[BL] The Darling Villain

Chapter 79. A Cowardly Child

Trigger warning! Gore warning at the end!

The afternoon was rather sunny, with a gentle breeze sifting across the velvety flowers and rustling leaves. The sound of a clear bell rung, and a billowing fragrance of sandalwood meadows suffused in the wispy clouds.

Lucilline could not keep his copper bell silent at all.

"Does it bother you that much?" Rachelle asked with a teasing smile.

Lucilline: There's no way she doesn't know it bothers me.

Nevertheless, the young boy shook his head. Gradually, the sound of the copper bell faded from his mind. As the mother and son continued to stroll around the streets, they began discussing their destination.

"Mother's friend is a very lovely lady!" Rachelle smiled. "Miss Bellerose runs a flower shop, and whenever I have a banquet to attend to, the first place I'd head to would be Miss Bellerose's flower shop to pick out a bouquet." The more she talked, the less she was able to stop. "Her flowers are just spectacular. I have never seen a person care for plants like she does. Miss Bellerose has a very high integrity, and–"

"We're here!" Rachelle halted.

They stopped before a small shop, about the size of the Royal family's carriage. Small clay pots were scattered before the building, with beautiful greenery splashed left and right. A puff of clean and fresh air hit Lucilline in the face.

Before they could even get near the shop's vicinity, Lucilline felt a tug on his wrist.

His copper bell rang violently, a sharp noise in contrast to the quiet atmosphere.

"Huh?" His golden eyes dilated.

One of the House Rubius butlers gave him a meaningful look. "What is it?" Lucilline saw the butler clearly in the eye. The butler's eyes resembled blue iris flowers, and his chestnut brown hair flowed in the bidding breeze. "I'm sorry."

All of a sudden, Lucilline felt a fierce pain crash into his head.

He blacked out.

*****

When Lucilline had awoken, he noticed his freezing numb limbs. Chills had seeped into his bones, his veins protruding like bruised purple vines. The floor was like an ice cave, a foreboding winter creeping into his body and freezing him from inside. His head rang loudly, as if a ghoul was trapped within the confines of his mind. His knuckles burned ghastly white, yet his pants were scraped, with residue skin peeled onto the cobblestone ground.

"Where... am I?" Lucilline's sight was hazy, as if a mist deliberately covered over his pair of eyes.

His copper bell rang weakly.

"Lucy, you've woken up!" A hushed cry alerted him. Strands of black hair have been littered across the cold ground. It was then Lucilline realized that those strands of hair were his mother's.

Rachelle's dress was torn, the hem ripped into ragged shapes, and her body beaten bloodied and bruised. The pure and noble appearance she always had had been shattered into a billion shards. A filthy black eye contrasted against her pale skin, and a cut striked down at the corner of her crimson red lips. She appeared more like a dishevelled witch burning on the cross now.

Lucilline could hardly move his fingers. They stiffened like solid ice, his bones chilling to the core. "Mom..." His voice cracked. What happened? Where are we?

Before he could move, Rachelle leaped out.

She embraced him in a tight hug, her cold limbs enveloping his cold ones. "Don't be afraid, Lucy. I'll find us a way out of here." Despite saying that, Lucilline could feel his mother's hands tremble upon his shoulders.