"Haah… Hah… Haah," Eren panted, his breath coming in short, slow, ragged gasps, his chest rising and falling.
"Ugh," he groaned, trying to move, but it was impossible.
He was bound all over, his body bloodied and broken.
"Someone… help…" he muttered, barely able to keep his eyes open.
He had no idea where she had taken him.
All he knew was the room he was currently tied in.
It was bright.
Sunlight seeped through the window, but a curtain shielded him from seeing outside. However, the light still pierced through the fabric, illuminating the room.
It seemed like a house in the middle of nowhere.
Creak…
The door swung open, and in stepped the girl he had come to dread beyond death.
"… Anna," he rasped, "please… just let me die already." His eyelids were heavy.
He was trapped—caught between death's door and what could barely be called living.
She kept him alive with high-grade healing potions worth a fortune—potions capable of dragging a man back from the brink of death.
That was the circle of torment he was trapped in.
She would torture him until he could barely feel anything anymore, and just as he was about to embrace the sweet release of death—she would bring him back with those cursed potions.
At this point…
…He just wanted to die.
"Tell me… why did you attack my love?" she asked coldly. "If you don't start talking, I will resort to extreme measures."
She moved towards the table beside the bed—the one he was tied to.
"Do you… do you even know how much I want to rip you apart?!" she snarled, her voice laced with unhinged rage. "A disgusting filth like you—a waste of air—tried to hurt the love of my life!" Her voice trembled, her hands clenching into fists. "It drives me crazy…! Do you know how much I want to skin you alive? How much I want to burn you and watch you endure every second of it?!"
She wasn't bluffing.
He knew.
He had read the novel.
He knew exactly what kind of person she was.
Anna had no compassion for anyone who wasn't Jason.
She would go to any lengths to ensure his happiness, and right now, that meant extracting information about who might have paid Eren to betray him.
"Tell me who sent you… or I will make life a living hell for you," she whispered, her voice chillingly soft.
"…No one. I've already said it… a thousand times. I… I did it out of envy. Just… kill me already. There's nothing left to say." His voice was weak, drained of all fight.
But…
"…It seems you aren't ready to open your mouth," she mused, stepping closer.
Then, suddenly, a glass bottle materialized in her hand.
She walked toward him, cradling it delicately between her fingers.
"We have five days to ourselves," she murmured, popping open the transparent bottle, "and I am confident you will talk before then."
"…What's… that?"
He instinctively tried to pull away, but it was no use. He was held too firmly—there was no escape.
She grinned, then spoke. "Acid."
That one word jolted him awake completely.
His eyes snapped open. He stared at her in horror.
"Don't do it… I beg you! PLEASE! JUST KILL ME ALREADY! PLEASE!" His voice cracked as he thrashed against the restraints, but it was futile.
She stepped forward. Held it out.
"I will ask you one more time—why did filth like you try to kill the love of my life?"
Her voice was calm. Devoid of emotion. Her eyes? Dead.
"…No one sent me."
The moment those words left his lips—
Splash.
His eyes widened in sheer terror as the liquid seared into his flesh. And then—
Pain.
A scream tore from his throat.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Agony. Unimaginable agony.
Oh, how he wished he could die now.
Why?
That was the only question left in his mind.
Unfair. His fate had always been unfair.
Born into this world unable to awaken, he had realized from the start—his life would be nothing but suffering. He had tried to escape it, to outrun his wretched destiny, but then came the goddess.
'Why?!'
Tears streamed down his face as his skin melted.
He was dying in pain.
But he still couldn't die.
This was torture.
What crime had he even committed to deserve a life like this?
After being betrayed—murdered—by his best friend for catching him with his girlfriend, he had been reincarnated here.
But even here, there was no peace.
Only more suffering.
Why?
What had he done?
What was his crime?!
'No....'
He thought.
Then—he felt it.
A surge of mana.
A forbidden technique—one he had stumbled upon in his relentless pursuit of power. A technique that granted instant strength at the cost of destroying one's mana core forever.
But did he care?
No.
Fine.
He accepted it.
Life was never fair. All fingers were not equal.
But that didn't mean he would accept this miserable fate.
He didn't want to die.
No—he wanted to live.
That wretched goddess had tricked him. Used him. All for the progression of the story. All for her favored son.
Fine.
He would destroy that so-called son. He would destroy all the children of destiny.
He would destroy this world.
And then—he would kill her.
"What?!" The girl's eyes widened, but before she could react, he moved.
Faster than thought.
A blur.
His fingers locked around her skull, and with terrifying strength, he slammed her head onto the table.
CRACK.
The wood shattered in half.
"…Enough," he murmured.
His voice was hoarse, raw with fury. His face—disfigured, barely recognizable—his once-blue eyes glowing with an unfathomable hatred.
He had had enough.
Enough of being the one who lost.
This time—
They would be the ones to lose.
Every last one of them.
If he wasn't allowed a peaceful, happy life—
Then he would take that privilege from everyone else