Chapter 4

I woke up in a huge bed with its everything-black features. The cushion has an addictive smell, making it harder for me to gather myself and stand up. So there, I ended up rolling over and hugging the comfy pillow beside me. I was even close to entering my nightmare wonderland again if it wasn't for the glimpse of a freaking crow right at the darkish bedside table!

"What in the name of hot sauce!" I muttered and immediately crawled away from it. I ended up sitting down on the edge of the bed, while having a staring contest with the huge crow with red eyes.

The creature didn't even flinch and just continuously darted a death glare at me. This left me to raise my hand and try shooing it away. However, my hand was stuck mid-air upon realizing the most important part—I'm not in my room.

My eyes widened as the flashbacks of everything that happened before passing out came back to my senses. The wise skull-mask wearing guy, the bashful and petite driver who can or cannot read minds, the seemingly strict butler who spoke a foreign language that may or may not have the ability to summon underworld freaks. And lastly, the spiteful reality that I'm currently inside one of the mansion's rooms!

"Oh, you're awake."

It seems like my blood ran cold upon hearing the familiar voice from behind. Slowly, I tilted my body towards his direction, and that's when I saw the Serenade guy standing there with his signature outfit, just subtracting the black cloak.

Wait, his black cloak? Why do I feel like I've seen where it was earlier?

As soon as it dawned on me, I immediately checked the king-size bed, and that's where I saw the crow who's now on top of the cloak. Wait, wait, wait!

My mouth couldn't help but let out a gasp upon witnessing how the huge bird carried the cloth using its claws. Its massive wings created sound as it flew the extra miles between him and Mister Serenade. Basically handing him the cloak like it was damn made to serve the guy!

"Thank you, Alastor," he casually said, which caused me to immediately back away.

Because on top of it all, a realization hit my mind. Was the fabric I rolled myself into, hugged, and even sniffed to my heart's content his... cloak?

Oh godfuckingdammit!

"You're probably a witch!" I pointed at him, but he only laughed slightly at that and then stepped closer.

"Cool, after accusing me of being a mythical creature, now I'm promoted to being a sorcerer now?"

"Then what the hell are you?" I exclaimed, and instead of being intimidated, I just stood up from where I was sitting on the bed and faced him. Dude, my fishnet stockings and pretty black dress won't allow me to look that pathetic, so never mind. I gotta set my boundaries too!

In an instant, a smile whose intent I cannot fathom was painted on his lips. But I never flinched, even when he uttered the phrases that normal people might react to differently.

"You can call me a God. Lord Serenade, that's it."

"Oh, so are you really that old to be called like that? But your servants call you Master," I said with crossed arms.

Although the crow was perched on his left shoulder, I just chose to focus my attention on this man, especially on his slight chuckle at what I said.

"But you are not a servant of this household. You are my official ghostwriter. Therefore, you, Miss Naenia Lovercraft, are my personal property. So call me your Lord."

"Eww," I responded without hesitation. I did not even bother to hide how I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out. But instead of being mad, he just chuckled and shook his head.

"As expected. Haha! But don't worry, you can also just call me Zayde. It's my first name." He then smiled warmly and extended his arm for a handshake.

"By the way, I'm not an old hag. I'm actually just years older than you, so kindly don't imagine my face as something as horrible as that."

I burst into laughter as I absentmindedly accepted the handshake. Now that he mentioned his first name, it seems like some formalities kind of vanished, and I can't deny the fact that it somehow made me more comfortable with him than earlier. Besides, I hate honorary shits, so I'd basically call him Zayde forever.

And after that little chitchat, he then told me to join him outside because the butler had already prepared our breakfast. And that's what I did. The crow was left in his room as we paced our way towards the huge and elegant hallway with nothing but black and red interiors. However, only the sound of our every move became a dull melody to our quest, so I couldn't help but utter the question I've been meaning to ask since the moment I met him.

"Uhm, Zayde, why are you wearing a mask?"

Right at that moment, he stopped in his tracks, and so did I. We hadn't even made it to the first floor yet, and the fact that the only thing surrounding us were the many dark and morbid paintings in achromatic colors added fuel to the sudden change of his expression.

