Chapter 987. A Wise Choice Indeed To Protect Aethelgard Using Her Body**

Chapter 987: 987. A Wise Choice Indeed To Protect Aethelgard Using Her Body**

The raw agony of helplessness burned in Aurelia’s chest, more painful than any physical wound. Her defiance, however, refused to die.

Even as her body remained suspended in his invisible grip, her eyes blazed with a hatred so pure it seemed to challenge the very darkness of the room.

"I would rather rip my own heart out with my bare hands," she hissed through clenched teeth, each word a struggle against the pressure on her lungs, "than submit to a monster like you."

"I would choose death... I would choose the sweet release of the grave before I let your filthy hands touch me."

"Kill me now, Rex... End this farce and save me from the humiliation."

Rex’s head tilted to the side, the stone features of Tremor’s Mask catching the dim light.

"Death?" he mused, the distorted voice echoing unnaturally. "Death is too quick, Aurelia."

"Death is an escape. And I have never been fond of letting people escape their obligations."

Suddenly, the invisible pressure changed. It was no longer just holding her in place; it began to contract.

Aurelia’s eyes flew wide as she felt the telekinetic force tighten around her limbs, her ribs, and her throat. It wasn’t a sudden snap but a slow, methodical constriction, like a python tightening its coils around prey.

The pain began as a dull ache in her joints, then sharpened into a searing agony that radiated through every nerve ending. She felt her bones creak under the impossible pressure, the sensation of her own body betraying her as it was crushed inward.

"You think you have leverage because you have pride," Rex said, his voice cold and detached as he watched her suffer. "But pride is worthless when you’re breaking apart."

Aurelia let out a strangled cry, her body convulsing in the air.

The pain was an overwhelming white-hot tide that drowned out all thought. Her vision began to blur at the edges, dark spots dancing before her eyes.

"And don’t worry about the consequences," Rex continued, stepping closer until the stone mask was all she could see. "Don’t worry about Aethelgard."

"Don’t worry about the household as well... If you choose to die, and if you choose to resist until you break, I will simply burn it all."

"I will slaughter every servant, every guard, every child who shares your blood."

"I will reduce Aethelgard to a wasteland of ash and bone before the sun rises."

"I have nothing to lose, Aurelia. I started with nothing, and I will leave with nothing."

A scream tore from Aurelia’s throat a raw, primal sound of pure torment. She fought against the crushing force, her muscles straining to the point of tearing, but it was like fighting the ocean itself.

The pain reached a crescendo, a crescendo that felt as though her very soul was being squeezed out of her body.

"Please," she gasped, the word broken by another spasm of agony. "Stop... please..."

The defiance finally shattered. The weight of her responsibility, the faces of the people she protected, and the legacy she carried collided with the unbearable torment Rex was inflicting.

She couldn’t let them die. She couldn’t let his cruelty erase everything she had fought to preserve.

"I yield!" she shrieked, the words punctuated by a sob of absolute defeat. "I yield! Stop it! Please, just stop!"

The crushing pressure vanished instantly. Aurelia collapsed, but she didn’t hit the floor.

Rex caught her mid-fall with his telekinesis, lowering her gently onto the velvet sofa.

She lay there gasping, her body shaking with violent tremors, her breath coming in ragged, sobbing gulps. The pain was still fresh in her mind, a phantom agony that made her want to writhe.

Then, she felt it. A sudden, overwhelming surge of warmth.

A brilliant, golden light emanated from Rex’s outstretched hand. Supreme Healing.

The magical energy washed over her like warm honey, seeping into her bruised muscles, knitting together the microscopic tears in her flesh, and soothing the screaming nerves. Within seconds, the agony retreated, leaving behind only a profound, hollow exhaustion.

Rex pulled his hand back, the stone mask dissolving back into his human features. His expression was calm, almost serene, as if he hadn’t just tortured a woman to the brink of death.

"There," he said softly, watching her regain her composure. "Pain is a temporary distraction."

"I prefer you at your best."

Aurelia looked up at him, her eyes red-rimmed and hollow. The fire in them had gone out, replaced by something far more terrifying: resignation.

"Why?" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "Why go through that?"

