The very instant Elara tried to turn her head away, avoiding Duke Reinhardt's suffocating scrutiny, the fingers gripping her chin tightened abruptly!
"Ngh..." Elara winced in pain, forced to meet those cold, sharp eyes once more.
"Who gave you permission to look away?" The Duke's voice remained low, but now carried a distinct note of displeasure and... danger. His gaze was like the sharpest blade, seeming to dissect her very soul.
Elara trembled violently, shaking her head quickly. Tears welled in her eyes, but remembering his previous command (not to cry), she dared not let them fall easily.
"Look at me." The Duke's tone grew heavier, an undeniable command. "Your eyes are only allowed to look at me."
Elara could only force herself to refocus on the face so close to hers—handsome as a god, yet cold as a demon. She could clearly see her own tiny, terrified reflection mirrored in his deep eyes.
The Duke seemed somewhat satisfied with her "obedience," but the fingers on her chin didn't loosen. He switched hands, using the other to slowly, almost insultingly, stroke her neck. The cool fingertips slid across her delicate skin, feeling the rapid pulse beating there out of fear.
"Tell me," his voice was a devil's whisper, carrying both lethal temptation and threat, "these past few days, have you... been thinking things you shouldn't?"
Elara's heart nearly stopped! What did he mean? Her longing for freedom? Her secret observations of the castle? Or... the thought of escape that had just begun to sprout before being crushed?!
How could he know?! Did he possess mind-reading abilities?!
Immense fear paralyzed her thoughts. She could only shake her head desperately, her voice choked with sobs. "N-no... This servant wouldn't dare..."
"'Dare not'?" The Duke's fingertips pressed slightly against her neck, and Elara immediately felt a suffocating pressure! "You had better truly not dare."
His eyes grew darker, like the sea before a storm. He suddenly released her neck, only to... clamp his hand around her throat like an iron vise!
"Gasp! Ah!" Elara's eyes flew wide, her breath completely cut off! Overwhelming terror and suffocation flooded her senses, blanking her mind! Her hands instinctively flew up, trying to pry his hand away, but it was like trying to move solid steel—utterly futile!
Oxygen deprivation quickly set in. Elara's face flushed red from lack of air, black spots danced before her eyes, her consciousness fading. All she could see were the Duke's cold eyes, glittering with a crazed, excited light!
He... was he really going to kill her?!
Just because of her slight, evasive movement?! Just because he suspected she "thought things she shouldn't"?!
This man... was completely insane! Utterly mad!
The terror of imminent death ignited Elara's most primal survival instinct. She stopped trying to pry his hand away. Instead, summoning all her strength, she lifted her head, her eyes bloodshot from lack of oxygen but still burning stubbornly with the will to live, and stared defiantly at the Duke!
She couldn't die! She absolutely refused to die at the hands of this monster! She still had revenge to seek! She hadn't seen the downfall of that wretched pair yet!
Perhaps the near-maniacal survival instinct in her eyes pleased him, or perhaps he had simply had enough of his perverse enjoyment of controlling life and death. Just as Elara felt she was about to lose consciousness completely, the hand choking her loosened without warning.
"Cough... cough cough cough..." Fresh air rushed into her lungs. Elara collapsed onto the floor, coughing violently, gasping greedily, tears, snot, and sweat mingling on her face, utterly wretched. Her throat burned as if seared by a hot iron.
The Duke looked down at her from his superior height, as if observing an insect that had just barely escaped his grasp, still struggling pitifully. The crazed excitement slowly faded from his eyes, replaced by a deeper... cold scrutiny and absolute possession, like looking at his exclusive property.
"Interesting," he murmured again, as if the near-fatal threat and suffocation had truly been nothing more than a game he found "interesting."
He watched Elara's lips, slightly parted from the violent coughing, stained with tears and sweat, looking exceptionally vulnerable. A dangerous glint flashed again in his dark eyes.