The snow-haired girl, cloaked and clad in black leather tight-fitting garments, stood in stark contrast to the cold, damp, and musty-smelling cell that reeked of mold and foul odors.
Shackled at the wrists, she sat with her knees drawn up in the corner of the cell, her face devoid of emotion as she observed the rats burrowing and scampering over the bed.
The burly man in the cell across from hers had spewed profanities and provoked her for what felt like the hundredth time, and Sitana had held back the impulse to kick the cell door open and rip that bastard's mouth apart over and over again.
The punishment she deserved, there was no point in arguing; the young girl didn't have much to complain about.
In reality, for such an accidental injury incident, if both parties reconciled, Sitana wouldn't have needed to be locked up—except that the victim kept pleading, even begging for a settlement, while the perpetrator insisted on a legal trial.
Under the laws of Scarletfrost, the consequences for an accidental injury could range from minor to severe. Typically, it would involve a fine. However, as Anselm, who had a deep understanding of Sitana, had pointed out, this girl had left the manor without any money.Or rather, the money she had received from Anselm was all kept by her sister, leaving her without a single penny on her.
And since Sitana didn't want Malena to know about the trouble she had caused, she ended up being sentenced to prison.
Even more ironically, because the victim had argued strenuously in defense of the perpetrator, Sitana's sentence was reduced to a mere symbolic twelve hours in prison, which amounted to spending just one night behind bars.
The repugnant smell in the cell caused the girl to cough a couple of times. It would be a lie to claim that she didn't long for the refreshing scent and the cozy bed in her room at Anselm's mansion.
Sitana Rancemalos is a very pure person.
She herself was unaware that her compatibility with Anselm was actually quite unexpectedly good—that was, to be sincerely loyal to one's own desires.
"Hydra... Hydra..."
Sitana whispered the name that commanded reverence from every noble and merchant in Scarletfrost. In this moment, anger was absent, replaced solely by a tangled web of bewilderment.
In this dismal and cold environment, Sitana finally had ample time to reflect on the words her sister had spoken.
"How could it... turn out like this?"
The girl, feeling lonely, buried her face in her knees. Moonlight streaming through the square opening at the top of the cell fell upon her graceful and clean, snow-white short hair.
As Sitana calmly pondered over Malena's words, she sadly and helplessly realized that her sister seemed to be absolutely right.
Even if she racked her brains and exhausted her thoughts, she couldn't find a single truly bad deed that Anselm had done after dealing with the Scarletfrost Earl.
There were quite a few for herself, though—making her strip naked, zapping her every day, and fiddling her like a doll... Mmmph mmmph mmmph!
The young wolf lady clenched her teeth in extreme embarrassment and annoyance, emitting a low whimpering sound. Amidst her indignation, there was a mix of emotions she herself couldn't quite understand.
"Do I hate him that much because he treats me so badly?"
Sitana stared at her toes: "If only Hydra were a bit kinder to me, would I not—"
The moment this thought emerged, Sitana's brows instinctively furrowed.
"No... it's not like that at all."
The hatred and anger that had been suppressed by the current calm and tranquility suddenly surged within her, washing away the thought tinged with a slightly peculiar emotion.
"He's a damn fraud... pulling some twisted methods to fool everyone, sis included."
She murmured to herself, "How could anything good come from those dirty tricks?"
"Yeah... he could've played it straight, so why the hell does he have to lie to people?"
With her mind gradually becoming clear, Sitana suddenly looked up, clenching her fists with a sense of certainty: "Hydra, Hydra must be hiding some dark, nasty secret! Everyone has been played! I'm the only one who sees it... I'm the only one who can bust him wide open!"
"You just wait, Hydra," the girl steeled her resolve, "I'm not only going to suck you dry, but after I'm done using you—"
"And after that?"
"Of course, by then, I'll be tough enough to not give a damn about his retaliation, and—"
"And..."
Sitana's voice gradually faded as she looked at the young noble with a beaming smile standing at the cell door.
Anselm, leaning on his cane with one hand and holding a book in the other, smiled gently: "And then what?"
Sitana remained silent and turned her head towards the interior of the cell.
"The Sitana I know isn't the type of girl who only dares to badmouth others behind their back."
Anselm said as he opened the cell door and walked in: "Or perhaps, you're afraid of this?"
He smiled and pointed at his own neck.
"You're the one who's scared!" Sitana immediately bristled like a cat, "Once I'm done with you, I'll rip off that fake mask of your! Let's see what you'll do then!"
