Alexander was planning something. Every day, Demian and Alexander discussed something in his office.I had hit my toe and it needed two stitches. The doctor bandaged my toe, but it kept sliding out. So, Demian changed it every twelve hours. I did not walk much. I spent most of the time in bed.All I could do was rely on Demian to bring me some news. But he was tight-lipped.Alexander allowed the maids to bring me food in my chamber. I was surprised when they brought me my dinner here. Later, Demian told me that it was Alexander’s order.“Why would he do that?” I asked.“Perhaps he thinks of you as a real member of House Silverclaw now and that’s why he is allowing you certain things as a sign of acceptance,” he replied.I could not believe it. After all, it was Alexander; he was no ordinary man. It was hard to believe that he would accept me in his family so easily.“Does he not think that I might betray him?” I asked.Demian shook his head. “He trusts me. And I said I trust you. Besid
“How is your leg?”I stared at Dela, who appeared with Rosalia in my chamber suddenly. It was midday. I was reading a book in bed.“It doesn’t really hurt,” I said. “Even when I hit my toe, I did not really feel much pain. But then I touched it and there was a lot of blood. I tried to see the bottom part and there was a huge deep gash. It’s not painful at all, to be honest. Just there is a tingling. But that’s it. I don’t even have to take any pain medication.”“That’s good,” Dela said. She sat down on the side of the bed where Demian usually sat to talk to me. Rosalia kept standing.Dela leaned towards me and touched my face suddenly. It startled me since it was so sudden. I had not expected it.“Oh, your beautiful face now ruined,” she cried. “Why would your father do this?” She turned to Rosalia. “Why would your brother do this to his own daughter?”Rosalia’s lips trembled, but she did not say anything. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. In fact, ever since I came back,
“Your mother thinks we are lying. In fact, I think she is convinced of it,” I said.Demian stood with his back to me, looking out of the window. He was smoking a cigar.I limped and stood beside him. I placed a hand on his back. His back muscles flexed under my palm.He was wearing just a shirt and pants. I had taken off that cloak since he refused to, most of the time.“I know,” he said.“You know? You were listening to us the whole time?”“When she asked me about the pregnancy, I knew that she thought we were lying about everything else too. She thinks you manipulated me, or that I decided to go rogue.”Demian talked about it as if it was not much of a concern. I was worried though. What if Dela talked of this with Alexander? Would some kind of suspicion not arise in Alexander?“Are you not worried at all?” I asked.“Should I be?”“I don’t know. You know your mother better,” I said.Demian let out a scoff. “Rose is an expert manipulator. For years, she manipulated both her mother an
I had always been interested in romance. I loved the idea of having a man who would love me so much that he would burn the world for me. I wanted a man like the men I read about in books.But in reality, I knew that I would never find someone like that because the world was not built like that. Real world was much different than the worlds of books.However, when Demian told me that he loved me too, I had felt the kind of joy that I never thought I would feel. He was like those men in the books, the ones that I wanted so much but never believed I could get.The thing that I loved most about Demian was his sincerity. It was ironic for a liar to love someone sincere. But then again, I did not lie to him anymore. I did not want to hide myself and all the truths from him. I believed I could trust him.Since Demian was always sincere, when he told me that he loved me, I believed him. I had no doubt that he felt that way and more for me.“Do you want to go somewhere?” he asked.“Where?”“On
From the roof, I could see everything. Everything seemed tiny and irrelevant, but not to Demian. Demian had a keen eye and he paid attention to everything. He knew every nook and corner of this place.We did not talk for a very long time. But the silence was not uncomfortable. Not in the least.“You know, sometimes I wonder if this is a test. A game.”Demian tilted his head and raised his brow at me.I chuckled. “I might be acting stupid. Well, what I mean is, what if all of this, all of what we are doing, what we are perceiving as our life, is just a game of some sorts? What if we are all just players? What if this is not real?”“If so, then, there needs to be someone who made the game. There is always an inventor of a game. Who is that inventor? God?” Demian asked.“I don’t believe in God. I think, rather than a game, I sometimes wonder if this is all a dream actually,” I said. “And when I wake up, I will be momentarily confused. I will mourn the man I married without remembering hi
“Has the miscarriage caused something?” Alexander asked. “Will it take time for her to get pregnant?”“It must have caused something,” Demian said.“That’s why I am telling you, Demian, to marry again,” Alexander said. “At least, you would have a child soon then. Do you have anyone in mind?”I remained quiet. It was painful to hear such things. It was not like I cared much about what Alexander said. Even so, it hurt to hear that he wanted Demian to marry another woman.“I have a wife, Father. I do not want to marry again,” Demian answered calmly.“Why not? More pleasure for you.”“I will not do it,” Demian said, a little sternly.“If she does not get pregnant within the next two months, you are getting married again, whether you want to or not,” Alexander said. His tone suggested that it was not up for an argument.Demian did not say anything. It was not smart to argue with Alexander since it might backfire. But I still wished Demian would talk back.‘Stupid. Don’t be stupid just for t
