<strong>[ FLASHBACK ]</strong>
Joaquin grunted, curling his body into a ball as he lay on the cold ground of his cell. They would usually chain him, but there were days they wouldn't. Those days were usually the days Joaquin would go through hell and, even without the bounds, there was no way he could get out.
Abel was hell.
The emperor of the Haimirich Empire was crazy. A highly intelligent, insane person who could pretend he was normal. No one had seen the real Abel because those who did were either dead or locked up in their own oubliette. There were a few selected individuals who had seen Wrath: Conan, Isaiah, Dexter, and a few others, but those people had a biased opinion.
<strong>'I'm going to kill him someday.'</strong> There wasn't a day Joaquin fail to pledge to settle scores with Abel.
Joaquin lost everything because of Abel. He lost Maganti; he lost his life and his woman. It was all Abel's fault; the fact that Joaquin couldn't believe the most was that Abel was the same as him. Matter of fact, Abel was worse than Joaquin. And yet, people forgive him.
Abel had done horrendous and unspeakable crimes, stealing other people's rights, and yet, he was out there living his life. Meanwhile, Joaquin was jailed and tortured every single day of his life to the point that even breathing had been torture to him as well.
"Aries…" whispered Joaquin, staring at the concrete wall. "... love."
Joaquin blinked weakly, and as he did, Aries's image came into sight. She was sitting in the corner; her body was bruised and her eyes were blank. She was hugging her knees, and half of her lower face blocked her by her knees. Both of them looked miserable.
"Now you understand," she said, lifting her head until her chin was resting on her knees. "It's hard, right? To be locked here, to get your freedom stolen from you. That's just a portion of my hell, Joaquin."
"There wasn't a single day I don't wish to kill you. In fact, each and every second of my life, I thought of different ways to kill you," she continued, narrowing her eyes until they were partially closed. "You deserved this, Joaquin."
Despite her cruel remarks, Joaquin's eyes only bore sadness and longing. He was probably gone insane, he thought, that instead of anger, all he wanted was to embrace her.
"Are you happy now?" he asked, his lips mangled and unable to move a muscle from all the beating he went through.
"Hmm?"
"While I suffer here, are you happy out there, Aries?" he repeated, this time much clearer.
Aries pursed her lips while holding his gaze. The slight hesitation in her eyes was something unclear, but since she was an illusion created by him, Joaquin believed what he wanted to believe with her silence.
"You better be happy," he said under his breath, crawling his hand to where she was with every bit of his energy. "You better be happy, Aries."
Her eyes fell on his hand that was stretching towards her coldly. She slowly raised her eyes to meet his desperate eyes.
"Why?" she inquired softly. "Why do I need to be happy just because you say so?"
He didn't know… or perhaps he just needed a reason for whatever he had in his heart. If Aries was happy, there was a reason for him to wish to destroy it. But if she was just as miserable, then… why was he even here? Why was he even suffering? What for?
"You are mad," Aries spoke once again, studying the emotions swirling in his eyes. "And pitiful. You don't know if you hate me enough to kill me with your own hands or just love me so much your hatred doesn't make a lot of a difference."
"Do you think I'm better than them?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side. "Was it because everyone changed when you fell from your grace, while I am still the same to you?"
"Perhaps," he breathed out. "Maybe not."
The side of her lips curled up subtly. "I hate you to the bones. I really, really hate you. Every time I think of children, Bean always crosses my mind. You took him away from me. You can't bring him back, so there's nothing that can make me hate you less."
Bean.
Right…
They had a child together.
A child with her.
"Do you think I never thought of him?" Bitterness filled his eyes as his mind drifted to those fleeting yet peaceful days with her. "Did you ever think I never felt sorry for him?"
"You can't bring him back. Your regret will change nothing."
"I know that."
Aries blinked ever so tenderly. "Bean… that poor child will always be alone. His father and his mother will not reunite with him. Do you know why?"
"Because we don't have a place in Heaven."
"That's right." Aries smiled bitterly. "We never had a place there, and that's why I feel sorry for him. And that's why I will hate you for the rest of my life. Not only did you take him away from me but also, you took away all chances of me reuniting with him."
Her eyes softened. "My poor child… I can hear his cries every time I close my eyes. His cries were sad, and even when I search for him, I cannot find him. Only then did I realize that is because I am stuck deep in this hell while he was up there, left in the pearly gates of heaven, waiting for someone to take him in."
Joaquin pressed his lips as tears pooled in his eyes. His vision slowly turned blurry as a tear rolled across the bridge of his nose. When he blinked, Aries's image disappeared. At the back of his head, he knew everything she said was his own thoughts; it was his heart speaking. But he managed to delude himself into believing those were Aries's sentiments as well.
This was just one of the daily hallucinations Joaquin would go through — unconscious or not. He slowly closed his eyes, reaching for the spot where he saw Aries, only for the darkness to swallow him. Joaquin went through hell over and over before Javier came to his cell and freed him from these shackles.
Little did Javier know, Joaquin was never free. Joaquin was already a prisoner of his mind and a slave to his obsession with Aries. A highly intelligent insane person, who could understand his surroundings, but at the same time, too blinded by his own personal dilemma.
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com