He stared at the Heavensfall Sword dissipating from its blade into the night sky, despair etching his face.

So it’s over. The strongest human… betrayed by his own kind.

Such treachery was rotten luck—truly an F-rank experience.

Now even the Soulsever Sacred Sword was stolen. After his death, William would surely parade it everywhere.

Damn it. His body felt utterly drained, unable to even stand. Though he’d be mortal for just hours, that was more than enough to kill him.

Collapsed beneath the night sky, he gazed up at the crimson moon. A wave of melancholy washed over him.

The Bloodline army erupted into wild cheers seconds after the Heavensfall Sword vanished completely.

"Hah! We’re saved!"

"Did these humans really think they could wipe us out?"

"Is this their so-called strongest? His magic fizzled halfway! Pathetic."

"Hah! Even humanity’s peak is this weak."

Lying on the ground, his ear pressed to the earth, he heard their taunts clearly. *Lucky bastards.*

Stripped of magic and the Soulsever Sword, Sky Qi was weaker than an ordinary boy—utterly defenseless.

"How pitiful. Betrayed by your own people." Tina had appeared beside him, resting her chin in her palm as she studied his face.

Sky Qi turned his head weakly toward her.

The moment Tina met his eyes, she couldn’t look away. Hatred and defiance blazed in them, radiating a magnetic allure she found irresistible.

A desire surged within her: to cage this human, to humiliate and break him. Once born, the craving refused to fade.

Sky Qi felt uneasy under the Vampire Princess’s gaze. *Why’s she looking at me like… like a man staring at a naked woman? What the hell is this?*

*Click!* Before he could speak, Tina snapped a collar around his neck—complete with a leash.

"Filthy Darkling! What are you doing?!" Sky Qi raised his voice, trying to sound fierce.

"You should thank me for sparing your life." Ignoring his question, she dangled two sets of shackles.

Fear finally flickered in Sky Qi’s eyes. Death would’ve been kinder than this.

His hands were wrenched behind his back and shackled. He kicked wildly, legs straining to escape—but without magic or strength, he was just a boy. Ankle cuffs locked tight.

The chains between his wrist shackles were only twenty centimeters long, barely allowing movement. The leg chains were equally short, rendering him immobile.

Tina swept him up bridal-style and strode toward the Bloodline castle.

"Filthy Darkling… you’re bold," Sky Qi muttered weakly. His feeble threat only stoked her desire.

Bound and cradled in her arms, he had no strength left. Empty words were all he had.

"What do you want from me?" His voice trembled with fear of the unknown.

"Oh, nothing much. I just need a new plaything."

*Plaything?* Sky Qi blinked. *A toy?* Then he recalled rumors among nobles—and understood.

She meant a *bed toy*. A human toy for her pleasure.

*I won’t become a Darkling’s toy!*

He thrashed in her arms. "Filthy Darkling! Release me now!"

"Do you know who you’ve captured? Others will avenge me!"

"If you dare touch me, I’ll make us both go down fighting!"

"Filthy Darkling—you’ll regret this!"

His curses filled the path. Tina’s brows furrowed; his threats were grating.

"Filthy Dark—*mmph!*" A gag silenced him. Tina buckled the strap behind his head with practiced ease.

Now robbed of speech, he could only glare.

*What’s happening?!* Even his residual magic had vanished. He stared at the collar. *Could this be it?*

He’d heard Dark Races’ master smiths forged collars from rare metals—able to seal even peak-level cultivators’ powers.

*Is this cursed thing doing that to me?*

Tina slipped through a castle window with him, avoiding attention.

His body lifted, then dropped onto a large bed. He curled inward, shrinking himself. *Maybe this will spare me.*

"Don’t worry," Tina purred, lying beside him and tilting his chin up. "I won’t do anything tonight."

*Tonight?* He didn’t believe her. *What about tomorrow night?*

Too exhausted to fight, he remembered the sting of betrayal. Healing magic could mend wounds—but not the ache.

"Stop looking at me like that. It won’t help." She whispered against his ear, "You’re my prisoner now. Cross me, and unpleasant things happen."

*Mmph!* He could only squirm weakly in protest. Shackled and collared, he lay trapped in her embrace, chains clinking softly.

*The strongest… reduced to this. How ironic.* He closed his eyes, accepting his fate.

"Escaping me won’t be easy," she murmured to herself.

She pulled an eye mask from a drawer, plunging him into helpless darkness.

Tina draped a leg over his waist, arms circling his neck. Her lips parted near his ear, warm breath ghosting over his skin.

He stopped resisting. Held close, he drifted into uneasy sleep.