"What are you doing?"
My body's response was to freeze when hearing that voice which was melodious to most people.
My eyes glanced at the hand-sized mirror I had positioned at the last second. There, I saw the drunk woman from last night who now felt like a different person. The absence of sweat made her face shine brightly. Her silver hair, which I remembered as tangled, now flowed smoothly and beautifully. Her red eyes were no longer like the crying eyes from last night. I think she had just bathed because she was wearing a red bathrobe.
The woman placed her hands on her hips, then directed her eyes at the same mirror–
–Our eyes met.
Caught!
Startled, I immediately turned around to face her. But my quick movement caused several books and ink, which were notoriously expensive in this era, to fall.
Damn!
"S-sorry Ma'am, I-I will clean it up immediately."
Immediately, I bowed and quickly tidied the books and placed them on the table. Now only the ink remained.
How do I clean it?
My eyes searched for something, before finally–
"Don't bother."
The woman's firm voice immediately stopped my steps.
As ordered, I stopped and stood back up slowly.
Is she going to punish me for this?
"Thank goodness you're awake."
She sighed in relief as she said it.
Eh, she's relieved I'm awake?
While I was immersed in confusion, the woman stepped orderly towards the wardrobe and took a crystal glass. Then, she filled the glass with tap water. After that, she approached me and raised the glass.
"Drink."
She flashed a faint smile on her lips. Her aura of dominance radiated clearly just from her face.
For now, I couldn't guess her emotions.
Slowly, I took the water from her hand.
The woman then retreated and sat on the bed with her legs crossed, her hands propping up her chin. Her red eyes watched me as if watching a performance.
Is this poisoned? I observed the water carefully. Who knows if behind this clarity there is poison, right?
Actually I was afraid to drink it–
But unfortunately I had to drink it because my throat was very dry. However, most of the urge was because I was afraid of the consequences if I didn't obey her order.
My breath was ragged when the water in the glass was finished. Honestly, I had intended to drink only a little, but because it turned out to be very refreshing, I ended up overdoing it until it was empty. Besides, there are no effects now, right?
Finishing the water made me not know what else to do to not be nervous. Moreover, there was a pressure filling this room since she entered. Is this the pressure of magical energy? Or is it just psychological pressure when facing an authority figure? I think both are true.
No one started a conversation between us.
Unable to bear this tense silence, I took the initiative to open the conversation. But to be safe, I would pretend to have amnesia – Julian's severely injured head would make this acting good. And I must not talk about that kiss because now she seemed different from the woman last night.
"Uhmm... Ma'am, I'm sorry. May I ask? Why am I here?"
"You don't remember?"
"No..."
"In short, I bought you at a human trafficking."
"What, b-bought?"
"Yes."
She said that shocking thing lightly as if it were the most trivial thing in the world. I don't blame her, the practice of human trafficking in this novel was indeed normal, especially for nobles. They buy slaves for various needs such as servants, carriers of dangerous goods, sacrifices, and worst of all, just to hear their screams when tortured. Hopefully I'm not the last one.
"You looked pitiful among the other slaves, lying still with a blood-stained bandage covering your head. I thought you were dead, it turned out you were still breathing. So, I took you then."
Was her reason pity? Impossible. I'm sure there was another agenda, especially concerning the Arclaine Clan. If not, she wouldn't have bothered buying this dying slave.
"By the way, I have a question." she paused "Why did you suffer such a severe injury? Was it because of the Veridia people?"
Ah, why suddenly Veridia? Is she testing me?
To answer this question, I'll be half honest. It indeed wasn't because of Veridia, but Enzo–
"I don't know Ma'am. Suddenly I just woke up in this room. My memory is blurry."
Hearing my answer, the woman's lips slightly pursed before then nodding repeatedly.
"I understand."
Understand that I'm lying or understand that I'm honest? Please be more specific, you know, this is scary!
"You know, I don't like lies." she leaned her body forward. "Answer this 'Yes' or 'No'. Are you from the Arclaine Clan?"
