A hazy trance still clung to Alia's face. The doctor swung a small, clock-like analog pendulum before her, attempting to deepen the hypnotic state. Alia's pupils tracked the movement of the pendulum with rhythmic precision. To extract the truth from her subconscious, the doctor began his interrogation.
Doctor: "Who was your first lover, Alia?"
Alia: (In a barely audible whisper) "Zhekha..."
The doctor scribbled a note in his diary. Then he asked again, "How old were you when you first met Viktor in the car?"
Alia: "Twenty-two..."
But Alia knew this was a lie. Viktor's grandfather had specifically instructed her to keep her true age a secret. In reality, she had been recruited into the CIA at a much younger age.
Doctor: "Are you still with the CIA?"
Alia: "No, I am retired now. But I still keep in touch with my old colleagues from time to time."
The doctor was visibly surprised and asked about the "five friends." Alia's words began to unveil a shocking past. Four of her colleagues and Viktor the five of them had studied and grown up together. Alia was no ordinary woman. She spoke in a cryptic tone, suggesting that she and Viktor were part of a strange game of DNA and destiny. Most shockingly, she revealed that she had become a mother at just eighteen.
Doctor: "Do you believe this is your reincarnation?"
Alia: (With a faint, hollow smile) "I don't believe in reincarnation. People say there are seven people in the world who share the same face. Perhaps Viktor and I are just two of them. Our faces and our fates have simply bled into one another. It's not a miracle; it's just our destiny bringing us back together."
As Alia spoke these words, both the doctor and Viktor who was listening from the shadows stood frozen in shock. The realization that a high-level operative and a mother were hidden beneath Alia's fragile exterior was something Viktor had never imagined. A mysterious smile played at the corners of Alia's lips amidst the deep trance of hypnosis. Though her eyes remained closed, her eyelids fluttered as if she were traversing a dark, hidden tunnel within her subconscious. The doctor, witnessing these strange gestures, grew even more intrigued.
Doctor: "Your smile suggests you know something we do not. Tell me, Alia, about your ancestors. Is there a history in your blood that connects to this present? I suspect there was an ancient link between your forefathers and Viktor's family."
Alia gave a slight nod, her enigmatic smile widening.
Alia: (Calmly) "Yes... you are right. History is never truly erased; it only hides within the blood. My ancestors were no ordinary people; they were embroiled in the struggle for power over this land long ago. The very foundation of what Viktor rules today might have been built upon the blood of one of my own."
This confession cast an even heavier gloom over the room. Behind the curtain, Viktor's jaw tightened. He realized that viewing Alia as merely an ordinary woman or a captive had been the greatest mistake of his life. Between her CIA background, becoming a mother at eighteen, and now this ancestral mystery, she had become a living enigma.
The doctor halted the pendulum and leaned in close to Alia.
Doctor: "Are you saying, then, that your imprisonment in this palace is no accident? Was this destined from the start?"
Alia offered no verbal reply this time; she only clawed at the bedsheets with her fingers. Her breathing quickened as if she were suddenly confronting a memory that was tearing her apart from the inside. Beads of sweat began to form on the doctor's forehead. The names emerging from the depths of Alia's subconscious were impossible to reconcile with the life story of an ordinary girl. The pendulum trembled in his hand.
Doctor: (Stammering slightly) "Who... who was your second lover, Alia?"
Alia: (In a cold voice, eyes still closed) "Magaret... he was a boy."
The doctor was surprised by the choice of name, but his pen froze at the names that followed.
Doctor: "And after that?"
Alia: "The third was Viktor himself. The fourth was Anashia... he was no ordinary person; he was a elite agent for the Korean Intelligence (NLS). And the fifth..."
Alia paused for a moment, that cryptic smile returning to her lips.
Alia: "The fifth and final one was Marco. The notorious Mafia Lord of Italy."
The doctor's head truly began to spin. He sank heavily into his chair, thinking to himself, "Good heavens! Who have I crossed paths with?" A retired CIA agent whose list of lovers ranged from Korean spies to an Italian Mafia Don and a psychotic lord like Viktor—she could in no way be a mere "possession."
Viktor, standing in the shadows, was in a similar state of shock. He knew Alia's past was mysterious, but the fact that it was so deeply entangled in the web of international crime and intelligence agencies was beyond his imagination. Viktor realized he was essentially holding a living volcano captive.
Wiping his face with a handkerchief, the doctor asked in a shaky voice:
Doctor: "Alia, were your relationships with these five powerful men purely romantic? Or were you all part of some grand, overarching mission?" The doctor's pen nearly slipped from his trembling fingers. Every answer from Alia was like a controlled explosion, making the air in the room thick and suffocating. Locked in a deep hypnotic trance, the mysterious smile on Alia's lips grew even deeper, as if she were narrating the history of a dark, hidden kingdom within her soul.
Doctor: "Are you Russian, Alia?"
Alia: (With a smile of eerie satisfaction) "I am Russian... Bengali... and I was born in America. My identity isn't confined to a single map."
The doctor swallowed hard. He realized that Alia had been forged as a 'global agent.' But as he moved to the next question, his throat went dry.
Doctor: "Alia... how much blood is on your hands? How many people have you killed to this day?"
Alia: (In a voice so calm and matter-of-fact, as if she were reciting a grocery list) "Over five thousand..."
At that number, the doctor's very soul shivered. Five thousand! It was nearly impossible to imagine a single human being taking that many lives. In the shadows, Viktor stood paralyzed. He knew Alia was dangerous, but he was only now realizing that he was holding an entire one-woman army captive.