"Hmm..." Anselm pondered, casually using his cane to flick a rat off the bed before sitting down with an unruffled demeanor, "Is that all you've got?"
This remark made Sitana feel as if she had been seen through, and she glared at Anselm with fury: "Is that all? You think I can't pull it off?"
"What I mean is, with the depth of your hate for me, is it only up to the point of ripping off my mask?"
Completely unconcerned about the dirtiness of the bed, Anselm set his cane aside and chuckled with interest: "So, you don't hate me that much after all."
Sitana was taken aback, and upon reflection, it seemed true; how could it just end there?
"Then I'll pin you to the ground and beat you to a pulp, until you are half dead!"
"Sure."
"And I'll slap this collar on your neck and zap you a hundred times over!"
"What else?"
"And... and... you, you pervert, do you really want me to get back at you that bad?"
Staring at by Anselm with that ambiguous smile, Sitana suddenly felt like a clown, and her face flushed with anger and embarrassment as she yelled out.
"Just curious," Anselm stopped looking at Sitana and began reading the book in his hand, "Curious about how much you really hate me."
"Anyway..." the young wolf grumbled unhappily, "I definitely hate your guts way more than you can imagine."
Anselm, engrossed in his book, did not continue the conversation.
He could have easily questioned what exactly he had done to deserve such hatred from Sitana, and whether she had the right to harbor such feelings towards him. Anselm had a myriad of statements, completely grounded in fact and not at all "lies," that he could use to once again undermine Sitana's pride and sense of self.
But he didn't do that. It wasn't just because the timing wasn't right; more importantly, in this second prolonged period of taming, he was going to change his role.
Torment is always just a means, not the goal.
After a good twenty minutes, Sitana was at her wit's end and snapped, "What the hell are you doing in here? If you're gonna mess with me, get on with it! Don't just sit there and make me want to puke!"
"I came to this cell simply because you were in here."
Anselm said without lifting his head, "Because in the eyes of everyone in Scarletfrost, you are the most special person to me, and when you make a mistake, it means I have not disciplined you properly."
"Even if no one is demanding it, and the law doesn't require it, my own sense of discipline compels me to share the same punishment as you."
"..." Sitana was left speechless for a while, then awkwardly opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, and could only dryly throw out the word "hypocrite."
"You'll come to understand eventually, Sitana," Anselm responded.
Looking up at her, Anselm spoke with a profound meaning, "If one day I fall into this situation again, by then, you will understand why I am doing this."
Sitana didn't like playing guessing games with Anselm, so she simply held her tongue and stayed silent, curling up in the corner.
This silence persisted for an unknown amount of time, until even the bastard in the cell opposite Sitana's ran out of steam with his profanities. It wasn't until the jailer brought in tonight's dinner that the silence was finally broken.
This young jailer, who clearly had no backing and was pushed out to suffer, tremblingly brought two plates of mushy food and a bucket of water to the cell door. The way he was curling up and shivering, one might have thought he was the one locked in the cell.
"L-Lord Hydra, your... your dinner..."
The young jailer spoke in a voice on the verge of breaking, his hands shaking so much that he almost spilled the food: "I, you..."
"It's alright, just put it there," Anselm waved his hand, signaling the jailer to leave, and smiled gently, "It's not your fault, it was my request. Don't worry, no one will hold anything against you."
The young jailer, tears streaming down his face, knelt and gave Anselm several forceful kowtows before finally leaving.
"Go and bring our dinner here, Sitana."
Anselm turned his attention back to the book.
"..." Not speaking, Sitana pouted as she walked to the cell door and brought in the food and water.
The young girl eyed the plate of gooey, off-white slop and twitched her mouth twice: "Is this stuff even supposed to be eaten by people?"
"Why should prisoners be treated well?" Anselm picked up the tray, his expression unchanged as he put the unappetizing mush that Sitana couldn't bear to look at into his mouth, "When you make a mistake, you must accept the punishment, Sitana."
Seeing Anselm's unperturbed face, Sitana figured if Hydra, a pampered noble, can stomach this crap, then I sure as hell can too.
Having skipped both lunch and dinner, she was already extremely hungry. With a determined heart, she scooped up a large spoonful and stuffed it into her mouth, and then—
"Vomit—!"
The horrifying taste that pounded against her taste buds caused Sitana's stomach and throat to convulse immediately. Before her consciousness could react, her body's instinctive response had already made her puke out all the food.
"Cough... cough cough! PAH!"
Sitana dashed straight to the bucket of water, not caring about the ladle inside, and directly lifted the bucket to gulp down a few mouthfuls, then barfed it all back up, making a nasty puddle on the floor.
