Chapter 228: A Turn Off
What even was this woman?
Sienna’s mind had stopped functioning, overwheld, crushed under the weight of impossibility after impossibility.
Cecilia knew. She knew everything. That Sienna had drugged her own brother. That she had planned to trap him, to claim him, to make him hers. She had even lured her here, using herself as bait, and was now collecting proof.
Proof to show Arkai.
Proof that would destroy everything.
But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was the strength. This impossible, incomprehensible strength that had frozen an entire cetery, that had stopped ti itself, that had rendered Sienna’s magic completely useless. She must’ve done so unimaginable things to be able to get this strong.
Not even her mother, Ines, was this strong.
This was... demonic!
This woman... Cecilia Araceli must be such an evil person. Such an evil, evil person.
She knew everything, yet she had still gotten trapped in that room. Was that part of her plan too? Had she wanted to be there? Had she wanted to—
She was also the girl Senior Arzhen hated so badly. The one who had sicced her boyfriend, Oathran, on him. Beating him up into a pulp. Sienna didn’t even know if Arzhen was okay now, if he was recovering, if he would ever be the sa.
And just now, she had casually ntioned her other boyfriend. That dangerous, delinquent Eastiel Edengold. As if he were nothing more than a convenient wallet.
She already had two boyfriends. She used them as lackeys, as resources, as tools. Why did she need to take Arkai too?
Such greed. Such evil.
Yes. This was it. This was what they called a Villainess.
She had stolen Sienna’s precious mont. Her first mont with her brother. The night that should have been hers. The night she had planned for years, dread of, ached for. This woman had taken it. How could she have Arkai’s very first ti? It was supposed to be hers!
And she did it all with that smile. That warm, eerily calm, beautiful smile. The smile of a holy woman, of a saint, of soone who looked like she belonged in temples and stained glass. But underneath, underneath, she was cold. Calculating. Precise.
Demonic.
She had ruined everything. Her love, plans, destiny. All of it. And she had done it in a way that was so much more shrewd, so much more evil, than anything Sienna could have imagined.
She didn’t understand. She would never understand how much Sienna loved Arkai. How deep that love went. How long she had waited, how much she had sacrificed, how many nights she had lain awake imagining a future where he was hers.
Never.
"Sienna."
The voice cut through her spiraling thoughts.
Cecilia’s narrowed eyes looked down on her.
"Why do you do all this?"
Sienna’s eyes faltered.
"Do you know what kind of trauma and lifelong damage you’ll inflict upon your brother?"
Cecilia’s voice was cold now. Icy. The warmth had drained away entirely, leaving sothing harder beneath.
"Do you know how much you’ll ruin your brother with your actions?"
Cecilia rembered.
The man in the dark bathroom. Soaking in a full tub of cold water, his body pale as death, his pulse barely there.
The crimson eyes that had opened in the darkness... not Arkai’s eyes, not the man she knew, but sothing else. Sothing broken. The creature, darker than darkness, that had lood over her, that had pinned her, that had been born from the very trauma Cecilia was now describing.
Sienna didn’t know. Couldn’t know. Hadn’t seen. Or not sane enough to see—
But Cecilia had.
And she would never forget.
"What do you know about him?" Sienna seethed, the words forcing themselves through her frozen lips. She pushed against the telekinetic hold, managing to yell, "You’re nothing to him! You don’t know Arkai!"
Cecilia’s expression didn’t change. If anything, it softened. A gentle, almost pitying warmth settling over her features.
"Careful."
She reached out, her fingers tracing along Sienna’s frozen cheek with a tenderness that was sohow more terrifying than violence.
"Do you not realize how much of your body is in my control right now?"
She leaned closer, her lips brushing against Sienna’s ear as she whispered.
"Your muscle. Your bones."
A pause.
"Your organs."
Sienna’s eyes widened in complete horror.
What—
"I can make your lungs stop contracting. I can make your heart stop beating." Cecilia’s voice was soft. "Even better. I can make your blood stop circulating."
She pulled away slowly.
Evil.
This evil, evil, evil demon—!
"And what if I know more about him than you think?" Cecilia asked, her head tilting slightly. "What if I tell you that what you’re doing will destroy his life? That it will break him, long, long after you have no choice but to stop?"
She stepped back, her gaze never leaving Sienna’s face.
"You will be torturing him long after you can no longer do more damage personally. Because the damage you did will ripple outward and cause even more damage in the future."
What was this woman saying? What nonsense!
"The damage caused because the sister he thought he had... was actually soone who obsessively tried to ruin him. His reputation. His family. His best friend."
His son.
But that son wasn’t here in this world. At least not yet.
Cecilia’s voice was cold now. Hard.
In the real world, Sienna might have had "no choice." Her heat was uncontrolled. "No suppressant
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