Doctor: (In a shaky voice) "How many... how many siblings do you have?"
Alia: "Three sisters and one brother. All four of us are sparks of the same fire."
Hidden within Alia's response was a signal of immense power. She was not alone; behind her stood three sisters and a brother, likely just as trained and lethal as she was. The doctor realized that the woman Viktor viewed as a mere prisoner was backed by a massive international network of crime and intelligence.The sweat on the doctor's forehead was now visibly streaming down his face. Alia's subconscious, mysterious smile had transformed into a cunning, triumphant one. Even in the depths of her hypnotic trance, she seemed to be savoring Viktor's hidden fury.
Doctor: "This Korean boy... Anashia... how did you meet him? And how deep was your relationship?"
Alia burst into a sudden laugh that sent a bone-chilling shiver through the silent room.
Alia: "Anashia... (she paused) He was my partner during that mission. When we were together on the field, everything... everything happened between us. He wasn't just my lover; he was an inseparable part of my soul."
When Alia whispered "everything happened," the hidden Viktor's fist clenched so hard that the veins in his hand looked ready to burst. Every word from Alia was like a poisoned arrow piercing Viktor's pride.
Alia: (Adding with a mocking laugh) "Viktor can't stand him. Whenever he hears Anashia's name, he burns from the inside out. Viktor knows that while he can chain my body, he can never erase my past or the pull I feel toward Anashia."
The doctor sensed imminent danger. He realized that Alia was intentionally revealing these truths to provoke Viktor. Even in a hypnotic state, her mind was functioning like that of a master operative—she knew her words were reaching Viktor's ears and driving him to the brink of madness.The doctor began to stutter in earnest. His mind had stopped functioning as he heard about the entanglement of Alia's life and the depth of her relationships with these titans of the international crime and intelligence worlds. The hand holding the pendulum trembled visibly.
Doctor: (Swallowing hard in fear) "Alia... I... I honestly don't know what to say. These five friends... I mean, five lovers... were you involved with all of them at the same time? Was this a normal relationship, or was what I'm calling 'love' actually some sort of secret code or mission? Can someone with the blood of 5,000 people on their hands truly love, or is it all just a struggle for survival?"
Alia shifted slightly on the bed, her eyes still closed, but that mocking smirk remained etched on her face.
Alia: "What you call 'love,' Doctor, has a different meaning in our world. None of us were ordinary. From our DNA to our training—everything was woven into a single thread. The five of us were the pillars of five corners of the globe. Our unions weren't just about bodies; they were a new equation of power. Viktor knows that, which is why he finds no peace even after chaining me. He knows I knew him when he was nothing."
The doctor stole a nervous glance toward the shadows where Viktor was hiding. He could sense that Viktor's patience had reached its absolute limit. By exposing their private history so ruthlessly, Alia was dragging Viktor's carefully crafted 'Mafia Lord' persona through the dirt in front of his own physician. The doctor looked directly into the darkness where Viktor stood. The oppressive atmosphere in the room grew even heavier. After hearing the strange confessions from Alia's subconscious, the doctor was now venturing into the darker chapters of Viktor's personal life.
Doctor: (Clearing his throat cautiously) "Well... Viktor, can you tell me exactly how many times you have been intimate with Alia? I am trying to understand the depth and frequency of your connection."
Viktor stepped slowly out of the shadows from the corner of the room. His face was still clouded with rage and humiliation, yet his gaze held a sense of primal possession. He looked at Alia's motionless body for a moment, then replied in an extremely raspy, cold voice:
Viktor: "I've lost count."
Viktor's short but heavy response echoed against the walls of the room. Through those five months of captivity, the daily mental and physical battles—Viktor had never kept track of the numbers. To him, Alia was not just a body or a lover; she was an addiction, an obsession, and now, a mysterious rival.
Even though Alia was still under the spell of hypnosis, that mocking smile flickered across her lips again upon hearing Viktor's answer. It was as if she were laughing internally, knowing that while Viktor viewed this as "ownership," she was actually drawing him deeper into the web of her past.The doctor was trying to gauge the depth of Viktor's answer, but he was silenced by the intense obsession vibrating in Viktor's voice. Viktor stepped into the center of the room, his eyes fixed on Alia's motionless yet enchanting form lying on the bed.
Doctor: "Have you noticed any difference between before and after the marriage? I mean, is Alia's change purely due to the circumstances, or is it something else?"
Viktor let out a long sigh that sounded like a strange, haunting echo in the silent room. He looked at Alia's disheveled hair and spoke in a low, heavy voice.
Viktor: "Before and after the marriage... she has always been breathtakingly beautiful. There is no comparison to her beauty. Especially these long tresses of hers..."
As he spoke, Viktor stepped closer and twined a lock of Alia's hair around his finger. Despite five months of torment and this psychological warfare, Alia's royal beauty had not faded. To Viktor, her appearance was a death trap. Every time he wanted to punish her, this innocent yet mysterious face made him weak.
Viktor: (Whispering to himself) "When her hair falls past her back, she doesn't seem like an ordinary human. Behind this beauty, she has ended the lives of 5,000 people... and even knowing that, I am drowning in the addiction of this beauty."
The doctor realized that Viktor had not just imprisoned Alia's body; rather, he himself had become a prisoner of Alia's supernatural charm. Her long hair and her calm, lying form had now become the source of Viktor's ultimate psychological agony.