Chapter 3

My hands were crippled, and the silver had burned my feet down to necrotic deep tissue.

For the next two weeks, I was tossed aside in my room like a broken ragdoll, left to fend for myself and waste away.

During those days, watching the sun rise and set outside my window, I mentally rehearsed the forbidden art of severing the Blood Pact over and over again.

I either needed Valerius's blood, or I needed him to willingly drink my own heart's blood, mixed with a specific incantation.

Only then could I unilaterally shatter this shackle without alerting him.

The opportunity finally arrived two days later, on the night of the full moon.

That evening, a grand banquet was held in the castle to celebrate Genevieve's full recovery. From my room, I could hear the melodious music and cheerful laughter drifting from the main hall.

Using my heavily bandaged, barely functioning hands, I felt beneath my bed for a silver dagger. I had hidden it there long ago.

Without a second of hesitation, I plunged the dagger into my own chest.

A muffled groan escaped my lips as white-hot pain tore through me, but I clenched my jaw, catching the purest essence of blood welling from my heart into a goblet.

Then, I mixed in pulverized Soulsever Weed—a rare herb capable of numbing the sensory connection of a Blood Pact.

With the preparation complete, I carried the goblet toward the main hall. Every step I took sent a piercing, bone-deep agony shooting up from my unhealed feet.

The moment I pushed open the doors to the banquet hall, the lively chatter came to a dead halt.

Every eye in the room zeroed in on me. I was as pale as a ghost, my heavily bandaged hands barely visible beneath a black cloak.

Valerius sat at the head of the table with Genevieve nestled in his arms. Upon seeing me, his eyes instantly iced over.

"What are you doing here? Who permitted you to leave your room?" His voice dripped with thinly veiled disgust.

Ignoring the mocking and disdainful stares of the onlookers, I walked straight up to him.

"I came to apologize." I looked directly at him, my voice as eerily calm as stagnant water. "You were right. I shouldn't have been jealous of Genevieve, and I shouldn't have angered you."

Valerius froze. He clearly hadn't expected someone as stubborn and unyielding as me to bow my head in front of so many people.

His eyes flickered, and his tone softened slightly, though it still carried a haughty arrogance. "You've finally realized your place? As long as you behave, the position of the Lady of the House is still yours. But you must offer a toast to Genevieve as an apology."

"Alright."

I agreed without hesitation. I raised the goblet infused with my heart's blood and the Soulsever Weed, holding it out to him.

"This is a wine of atonement I brewed myself. If you drink it, it means you accept my apology. From this day forward, I will never interfere with you and Genevieve again."

Valerius stared at the goblet in my hand, furrowing his brow. He evidently didn't believe I would compromise so easily.

"Sister, you haven't put more poison in this drink, have you?" Genevieve chimed in with feigned innocence, though her eyes brimmed with provocation.

I didn't even glance at her. I just kept my eyes locked on Valerius.

"What? Is the mighty Vampire Lord too cowardly to even drink a cup of wine from me?" A mocking smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. "Or are you afraid I've slipped a love potion in here to make you fall for me all over again?"

Those words struck his ego with flawless precision.

"Ridiculous!" he scoffed, snatching the goblet from my grip. "Audelia, you'd better remember what you said today. I will drink this, but if you ever dare touch a single hair on Genevieve's head again, I will absolutely kill you."

With that, he tipped his head back and drained the blood in one gulp.

Watching his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed the last drop, an indescribable wave of relief rushed over my heart.

The ritual was complete.

"I will remember," I looked at him, enunciating every word clearly. "From this day forward, we go our separate ways. In life or in death, we shall never cross paths again."

Valerius lowered the goblet, his eyebrows snapping tightly together at my words. He seemed to sense something was amiss as a fleeting stab of pain pierced his chest.

"Save your pathetic mind games, Audelia," he said, waving me off with sheer annoyance. "Go back to your room. As long as you don't hurt Genevieve again, you can stay there quietly forever."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the banquet hall without an ounce of regret.

The very second I stepped past the castle's massive outer doors, I silently chanted the final syllable of the severing incantation.

Deep within my soul, the Blood Pact that had entangled us for a century violently shattered into oblivion.

The sheer, devastating agony of having half my soul physically ripped away made my vision turn entirely black, sending me stumbling toward the ground. But I choked back the blood rising in my throat and staggered past the gates into the vast, endless night.

Valerius, you are free.

And so am I.