Franklin was running toward the graveyard, his eyes filled with tears as his grandmother told him what had happened in his absence.
How his Anna had died, it was beyond madness.
She didn't want to live in a world without Franklin. This was the peak of madness.
Franklin bit his lip in frustration. They had been so close to escaping together, but Soel ruined everything.
After a while, Franklin arrived at the graveyard.
There, he searched for a new grave and found one in the corner.
He rushed to it and fell to his knees.
"How can you leave me, Anna… Annnnna!" He cried loudly, shouting her name over and over.
Then, suddenly, he fainted from sorrow. He had nearly broken down when he first heard about her death, but when he saw her grave and touched the soil, his body gave up.
He remained unconscious for a while until someone called his name.
"Franklin… Franklin… Franklin."
Hearing the voice, he regained consciousness.
In front of him floated a black sphere with eyes and a mouth. To be precise, it was a small amber.
"Who are you?" Franklin asked coldly.
He would have been scared upon seeing this mysterious being, but he was too drained to react.
"Do you know the count kept information from leaking?"
"What information?"
"The old woman only said what she knew, but there's more to this story."
"Don't talk in riddles."
"Kekeke. The old woman said that after your lover committed suicide, Soel got scared and tried to run away but was captured instead. But what if that was a lie fed to her by the Count?"
"What!" Franklin, who had been lifeless, suddenly jolted and looked at the small black amber with a serious expression.
"Why not dig up the grave? You'll get your answer."
"What...." Franklin narrowed his eyes.
"Dig up the grave. You'll find something that defies humanity."
The black amber urged him to dig up the grave. He was confused about what to do, but after taking a deep breath, he decided to proceed.
In this way, he would get to see his Anna one last time.
Or perhaps… he wanted to lie in the coffin and kill himself, so that both of them would rest in the same coffin.
Through eternity, they would be together.
He used his hands to dig the grave.
After a while, his hands were bloody, but he had completely uncovered it. Inside lay a small coffin.
"Why is this coffin so small?"Franklin narrowed his eyes. It was barely half the size of Anna.
Franklin then pulled the coffin up onto the ground.
"Open it."
The black amber being urged him to open the coffin.
As he opened the lid of the coffin, a nasty smell of rotten meat rushed out."
Since the lid wasn't sealed properly, maggots and other insects were inside.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaa"
Franklin quickly became scared and fell back.
It wasn't because he was afraid of insects, nor because of the smell. It wasn't because of the swollen, bloated dark skin either.
The reason he was scared was because, Anna's body was in pieces.
her limbs scattered like discarded fragments of a broken doll.
Franklin's tears had stopped, but blood was pouring from his eyes.
He didn't scream. His face was expressionless.
"Truly a tragedy...Let me tell you what happened."
The black amber then began explaining what happened.
***
After Anna died, Soel held her dead body and stared in a daze.
He had done everything to get her, but she still left him.
He even imprisoned Franklin so he could run away with Anna and live with her. But the plan backfired, she took her own life.
Soel grabbed his own hair and pulled in frustration.
"I just wanted to be loved."
Just like that, one day passed.
He was still lying on the floor in a daze, muttering to himself.
"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?"
It seemed he had lost his mind. The shock of losing the girl he loved was too much for him.
To be clear, the girl he loved died because of another man, and that was shocking for him.
Then he stood up and grabbed a knife.
"We need to get out of here."
He slowly started cutting Anna's leg.
"We need to run away. After we run away, we will start over. We will live a happy life. I will buy you many jewels. We need to save money for our child's education too."
As he lost his mind in shock, he muttered whatever came to his mind and slowly cut Anna's body, as if he were butchering her.
The floor was covered with blood, and his eyes looked like those of a madman.
After a while, Anna was in pieces.
Soel then carefully put her in a big bag and headed out.
It was past midnight. He looked at the escape routes and smiled like a madman.
He tried to escape but was captured by a guard.
The guard also seized the bag, and when he opened it, his eyes widened in horror.
Inside were human body parts in pieces. It was Anna's scattered body.
It was the cruelest, most twisted murder the estate had ever seen.
The Count himself was shocked to see such cruelty.
He then ordered the execution, and Anna was given a proper burial.
Love is neither pure nor twisted.
People call it the purest thing, but it's merely another form of desire. Desire can be twisted, and so can love.
In the end, it's just another chain people willingly bind themselves with.
* * *
Franklin was crying silently, but when the black amber told him about the brutality she faced, he broke down and screamed like a madman
"Haaaaa, God. Why, why, why? What did I even do wrong to you? Why do I have to suffer? Am I a toy? My mother hated me, everyone hated me. The only love I had was Anna. You even took her from me. People say you wrote fate. Then why did you write my fate like this?"
"People say you're Almighty. You can change fate, then why did you keep my fate so cursed? Why can't I be happy? Why do I have to rot in slavery? Why can't I be happy? Why can't I dream? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Answer me! Why can't I be happy? Why did Anna have to love such a loser like me? Fk this life, fk this world, fk this fate.fk friendship, fk society, fk nobles."
As he cursed fate itself, slapping his face and punching his chest, the black amber being smiled in an eerie way.
"Kekekeke"