41“I am tired of you, Emilia.” “I am tired of you, Emilia.” “I am tired of you, Emilia.” These words keep ringing in Emilia’s head.“Why not let me go, huh?” Emilia asks him. “You do not want me here, right? Why not let me go, huh?”“Why are you yelling, Emilia?” Milan asks. “We were just having a conversation, and you started yelling! Do you now see why I need you to be cultured? Do you now see why you need those classes badly?”Emilia’s face falls immediately. “Fuck you!” She yells.“What did you just say to me?” Milan turns to look at her. “What the hell did you just say?”“You heard me right.” Emilia says. “Fuck you!” She repeats. “All you have done since we met is badger me, control me and make me feel like I am less of myself. I am tired of you controlling me, Milan! What do you take me for, huh? What do you think of me?” She asks with tears in her eyes.Milan walks closer to her and speaks to her in a low tone. “Emilia, I have never wanted you to feel less of yourself. It’
43“What?” Milan exclaims. “Let’s go!” He says to Dylan.The two of them get to the border, and Milan immediately starts to discuss with the other soldiers.“Master!” They all greet.“How are you doing?” Milan asks all of them.“We are doing, okay.” They all say.“Good. What is going on?” Milan asks. “Dylan just briefed me. What is going on?” He repeats.“We got wind of some weird and suspicious movement at the far end of the north.” The lead commander, Russel, says. “We decided to ignore it because it is way far from our border. Due diligence made us see what was going on.” He further explains.“That is very good.” Milan says. “I am glad that all of you have been on your feet with regards to the protection of this border. However, we must not dismiss anything, do you understand?”“Yes sir!” The soldiers chorus.“Good.” Milan says.“Master, we understand that you want us to go the extra mile, so what do you want us to do, exactly?” Russel asks.“I want us to camp around this place for
43“Emilia!” Penelope yells. “Come back here right now!” Come back this instant!” She yells at Emilia.Emilai does not say a word, she just keeps walking away. She is not in the mood for any trouble. All she wants to do is to go back to her room and rest.“Emilia, are you deaf?” Penelope yells.Emilia turns sharply, bumping into Milan’s mother.“Did you just hit me?” Penelope asks with a high-pitched voice. It is obvious that she wants to draw attention to them-she definitely wants to cause a scene.“What? I did not hit you, ma’am. You only bumped into me.” Emilia says.“Oh, so you have the nerve to talk back at me, huh?” Penelope asks.“Look, ma’am, I do not want to disrespect you. I only wanted to talk to Milan, and seeing that he is not available, I want to be in my room.” Emilia says. “I will talk to him when he gets back.” She adds.“Yeah, right.” Penelope scoffs. “What makes you think that he wants to talk to you?” She rolls her eyes.“I…I don’t understand.” Emilia says. Even th
44Emilia quickly goes back to her room. She is feeling kind of sleepy, so she goes into the bathroom, takes her bath, and then dives under the covers. She thinks about Milan again, but she tells herself that she is not going to be bothered by him or by his mother. If he does not want to talk to her anymore, it is just fine; she will survive.Soon, she falls deeply asleep.The next morning, she hears a loud bang on her door. She is so pissed off because her head starts to bang immediately. Angrily, she gets up from he bed and saunters madly towards the door.“Who is that?” She roars. “Who the hell is that?” She yells.No response.Who the fuck is at her door at five in the morning?As soon as she opens the door, she sees Penelope, but before she can react, she is doused with a bucket of cold water.“Why are you not with your fellow maids?” Penelope asks. “Have you forgotten your place in this house?”“W…what?” Emilia asks, seriously angry.“You are now a maid, Emilia!” Penelope yells.
45Emilia keeps walking in the woods. She is glad that she was able to put all the things that she would need in her duffel bag.As she keeps walking, she remembers her past. She remembers all that she has experienced in Milan’s pack. She had really tried to soften, to like him for at least something, so that the two of them would get along civilly. She was already at that point when everything started to crumble.What the hell?Milan must really hate her, for him to have left, just like that; for him to have left her at the mercy of his mother.“That bitch.” She murmurs to herself. Milan definitely knew that his mother did not like her, so why was he so pissed that he left her?Why did he leave her? He could have waited and spoken to her, he could have waited and let them iron out their differences.Well, fuck him. She does not need him anymore. She is the only one that she has; she cannot do this with anybody.She’s got herself, and herself alone.*****Milan is in the woods with hi
46“Master McMilan, Miss Emilia left three days ago.” The maid informs him.Milan’s heart skips two beats. “What?” He blurts out in unbelief.“Master, she left the pack three days ago. She was actually carrying a duffel bag, so I don’t think she is coming back.” The maid says.It feels like Milan’s world is coming to an end.“What…do you know why she left?” He asks the maid.“I….I…I can’t tell you, Master.” The maid says.“Why?” Milan asks, his eyebrows knotting in confusion.“Because… it was the Queen Mother that kind of sent her away.” The maid says and scampers as soon as she sees Milan’s mother walking towards them.“What?” Milan exclaims and then turns to his mother. “Why would you do that?” He asks in anger.“Milan, why are you shouting?” Penelope asks. “You did not even appreciate the warm bath I set up for you!” She yells.“Mom, I appreciate the bath, and I enjoyed it, but I am pissed!” Milan yells. “Where is Emilia?” He asks.“She is gone. She left three days ago.” Penelope a
46Emilia walks towards the men as stealthily as possible, careful not to startle them or piss them o. She does not want to start a war or fight. The elk is at the back of one of the large trees afar off; she does not want to draw more attention to herself by bringing it along with her to the cave.The men are sitting on the floor, and it looks like they are merrying. There are drinks on the floor, and she can also see plates of meat on the floor. It looks like they also went hunting.“Hello….” Emilia waves her hands.The three of them turn to look at her.“Who are you?” One of them asks with a menacing look on his face. “What do you want here?” He asks.“I…do you guys live here?” She asks them.“Why are you asking?” Another man asks. Emilia can see that he is sweeping her entire body with his eyes.“Look what we have here,” the third man says, licking his lips.Emilia is beginning to think that this whole thing is a bad idea.“Look, I just wanted to know if you lived here.” She point
48“All male.” The guard tells Milan.“Great.” He says.They keep walking gently towards the corpses, and they are very careful.“Who could be here?” The guards ask Milan.“I have no idea. You know what? Let’s just hide in the bushes and wait for whoever it that is living here.” Milan says.“You got it, Master Milan.” The guards say.Stealthly, Milan and his men hide in the bushes. They are soldiers, so they have been trained to be patient.After about three hours, they hear a rustling in the area in which the dead guys are, and they are immediately at alert.They all watch whoever it is that is coming, and they are shocked to see that right in front of them is a cave, but they are even more shocked when they see that it is a lady. She has long hair, and she is wearing a black jumpsuit. Even before she straightens her body, Milan already knows who it is.Emilia.Milan experiences a lot at this moment. First of all, he is happy to see that Emilia is alive, and from the look of things,