"You, you—" The girl was a total mess, and at the same time, incredulously looked at Anselm, who was still seriously reading as if nothing had happened, "How the hell can you eat that crap? It tastes like dead animals!"
She looked at Anselm's plate with extreme suspicion: "Did you sneak some extra spices in this plate or what?"
"But you're the one who brought it to me," Anselm looked up at her with a hint of amusement, "If you don't believe me, try a bite yourself."
He placed the tray on his lap and pointed at it.
After hesitating for a moment, Sitana eventually approached Anselm's side and cautiously sniffed at the mushy liquid food on the tray.
"Yuck!"
The young wolf almost vomited on Anselm's dinner, but fortunately, she hadn't eaten anything today.
"If you... if you can't taste anything," Sitana held her nose and backed away, "Why even bother eating such fancy food?"
"Who told you I don't have a sense of taste?"
"Can someone with a sense of taste actually eat this crap?"
"Well then, do you have a choice?" Anselm retorted, and then scooped up another mouthful, swallowing it without changing his expression.
"I... I can choose not to eat," Sitana clenched her teeth and said with great determination.
"That's for you."
Sitana could clearly see Anselm's throat twitch, but before she had a chance to gloat, she heard the always composed and calm young man say:
"But for me, Sitana—I've told you, when you make a mistake, it reflects poorly on my discipline. Even if there is no law, and no one has the right to demand this of me, I will still accept the punishment that is due."
"I indulge your disrespect towards me, but that doesn't mean I condone your reckless arrogance towards everything."
He pointed at the mush in the plate that made Sitana feel nauseous just by looking at it: "This is one of the punishments."
Hydra calmly gazed at Sitana: "This is my choice."
"As for you," he lowered his head to continue reading, speaking in a tone that showed he didn't care at all, "You can continue to ignore the food on that plate. If you think that's a punishment you don't need to bear, that no one cares about your choice, then I don't either."
Silence fell in the cell.
Sitana stared blankly at Anselm, who was quietly reading and no longer speaking, and the words "hypocrite" just couldn't be uttered.
She felt that if she were to say such things at this moment, she would truly be the real bastard.
Clink-clank—
Amidst the clanking of the chains, the girl suddenly stood up.
She picked up her own dinner, walked silently to Anselm, and directly snatched away his meal, pouring it into her own plate.
Then, without hesitation, she tilted her head back and poured the entire plate of slop into her mouth.
"Mmph! Gulp—"
The young girl's face twisted in a grimace, and she barely lasted a few seconds before bolting to the small bucket, hoisting it up, and chugging down all the slop along with the water like her life depended on it.
Sitana, after draining the whole bucket, was hunched over on the ground, sucking in air like she'd just run a marathon.
"What do you mean... you didn't discipline me properly... My mess, it's mine, good or bad, it's none of your concern..."
The young wolf wiped the water from the corner of her mouth, turned her head, and glared fiercely at the unflinching Anselm: "Even the screw-ups, they ain't your fault either!"
She clutched her belly, slumped back into her corner, curled up tight, and quietly wrapped the cloak around herself.
It was only then that Sitana suddenly realized that the comfortable and warm clothes she was wearing, which kept her from freezing in this cell, were also completely provided by Anselm.
The young girl secretly glanced at the young noble sitting on the hard wooden bed. He was still wearing a set of clothes that looked very expensive, yet he completely ignored the filth and stench on the bed that even Sitana found unbearable... and the rats.
[This is my choice.]
Anselm's calm gaze and voice appeared in Sitana's mind.
"..."
The girl clenched her teeth, and an absurd and guilty feeling surged uncontrollably in her heart.
Hydra is a fraud, but he has never lied to me.
He is... serious, he considers the crimes I commit as his own mistakes.
Why? I clearly... I clearly have never been nice to him. I clearly have nothing to do with him too, isn't he just using me? Using my talents... Does he really see me as part of his crew?
[Maybe he's trying to buy my loyalty.]
As soon as this chaotic thought emerged, it was extinguished by the overwhelming guilt and complex emotions that took over Sitana.
There were too many people trying to buy her loyalty. After her stunning performance at Skyfrost Tower, just like Anselm said, she indeed received many hands reaching out from the nobles, but Sitana turned them all down.
Who'd go this far just to win me over?
Or rather, if someone's willing to go this far to win her over, what's her excuse to say no?
Author's Note:
ps:
Just a heads-up first
⏴ Previous chapter 丨Main丨 Next chapter ⏵
Comments
Post a Comment