Not the One at the End of the Path

One day, Caspian said he wanted tiramisu from an old bakery in the northern part of the city. It was something I used to love two years ago. Eventually, I drove out alone.

Halfway along a remote coastal road, the car suddenly broke down. I got out to check. I was still trying to figure out the problem when a handkerchief with a sharp smell was pressed over my mouth and nose.

Right before I lost consciousness, I thought of how painfully cliché it was.

When I came to again, I was tied to a rusted steel pillar in an abandoned factory. Around me were four rough-looking men, their eyes roaming over me while they held cameras. They obviously had malicious intentions.

Above the factory floor hung a broken public-address speaker. From it came Thalia's voice, sharp and pleased. "You awake, Seraphine? Scared yet?"

I stated calmly, "This is illegal, Thalia."

Her maniacal laughter crackled through the speaker. "You think I'm the one who set this up? No! Caspian tacitly approved this!"

My heartbeat stayed steady. It didn't waver in the slightest.

"His original plan," Thalia continued, "was to have you kidnapped just to scare you a little. Once you broke down enough to cry and beg for help, he'd appear like a hero and save you."

She sneered. "He thought that once you went through something like life and death, you'd start depending on him again—that it'd trigger some so-called suspension bridge effect and make you fall back in love with him.

"Honestly, he's quite pathetic and laughable. Don't you think?"

So, that was it. To force a reaction from me after my life was supposedly in danger, Caspian had cast himself in some cheap hero-rescue script.

"But…" Thalia said slowly, her tone turning malicious.

"I don't intend to let the script play out so smoothly. Instead, I'm going to ruin you here. These men will break you, play with you, and record everything.

"And when Caspian arrives, what he'll see will no longer be his precious, untouchable woman. It'll be a filthy, ruined woman he won't look in the eye anymore! Let's see how that plays out for you!"

The men received the signal and began closing in on me. One of them pulled out a syringe filled with a cloudy, murky liquid. "Relax, lady. This is good stuff right here. It'll only make you more… passionate later."

I struggled with all my might, but they held me down, leaving me no room to move. The needle pierced the side of my neck, and a cold fluid was pushed straight into my bloodstream.

A premonition rose in my chest.

"System," I called out in my mind, my voice still steady. "Run a body scan."

The system's response came back in panic. "Seraphine, this is bad. It's a high-concentration hallucinogen mixed with aphrodisiac compounds!"

It was just as I had expected.

A wave of nausea soon hit me.

"You promised me when you sent me here," I said coldly to the system, "that there would be no danger to my life. So what, am I just supposed to sit here and take whatever happens next?"

The men had already started stripping away my clothes. The feel of their coarse hands grazing against my skin made me gag in disgust.

My vision began to blur, and my thoughts scattered, slipping away like sand through my fingers. In its place came a strange, oppressive heat that clouded my senses.

The system answered in a trembling voice, "Yes, I did promise your safety. But I didn't expect this supporting character to go so far…"

"Then how the hell am I considered safe now?" I asked.

The system sounded increasingly guilty and even started negotiating with me. "Well… Technically, you haven't completed the three-month requirement…"

So, for the sake of the requirement, was I supposed to endure this situation and live with this trauma for the rest of my life?

"You failed to uphold your safety guarantee. This is a critical breach," I said, forcing myself to stay lucid. "System… Initiate Emergency Disengagement."

By then, their hands were already reaching for my skirt. Their lecherous, ugly faces were only inches away.

"Now!" I ordered, my tone leaving no room for argument.

After a brief pause, the system responded in a panicked rush, "I'm so sorry, Seraphine! Emergency Disengagement initiating immediately!"

Not even the system could bear to watch such an inhumane scene.

A flash cut across my vision, and I was pulled back into a dark space. The discomfort in my body vanished instantly.

In front of me, a massive screen hung like a cinema display, projecting everything that was happening on the other side.

After my consciousness was extracted, my body still retained a few faint signs of life. The men, thinking they still had control of the situation, continued and even recorded everything on their devices.

Not long after, the system that sustained my body fully disengaged, and my heartbeat ceased. Then, my body went limp, like a puppet with its strings cut.

The men finally noticed that something was wrong. One of them reached out shakily to check if I was breathing. A second later, panic exploded across the factory.

"Shit! S-she's dead!"

"S-she is?"

At the same moment, the factory doors were violently kicked open. "Seraphine!"