Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Chapter 116: I Beg Of You

I refused to leave the room for another two days until Mariela came knocking on our door. She had heard what happened and was concerned.

"Are you certain the knife was not simply dropped? Al said he only heard one noise," she said rationally.

One noise that somehow ended up right behind him when no one else was seen nearby? I didn't buy that. "I'm positive," I said with a shudder. "This has Sigmund's handiwork all over it. His or Duke Orla's."

"The duke returned to his estate yesterday. I doubt he was involved in this."

He left? Just like that? But he hadn't managed to accomplish anything here. Unless he was the one who threw the knife and chose to leave when it failed. I couldn't understand why he would do that though; he was more tenacious than that in the novel.

Then again, nobody acted like they were supposed to so I couldn't trust the stupid thing at all. If he had thrown the knife, now that he was gone were we safe? Could I finally stop stressing out?

At this rate I felt like I was going to get gray hairs and this body wasn't even eighteen yet. I wanted to cry again but was all out of tears. I was not built for this level of anxiety.

"Why don't you come out and have dinner with us today?" Mariela encouraged gently. "The guards will be with us the entire time. You will be perfectly safe."

I bit my lip. Security was tightest around Mariela and Roland. There was no safer place to be in this castle than by their sides. "Alright. I'll come as long as we can have lavender blackberry cake for dessert."

She smiled. "Not a problem. I will send someone to the kitchens right now."

In the end, Mariela got what she wanted and I got my cake without incident. It helped me relax a little seeing that Sigmund looked calm and even a little defeated. It served him right for treating my poor husband so terribly all of those years.

===

Sigmund realized that Charles had abandoned him as soon as he decided to go back to his estate. Since he was no longer useful to him, there was no reason to stay and try to help.

His annoyance had been plain to see for weeks now. So much for standing with your friends in times of need. He would have abandoned a pawn with the same callousness and yet having it done to him drove him toward the edge.

He was ready to give up on everything when Katie and Alpheus finally exited their chambers and came to dinner for the first time in days. Seeing them look so unbothered by everything was the final push he needed to go over the cliff of insanity completely.

Why should they be happy when he had lost everything? He didn't even care what the consequences would be anymore. He would make Alpheus watch as he took away what mattered to him most. He would never be able to come back from that!

All Sigmund had to do now was wait until their guards were down and they thought they had nothing to fear. Katie would die by his hand and no one else's for causing him so much trouble.

Alpheus was utterly dependent on her. With her dead he would not be able to revive his clan; his heart wouldn't be in it. It was the smallest form of revenge he could take and he would manage it even if it cost him his life.

What did he have left to live for anyway? Certainly not his useless wife. Even after sticking to her confinement rules perfectly she had still miscarried. She never would have been able to bear an heir anyway.

No one else knew about this yet because it had barely happened overnight and she wanted to hide her shame. The news would come out eventually and he would be even more embarrassed at marrying such a failure than he already was.

What little dignity he had left was gone. If he was going to go down, he would take his enemies down with him.

Waiting for that blasted woman to come out into the open was going to drive him mad. It took weeks for her to lower her guard enough to travel alone. When the opportunity came, he snatched her from behind and held a knife to her throat.

"Make a sound and I will kill you where you stand," Sigmund growled.

Katie froze immediately, unwilling or unable to utter a single word. He could feel her trembling and it made him feel powerful again. That was right. He had the power here. He could end her life with a single wrist movement but wouldn't do so until Alpheus came looking for her.

It didn't take long. Those two were always practically glued to each other's sides.

"Katie?" he called down the corridor. "Katie, where are you?"

The most horrified look Sigmund had ever seen on his face appeared when he rounded the corner and saw them. It filled him with genuine pleasure. Making him watch this was going to be fun.

By the time Alpheus found his voice, his face was white as a sheet. He held his hands out to indicate surrender. "Put the knife down. Take me instead, just let her live. I beg of you."

His voice cracked with terror and Sigmund thrived on it. So he wasn't aware of his own power yet? Interesting. It might be best to toy with him a little longer before slitting his wife's throat in front of his very eyes.