There was dead silence all around. All of the servants took a sharp breath and looked at me hatefully and with disdain. I stood stunned where I was. It never occurred to me that Anna would stoop so low to destroy her reputation just to frame me.

Dracula turned slowly to look at me. His eyes were red when he stared at me. "Emily… You got someone to rape her?!"

"No, I didn't!" I shook my head and tried to explain. "All I did was lock her up. She was the one who—"

"Enough!" There was a loud slap. Dracula had slapped me hard on the face with full force. I was smacked heavily into the wall and spat out blood. "How dare you still give excuses, Emily?! You need to be smarter with your lies! Tell me, who in their right mind would get someone to rape themselves?"

I knew there was no point in explaining, so I kept my mouth shut. However, this seemed to verify the situation for him. "Werewolves are just unevolved beasts. If you enjoy using despicable means to trample on the dignities of others, I'll show you what it feels like to have your own dignity trampled to the ground!"

He pointed at Anna's feet and ordered me, "Kneel! Kneel at Anna's feet in front of everyone, and slap yourself until Anna tells you to stop."

I looked at him in disbelief. I was his mate. I was the Werewolf Princess. How could he ask me to kneel at the feet of his mistress and slap myself? "I won't do it." I straightened up my back. I had to protect the last of my dignity.

"You won't do it?" Dracula sneered and gathered energy into his hand. "You may be tough, but what about the bastard in your belly? Do you want him to suffer?"

Bastard?

My heart tightened in my chest. How could he call his own baby a bastard? He knew how much I cared for the baby, which was why he threatened me this way.

I closed my eyes. It felt like the blood in my veins was starting to flow backward. I had only one more day to get through this, so I held myself back.

My knees hit hard on the ground. I could hear the servants trying to stifle their laughs. I raised my hand and slapped myself on the face.

Anna buried herself in Dracula's arms. A victorious smile appeared on her face despite her audible crying. "Dracula, Emily looks so pitiful. Let's forget about it."

However, Dracula did not listen to her and said coldly, "Continue slapping yourself! Haven't you eaten? Slap yourself harder!"

Any remaining feelings I had of him vanished with every slap. I had no idea how many times I slapped myself. My cheeks were terribly swollen, and my mouth was covered in blood.

"That's enough." Dracula finally stopped me, and he looked at me in disgust. "The way you look right now is truly unappetizing. Men! Throw her into the water dungeon! Lock her up there to wash her dirty heart until it's clean!"

I did not put up a struggle. All I did was give Dracula a deathly stare. "You'll regret this, Dracula." However, he did not even look back at me and left with Anna in his arms.

The guards pushed me roughly into the water dungeon and cuffed my hands. That was when I realized that the chains cuffing me were made of pure silver.

When the pure silver touched my wrists, the smell from the burn started to fill the air. The intensity of the pain spread from my skin into my bones, and my body quivered from it.

I could not hold back my screams as my body curled up involuntarily. The baby in my belly started to squirm violently. It was clear that he had also been affected.

The guards looked at each other. "The count must have really been angered. Look at how cruel he is to her even though she's pregnant."

"Don't be fooled by her. The count said her body is physically strong."

"Serves her right for not knowing her place."

"She's just a princess the werewolves don't want."

"Ms. Bordeaux is the apple of the count's eye. She should be honored to be punished for doing what she did to Ms. Bordeaux."

They kicked away the only source of food and water I had that was placed in the corner before they locked the doors to the dungeon. "The count has given orders that the countess doesn't need to have any food or water to keep her temper in check, especially when she has such a hot temper."

Their footsteps got further and further away, and dead silence returned to the dungeon. I was sprawled on the ground with the skin on my wrists burnt to a crisp. My sight started to blur as I remembered memories from my past life.

My skin corroded from taking a hit of holy water from a demon hunter when it was meant for Dracula. He had held me in his arms, his eyes filled with pain as he swore to me, "I will never let you suffer like this again as long as I'm alive.

"You're my wife, and I will give you the best of everything in this world. Once we have our baby, he'll become the most noble count of all."

