Defy Me If You Can のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

The sound of pages flipping slowly one after another unnerved Jane more than silence ever could.Standing stiffly in the middle of Stanley’s office, she stared at the older man while he calmly continued reading through his documents as though her existence there had already been forgotten. The morning sun streamed brightly through the large window behind him, casting a sharp glare over the back of his head where Jane could clearly spot the beginning of a bald patch forming beneath his neatly combed hair.Honestly, she wished the sunlight would shine even brighter.Perhaps then the rest of his hair would surrender entirely and spare everyone the struggle of pretending otherwise. And in Jane’s opinion, her irritation was fully justified.After deciding not to sleep at all last night and spending the entire seven hours she was supposed to be resting cleaning the disaster left inside her room, she had dragged herself here first thing in the morning to report what happened, only to be told

Giggling upon seeing her, Annie pushed herself to stand from the wooden table. Slowly, almost as if she owned the entire place and every person breathing within it, she stalked away from where she stood and towards Jane, who still lingered by the entrance of the dining room with her hand resting near the edge of the doorframe.The world around them seems to suddenly come into a stop. In such an odd situation, everyone really did drop whatever they had been doing and turned their eyes towards Annie, clearly signaling the amount of power that Annie has and the amount of trouble she had just fell into. Jane noticed immediately how Annie smelled like cinnamon and expensive oils, the scent clinging to her skin in a way that no ordinary servant could ever afford. It was not overpowering but refined, deliberate, the kind of fragrance meant to stay in people's memories long after one had already walked away. Even the fabric brushing against Annie's legs looked softer than the rough uniforms

"Get Away From Your Room Tonight."By now, it felt impossible that no one had heard about the sudden mess in her bedroom. The whispers had spread too quickly through the manor halls for it to remain a secret. Yet what truly unsettled her wasn't the ruined room itself, but the meaning behind those words.What exactly was this supposed to be?A warning?Or a threat?The girl who had slipped her the paper had already looked strange enough to make Jane uneasy. Her expression had been tense, almost nervous, like she regretted approaching her at all. Now Jane couldn't decide whether the girl truly feared for her safety or if she was merely another one of Annie's followers trying to frighten her for amusement.Either possibility made her stomach twist unpleasantly.Her fingers tightened around the paper before she crumpled it tightly and shoved it deep into her pocket. Anxiety prickled beneath her skin as she slowly rose from her seat, trying to ignore the growing sense of dread crawling up

This awkwardness made Jane’s skin crawl. Victor had a way of pressing at the tenderest spots, poking and prodding until her discomfort became a quiet, simmering rage. And Stacy, well, Stacy carried a secret, one Jane knew could feel that it would make anyone squirm if it ever came to light. The combination of the two in the same room made her palms tense even more.“I’ll be going now,” Stacy said suddenly, her voice curt and hurt. She lifted her heels and pivoted sharply, each step a loud statement of anger against the floor. The dragging echo made Jane’s ears ache, the force of her stomps speaking volumes of suppressed fury, of someone ready to explode from restraint.As the door swung closed behind Stacy, Jane’s eyes drifted to Victor. He was casually leaning back, waving with that infuriating, self-satisfied chuckle of his.And when he was done, he finally turned toward her. “You smell.’”Jane’s brow quirked, the words landing between mockery and provocation. “I got thrown a tomato

And that finally when it clicks to Jane that vampires never truly fear being different, they are proud of it. No, it's not about being different that makes them proud of themselves. She realized that was the wrong point for her to focus on.The only real reason why they didn't want humans to have their existence known widely is because they didn't want human laws and humanity to disallow them from their hunts. Humans are their prey and vampires didn't want their own prey to be alerted and leave them. If they could, they would rather have defenseless prey who they could partake at any second without resistance, without fear of consequences, without the prey ever daring to bare its teeth back at them.The realization left a bitter taste in her mouth.Humans weren't people to them, never in their eyes, not a creature that they have to respect or meet eye to eye with, not a creature where pity and understanding could be given so freely. Humans are just livestock walking willingly into a