YMMV / The Red Maiden: Grace's Story

• Complete Monster: The Chieftain is a 60-year old noble and the short story's main antagonist. Having a history of abusing his sixteen previous wives by mutilating them before leaving them to die when he was bored of them, the Chieftain married Grace and abused her just as much for seven months, fascinated by her innocence and wanting to destroy it. When protagonist Mac Luaithre tried to kill him and save her, the Chieftain ripped out his heart. A year prior, when a farmer couldn't pay his taxes, the Chieftain decapitated him and took his head and daughter as compensation, marrying and abusing the latter before pimping her out. After Grace's death and resurrection, the Chieftain only showed pride upon seeing the undead, vengeful Grace, proud of having turned her into a monster. Upon his death, the Chieftain returned as an undead, and when his followers captured the undead Mac and Grace, he tried to have them either Buried Alive next to each other but separated by stone, or one of them forced to kill the other. Beneath his superficial, sarcastic politeness, the Chieftain was depraved to the core.