Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 289: The Knight’s Journal (2)

Chapter 289: The Knight’s Journal (2)

Cyrus almost got settled after Jerome Brunton asked for his daughter’s killer’s death. After all, the death of the man responsible for the women who is his mother-equivalent was avenged. Arthur had goosebumps reading the cruel punishments Cyrus had suggested for his uncle - the tortures that were used back during the medieval ages.

He had his sweet sixteen birthday celebrations next. He didn’t have any girlfriends till then and had kissed but he never felt anything ’good’. But he had the occasional thoughts of marrying his Princess. He’d be writing he wanted to marry his princess when she comes of age and the next day he’d feel horrible for thinking that way since he was just a Knight while she deserved a King.

It was then a terrible thing happened that might have affected him deeply. A group of three college girls who were just three years older than him, blackmailed him and started using him for s*x. They had found out him killing a litter of stray kittens and burning them this time. They threatened they’d tell on him to Talia and she’d hate him after that. Not wanting that to happen, he went along with those women.

Arthur felt his skin crawl reading the stuff those women did to him. Cyrus was a very handsome man, with an angelic beauty. They used him as a toy, repeatedly and sometimes they used certain drugs on him and kept him an entire night doing stuff to him.

Those tortures went on for more than a month. His family and Brunton thought he was going out with his friends while he went through immeasurable pain.

It was then Cyrus started talking about the ’beast’ inside him - a dark monstrous creature that would want blood often; like a vampire. It won’t go away without giving it blood.

Cyrus didn’t like being submissive to them at all, and had a detailed plan written about how he’s going to get back at them; to give to the beast. It was terrible. He wanted to leave those women half-dead, wishing for death.

Arthur couldn’t read it and skipped those ramblings of the hurt beast inside Cyrus. That beast hated all women and considered them impure. He felt he became sullied by those women.

Slowly his hate towards all women turned towards Talia who was a girl too. There was one page dedicated to what he’d do to Talia if she becomes a dirty women too.

Arthur skipped it.

The day before the kidnapping incident, Cyrus had decided to tell Talia about him killing kittens. Their conversation went this way.

"I killed five kittens one day."

"Oh?"

"I’ve killed puppies too."

"Why?"

"There is a beast inside me who asked me to."

"... I see no beast in you, Cyrus. You’re a warm person."

"Haha, right. There is no beast since I’m with you. I killed them because their mother died and they had no one to look after."

"Don’t do that again. You can send the babies to shelters. The people in the shelters will look after them."

"Oh, right. Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe I wanted to see blood?"

Cyrus wrote there was no look of disgust or judgement in his Princess’ face when he said that.

"If you want to see blood, Cyrus, work for a butcher. Grandpa brought me there that day and there was a lot of blood. I didn’t like the smell. Grandpa promised he won’t bring me there again. Or maybe don’t... I won’t like you smell like blood."

And just like that, Cyrus’ plans for getting back at those women was thrown away. And one thought got imprinted in his mind.

My Princess is the purest being in this whole world and I will protect her purity.

The next day, his Princess was taken when he was talking to those women who visited the same mall. He was telling them to break their relationship. Cyrus expressed the hate he felt on himself for not being attentive towards his Princess in the journal and how he didn’t feel anything when those bullets punctured him. He was protecting his Princess after all.

He learnt how much his Princess worried for him when he was getting treated and decided not to get hurt in the future.

They went to S country and Jerome at first didn’t want Cyrus to go with Talia, but later he had to agree.

Reading the journal, Arthur learnt that Talia’s father was not a very nice person. After her mother’s death, he started hating Talia. Cyrus listened to Robert Whiteford once wishing death on Talia who was a jinx. He firmly believed it was Talia who killed her mother by being bratty.

Oh, well! Jerome... The ever loving grandfather. He didn’t mind Talia’s hate turning at him by keeping her away from her father and decided to protect her.

I can never beat Jerome, can I?

Arthur poured himself a glass of water from the jug beside the table and took in a deep breath. Looking at Talia now deeply asleep, he felt relieved she opted not to read this journal.

He felt his head hurt reading the journal. He felt like what he is doing is voyeurism.

He skipped the parts of Cyrus’ entries in S-Country where he started to get more offers from women. Cyrus never slept with ’pure’ women and had many deviant practices with most of the women he slept with. He’d written that the ’beast’ inside him accepted women instead of blood.

He hated when he saw the women enjoying what the beast wanted them to do. He called those women murky. He never slept with the same woman twice for that reason. And even knowing that, women flocked to him. He felt more and more sullied doing what he was doing.

And all the while his Princess was the same - pure and undefiled.

Cyrus wrote how his Princess was a Heavenly being, who is able to control the beast inside him. He’d written that the beast feared the pure Princess.

Then one day his Princess asked him to kiss her. He felt like she’d turn murky too and tried to give her a chance. The beast got more powerful that day. But then she never asked him that again making the beast powerless again.

Cyrus’ thoughts of marrying Talia had vanished after she asked him to kiss her. He felt he was too dirty to marry her. But to be with her was his wish since he thought of her as his saviour.

After their return to Esteria when she became a high schooler, Cyrus’ pages were filled with hatred towards none other than Arthur.

There was a detailed plan of ’disappearing’ him and Arthur felt a shiver reading that.

It would have worked if it was executed!

But like always, Talia by scolding Arthur one day not to talk bad about Cyrus to her, scared the beast inside Cyrus once more.

The beast didn’t make much appearances afterwards. The more happy the Princess got, the more the beast got agitated.

The Princess was happy with Arthur and so the beast didn’t know what to do. It wanted more women and Cyrus became more frivolous. He concentrated more on his father’s company and ’dealt’ with his enemies as the beast wanted him to.

The beast wanted blood. But Cyrus knew his Princess hates blood and death. And so he had developed a great tool, along with his charm- manipulation.

Cyrus never killed; humans at least. He never spilled blood after he promised his Princess. But many people he hated, had died in other’s hands. Cyrus didn’t like hiring hitmen. He used normal people to do somethings they won’t normally do. He understood human psyche very well and manipulated others to do his bidding.

The women who abused him when he was a teenager... He made another boy who was abused similarly by them brutally murder them.

Arthur wasn’t that surprised by the methods Cyrus used. He had used similar methods to get deals he wanted too. In his business.

Am I a psychopath too?

Arthur closed the journal as he didn’t want to read further. It made him feel dark. Getting inside someone else’s brain... It is not a good feeling. Especially the one who was - not good. It hit him too close to home.

But Ray...