Chapter 124 - Chapter 123

@International_Pen

((( CLAIRE )))

Zhio approached me and lifted my face to meet his eyes.

"All you have to do is do what I want."

"I'm not your slave," I shoved his hands away.

"And I'm not some stupid pet who'd do whatever you please. I'm not an animal."

"I can make people live like animals…" his lips was teasing.

Then suddenly, he pressed them on my lips.

"And I expect you to eat your lunch even when I'm not around."

Before he left, he stole one more kiss on my cheeks.

"Goodbye, Claire."

When the doors closed again, I fell weakly on the edge of the bed and poured my tears out. But just like how everything were in that mansion since I arrived, a maid entered the room. Then another…and another.

There was never some privacy for me in this place.

I wiped my cheeks.

Two boxes were pushed inside the room.

"Put them there," the older woman commanded gently.

She was the same woman who gave me clothes when I first came to this place. She seemed to be the headmistress of the Zel Cantheliz household.

She then looked at me.

"Are you alright, Miss Claire?"

I nodded.

"These will be the things you'd be needing," she craned her neck a little at the boxes.

"Tell us if you need something else."

No…I'm not living here.

"And this will be your room," she looked around at the vastness of the place.

"Zhio wants you to share the same room."

I'm not staying!

"Why is he doing this to me?" I shook my head.

My tears escaped again. Once more, I'm like a well that'll soon dry up from crying.

She hugged me and patted the tip of my head.

"Shh, take some rest dear. I noticed you've been crying for a while now."

Well how could I ever stop?

Zhio has locked me up in this prison…

…and I don't know until when.

"There's nothing we could do. Whatever Zhio says, is done. But we're always here for you," the old woman smiled at me.

"You know, you're the first woman Zhio has ever brought here. Whatever his reasons are…I think he's doing this because he doesn't want to lose you."

I don't understand…

"This place was so lonely," her eyes were sad, "so try to understand Zhio."

Obviously.

The quietness of this place was deadly. Without anyone around, I'd go mad in the deafening silence.

"Zhio grew up here…without any playmates. He's been strictly made to be responsible at a very young age. His father trained him for work at his early adolescence. His mother also died before he even knew her. So Zhio never really had a normal life," she sat beside me.

"But that kid is very kind. He just doesn't show it often."

Definitely.

Zhion was kind.

Zhio…

I felt some strange ease when I first saw him.  

@International_Pen