𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐑 [Kim Taehyung FF]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐅𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚'𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐯

The water felt cold against my skin, though I knew it wasn't. The warmth of the royal bath had long faded as I sat there, submerged, staring at nothing. My tears mingled with the bathwater, lost among the ripples.

I felt lost, too. For six years, I had endured a storm of betrayals, heartaches, and unimaginable pain. But nothing-nothing-could have prepared me for this.

Kim Taehyung. V. My V.

I thought he was dead. I mourned him, grieved him until my soul ached. But it was all a lie. He had hidden his true identity from me, just as my father had hidden the truth of his survival.

The man I loved, the one I thought I had lost forever, was alive. And not just alive-he was the emperor of Daegu, the king who had held me captive in his palace for months.

A sob tore from my throat, raw and uncontainable. I buried my face in my hands, my body trembling with the force of my emotions. My chest tightened, the weight of betrayal pressing down on me, suffocating me. How could they? How could HE?

I couldn't bear to think of him, yet his image was etched into my mind, sharp and clear. His cold eyes, filled with hatred, burned into my memory. His words echoed in my ears, relentless and cruel.

*"This is just the beginning, Ella. You will pay for everything you did. I'll break your pride piece by piece, and I'll burn Incheon to the ground, until there's nothing left but ashes."*

The venom in his voice had pierced me deeper than any blade ever could. How did it come to this? How had we, who once loved so deeply, become such enemies?

I glanced down at my arms, his touch still lingering on my skin like a brand. Every place he had touched burned, and I felt tainted by it. Frantically, I began scrubbing at my skin, as if I could erase him from my body, from my soul.

My nails dug into my flesh, scratching and clawing, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't rid myself of him. His presence was everywhere-within me, around me.

"I hate you, Taehyung," I whispered, my voice breaking. But even as I said the words, I knew they were a lie. My hatred for him was twisted with the love I once had, a painful contradiction that tore me apart from the inside.

How foolish I had been. All this time, I had tried to rationalize his reasons for bringing me here. I thought perhaps he wanted to keep me as a trophy, a symbol of his victory over my people.

Since that first day, so many signs had passed before my eyes, but I had chosen to ignore them. The sword tattoo inked behind his ear, the way he had called me *Ella*-a name only one person had ever used for me.

And that day when he fought the wild elephant with such ferocity... It wasn't just fear that gripped me. It was a feeling I couldn't explain-a connection that I had buried deep, refusing to acknowledge it.

It all became clear just before the royal dinner. I had slipped away to the chamber, the one he kept locked away from prying eyes. My hands trembled as I removed the covers from the paintings.

The secret room had revealed everything. The paintings-so many paintings-of me, of him, from years ago. Memories I didn't even know he held onto, locked away in that hidden place.