Chapter 51

Athena was eerily calm, so calm that Michael almost thought she was talking about someone else. The pity in Michael’s eyes grew so intense that it sparked a dark thought in him.

He thought, “What if I just hid Athena away, made her mine alone? Even if she hates me, resents me… as long as she stays by my side, that’s enough.”

But another voice inside whispered, “Wouldn’t she end up hating me for this?”

Defeated, Michael lowered his head, clearly unable to answer. He could hardly bring himself to meet Athena’s eyes. Merely giving him an icy glare, Athena said coldly, “From now on, Michael, you’d do well to stay out of my affairs. Whether I live or die is none of your concern.”

She continued, her voice dripping with contempt, “And spare me that guilty look, it disgusts me.”

Athena strode away without looking back. Michael remained rooted under the tree, his gaze lingering on her retreating figure until she disappeared from sight.

But soon, Michael’s hope rekindled. He thought, “So what if Athena hates me? Deep down, she still cares, doesn’t she? Once she cools down, she’ll come back.”

Michael gritted his teeth and strode out of the estate. “I’ll get justice for Athena,” he vowed.

Michael galloped straight to the military camp, radiating murderous rage as he kicked open the doors to the labor quarters. The workers inside, startled by his sudden arrival, scrambled to their knees in terror.

His abrupt intrusion laid bare all the camp’s filthy secrets before his eyes. Several women who had made mistakes knelt on the ground, being harshly berated by the disciplinary matron, their bodies covered in bruises and scars.

Seeing them, Michael couldn’t help but picture Athena in their place. “Was she whipped like this too? Did she cry for help with no one to answer, just like these women?” he wondered, his gut twisting.

The disciplinary matron went pale at the sight of Michael, as if she had seen a ghost. She dropped to her knees with a thud, trembling as she called out, “Lord Osborne!”

Her voice rang out strangely loud, not the respectful greeting it should have been, but more like a warning to someone inside.

Michael’s instincts kicked in. “Who is she trying to alert?” he thought.

As he wondered, a woman’s anguished scream, laced with sobs, came from inside, making his heart clench. He immediately turned toward the source of the sound and kicked open the door.

Inside, several thuggish soldiers were crowding around a woman, who was completely naked. The horrific scene made him physically recoil.

The thuggish soldiers, seeing Michael burst in out of nowhere, were petrified and immediately dropped to their knees.

Michael’s pupils trembled slightly, his heart tightening as if gripped by an iron fist, making it hard to breathe.

"So this is why Athena hates me," Michael realized, the truth hitting him all at once.

Rage threatened to consume him, and the murderous glare in his eyes made the soldiers cower in fear.

One of the bolder soldiers knelt desperately and pleaded, “General, we were just having some fun! That’s how things have always worked in the camp, we paid money, and we didn’t break any rules!”

Michael fixed him with an icy stare. Panicking, the man grabbed the woman’s arm and barked, “You filthy whore, say something! Didn’t we pay you?”

Tears streaked down the woman’s face, but her eyes blazed with a tsunami of hatred. She slowly lifted her gaze to the man, then suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream of despair and wildly lunged at him.

Stan Woods shrieked, trying to yank her hair, but she sank her teeth into his ear, making him howl in agony.

The crowd froze, stunned by the sudden outburst. Just as the others rushed to help Stan, the woman suddenly collapsed to the ground.

A dagger was protruding from her abdomen. Her glazing eyes locked onto Michael, the hatred in them undiminished. That look was just like the one Athena had given him.

“Birds of a feather,” Athena’s words echoed in his mind.

Michael had never felt such intense pain in his life. Before he knew it, he had drawn his sword from his waist and strode toward Stan.

Stan’s face turned deathly pale with fear. “General, I beg for mercy! Please, I really beg for mercy!” he pleaded.

But Michael gave him no chance to repent; he struck him down with a single blow. The murderous aura radiating from him made everyone else in the room tremble in terror.

They dropped to their knees, huddling together and scrambling backward. “General, spare us this time! We truly beg for mercy!” they cried.

Michael advanced step by step, the bloodied sword dripping in his hand, his eyes completely bloodshot.

Just as Michael raised his saber, ready to strike them down, someone suddenly wrapped their arms tightly around his waist from behind.

A booming voice, like thunder, exploded in his ear. “Lord Osborne, you mustn’t!”

The rough shout did nothing to snap Michael out of it; he had been perfectly clear-headed all along.

He told himself coldly, “I will avenge Athena. Every last one who humiliated her must die.”

Jed Patton’s eyes burned with anxiety. “Lord Osborne, these men may be despicable, but their crimes don’t warrant execution! If you kill them all and His Majesty takes offense, the entire Osborne family could be dragged into disgrace.”

He pressed, voice strained, “And if you lose your military rank, could you really bear to see your family’s legacy destroyed by your own hand?”

Michael blinked, his eyes bloodshot, red as if with blood.

Yet his grip on the saber remained unyielding. He nearly roared, voice raw with fury, “They deserve to die! Every last one of them!”

Trembling with rage, he thought, “How dare they humiliate Athena? How could they do something so cruel to her right under my nose?”

Michael’s strength was inhuman. Even with Jed clinging to him with all his might, he couldn’t be stopped.

In desperation, Jed bellowed at the guards behind him, “What are you waiting for? Grab Lord Osborne now! If this gets out of hand, none of us will survive!”

The guards immediately swarmed forward, seizing Michael and dragging him out of the room by force.

“Restrain everyone in here, now!” Jed barked, seizing the moment while Michael was being subdued.

He knew that even if Michael was temporarily held down, these people still wouldn’t get away with it.

As Michael’s lieutenant, Jed was consumed by guilt. He fell to Michael’s feet, shoulders slumped in dejection, and said, “General, I share the blame for this. If punishment is due, let it fall on me as well.”

A spark of life finally returned to Michael’s eyes. He slowly turned to Jed, then, without warning, kicked him hard in the chest.

With a heavy thud, Jed was sent flying nearly ten feet, crashing to the ground and coughing up blood.

Michael growled, “For something like this to happen in the military camp, you really do deserve to die.”

Jed staggered to his feet and knelt back down, offering no defense.

Michael’s eyes were hollow with fury as he ground out between clenched teeth, “Investigate thoroughly. Everyone involved shall face military court.”

Never had he imagined that such darkness could exist under his command.

He thought, “Three long years, a thousand and ninety-five days and nights. Athena had huddled in misery in that hellhole, waiting day and night for me to save her. But what had I done? I’d let those bastards drag her back when she was just one step away from freedom. I was the one who showed her right back into the abyss.”