"What was that for?"
"You know what it was for!!"
"Is this about your father?"
"He's your father too!!"
Lucius rolled his eyes at her words.
"That's semantics, he's just my father-in-law."
"So? Do you not even care?"
"We're practically strangers. I can count the amount of times I've met him with just one hand. Besides, I married you to just get the title of Duke. Do you think I care about romance? You guys are the ones stupid enough to allow me to become the Duke."
"Remember the times when you showed affection to me? Are you telling me that this was all an act?"
"It's called Stockholm Syndrome. Why did you think I deprived you of any outside contact, acted as cold as possible while occassionally showing compassion to you, and talked about my ambissions to become a noble? I've never tried enacting it before, and you were my first and probably last test subject. Besides, it aligned with my goal. Do you know how hard it is to build a city from scratch all by yourself?"
Lucius was smirking a bit with a slightly pained look. The source of that pain was a red hand mark on his left cheek.
"You.... you're insane!!!"
"I have long since passed the stage of insanity. I'm doing whatever the fuck I want, and I'll crush anyone who tries to stop me. Do you know why I haven't went on a rampage and killed everyone yet?"
By this point, Elizabeth was extremely terrified. The person who she thought was just a cold and insensitive man, was actually a madman in disguise.
"N-no?"
"Because it's boring. Have I ever told you about my previous world?"
Lucius's eyes suddenly widened. His pupils were contracted, showing signs of madness. His slight smirk turned into a smile full of delight. His saliva glands were pumping endlessly, which caused him to swallow a lot.
"...."
"I'll answer that instead. No, you haven't. Because it wasn't just one world, it was two. The first world was normal, until those motherfuckers took me away and did all kinds of heinous shit to me. And then they put me into the second world. That world was so shit that my personality became as twisted as this. You see, I can control this insanity very easily, but I choose not to because the world would just become boring as fuck. Right now, my insanity is a little bit on the high end, so if you excuse me, I'll tone it down a little."
As soon as he said that, his maniacal expression suddenly wore off.
"Haha, sorry about that. Since you woke me up so suddenly, my insanity filter wasn't applied properly after I woke up. There's a system I put in place so that it automatically turns on when I wake up, but it seems that it didn't apply properly due to outside stimulus."
Elizabeth wore a shocked expression. She could not believe what just happened. Moreover, the man right on front of her looked like a kind man more than a cold one.
Elizabeth mustered her courage and asked him a question, afraid that he might snap and harm her. There was no telling what an insane man would do.
"S-so.... is this the real you?"
"Meh, more like a toned down version of me. The earlier me was closer to the real me. I use this version of myself when I interact with other people besides you. I guess I don't need to keep acting cold towards you, since now you know why."
*RUMBLE*
Before Elizabeth could continue asking more questions, the ground started shaking.
"Hmmm? An earthquake? Elizabeth, don't just stand there, quickly hide under something, unless you want to get hit by debris on your head."
And he was right. Right after both of them hid under Lucius's bed, the Earthquake got stronger and broken pieces of the ceiling started falling.
*RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE*
Earthquakes were not unusual in the Heimer territory considering that it was surrounded by a mountain range.
Just a few seconds later, a huge ear-shattering noise was heard, what followed it was a shockwave that did more damage than the earthquake.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
It's as if something massive had just exploded.
"What the fuck? An explosion?"
Lucius quickly realized that it wasn't a normal earthquake. He immediately deduced that the earthquake was caused by that explosion. Since sound is a mechanical wave, and it propagates faster through solids, the earthquake arrived faster than the shockwave.
However, light travels faster than sound.
Lucius's bedroom had 2 windows, but neither of them faced the way of the explosion, so neither Lucius and Elizabeth saw the light.
However, a lot of people in Oppen had seen the cause of the explosion.
The explosion happened around 5 km away from the city.
Most of the people who saw it happen were also describing something else. It was a giant object falling from the sky and crashing into the ground.
****
"Sebastian, where did it land?"
"The meteorite landed on a village called Durk."
It was currently midnight, and a rushed meeting was ongoing. There were several people attending the meeting. Public officials, the high-ranking police officers, Sebastian, and of course, Lucius. But for some reason, Elizabeth was there as well.
"Were there any casualties?"
"The was one, and it was a farmer named Greg. The meteor's landing area included his farm, killing him and his farm animals. But thankfully, most of the destruction happened outside of the village."
Lucius looked towards the officials in the room, and calmly told them what to do.
"Send the village money as compensation. Send his family a compensation as well. If he doesn't have any, then add it to the village's compensation."
"By your orders, my lord."