His loving words rang in my ears sarcastically.

The baby's movement in my body got even more agitated. That little guy must be protesting his environment. I looked up with difficulty as sweat got into my eyes. It really hurt.

There was only one day left until the Great Glare, but I could not hold on any longer.

I clenched my teeth. No! I could not die in this place. At the very least, I could not die and take my baby with me. I mustered every remaining werewolf power left within me to fight against the corrosion of the pure silver.

However, every time I used force, searing pain shot through my entire body. Dracula had placed a Restriction Spell on the chains customized to counter my bloodline. He wanted to tame me. Once I was tamed and admitted my mistake, that I was wrong for getting someone to rape Anna, he would show me mercy and let me out of the dungeon.

After that, he would stroke my head and say, "You're just too stubborn by nature. Isn't it nice to be a good girl like this?"

I bit down on my tongue to force myself awake with the pain from it. I refused to give in. Time passed slowly, and I had no idea how long I had been in the dungeon. My hands had lost all feeling in them, and the baby in my belly no longer had any energy as its squirming became weak.

This was a sign of miscarriage. If my baby died, I would not live either. I suddenly regretted my brashness. I should not have fallen into Anna's trap so easily. I had to see Dracula, even if I had to lie.

That was when I heard footsteps coming from the dungeon doors. I tried my best to open my eyes, and I saw a familiar figure under the dim light. It was Dracula's personal attendant, the vampire who was always meeting Anna in private.

He was holding a tray with a cup and a silver knife. "Count Dracula has sent me here to check if you're repentant, countess."

We were separated by metal bars as he stood outside the dungeon with an arrogant look in his eye. "Ms. Bordeaux's wounds are acting up again. We need the medicinal properties in your blood urgently. The count said that your crime will be forgiven if you're willing to fill up the cup with your blood."

I stared at the cup and laughed hoarsely. "Where is he?"

The attendant frowned as he looked at my burnt wrist, which was starting to smell. He took out a handkerchief to cover his nose. "The Count is taking care of Ms. Bordeaux in her room. He doesn't have time to visit a dirty place like this. You should know your place and not let them wait for too long."

"He doesn't have time?" I repeated the sentence in a soft voice as I felt my heart harden. To think that I loved him so much in my past life. My life was hanging in the balance, and all he cared about was staying in that love nest of his while looking after a woman who was pretending to be sick.

I felt a sharp pain coming from my abdomen. It felt like something was about to leave my body. That was the baby signaling that its life was about to slip away. I did not have much time. "Tell Dracula that I need to see him. If he doesn't come, I'll die right here and take the baby in my belly to the grave with me.

"Doesn't he need a baby of mixed bloodlines to secure his position in power? Let's see if he dares take a chance with it!"

The attendant's expression changed. He hesitated before turning to run out of the dungeon.

It was an excruciating wait. I could feel my blood gradually turn cold. The wounds on my wrist stopped bleeding, and all that was left on them was blackened, rotting flesh. His familiar footsteps were never heard.

The person who returned was still that attendant. He had a sly look on his face when he said, "The count says being threatened by others is what he hates most. He says if you want to die, why wait until now? He also wanted me to tell you that if you have the energy to threaten him, you should continue staying here. Once you're prepared to admit your mistake and offer up your blood, you can negotiate with him."

He turned to leave after that and took the lamp with the weak light along with him. Darkness swallowed me whole. It was that moment that I heard something break inside my heart.

It turned out I was not the only one Dracula did not care about. Even the baby meant nothing to him, and he proved it by ignoring my words about how our baby was about to die.

My head lowered to look at the dark red mark of our Blood Bond on the inside of my wrist. It was created on the day we had our mate bond. He had gone through the werewolves' ritual and sworn never to betray me under the moon.

However, the mark had become dim and looked like a joke in my eyes. My body's temperature became even more serious as I could feel every organ inside me burning. It was my body reacting to the silver poisoning. If this continued, I couldn't last until noon the next day. I would rot and incinerate tonight.

