The man who entered wore a long, dark-colored shroud that prevented visibility of his face. Elira sat up, but calmed down slightly when she noticed her father was behind the man.
"F-Father?"
The two men entered the room.
"Get on your knees, wench," Elira's Father commanded, not even wanting to touch Elira to make her get down. He motioned to the mage, and he suddenly yanked Elira by the hair and pulled her off the bed. "Good."
[A-ah... ow... my head...]
"W-what's wrong?" Elira asked, looking up with tears in her eyes at both men.
"It seems like you've made some friends, demon. Obviously, we cannot have you leaking private information out of the duchy. That's why we made you wear that necklace, but you can't keep a necklace on forever. Someone else besides you could always remove it," the Duke said as he paced around the small room.
The mage's hand began to glow blue, and he began to speak. "I need your names. The spell binds between the contractor and the target using their names and proximity."
"S-Spell?" Elira blurted out, even though she had already known it to an extent.
The Duke sighed a long and painful breath. "Her name is Elira. My name is Ronan. Cast it."
"Of course," The mage's hands began to leak blue mana as they encircled Elira, until Elira was surrounded by blue mana particles. They began to close down on her neck, forming a small donut shape around her neck as they began to clamp down.
"I-I can't breah... H-hel...help me..."
[I'm struggling to think properly... what is this spell for...? I... I can't...]
The mana particles made a beeline to the Duke, who flinched slightly but let them touch him. The particles began to glow as a magical connection began to form between Elira and the Duke.
"Good. The connection is strong. Now I will begin," The mage said amidst the sight of chaos as he began to chant something under his breath.
"A- O- heeugh..." Elira began breathing in air without any way to let it out as she began to tug on the donut of mana around her neck, with no way for it to be dispelled by physical means.
The mage suddenly stopped chanting, and the mana particles disappeared as Elira collapsed on the ground, struggling for breath.
"It's done. I'll be on my way now, Duke."
"Sure," The Duke said to the mage.
As the mage left the room, a blood-curdling scream could be heard, and multiple sounds of flesh being ripped and torn apart. The Duke looked outside for a moment, smiling before turning his gaze back to Elira, lifting her chin with his foot.
"Tell me about what you hate most about this place," the Duke said coldly, almost to provoke her.
"I-I..." Her mouth opened, but no words came out, and she began to claw at her neck. She closed her mouth briefly and suddenly opened it again, gasping for air. "I... I can't... I couldn't..."
"Talk? Yes. It's working then. You'll never be able to speak a word about this duchy to anyone." With that, the duke left, going back out into the hallway, passing by the bloody mess.
As the door closed and the lock clicked into place, Elira was still clutching her neck, almost as though in denial.
She cried herself to sleep that night in a genuine cry, not just one from experiencing physical pain.
And not long before Elira knew it, she was at the altar in the white dress, with the same man she had been having a crush on standing right in front of her, with a face she knew the best, a face of pure hatred.