Franklin was imprisoned in a small cage, forcing him to stay bent all the time.
Twice per day, some guards appeared and took him to a torture cell. There, they hung him by the leg and drowned him in water. As the rope came loose, they pulled it again and hung him above water.
They used a metal rod with small spikes to beat him helplessly.
They beat him out of frustration for losing their comrades
After twelve days, he was released from imprisonment.
All that time, he had only one thought in mind:
How is she? Where is she? And where is that bastard who backstabbed him?
After he was released, he quickly went to see his friend to beat him to death. He was boiling with anger. But when he reached his room, he wasn't there.
He looked for him but couldn't find him.
Then Franklin went to an old woman's room. She was also a slave.
When Franklin was still in his mother's womb, his mother had tried to kill him. But the old woman stopped her.
She wasn't related to him by blood, but she had protected him like a real grandmother. That's why Franklin called her "Granny."
Franklin went to her to ask about his missing friend.
When he entered her room, she hurriedly hugged him and started crying.
Franklin thought she was crying because he had been in prison.
But he didn't know that the reason for her tears was far more terrifying.
"Where have you been, Franky?" Franklin's grandmother asked
" It's a long story… Do you know where Soel is?"
Franklin's friend's name was Soel.
His grandma wiped her eyes and answered his question. "He is dead."
"What?"
It was unexpected.
"How did he die?" Franklin asked another question.
"He tried to escape the county but was caught by the guards. Then he was brutally killed in front of everyone."
Franklin's eyes widened in shock. He had planned to kill his friend, but hearing that he was already dead shocked him deeply.
As his anger calmed, he wished to see Anna. So he said to his grandma,
" I'm in a rush, Granny. I'll come agin later. I'm going to see Anna now."
Hearing this, his grandma started crying loudly.
"What's wrong, Granny?"
"Aaaahhhaaa. Franky...You are... Aaaaahhhhha gooood. Oh my goooood, why gave him so much pain. Oh gooood."
His grandma started saying strange things and fell to the floor.
"Granny, please tell me, why are you crying?" Franklin asked in confusion.
Then Franklin's grandma said something unexpected, Something she didn't know how to say.
"Frankly...Anna is no more....She had died."
" !!!!!!!!! "
As soon as he heard those words, he fell back onto the floor and froze in shock.
His eyes were as big as they could get, as if they might pop out at any moment.
His hands, legs, every part of his body trembled with horror.
"Granny, what are you talking about?" he shouted, not wanting to believe what she said.
Then his grandma began to explain how Anna died and the connection between her death and his friend's death.
"Soel loved Anna. He even proposed to her, but she rejected him, saying she loved you. But Soel didn't give up. He did many things to gain her approval, but she rejected every one of his attempts"
When Franklin and Anna laughed together, Soel was burning with anger and bloodlust.
He felt his friend had taken the girl he loved.
He planned many ways to kill Franklin, but he was too scared to do it.
Just then a guest arrived. He brought a sample of aphrodisiac for Count Gradano.
This was a potion that boosts sexual desire and capability. The cultist group that kidnapped Aether was the same group that produced this potion.
The potion was made by torturing humans. The cultists cut a vein in the neck and left the person to die while feeling intense pain and fear. Then, using dark magic, they refined the blood filled with these strong emotions into a potion.
This potion could make an 80 year old man with erectile dysfunction feel as vigorous in bed as a 15 year old discovering desire for the first time.
The guest brought this potion to Count Gradano as a sample, hoping he would invest in their project.
The count then ordered ten female slaves to be brought to test the drug.
Franklin's friend, Soel, heard about this and planned to make Franklin fight the guards. As a result, Franklin was imprisoned.
Meanwhile, Anna kept looking for Franklin. They were supposed to run away today, but he wasn't there. She waited for two days but couldn't find him.
Then she went to Franklin's friend, Soel, and asked him about Franklin.
Soel pretended not to know where Franklin was and said he would search for him.
After a day, Soel came to Anna and pretended to cry as he said,
" The count had ordered 10 girls, and he thought you were one of them. So he charged at them with a sickle and killed some guards. As a result, he was imprisoned. Then they tortured him brutally and killed him."
Franklin was still alive, but Soel faked his death.
He thought that if he pretended Franklin was dead and supported Anna in her weak state, he could gain her love.
It was all his twisted love.
"Aaaah, God. I lost my precious friend. Why...why do we slaves have to suffer so much?" Soel acted as if he was heartbroken over his death.
"It can't be. It can't be. It can't be.."
Upon hearing about Franklin's death, Anna cried loudly as she crawled on the floor. Her eyes became lifeless, and she lost all her sense of reason.
Soel, as planned, comforted her and cried with her. But he didn't expect what she was about to do.
"In a city where my beloved doesn't exist, I have no desire to live either."
As soon as she said those words, she took a knife and pierced her abdomen.
"Annnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaa!" Soel shouted in shock.
As she was falling to the floor, he caught her in his arms.
"Why, Anna? Why did you do this?" Soel cried in pain, but she didn't answer.
Ghkk… splurt... splshhh…
As she was about to die, she said something, as if she was looking at Franklin.
"Franklin, If I go to heaven and don't find you there, that heaven will feel like hell to me. But if I end up in hell and find you there, then hell will feel like heaven to me."
Blood flowed from Anna's mouth as she took her last breath.