The Chains of Obsession
Veronica stood frozen in the middle of the cold hallway, her mind completely shattered. That final look in Rodin’s eyes. It was the kind of glare he reserved for enemies he truly, deeply despised. Veronica’s chest tightened with a pain so sharp it felt like something had been carved out of her. Her breathing grew ragged. The fact that Rodin seemed to be rejecting her true feelings hurt her even more. And above all else, she couldn’t understand why he was this furious.
At that moment, Dagan and Gil, who had been peeking nervously from behind the wall, crept out cautiously.
“Sister-in-law… um, that is…” Dagan stammered, hesitant to speak.
Veronica knew she should quickly wipe away her tears and show the dignified face of an imperial princess in front of these bandits. But right now, she didn’t even have the strength for that.
“The boss doesn’t get like that unless it’s something serious. We’ve been living in this mountain stronghold for years, but we’ve never seen him give off an aura like that before,” Gil added, resting his chin on his hand with a grave expression, fanning the flames.
“Exactly. That woman earlier, the captain of the Red Rose or whatever her name was—Rosa? She was way more beautiful than I expected. Maybe the boss already knew her? Like, they had a hot and heavy thing back when he was a mercenary… This world’s big, but it’s also small as hell, right?”
“…Knew her? What the hell are you talking about?” Veronica’s head snapped around. A dangerous spark returned to her previously unfocused eyes.
“You know how seeing an old lover always makes people even angrier, right? Like, ‘Why are you showing up now? I was doing just fine without you!’ That kind of vibe. The way he looked earlier, it seemed like there was some weird mix of killing intent and lingering affection mixed in…”
“He’s right! The way those female mercenaries were looking at him was suspicious too. The boss’s past is so flashy, there’s probably a whole mountain of ‘female mercenary’ stories we don’t know about. And with a beauty like that…”
“A past…? You’re saying there were women in Rodin’s life that I didn’t know about? And a lot of them?” Veronica’s voice sank into a low, dangerous register. The truth—that Rodin’s rage had been pure hatred toward the very existence of mercenaries—had already been completely erased from her mind. In its place, a vicious jealousy and suspicion began to take root.
Once back in her room, Veronica sat on the bed and clutched a pillow so tightly it felt like it might burst. The sunset painted the sky outside the window in warm hues, but her inner world was filled with pitch-black darkness. Rodin’s cold attitude and the words from Dagan and the others swirled together in her head, creating the worst possible scenario.
“So that’s why you got so angry? Because I brought all those women here at once? Because I touched on the painful memories you wanted to keep hidden?” Veronica’s lips trembled. She had concluded that the reason Rodin pushed her away wasn’t trauma related to mercenaries, but guilt or lingering longing for old lovers.
“No, it’s not even painful for you. You just can’t forget them. You’re still longing for those days when you ran across blood-soaked battlefields whispering sweet nothings with those women, aren’t you? That’s why you’re sick of this peaceful life of planting cabbages—and sick of me!”
Her nails tore through the pillowcase. Grief instantly twisted into a razor-sharp possessiveness.
“You always tell me everything is ‘bothersome,’ but in front of those women you radiate such intense killing intent… That was all just interest, wasn’t it? You still see them as women!”
Veronica looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled chillingly. When she had been abandoned by the imperial family and drifted to this place, the only thing left for her was Rodin. A life without him was something she could neither imagine nor allow to exist.
“I won’t forgive it. Whether it’s your past or your present, I will never tolerate any other existence mixing in. I’m the one who protected you. I’m the one who turned this mountain stronghold into the empire’s greatest fortress.”
A maddened violet mana flickered in her eyes.
“Rodin… you belong to me. I picked you up. I tamed you. You are to stay by my side forever, eating the meat dishes I prepare and planting cabbages. Don’t even think about running away from me.”
The silence of night pressed down heavily on the stronghold. The dining hall, which would normally be filled with the smell of grilling meat and laughter at this hour, was instead wrapped in an icy hush.
Veronica carefully arranged a tray with Rodin’s favorite meat dishes and steaming stew, then headed toward his room. A forced smile was plastered on her face.
