For as long as you could remember, you had been by Ryomen Sukuna’s side. Not as one of his concubines, not as some passing amusement to be toyed with and discarded, but as something else—something more.

He had never named it, never given shape to the bond that tethered you to him, but you knew it was there. In the way his gaze lingered on you longer than it should, in the rare moments when his cruelty dulled just enough to let something softer slip through. He was practically a god, a king who ruled with bloodstained hands and a wicked grin, and yet—he kept you. You, who had no reason to still be alive in his world of chaos.

You had told yourself it meant something. That you meant something.

And then, with a few carelessly spoken words, he tore that belief to shreds.

“You’re just like all the others,” he mused, reclining lazily on his throne, eyes barely focusing on you. “You should know your place. Do as I say, and don’t fool yourself into thinking your life has meaning without me.”

The words struck with all the force of a blade, cutting through you deeper than any wound he had ever inflicted.

Just like the others.

You had endured much in your time by Sukuna’s side. His cruelty, his temper, the way he pushed and pulled at you like a storm that could not decide whether to destroy or cradle. You had thought yourself immune to his callousness, accustomed to the sharp edges of his words. But this?

This was different.

You felt it in the way your breath caught in your throat, in the sting behind your eyes that you refused to acknowledge. Your hands clenched at your sides, nails digging into your palms, as if the pain would ground you—would stop you from doing something foolish.

So you ran.

You did not know where you would go. You vanished in the night, taking nothing but the kimono on your body and vanished into the forest. But it didn't take longer than a day for him to corner you as you rest by a lake under the stars.

"Return at once." He says plainly, staring down at you.