As I was about to lose consciousness, the crisp clacking of high heels broke the silence of the dungeon. It sounded particularly sharp to the ear. The dungeon doors were pushed open, and the room was instantly flooded with a bright light that blinded me. I could hardly open my eyes.

A figure in a long, lacey dress entered the dungeon. It was Anna. It was the very same woman who had been agitated, and whose old wounds were supposed to be flaring up. She was standing in front of me, looking high-spirited.

She waved off the servant behind her and looked down at me in a superior manner. "I heard you wanted to see Dracula, Emily. I'm so sorry to inform you that he's resting right now because he was too tired from all the lovemaking we enjoyed in bed just now."

Anna kicked my leg in disgust. "Tsk, tsk. How pitiful. Weren't you once the elegant and noble Werewolf Princess? Look at you now. You're just like a pitiful dog."

It took me a lot of effort to open my eyes as I looked at her through my eyelashes that were sticking together because of all the sweat. "You planned that whole show, didn't you?"

Anna laughed. Her laughter echoed in the empty dungeon. "So what if I did? All I need to do is give Dracula a little frown, and he'll carve out his heart for me. As for you, he'll only think you're putting up an act even if you died here."

She crouched, and her gaze fell on the bump on my belly. There was a taunting look in her eye. "That little bastard just refuses to die. He's still in there after everything that has happened to you."

Anna purposely spoke in a higher pitch, "Oh, my wounds have flared up again. If you refuse to give me your blood, I have no choice but to get it myself."

She shook a crystal bottle in her hand, which contained an eerily purplish-black liquid. "This is the juice of Wolfsbane that took me a lot of effort to obtain. I heard it works great on werewolf babies. All you need is to take a sip, and that little monster will become a puddle of bloody water that your body will purge.

"When that happens, all I need to do is tell Dracula that you accidentally suffered a miscarriage. He won't blame me for it."

My eyes widened as I instinctively backed away from Anna, but I was restricted by the chains on me. "You wouldn't dare…"

Anna opened up the bottle slowly. She grabbed me by the jaw and tried to pour the liquid down my throat. "Why wouldn't I dare to? There are only two of us here, Emily. If you're willing to beg me and kneel at my feet, my hand might quiver, and less liquid will be fed to you."

My child. I had to protect my child even if it meant death. I clenched my teeth and went weak in the knees. I banged my head heavily onto the stone floors. "I'm begging you… Please don't hurt my child…"

Anna laughed maniacally. "What a good, obedient dog you are. Unfortunately, you're too naive, Emily. I only promised not to feed you the juice, but I didn't say I won't do anything else."

She turned her wrist and splashed the liquid right at my belly without holding back.

My screams echoed in the dungeon. My clothes were corroding, and I could feel burning pain on my skin. I tried to fling the poisonous liquid off of me as it started to eat at my flesh and blood.

However, Anna stepped on the back of my hand and viciously gave it a good grind into the ground. She bent over and leaned in close to my ear to say the most cruel words in the softest voice, "Let me tell you the truth. I'm not the one who wants that baby dead. Dracula told me himself that he doesn't want that monster who possesses the dirty bloodline of the werewolves.

"He told me that you're just a mobile blood bank and that the child was an accident. If that troublesome little thing can be taken care of, you'll be able to focus on supplying blood to him."

I could not hear anything else after that. So, that was the real truth. There was no hate born out of love, nor was there any misunderstanding. I was just a tool from the very start. Even this baby was a troublesome obstacle to him.

Now that I learned the truth, there was nothing to hold me back. If they wanted me dead, I would just kill one of them first!

I looked up once more, but this time, there was a crazed look in my eye. Anna jumped in fright when she saw the look, and she backed away instinctively. I had one last trick up my sleeve.

When I was still with the werewolves, a witch had given me a tube of potion and told me that it could save me if my life was in danger. When Anna was not paying attention, I quickly drank the potion.

"What are you doing?!"

By the time Anna noticed what I was doing, it was too late.