Chapter 467: A Worried Sister, A Broken Brother

In the chilling embrace of Dreadthorne Castle, a figure glided through a desolate hall, her seductive dark blue gown clinging to her slender frame, accentuating her every sinuous movement. Her eyes, a haunting shade of ghostly red, sparkled with an impish delight while her mischievous smile twisted the corners of her full, blood-red lips upwards. Long silver hair danced behind her, seeming to have a life of its own in the cold drafts that traveled through the halls devoid of servants or maids.

Strangely, not a single soul stirred in this corridor of the castle.

Upon reaching her destination, the room at the corridor's end, a bottle of crimson liquid appeared in her hand as if conjured by thought alone. With a flick of her wrist, the dark blue door swung open, revealing the room's occupant in a scene untouched by time.

The bottle of blood glinted ominously in the crimson light that streamed through the dusty, cobweb-ridden windows, "Little Brother, are you awake?" she whispered, her voice as sweet as honey laced with venom, as she sauntered into the room that seemingly should have been off-limits to anyone but her.

The musty, oppressive air inside the chamber could choke any ordinary person, making her wrinkle her nose, though her lips curved upon seeing a young man sleeping on the bed, enshrouded in blankets, his back to her, a figure of isolation amidst the gloom.

A sly chuckle escaped her lips as she dragged a chair with a screeching noise that seemed to echo throughout the room, enough to even wake a sleeping beast.

Sabina seated herself, her voice a seemingly gentle chide, "Don't you get bored of sleeping, brother? Your room reeks of blood and sweat after you ordered all your servants to not even step foot in this corridor. How do you even sleep while breathing the stinky air inside here?"

Edmund, however, remained unmoved, a statue in the guise of slumber.

With a mischievous glint in her eye, Sabina resorted to more direct measures, her foot connecting with his ass in a swift motion, "Wakey-Wakey!"

"ARGH!!"

Edmund's reaction was instantaneous, a howl of surprise and pain marking his violent awakening, "Sabina, what the f...." His curse was abruptly halted as awareness dawned, the familiarity of his sister's presence tempering his initial outburst. "Why can't you just let me sleep in peace?" His voice, though tinged with irritation, was subdued as he slowly turned around with a bitter expression, though his gaze was lowered as if unable to meet her eyes.

"Sigh, you poor thing," Sabina clicked her tongue as if in pity with a shake of her head upon seeing the disheveled mess before her.

His silver hair was a tangled mat upon his pale forehead, and stubble dotted his once-chiseled jawline.

Leaning in, Sabina dangled the blood-filled bottle before his nose, reveling in the coppery scent that filled the space between them, "Famished, Brother?" she chuckled, her smile widening wickedly, "Aren't you feeling thirsty after sleeping for so long? I was feeling worried. So don't get so mad, fufu."

Grasping the bottle with hands that trembled not from the chill of the room but from the turmoil within, Edmund drank deeply, the rich, metallic liquid a meager balm for wounds far deeper than flesh.

His expression went from a scowl to a softened, slightly more rejuvenated look, "Thank you, sister. You are the only one who has been kind to me ever since I returned from that fucking quest, and I lost my-" His voice broke, the words too heavy, too laden with loss to pass his lips.

The pain of losing more than just his woman's virginity still felt fresh as he added, "Nobody else cares about me, not even our mother," he spat out, jaw clenched in rage.

"Shh," Sabina placed a finger against her lips as she soothed, "You can't be more wrong. Did you not know that our mother is planning to get your little thing back from that pretty vicious alien who took it from you."

Hope, fragile and flickering, ignited within Edmund's eyes at her words. "R-Really?!" But the spark was quickly clouded by doubt, by the fear of irreparable loss, "What if that fucking alien threw it away? He must have since he wanted to destroy me in every way. I can't even..." The words trailed off into a shiver of fear, rage, and pain, a storm of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

He felt his nerves quivering with uncontrollable emotions as he once again remembered everything he lost and the things he could no longer do. He couldn't even bring himself to look at a beauty or any woman. He didn't even want to let anyone know what happened to him and ordered every servant not to step onto his floor. The days of enjoying his time with so many beauties were just memories now, something that was impossible for him to enjoy anymore. He couldn't even jerk off while thinking about his fiance, who was sitting just a foot away from him now.

Even if his father didn't ground him, he would have still chosen to lock himself away in his castle rather than go out and mortify himself.

He couldn't even bear to look at Sabina's seductive figure, lest he gets reminded of what he lost and reawakening desires that would only torture his mind. The shame of having seen her lose her virginity to his worst enemy was yet another fact that was killing him from within.

Sabina's smile, however, was a sign of hope in the tempest of his despair, "Don't you worry, Brother. We just got a letter from our pretty king, which hints that he still has your thing, preserved, of course. It's obvious he wants to negotiate. So our mother has gone to take care of it. Who knows...you will become a man again in no time."

Edmund found a flicker of hope in Sabina's revelation, "He really has it??" The words slipped from his lips, a mixture of disbelief and burgeoning hope. The possibility of reclaiming a part of himself thought forever lost lit a faint spark in the gloom of his despair.

He was relieved since as long as it was there, it could be reattached to his body. Yet, doubt quickly clouded his newfound hope. "But what does he want in return? I don't think it can be anything good. What if he demands that I become his slave or something? I know he wants me dead o-or worse," The fear in Edmund's voice was palpable, a mirror to the scars left by what happened during that quest, scars that ran deeper than flesh.

His expression contorted in terror as he mumbled, "P-Please...Sister. You have to protect me from him, okay? Mother might agree for the sake of our House but I...I..." He stammered, desperation and terror lingering in his voice.

Sabina's response was both teasing and probing, "What? Even if he asks that, do you not want your precious Little Edmund back?" Her question, delivered with a playful flutter of eyelashes, belied the gravity of the situation.

Her words hit home as Edmund's response was a tempest of emotion, "Of course I do!" he roared, the turmoil within him breaking free for a moment before he regained his composure, "But to become his slave...it would be worse than death."

"So is losing your Little Edmund forever," Sabina said with a shrug, making Edmund grit his teeth as he felt like he was stuck standing on a small piece of flimsy rock with two rivers of lava on either side.

"But since you are my little brother, I will pay him a few visits and see if I can change his mind. You know how I can be quite convincing, right?" Sabina smirked while her promise rekindled a sliver of hope within Edmund's beleaguered heart. Her assurance was a lifeline, thrown across the dark waters of his despair.

Edmund's gratitude was immediate, a balm to the sting of his fears, "Thank you, Sister but..." The hesitation that followed, a pause filled with sudden trepidation, spoke volumes of his lingering doubts, "Or maybe...you shouldn't. It might not be a good idea now that he just continues to become more powerful."

He remembered how that fucking alien violated his sister before him, torturing her before taking her virginity. He still couldn't shake off the images of the faces she made nor forget the sounds that escaped her lips each time that alien thrust his monstrous thing into her slender body.

The first few times he remembered it, he literally coughed out blood, and even now, his blood was thrashing within him when he remembered it.

Sabina's scoff was a brushstroke of defiance and contempt, "What powerful? In the end, he is still a junior and I won't let him walk all over us. As long as my last name is Thorne, I won't let anybody who crossed me or our House get away with it. Just you wait, I am going to make him suffer a lot under my hands until he begs me for mo-I mean death."

Her declaration, fierce and bloodthirsty, made Edmund smile, touched by his sister's determination, "I don't know what I would do without you, sister. I will then wait until you succeed. You can take your time."

Sabina nodded as her blood-red lips curved upwards, her eyes briefly glowing with a frenzied light in anticipation of what awaited her.