Mated to the Mad Lord-Chapter 171: Is it my fault?

The second Violet woke up, it was the smell around her that assailed her nose from all sides. Her eyes flickered open to see metal bars in front of her, and she immediately scrambled off the ground at the sight of them. But just as she got to her feet and took two steps, her head pounding, she felt herself being jerked back by an invisible force.

Looking down at her feet, she saw the chains. They bound her to the wall, so tightly that she couldn’t even approach the bars.

Fear began to claw at her chest, threatening to overwhelm her, as fragments of memory came flooding back. The events that led her to this cold, damp cell replayed themselves in her mind: how her parents and siblings had completely turned their backs on her.

How many times do they have to hurt you before you realize they don’t love you? she asked herself, swallowing hard to push down the urge to cry. Slowly, she slid back to the ground, resting her back against the wall.

Even as her mind told her she understood what they had done, her heart struggled to merge that understanding with the image of the people she had loved and trusted for more than twenty years.

Tears welled in her eyes, pooling at the edges, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. The idea that the people she had shared every waking moment with could suddenly wish her nothing but the worst made her stomach churn.

The pounding in her head worsened with every thought. She raised her hands, pressing her palms against her temples, her fingers trembling slightly. She lowered her head, resting it against her knees as she tried to block everything out.

Then she heard it.

The slow, deliberate sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. They were heading in her direction, each step unhurried and deliberate. Whoever it was didn’t seem to be in a hurry, as if they were savoring the anticipation of reaching her.

Violet’s head snapped up, her heart racing. For a fleeting moment, hope flickered in her chest. Maybe whoever was coming could tell her where she was—or, even better, help her escape this nightmare.

But that hope evaporated as soon as she saw him.

A short, burly man appeared before her cell, his bald head gleaming in the faint light. His pale, sickly skin told her he rarely—if ever—stepped into the sunlight. His face lit up when his gaze met hers, and the look in his eyes made her stomach churn.

"Ahh! You’re awake!" he said, his voice grating and loud. "If not for our instructions, we definitely wouldn’t have figured out you were a woman with that skinny frame!" His sly grin stretched wider as he pressed his face against the bars, as though he could somehow slip between them to get closer.

Violet said nothing, her lips pressed into a thin line, her gaze unmoving as she watched him with quiet disdain.

The man turned and gestured to someone behind him. "Hey! Marvilla! She’s awake! Bring the bitch’s food!" he shouted, his voice echoing off the damp stone walls.

Another set of footsteps approached, and a second man appeared. His build was slender, but his aura felt far more dangerous. His face wore a soft smile, one that might have seemed kind if not for the darkness in his eyes.

"I brought your food!" he said softly, crouching to place a plate on the floor just beyond her reach.

"If you come closer... I’ll pass it to you!" he said, his tone unnervingly gentle.

Violet’s eyes darted to the plate. Her stomach howled, the sight of food tempting her even though her instincts screamed not to trust them. But she didn’t move. Her gaze didn’t even meet his.

"Think about it," he coaxed, his voice dripping with insincerity. "How could I hurt a pretty thing like you?"

The bald man joined in, his voice mockingly soft, as if coaxing a wild pet. "If you come closer, we’ll even give you more food!" he crooned.

At that point, Violet had had enough. Disgust twisted her face as she turned her head away, determined to ignore them. She decided she would wait for them to leave before daring to touch the food.

But she had just averted her gaze when a sharp, angry shout erupted from one of the men.

The soft smile vanished from the slender man’s face, replaced by a glare so venomous it sent a chill down Violet’s spine. His expression contorted into one of rage, his voice rising as he screamed at her, "You bitch! You fucking bitch!"

The sound of him unzipping his pants echoed through the cell. Violet’s head snapped up, and her eyes widened in horror.

He began to urinate directly into her plate, a twisted look of glee plastered across his face as he held himself, angling the stream toward the food.

"If I can’t touch you... my piss can!" he spat, laughing maniacally.

Violet scrambled backward in time to avoid being sprayed, her heart pounding in her chest. Disgust and fury churned in her stomach as she pressed herself against the wall, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

The bald man frowned, his face twisting into a mask of disappointment. "Are we really not going to be able to touch her before she’s sold at the auction?"

His words sent a jolt of realization through Violet, her blank expression shifting into one of shock and dread. Her head jerked toward him, her eyes wide.

"The fact that they’re keeping her here already means she’s important enough not to be kept in the normal cells," the bald man grumbled, frustration lacing his voice.

He clenched his fists tightly against the bars, leaning closer, his hands slipping through the gaps. Violet instinctively pressed herself further back, but the wall behind her offered no escape.

"She’s not particularly beautiful," the bald man continued, his tone lewd, "but the hole between her legs should be enough to make up for it."

As he spoke, his hand drifted to his crotch, cupping himself through his pants. His eyes roved over her body with shameless hunger, his gaze making her skin crawl. Violet wished she could disappear, bury herself in the cold stone floor, or vanish into the shadows. But there was no escape.

The men continued their vile taunts, shouting explicit sexual innuendos that made her ears burn and her stomach twist. Violet lowered her head, pretending not to hear them, willing herself to block out their voices.

This continued for what felt like an eternity until, finally, they seemed to grow bored. They turned to leave, their laughter echoing in the corridor. But before they disappeared, the bald man paused and turned back toward her.

"It’s only a matter of time before you willingly give us what we want," he said, his tone laced with malice. "Before then, you might as well drink and eat our urine."

His cruel promise hung in the air long after they were gone.

Even before their footsteps faded completely, tears streamed down Violet’s face. She bent her head, hiding her pain from the empty corridor as her shoulders trembled with silent sobs.

Her mind spiraled, dragging her back to the events that had led her here. Cain’s moods, his violent temper, his unrelenting brutality—staying with him had felt like signing her own death sentence. Yet leaving her family behind, especially after they’d already suffered because of her, had torn her apart.

She couldn’t forget the image of their hands, their fingers lost because of her mistakes. And she couldn’t shake the fear of what Cain might still do to them in her absence.

The bitterness of their betrayal crushed her as she buried her face in her hands, her cries muffled by her trembling fingers. The cold, damp cell seemed to close in around her, suffocating her in complete gloom and hopelessness.

Through her sobs, a single, heart-wrenching question slipped from her lips:

"Is this really my fault?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, the words trembling with guilt and self-loathing as she realized that regardless of everything, she blamed herself.

END OF VOLUME 1.