Perhaps I should have done many things differently in my life. I regret a few things, but not many. I might not even be a decent human being.If there was a heaven, would I be able to go there? Or, would I go to hell?Perhaps it was good that I did not believe in such things. I did not have to worry constantly about doing things in a certain way to please God.“Do you also think I lied? Demian and I both?” I asked.Rosalia looked up at me with tired eyes. I pitied her. She seemed lost both her son and daughter within a very short amount of time.“It doesn’t matter,” Rosalia said. “It will change nothing,” she said in her timid soft voice.I wondered if she could sing. In House Star, it was mandatory for women to learn how to sing, play musical instruments and learn how to dance. Well, I never paid much attention to those lessons and went off to the academy before my father could force me to learn them all. In my opinion, those things should be learned only if someone was interested in
I went to Theodore the very same day I went to Rosalia. In fact, I went to Theodore right after. Time was very precious. I did not want to waste any.I knocked on Theodore’s door. I heard the shuffling of clothes, then the sound of the cane. He opened the door. Looking at his face, it was obvious that he had not expected it to be me.“Is it a bad time?” I asked.“No… No, it’s okay. I was just… lying down,” Theodore said nervously. He seemed a little awkward around me.“I thought we could have some tea. Perhaps in a living room,” I said. “Of course, if you want to. I don’t want to force you.”“No, I do. I do want to,” he said. “I just thought…”“What?”“That you would avoid me after…”“Why would I do that? You had been honest with me. I like honesty,” I said and gave him a smile. “Well then, get dressed. We can discuss a book or something.”“Yes, sure. You can wait for me there,” he said. “I will be quick.”“Of course. Let us choose the sun room. That is nice,” I said.“Yes, certainly.
I was suspicious regarding Demian’s actions. He was acting very sweet to me as if nothing happened. I knew he was still angry about what I did, although he did not show it.Now, he said he would meet Rezef Thorn. Rezef sent Demian a letter via Leo and wanted to talk to him, not as enemies, but as normal men. And Demian agreed.“You will not hurt him, will you?” I asked Demian.“Why would I hurt him?” Demian asked, tilting his head to one side. He was not being serious; it was one of those rarest times. I did not know what to make of that. Would he truly not hurt Rezef or not?“Demian, please. Be serious,” I said.“I never thought I would hear someone say that to me.”“I never thought I would have to say this to you either. But here we are.”Demian started combing his hair.“Give me that,” I said, taking the comb from him. Demian sat on a stool and I started combing his hair. “I don’t understand what you are doing. First, you are being very nice to me.”“Is it wrong to be nice to my ow
Leo had stayed with Rezef to make sure he was safe. Demian had put Rezef somewhere else while Leo and I were doing our work in the tent. We had to do our work a little quicker because of the fire.Kyle also died too quickly. He died before we could have our fun fully.I watched as Demian washed the blood of my body. He worked methodically. Now he was scrabbing my arm. His eyes were focused even though the task was a simple one.“Are you angry at me?” I asked.“I don’t like anyone defying me,” Demian said. “I don’t like when someone does the exact opposite thing of what I told them. I also don’t like it when my plan does not go properly.”“Plan?”“Everything is a plan. I determine everything beforehand. You being in that tower was a plan as well. I do not do anything without a plan,” he said. “You got my men killed.”“A few of them. It was inevitable, Demian. A war is going on,” I said. “But you also thought of this possibility, didn’t you?”His silver eyes met mine.Demian thought of
Cutting off my brother’s penis had not been on my mind when I was little. But after what happened to Maxi, it was obvious that I had to do it.I looked down at my blood-stained dress. The room where Demian and I were staying was small, but clean. Cleanliness was first thing; the size did not matter.After Leo and I were done, Demian brought me here and I followed without a word of defiance. Why would I defy him? He had not stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. Well, he had chained me before. But when he found out I escaped, he actually aided me.“You have many things to answer for,” Demian said upon entering the room. He had went out to do something (I did not know what).“I know,” I murmured.I turned to face him. His arms were crossed over his chest. His hair was tied loosely on the behind.“You want to know how I managed to let Rezef know about where I was?” I asked.“If you know what I want to know, then tell me,” he said.“Well… You see, Rezef used to give me a lot of gifts