Rex leaned over her, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw with terrifying gentleness. "Because I wanted you to understand the stakes, Aurelia."

"This isn’t a negotiation. This is a choice." He leaned closer, his breath ghosting over her lips. "Choose wisely."

"If you give yourself to me, if you accept the terms, Aethelgard lives... Your people live. Your precious Theo lives."

"But if you refuse..." His smile returned, cold and promising ruin. "Then you can die knowing you were the one who killed them all."

The silence that followed Rex’s ultimatum was heavier than the stone mask he had worn moments before. Aurelia lay on the crimson sofa, her chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow jerks.

The Supreme Healing had mended her bones and soothed her muscles, but it could not heal the violation of her spirit. Her body felt terrifyingly pristine, warm and supple, as if the torture had never happened, and that was the most insulting part of all.

Her mind was a battlefield. One part of her screamed to run, to flee into the night and never look back, to choose her own dignity over the survival of a kingdom that had already failed her.

But another part—the part that had been forged in the fires of leadership and tempered by years of responsibility—was stronger.

’I cannot let them die,’ she told herself, the words repeating like a grim mantra in the hollow chambers of her mind. ’Not because of what he is, but because of what they are.’

’Theo. The servants. The children are playing in the courtyard.’

’The thousands who sleep soundly believing Aethelgard is safe.’

’I am terrified,’ she admitted to herself in a moment of raw honesty that no one would ever see. ’I am terrified of his touch, terrified of his cruelty, terrified of what this will make me.’

’But I will protect them. I will swallow my pride like poison if it means they live to see tomorrow.’

"I understand," she said finally.

Her voice was flat, stripped of all emotion, the sound of someone who had already died inside and was now simply inhabiting a corpse. She forced herself to sit up, the silk robe slipping slightly off one shoulder.

"I accept your terms... Three days... The household remains untouched."

"Aethelgard remains whole."

Rex’s eyes gleamed with something predatory and satisfied. "A wise choice, Aurelia. Truly."

He moved closer, the heat from his body rolling off him in waves. When his hand came to rest on her thigh, Aurelia flinched involuntarily, a small gasp escaping her lips.

The contact was electric, sending a shiver of pure revulsion through her nerves, yet her body betrayed by the very healing magic he had used reacted with a traitorous hum of arousal.

"Don’t fight it," Rex whispered against the shell of her ear. "Your mind may hate me, but your body knows exactly what it wants."

He leaned down, his lips finding the sensitive column of her throat. Aurelia closed her eyes tight, squeezing them shut until she saw stars, trying to retreat into the fortress of her own mind.

But Rex was relentless. His mouth was hot, his tongue tracing the pulse point that hammered erratically beneath her skin.

"Nnh... ahh..." A broken sound escaped her.

She wanted it to be a sob, but it came out as something softer, something more dangerous. Her hips jerked involuntarily as his teeth grazed her collarbone.

"There it is," Rex purred against her skin. "That’s the sound of surrender."

He pulled away just enough to look her in the eyes, his gaze dark with hunger. With one fluid motion, he pushed her back against the cushions.

The sound of her silk robe rustling against the velvet was loud in the quiet room—shhh shhh—as he began to undo the sash.

"This is for the debt, Aurelia," he murmured. "And this is for the pleasure."

As his hands moved over her, exploring the curves he had already claimed in his mind, Aurelia felt the first wave of genuine arousal crash over her, a shameful, involuntary response to his dominance.

When his mouth descended to her breast, her back arched off the sofa.

"Ah! H-hah... no... please..." Her protests were weak, crumbling under the onslaught of sensation. "Mmmph... ahh!"

The room filled with the sounds of their collision: the wet sounds of kisses, the ragged breathing that filled the space between them, and the rhythmic thump-thump of Rex’s body pressing against hers.

Aurelia found herself caught between two extremes: the desperate need to weep for her lost honor and the overwhelming, primal need to scream from the pleasure he forced upon her.

"Aaaahn! Rex... ahh... ahh!" Her voice rose in pitch as his fingers found sensitive places, sending sparks of lightning through her pelvis. "I hate you... mmm... ahh! I hate you so much!"

"Then hate me while you take this," he commanded, his voice rough with desire. "Hate me while you scream my name."