"Hey, if you don't want to answer it's—"

"Why am I wearing a mask?" He chuckled and stared at me from head to foot.

"Because I'm prettier than you and your whole life." He then started to walk past me just like that. I don't know if he intentionally flipped his head with that sassiness, but as soon as he faced me again, the slit smile on his lips vanished.

"Aside from that, again, I am the Lord in this household. My face is too heavenly to be seen by a mere human species. I don't recommend it."

I blinked repeatedly, and even though he offered his hand to help me walk, and even though I accepted it, I still couldn't believe his audacity.

Did he just call me a mere human species?

"Hey, don't be pissed. It's basically for your own good so you won't feel inferior and offended. Besides, Gods don't easily show their faces to anyone, they must be worshipped right," he insisted after a while as we faced each other at a very long and black table.

And he doesn't even want me to be offended in his condition?

I secretly rolled my eyes at that and was about to continue eating, but he spoke again.

"So if you're that curious to see the face behind this mask, then you should be ready to get on your knees and worship me."

Whatever, I can't hear him. Lalala.

---

***

After finishing our seemingly normal meal, Leaflet immediately cleaned the table for us and even talked with me for a bit. While having a catch-up session with him, Zayde instructed his butler, Damon, to first tour me around the mansion as he needed to answer the urgent phone call that the crow handed him with. And yes, the crow probably knows how to open a goddamn door!

The last thing I knew was that I was roaming the entire mansion awkwardly with the butler Damon, along with the crow that was resting on his shoulder. What was the bird's name again? Alastor?

And for whoever's sake, was he the butler that Leaflet mentioned yesterday? The kind-hearted one who saved him from drowning in the gutter or something? The one who begged Zayde to adopt and keep Leaflet in the house and such? Then why does this Damon look like he's so damn ready to eat me whole?

Dude was so stiff and intimidating the entire time. Although he was briefing me about the rules and the schedules that I need to follow, he was literally just doing it grumpily! As if he spent his entire adulthood only to wake up every single day doing the job he hated but still needed because of money!

It doesn't help the fact that he's speaking with an unrecognized accent, so even if it's Tagalog or English, there were just some words I couldn't absorb quickly! There were even times that I couldn't grasp what language he was speaking anymore. So how would I know if he was already cursing me or uttering spells in order to offer my soul to Satan? It even seems like he glared at me when I tried to address my concern. Like what the hell?

Honestly, right when we entered the kitchen, I really imagined him and the crow teaming up to push me inside the huge oven and cook me alive. But that would be gross though because they didn't marinate me first, so the thought vanished, and luckily they never did anyway.

And here I am right now again in front of Zayde, positioning myself between his high-back red velvet gothic chair and seemingly antique study table. Doing my best on my first day of work despite the fact that he's been sticking his nose to almost every syllable I'm trying to write using a fucking quill!

Does he even know how hard it was to rewrite shits every time because he was such a damn perfectionist who hated technology and doesn't even have a ballpoint pen?

"Hey, what in the name of nine circles? No, don't clench their hearts using your bare hands! Where's your hygiene?"

There he goes again! What does he want me to use, gloves and hand sanitizer?

"And what's with that horrible penmanship?"

That's it. I gasped and darted a death glare at him. I was really close to starting a rampage, but as soon as it dawned on me how he didn't matter enough to piss me off, I ended up sitting still and raising one of my eyebrows, exhaling the negative craps as I flipped my long black hair.

"Excuse me? What matters the most is the content," I insisted and even gave him a simple smile.

Because to hell be with him. Even if he's bratty and a nitpicker, well, far from the old geezer I thought he would be. And even if he's a self-proclaimed God and other shits, he's still just him. And I am me.

And who am I again? Well, I am just a kind of girl who doesn't worship any man or even anything, but only myself. So he's definitely not worthy of my frustration.

"But how would people comprehend this when it's ugly and unreadable?"

Chill, Neania. He's just a dork. Don't get provoked.

"You're gonna waste a lot of human sacrifices and labor like this," he added, and I watched him with my arms akimbo. At that moment, I really wanted to hit him with the chair, but I immediately stopped when I realized what he said.