The big leap in questions from before made my heart pound fast.
What does she want?
I think she already knows the answer. Maybe because there are certain physical traits of the Arclaine clan like my glowing silver eyes? Then, why still ask? Does she just want to confirm it or just test my honesty?
If honest and she turns out just wanted to confirm her assumption, then I die. Conversely, if lying and she turns out just wanted to test my honesty, it's the same.
There is no safe answer.
Fine, at least I have to take the safest path, which is half honest.
"I seem to have heard that in my head. But... I, I don't know exactly."
"Say 'Yes' or 'No'"
She emphasized her voice.
Because the pressure in this room was getting stronger, I finally said in a low voice–
"Y-yes, correct."
The forehead of my interlocutor furrowed.
Please don't do anything to me. I swear, I'm not the owner of this body. I just accidentally entered.
"Alright then." Suddenly the woman's face softened a little and for a moment I saw an expression almost approaching pity. "Now, you're safe with me. Let me introduce myself, my name is Lilith..."
Lilith Von Morthem? I continued her name in my heart spontaneously. That is the name of the Villainess in this Novel. Is it really her?!
From the physical description, it matches exactly what was written. So, that explains why I felt familiar with her, huh?
Lilith is a semi-demon human. One of the main Villainesses of this novel who has an extreme nihilistic view. Before her end, she was genociding living beings when she succeeded in extracting The Abyssal Demon. According to her, life is meaningless and to prove it, she committed mass murder so that humans would face the actual reality, which is that even when they die, the world won't care and the name that is the core of a very precious identity is only mentioned as 'victims of slaughter' only.
Lilith is indeed in the grand narrative of the story, but honestly, I didn't know she had a slave named Julian Arclaine.
Did Julian die in the original story so he wasn't highlighted?
All the hairs on my nape stood up instantly.
The Villainess then stood up and approached... Instantly, my body tensed, ready to fight back if there was an attack even though I knew I wouldn't win at all.
But it turned out... she just passed me and headed to the bench behind.
There, she opened a geography book.
"You know why your clan is being hunted, right?"
"Yes, I know."
There was no point in lying anymore.
Suddenly she chuckled and then looked at me from bottom to top with wonder and admiration. "With such massive slaughter, I'm amazed you could survive, especially in your condition."
I didn't know what to answer.
"Hmm, there must have been other people with you before you were caught, right? Other Arclaine Clans? Where are they?"
So this long conversation was actually just to find out the whereabouts of my clan? Whose side is she really on? In the novel she doesn't side with any faction, but why does she seem like she wants to help the empire?
"My father... but he sold me."
Why should I lie about Enzo? Let him and his members be hunted to death as long as I survive here.
"After that, I don't know where he went. I dare swear about tha–"
"Enough." Lilith nodded slowly, as if she had anticipated. "You look tired. Forget about this for now."
But I was about to be honest, you know. Why did you stop it? What do you actually want from me?
Lilith then stared sharply into my eyes and I felt like I could be sucked into her red eyes. "Listen carefully... From now on and henceforth, you belong to me. You must obey every command and rule I give you, unconditionally and without exception. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Ma'am,"
I bowed while thinking about how I could escape from this woman?
Lilith turned around and walked slowly towards the stained glass window, which displayed a vast expanse of dense forest.
"And... Never think about trying to escape."
She looked down, at her courtyard.
Can she read my mind huh?
Because I was tired, I could only nod slightly. Then, I followed the direction of her gaze, looking at the large courtyard of this Mansion. A large wall became the boundary between the forest and the courtyard. Green grass adorned the garden and several flowers grew there – attracting some butterflies and other insects.
Outside it looked calm and peaceful.
I want to go out.
Right at that moment, a small blue bird descended from the sky and perched on a decorative stone.
"..."
Suddenly an arrow from somewhere struck the small bird's body – destroying its body until what remained now was only its bloodstain.
My eyes widened.