I became a legion lich

87 Trauma

After somehow making it back home, Selena broke down in tears. She tried to look brave in front of Kastil, but she was scared to death inside. She destroyed everything inside the house in a fit of rage, kicking out all the staff while venting her frustration and helplessness on anything she could reach.

After venting her anger until there was no furniture left in the house, Selena ripped off the clothes Kastil had given her, staring at her naked body in a shard of glass in a mirror.

There were no marks of what had happened on her body, as Kastil had perfectly healed any wounds, but she still felt hurt. She ran into the shower and tried to clean off dirt and marks that weren’t there. Selena cried as loudly as she could, rubbing her own skin until it drew blood. The bath water began to redden, mixed with her own blood and tears, until a white glow came out of the tree and healed her wounds.

It reminded her that she hadn’t yet escaped the grasp of kastil’s, that he could still reach out and violate her whenever he wanted. The thought of being at his mercy scared her to death. She ran to her room and hid, not allowing anyone to approach her.

Selena crouched naked in the corner of the room with the lights off, while curling herself into a ball to make herself as small as possible. She could almost feel Kastil’s disgusting hands approaching her and his sick voice whispering in her ear. She was shivering with cold and fear, as if Kastil might appear at any moment.

Home staff were confused when they were suddenly evicted and contacted the family as soon as the destruction began. Her family members arrived half an hour later and entered the house worried about Selena. Her family found her in the corner of her room and her father rushed to help her, only for a kick to the stomach to send him flying to the other side of the house.

“Don’t come close!” Selena screamed as she cried, looking fearfully at everyone around her. In her mind, everyone around her had Kastil’s face and it terrified her.

“Daughter, it’s me! What happened?” His father cried out in concern, his eyes filled with worry as he held on to a broken rib. He had been a retired warrior for over 150 years, so his body was no longer used to pain.

“Stay away from me!” Selena continued screaming, releasing blasts of elemental energy that forced the others to either back off or die. A wave of darkness drained the tree’s strength as a wave of heat ignited the room. A pulse of orange energy made the whole place shake and threw everyone off balance.

.....

‘She’s not thinking clearly. I need to knock her unconscious before she hurts anyone or herself!’ His father thought, the wooden ring on his right hand growing and changing into a staff one meter long. He conjured a mist of cold air that smothered the flames while spreading the element of light to protect the tree from darkness.

Finally, he conjured small platforms of light and approached Selena, ignoring the tremor.

“No!” Selena screamed seeing ‘Kastil’ approach her. She tried to increase her mana output while forming a mana barrier around her, but her mental state did not allow her to focus on the barrier properly.

Her father broke the barrier with a blow using the back of his hand, before lightly touching the end of the staff to Selena’s forehead. The staff emitted a soft glow as it cast a calming spell. Selena immediately fell asleep and her father took her in his arms.

“You can rest my daughter, your father is here to protect you.” He whispered softly as he stroked her hair, but his eyes were cold. He cast a diagnostic spell, noticing all the self-inflicted wounds and healing them, all the while wondering what could have happened to her for Selena to be in such a state.

“Order all employees not to divulge what happened here. Also, retrace your steps and find out where she was during the day.” The father ordered, causing the rest of the family and the guards with them to nod.

An investigation was made from there and they easily discovered that Selena had received a letter from the sprout summoning the dukes, but Kastil denied having invited anyone to the sprout. No messengers had arrived at the border and none of the other dukes had received any invitations, so Selena’s father assumed she received a fake letter and someone attacked her on the way.

Kastil had knocked all the guards who were supposed to be guarding the sprout unconscious and then manipulated their minds into believing they were working normally and that none of them saw Selena. Investigations continued, but they quickly reached a dead end. Kastil followed the investigation closely, sabotaging it whenever they got close to the truth or began to suspect something.

To make matters worse, the only person who knew the truth was mentally incapable. Her father took her to his house to recover, but she only got worse.

The moment she woke up, she would start screaming while pointing at the walls, as if there were an invisible enemy that only she could see. Selena cast magic and tried to destroy the house, accusing them of being monsters trying to violate her, even her family was unable to calm her down.

With no other choice, they kept her sedated, applying drugs to keep her under control, but her magic-enhanced body and decades of training made most drugs and meds ineffective in the long run. His father was forced to administer large dozens of medicine, but this came with a side effect.

Selena remained in a groggy state most of the day, having panic attacks whenever the effects of the meds began to wear off. His family hired every alchemist in the country and tried numerous medicines, but none of them had any positive effect. In fact, some meds had harmful effects on your mind, but they didn’t realize it because of their already weakened state.

The elves were about unaware of mind-affecting spells, as it was something created by the order of magic and they kept the secret to themselves.

Her fiancé also tried to talk to Selena, but it was useless. She reacted strongly to his presence, screaming incoherently as she tried to push him away, making him a suspect in her father’s eyes. Selena was just trying to warn him of the danger and tell him it was dangerous for him to be around her, but it ended up having the opposite effect.

Her father called off their engagement on the grounds that she was unable and there was nothing he could do about it. At the same time, he ordered a secret investigation to be made into the fiancé.

Kastil was glad the engagement was over, but knowing that the groom was being investigated gave him an idea. He used his powers to plant evidence where none existed and interfere with investigations, throwing little crumbs for investigators to follow, all pointing at him.

Soon, investigators found traces of poorly cleaned Selena’s blood in his house and magically enhanced poisons, so he was arrested and taken to the Elven house. Selena’s father personally tortured the fiancé for answers, but he swore he had done nothing.

Selena overheard what happened to her fiancé overhearing the employees’ conversation in one of her few lucid moments, going internally into despair. That’s when Kastil whispered in her ear.

“Your fiancé will be moved to the roots of the damned in a few days. I will come heal you the day after he is taken and then you will become mine. Resist and he will pay the price.” Kastil said, a flash of light curing all the effects of the drugs and restoring his mind to perfect condition.

The convicts’ roots were an underground prison in the capital where the country’s worst criminals were taken. It was between the sprout roots and there was no guard, but only because it wasn’t necessary. Kastil was their personal jailer and made sure none of their stress-relieving toys got away.

“P-Please leave us alone...” Selena started to cry as her voice shook, but Kastil just laughed at it. A branch sprouted from the smooth wooden wall and touched Selena’s face, gently wiping the tears from her face.

“There is no ‘you’ anymore. That man’s life ended the moment he dared to lay his hands on you. But you can decide how he will die. Spend the next few centuries in pure suffering, or die peacefully. It’s your decision.” The whisper became more distant, the effects of the drugs making her body lethargic, to the point where she was unable to control her limbs or her own mana.

But his mind remained steady. The trauma was still there, but Selena could still think clearly. It was the final gift Kastil left for her to think, but there wasn’t much she could do.

‘If I can save him, sacrificing myself is a small price to pay.’ Selena thought, but her body didn’t stop shaking in fear of approaching that monster again. She internally said goodbye to her fiancé, while praying that Kastil would keep his word.

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