"Human sacrifices? Don't tell me this red ink was real human blood?" I exclaimed and pointed, standing up.

But instead of answering, he just laughed uncontrollably loud! And even if it sounded so soft and melodic to my ears, my squinted eyes never left his stance. But that's just when he sat inappropriately on top of the study table, leaning towards my direction.

"It was a joke. Of course, it was from animals."

My jaw dropped, and I gave him the most distasteful stare I could muster. "You wicked creature—"

"I mean, from the animals' meat and flesh that Damon bought at the fresh market earlier."

"Oh, you could have said it that way!"

"How ironic of you to be so concerned about animals' well-being when you're literally writing about human suffering and tortures."

This time, it was my turn to give him a slight smile. "Because duh, humans are ugly fools, desperate, and hypocrite creatures. They deserve to die in the most brutal way possible," I said with gritting teeth and a deadpan stare into the void. But instead of reacting differently, it just seems like I saw a glimpse of amusement on his lips.

"But humans are animals too, they are the highest form of animals so basically—"

"Yeah, whatever, but lower animals were cuties and huggable, so they deserve the world. And anyway, stop talking to me because I am working!" I insisted and positioned myself again on the chair.

"I'm gonna torture and kill many fictional characters right now so don't bother me— Hey!" As soon as I was about to write again, Zayde stole the quill from my hands and raised it high enough so I couldn't reach it!

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Do not kill anyone in the stories!" he insisted while still raising his hand. And even when I climbed onto the chair, he did the same on the table and raised the quill even higher!

Is he crazy?

"Why won't you let me kill a fictional character? You told me to write a compilation of gore prose, so of course I'm going to whack their insides and throw their corpses after!"

"No! Don't you dare! You can just torture people without killing them!" he exclaimed, and in an instant, he jumped down from the table and actually ran away with my pen! Seriously!

"And why would I do that? All the fictional characters in the anthology deserve to die! It's basically their punishment!"

I immediately crossed the table and chased after him to get the quill back, but we just kept going around and around the room, and I couldn't catch him! So in the end, we were both breathless and sat down in our respective spots.

"There are a lot of ways to punish a person without killing them. Like betrayals and eternal life after taking away their sanity," he said seriously after a while and just leaned against the headboard of the bed.

While I returned to the chair that was just across from where he was.

"You can also indulge in tortures. Like harshly removing their teeth or nails using pliers. Hell, you can even scoop their eyeballs out of their eye socket and such. As long as you're going to take them to the hospital afterwards and pay their hospital bills."

At that moment, I just burst into laughter and even slapped the table.

"Dude, what the fuck? Hahaha! Why won't you just kill them? It's easier, besides, it's just a story anyway."

"But killing is cheap. Only the weaklings and cowards resort to that kind of method."

Instantly, my mouth went dry as I was stuck staring at him, who was currently pacing his way again towards my direction.

"People tend to kill someone because they want to hide something, they want to run away from the consequences of their actions, or they're simply just afraid of the persons they buried underneath their beds. Because they are not strong enough to face them in this lifetime, so they resort to murdering them. People tend to kill someone or something because they couldn't handle them." A slight smile formed on his lips as he was now just an inch closer to my face.

"And I am a God, well, of this household. But either way, I am not that cheap. Let the fictional characters live after traumatizing them and serving them what they deserve. I fear no one, and I'm powerful enough to handle their worthless vengeance."

His enormous aura made me feel like the entire mansion was shaking, and I couldn't help but tremble. Although I couldn't see his eyes because of the mask, but right now, it really felt like his stares were piercing right into my core, leaving me breathless.

"W-were w-we still talking about the sinners that were needed to be punished in the story, r-right?" Damn, I couldn't believe I just stuttered!

Good thing he just chuckled and patted my head like a pet. Gone was the strong aura he was emitting a few seconds ago. "Of course, we're still talking about the story. So let them live. Let them live after taking away everything from them. Let them live forever in nothingness."

He leaned closer, close enough to the point that our noses were literally touching each other. "Because, sorry to spoil you, but the 10th circle of hell was actually the Earth, and being alive is the real tormention."