Then, he looked towards the city's Chief Police Officer, Ronald Gregory. Ronald was attending the meeting with 2 other high-ranking police officers which were his subordinates.
"Chief Gregory, send 30 police officers to secure the perimeter. Don't let anyone near the meteorite."
"By your orders, my lord."
"Now, this short emergency meeting has ended. I will go back to sleep and check the situation again tomorrow. Don't wake me up unless it's an emergency. Sebastian, please tell the maids to clean up my bedroom and also prepare me a glass of wine, I'd like to drink one while I wait for my room to get cleaned."
"I'll do it as fast as I can, my lord."
"You all can leave now, except for Elizabeth. You should follow me."
"Y-yes?"
"Let's go to your father's room."
****
I should really solve this issue first.
I mean, she fucking slapped me earlier because of it.
I fucked up hard. I didn't realize it until back then.
Right now, we're both walking through the corridors in order to meet her father.
I can't help but feel bad for her. I mean, she got stuck with me of all people. At least I still got a fair share of empathy inside of me.
I told her earlier that she had Stockhom Syndrome and that it was part of my plan, but truthfully, that was when I had just realized what had happened.
Depriving her of outside contact was out of necessity, since she was my hostage after all. And I also acted as cold as possible in order to show her that I wasn't interested in her.
But sometimes, I still felt bad for using her and broke out of my cold act by taking care of her. I guess that was my mistake.
Even after all of that, I still acted cold in front of her to show that I didn't care about her, and that she could cheat on me for her own happiness. But I guess it was all fucked from the start.
She truly has Stockholm Syndrome and it's all because of me. She truly loves me because of that.
Fully breaking out of my cold act in front of her was the right choice. Now, she'll realize that her love for me was all for naught. Maybe, just maybe, she'll try to divorce me.
At least that way, I don't have to feel too guilty.
I really don't believe in love. The earliest memory of mine was when my parents, whose faces and names I can't remember anymore, were having a fist fight in front of me.
I was still around 1 or 2 years old at the time.
They eventually divorced and I grew up being raised by my maternal grandparents.
But now, I'm also married.
All this time I had assumed that her father was the one who made her marry me, but was it all hers?
Was it actually all her decision to marry me? And was it all because of love?
If so, then I'll feel even more guilty.
I never asked her father the true reason why he had us marry each other, so maybe it truly was just a figment of my imagination?
Anyway, this time, I'll confirm it through both of them at the same time.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
Elizabeth seems to have beaten me to the door. She's now knocking on it.
"Father?"
"Come in."
****
Elizabeth's father, Gorgon Von Heimer, was wide awake. After the meteor impact, he couldn't sleep anymore.
Moreover, Sebastian had sneakily informed him of her daughter and son-in-law's visit right after he left the meeting. So he was quite excited and was waiting for the sound of a knock.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
"Father?"
Elizabeth's voice could be heard on the other side of the door.
"Come in."
While his health was deteriorating, his voice still had energy left.
Lucius and Elizabeth slowly entered the room, and were greeted by the former duke in bed.
"You can sit down on the sofa, I had Sebastian position it so you don't have to talk while standing. I don't have the strength I used to have, so forgive me for laying in bed while talking."
"Of course, Father."
"So, what brings you here, Son?"
Without wasting any time, Lucius quickly explained his train of thoughts.
"Hmmm, I see, I see."
"Well?"
"Ah, the reason for it was because of Elizabeth. She begged me multiple times to save you."
"HUHHH??? Save me??"
Elizabeth, who was sitting right beside him, had already covered her face in shame.
Her father, Gorgon, was smiling warmly.
"At the time, I thought that you were an evil man, but she told me the reason why she had done it. To think that you were a sex slave from the Terratop Confederacy who managed to escape into the Roan Kingdom. She told me the arduous journey you took to get here, the betrayals that made you untrusting of others, and how you got your magic armor from defeating a legendary dungeon. I truly get why you had to take her as a hostage, you must've fell for her at first sight and didn't how to approach her nornally. So, how long should I wait until I get to see the face of my grandchild?"
Lucius was completely stupefied. This just made him realize the severity of her Stockholm Syndrome. She had lied to her father.
Lucius then looked beside him and found that Elizabeth was sitting in a fetal position and was covering her red face in shame.
Gorgon clearly had not much time left in this world, so his last wish was too see the face of his grandchild and die happily.
"Father-in-law, could you repeat what you just said?"
"When can I see the face of my grandchild?"
At first, he was going to deny everything, but after seeing the sight of his father-in-law's face, which seemed too kind for his own good, his answer became much more different.
"....Soon."