Knock. Knock.
“Rodin, it’s time to eat. I put in plenty of the meat you like. It’s full of juicy flavor, so eat this and calm down, okay?”
There was no answer. The energy she felt from beyond the door was like a massive granite wall.
“Rodin? Can you hear me? Open the door. Let me see your face.”
“…Go away. I’m not eating.”
A low voice, as if scraped up from the bottom of hell, leaked through the crack in the door. Veronica’s smile twisted ever so slightly.
“I’ll apologize for what happened earlier. I didn’t realize those women were such special people to you. I must have taken your past too lightly.”
“What? Special? What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? I told you to get lost. Don’t test my patience.”
“Don’t lie to me! You were shouting and radiating killing intent like that! You’re still suffering because you can’t stop thinking about those women, aren’t you? Are they more precious to you than I am?”
“…Stop talking crazy and go to sleep. If you loiter in front of my room one more time, I really will kick you out. This isn’t a joke.”
Crash!
The sound of something slamming into the wall came from inside. Veronica froze, still holding the tray. The single phrase ‘kick you out’ snapped the last thread of her sanity.
She set the tray down on the floor and stared at the closed door as if trying to burn a hole through it.
In the early dawn, where only cold moonlight poured down, Rodin sat collapsed on the chilly floor, clutching his trembling hands. Unlike what Veronica imagined in her jealous rage, he was in a state where even breathing was difficult.
The red cloaks the mercenaries had worn, the arrogant lines they had spat—these things had summoned the demons of his past. The screams of his dead comrades pierced his eardrums, and before his eyes flickered the gazes of his comrades sunken into pools of blood.
“Haa… haa… Damn it. I thought it was all over. I’ve been running my whole life.”
Rodin clutched at his own hair. To him, mercenaries weren’t objects of romance. They were the names of monsters that had devoured his soul.
“That woman… why did she have to bring those bastards here? She could have at least let me pretend to live in peace. Why does she make me smell blood again?”
Rodin knew. The moment he picked up a blade again, the peace of the stronghold would end. And Veronica, who stood beside him, would get dragged into his dark past and lose her life.
“I can’t. I shouldn’t have gotten any closer. In the end, I’m this kind of monster. The kind that turns everyone around me into corpses.”
He stared at his rough hands reflected in the moonlight. Though covered in dirt, beneath it seemed to flow indelible blood.
“Veronica… you’ll end up in danger because of me too. If those bastards find me, they’ll try to kill you first. So… I have to cut ties now. I have to make you hate me so you’ll leave on your own.”
A single hot tear fell from Rodin’s eyes onto the dirt floor. But his expression hardened once more into a cold statue.
Veronica sat on the cold hallway floor in front of Rodin’s room, staying up all night. Dawn was beginning to break, but instead of tears, a chilling madness filled her eyes. After thinking through the night, she had reached only one conclusion: the reason Rodin was trying to push her away was because he still longed for his ‘past’ in the outside world.
“If you try to push me away, I’ll break your legs if I have to and keep you by my side. I’ll make it so you can’t move. So you can’t even drink a sip of water without my help.”
Veronica murmured softly.
“Women from the past? Mercenaries? I’ll just kill them all and be done with it. With my gold and power, I could wipe every mercenary band on the continent off the map. Your world only needs me in it. You only need to hear my voice and see my face.”
She slowly rose to her feet. The look in her eyes, visible between her disheveled strands of hair, was no longer human.
“The game of being a ‘good lady of the house’ is over, Rodin. I’ll turn this fortress you built into the perfect prison that locks you away. You’ll live here until you die, planting cabbages with me.”
The moment she reached out to grab the doorknob—
Crash—!
A painful scream and the deafening sound of furniture shattering erupted from inside Rodin’s room. His trauma had finally reached its limit and begun to run wild.
“Rodin?!”
Veronica shot to her feet and glared at the door as if she would break it down. The worry in her eyes quickly transformed into a bizarre ecstasy. A weakened Rodin. This was the perfect opportunity to completely possess him.
Just as Veronica moved to kick the door open, the entire stronghold began to shake from the wild aura bursting out of Rodin.