Beautifully executed! This had me quaking at every chapter. I enjoyed the level of dark this story covers. Thank you so much!

Wow. There are no words for that twisted ending...what a story.

Wow. This was dark and devastating and just brilliant. Even though I already had a feeling that this was not going to have a happy ending, I still did not expect this final chapter. I was so heartbroken for all the characters and Christine's final words had me tearing up. This is an incredible story. Thank you very much for writing it!

Such a powerful story! Well done!

I'm crying...I'm legitimately crying. Curse you Leroux.

Hi!I love this story, I wish you can allow me to translate it into ,this fiction Is a Required book for many years in China,people love it!

This was one incredible read! You had my heart jumping all over the place, it's so dark and sorrowful, the deceit, the love and the pity, it's all so very Leroux. And what an ending. I did not see that coming, an amazing twist! This is the kind of Erik I love, crafty as all hell and completely unpredictable. I believe this one will stay with me for a long time, definitely one of my favourites.

Holy hell this was chilling

this was sooo good. one of my faves for sure.

omg. wasnt expecting that.

oh man. thats rough.

I found the recommendation to this story in Tumblr and read it all in once... Christines words nearly drove me to tears, her confessions are full of grief and I am sure that Erik' s madness drove her mad as well oO. How could anyone bear such a horrible fate, though she denies she is definitely a strong woman!
I absolutely adore Leroux, and your idea and the whole sceneries are so accurate to the original story. Who knows if Erik told the truth in the end? Great idea, great story, great work!

And another jolting reminder of Raoul, who has been likewise imprisoned this whole time - one of the notable things about this story is that Raoul *is* so much present, despite the fact that he is almost entirely off-screen throughout.
Which gives us that powerful double image of the birds: at first representing freedom and then, in that final sentence, representing love that is a liberation from her marriage.

Of course Erik did promise her that they would live aboveground, in addition to the proper wedding ceremony which she would rather not have for a union that she has no desire to see formalised - but reminding him of the episode on the roof of the opera house is *not* a good idea :-(

"Erik has lived here for many years and has not yet died" - appealing her sufferings is never going to work either, when he can always point to greater sufferings and injustices of his own.

And Erik is not going to be content indefinitely with taking his pleasure on an unconscious body; Christine is obliged to trade yet another piece of herself away. Though ultimately the prospect of her being present throughout the act proves to be almost as terrifying to him as it is to her...

"the days and nights in the cellars were artificial and obeyed no sun or moon, only Erik" - nice phrasing.

Poor Christine, dreading the thought of having to face Erik again with the awareness of that unknown and unthinkable intimacy between them... Perhaps fortunately, he is completely oblivious as to any possible embarrassment.

I don't suppose Erik knows anything about the theory of hostage-taking - unless, horrible thought, he has done this before - but he has managed to produce a textbook result; Christine has been reduced to breaking-point, and having played 'bad cop' he now plays 'good cop' when she has no-one else to turn to. ("How wonderful it was to not be subject to his cruel demands and frightening wrath!")

And so she gives up and gives in, abandoning hope of escape and merely existing in this drugged routine and the belief that the worst had now happened, and that it was endurable. Although recalling Raoul's determination to get around the 'play engagement' is an effective and disturbing reminder...

The shock of this one is that Christine has spent so much time over the last couple of chapters obsessing over the approaching marriage and the unknown horror of its consummation, while Erik worked night and day on his wedding mass, that she has basically completely forgotten that Raoul has been locked up alone and unvisited underground for all that time... and we realise with horror that so have we :-(

And so it starts; Christine begins to sell herself bit by bit to keep Raoul alive...