind him.

"Take her to the ‘Cell of Silence.’ No one is to visit without my express orders."

The Cell of Silence.

It was a place reserved for those who committed the gravest offenses, a hundred times more brutal than any previous confinement.

Two burly bloodline guards roughly hoisted me up.

Seraphina stood by the car, looking down at me, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips. She mouthed the words: He’s mine now.

I was dragged into darkness.

This time, there were no doctors. No medicine.

Only specially forged silver chains piercing my collarbones.

Every so often, someone would drive a silver dagger into my palm.

As the burning agony pushed me to the brink of unconsciousness, the lead guard crouched down and patted my face.

"Don’t blame us for being harsh, Miss Aurora," he sneered. "Lord Kieran specifically instructed that you need a proper lesson. Learn what obedience means."