Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17: I Am Ellen Valmont

Eve~

The video changed again, shifting to a scene that made my stomach lurch. This time, it wasn't executions.

I saw Ellen standing over a group of cowering villagers—poor, hungry, desperate. She was flanked by soldiers, and in front of her was a man, bruised and bloody, pleading for mercy.

"Please," the man begged, his voice shaking. "We cannot afford the new taxes. We barely have enough to feed our children—"

"You should have thought of that before you chose to defy me," Ellen sneered. "The tax is not negotiable. Those who cannot pay will be... dealt with."

With a flick of her wrist, the soldiers dragged the man away, his cries fading into the distance as Ellen turned back to the crowd. "Let this be a lesson to all of you. Pay what you owe, or face the consequences."

I gripped the arms of the chair so hard my knuckles turned white. My heart was racing, my chest constricting with every breath I took. How could she be so heartless?

More and more videos—atrocities that left me spiraling. Had these been what she had been up to during all these years? She wasn't even the Alpha yet. What were my parents doing while she was ruining lives? Each clip, each horrific display of Ellen's twisted sense of justice, was worse than the last. And with every passing second, I felt myself breaking apart. I could feel Hades' gaze on me, dissecting me, waiting for my reaction. _{frёeweɓηovel.coɱ}

Suddenly, I was yanked back to reality—literally.

A sharp tug at my hair made me gasp, my head snapping back as Hades gripped a fistful of it, pulling me to meet his eyes. My scalp stung, but the pain was nothing compared to the sheer intensity in his gaze. He leaned down, his breath ghosting over my face, so close I could see the storm brewing in his silver eyes, feel the heat radiating off his skin.

"You must be proud," he hissed, his voice a mix of mockery and venom. "And you refuse to put them out of their misery. The devil could take notes from you."

I trembled beneath his grasp, my heart pounding wildly against my ribs. His grip on my hair tightened, forcing me to keep eye contact, even though every instinct screamed at me to look away, to hide from the sheer force of his contempt.

"I'm not her..." The words barely escaped my throat, a broken whisper, a plea that I knew he wouldn't believe.

My damnation reflected in his eyes.

Hades chuckled darkly, the sound sending a shiver down my spine. He lowered his head until his lips were just inches from my ear, the heat of his breath brushing against my skin as he spoke, his voice laced with cruel amusement. "Oh, but you are her, princess. You've always been her. The difference now is you pretend."

I felt a tear slip down my cheek, my body trembling as I tried to suppress the sobs threatening to choke me. "Please..." I whispered, the word barely audible. I wasn't pleading for mercy—I knew there would be none. I was pleading for it to stop, for him to stop digging deeper into the wound he had already torn wide open.

But he wasn't done with me. Not yet.

His hand slid from my hair, fingers trailing down the side of my face in a mockery of tenderness. I froze, my breath catching in my throat as his thumb traced the line of my jaw, his touch deceptively gentle. It made my skin crawl, yet... something else stirred deep within me, something I didn't want to acknowledge. My heart lurched, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. What was happening?

"Look at you," he murmured, his eyes narrowing as his thumb brushed over my lips. "So fragile, so weak now. But I wonder..." He leaned in even closer, his lips just brushing the edge of my ear. "Were you this weak when you ordered those people to die? When you watched them scream for mercy? Or did you enjoy it?"