I had been imagining this for so long. I had imagined doing so many things when I would meet Kyle again under the circumstances when I could finally take my revenge.Kyle was inside the tent, his men said. They stopped short when they noticed me. Well, they had not seen me in a while. A little surprise was bound to show on their faces.“Is anyone else inside?” I asked.“Yes. It is an alchemist. His name is…”“Leo,” I said. “I know him. Tell Kyle that I want to talk to him. The alchemist can stay though.”My brother’s personal guard bowed to me and went inside the tent. I knew that man. His name was Ezra Walsh. He had been my brother’s personal guard for the last five years. He was bald and tough looking with a scar on his right eye. I had the suspicion that he was blind in that eye, but never knew the truth.“What do you want to talk about with him?” Rezef asked.“Many things. Do you want to see?” I asked.“If you want me to.”“No, it depends on you. You can watch if you want to. But
There were no ships here. Not a single one. I could not even take a carriage either. The roads were blocked.I was out of the estate of House Star, at least. Currently, I was staying at a brothel. I gave some money and some of my pieces of jewelry to the brothel owner and she gave me a place to stay.It was nasty here and I felt disgusted the whole time, but at least, it was safe. Not for long though. At some point, the brothel owner might want to sell me to his nasty customers. I needed to leave soon.I did not know what was going on with the war. I could not care less about that. What I hated about it was the fact that I could not stay at House Star anymore, if there remained a House Star after this in the first place.I hated everything and everyone now at this point. I did not deserve this. I did not deserve any of this.I did not want to born in that family where I had to do things that I did not want to do. I had to learn how to seduce people at a very young age. It was called t
Sully escaped. Once again. I did not know exactly how she let Rezef Thorn know about her location, but she did do it somehow and that was without my knowledge.That woman was too cunning. She even fooled me.I was pretty sure she was going to use Rezef Thorn to get to Kyle.I had been gone for a long time because of a complication. I needed to defend the estate because part of Jade Star’s men somehow got inside the estate. It had been bloody.My left eye still hurt. There was a cut right under it. One of the men of House Star almost took my eye out.And now Sully was gone. This woman was driving me crazy in all the ways possible.She was now at the camp of Rezef Star. I could not just go there. It was hard to sneak in there. I could get as near as possible, but it would be hard to meet her there.I did not doubt Sully’s loyalty. It lay with me. She did not care about Rezef Thorn romantically. She was just using him to gain her objective.I just hated that she escaped from me again aft
“How is Millie?” I asked.Rezef was mostly ignoring me at this point. Well, at least, he was pretending to.“She is okay.”“Treat her nicely, okay? She is a nice girl,” I said. “Do you know Father used to beat her?”Rezef’s face suggested that he had no idea of this incident. Millie did not tell him for sure. It was not like I expected Millie to tell him either. Millie had always acted like she did not deserve anything and kept her thoughts to herself all the time.Their marriage life was not going okay. I knew that from the look on his face. Millie and he were not okay. If they just ended their marriage, then it would be for the best. At least, both of them could find someone new. It would be hard for Millie, but she would get over it. There was no point in suffering when you could get rid of that suffering.Both of them were unhappy in that marriage, I could tell.“Whenever Father was angry, he would take it out on her. We… We always saw but never did anything. I regret it, but what
My plan was simple. I always had the feeling that there was more to the little vacation than Demian let on. That was why- I started to leave trails behind. I kept the window open and threw purple pearls from the window. Demian did not notice because he had been busy trying to keep his legs from cramping and other times, he was massaging my feet.I had to be very cautious so he would not notice. Demian’s eyes were sharp. He noticed everything.That was why I had the feeling that this plan might not work.There were a lot of guessing involved. I was betting on Rezef’s feelings for me on this matter. He had to be the one to find the pearls because only he would recognize them. I had the belief that he was smart enough to know that I would not be at House Silverclaw.Rezef did not disappoint me.Now, I would have to explain everything to him, but that would have to wait for a bit.I told Rezef not to kill the guards that they took captive.We reached their camp on horses. Rezef wanted to
When I kicked the door open and entered the room at the top of the tower, I saw her for the first time in a long while. She was just the way I remembered her. Brown skin, curly hair and red eyes. But she now had a scar on her face. Did her husband did that? That bastard!I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her. I did not care about anything else. I needed to feel her. I needed to know she was real.My men were watching me, but I did not care. All I cared about was her at this moment.“Rezef,” she breathed. “I thought you wouldn’t find me.”“You left those signs for me to find. How could I not?” I said, pulling back from the hug. That was when I noticed what she was wearing. I averted my eyes from her barely covered body.She did not seem to feel any shame as she threw away the cover and got down from the bed. There was a cuff around her ankle attacked to a chain.“Can you do something about it?” she asked.I told all my men to get out. They did not need to see her like this for lo