Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Both Deon’s touch and gaze, which was locked on my bandaged arm, felt immensely cold. Taking his eyes away from the bandage, he looked at my face again.

“Was this because of your poison butterflies?”

As he asked, there was a glint in his eye. His was a subdued voice. It was the kind that penetrated your eardrums and made your heart falter. I didn’t want to believe it, but perhaps it was even possible that my butterflies had been discovered.

“I heard you were still trying to hatch one of those eggs.”

Then it occurred to me what he had actually meant. He was merely curious about the remaining egg in the incubation chamber. As I stalled for an answer his grip on my injured arm became sharper. His fingers felt like claws trying to unravel a seam in my skin. Sheesh, what a sadistic pervert. But I couldn’t allow him the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting me. Especially not if I wanted to avoid seeing his square mug break into one of his twisted, self-satisfied smirks. It really was a blessing that I had never been the expressive type.

“Release me.”

I spoke as calmly as possible while pulling away from him. Deon let go of my arm easily enough and seemed oblivious to the fact that his fingers had been digging into my wound. It burned me up to watch him stand there acting as if he was being considerate.

“So when did you get back? I thought you were away on some sort of mission.”

And yes, it was particularly nice not having to see your ugly face around the mansion for a while. But since he couldn’t hear my internal derision, he answered curtly.

“Just now.”

“Then shouldn’t you go say hello to Father?”

Of course, even if had been able to read my thoughts, he wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. That was the sort of person he was.

“I heard Cassis Pedelian is your toy now.”

His placid gaze, full of perpetually hidden intentions, peered quickly over my shoulder. It truly was an indecipherable expression. The sort permanently draped behind a dark curtain. It was tricky for me to even determine if he had meant anything by what he’d just said. This was all very much like Deon. He was always what I considered stone cold. I even doubted if he had a beating heart in his stony chest to serve as proof of life. Even as a child, I remember wondering if there was anything in this fictional universe that could elicit genuine emotion from him.

“You seem to know a great deal for someone who has only just returned.”

There was a physical revulsion I couldn’t help feeling with him standing so close to me.

“I guess my toy is rather popular.”

“Well, since it concerned you, it was only natural that I became curious.”

His unexpected expression of concern had stumped me for a moment. I couldn’t manage much else but to stare at him as we stood in that silent hallway. Our eyes betrayed nothing, but there’s no doubt it was an odd moment. What added to the awkwardness was that both the person who had expressed the odd sentiment and the recipient were simply staring at each other calmly. I should take a moment to clarify here that when it comes to Deon, the attention he directs at me is nothing like what other people generously give me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I added sarcastically. “What a silly thing to say.”

I then turned away in order to wordlessly inform him that I had lost interest in our encounter. Deon, in turn, made no movement to detain me. I began to march forward while disregarding his lingering gaze as it bore into my back.

* * *

Cassis unwound his bandage and stared at his scar. It hadn’t entirely healed yet, but it was progressively getting better. His body felt much less weighed down than it had at first. As long as he was cautious not to reopen his wounds, he was certain he would be all right. Bored with nothing else to pass the time, he did intervals of exercise to regain his strength. But every now and then, he would peer around the room rather sharply. It may have seemed that his gaze was directed at the walls, but he was actually attempting to see through them to what lay beyond. He kept etched in his mind the map Roxana had brought him. Using his room as the starting point, he drew various routes extending from it throughout the rest of the mansion.

Clunk.

Without warning, Roxana entered his room at that moment. Cassis was slightly taken aback since it had not been her normal time for visiting him. On top of that, she appeared to be completely unaware of her surroundings. Seeing her like that almost caused him to call out to her in mild concern.

Leaning against the door she had just come through, Roxana continued to stare at the floor in silence. For some unknown reason, she was soaking wet. The smell of grass wafting off from her clothes informed Cassis that it was raining outside. Then his eyes landed on her left hand for instead of water, something much darker was dripping onto the ground.

“Roxana,” he called out despite himself, but she didn’t seem to hear him. All her concentration seemed aimed at whatever was on the outside of the door. Cassis also tried to do the same, but he could not discern anything or anyone.

He continued to watch Roxana through squinted eyes in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the situation. Meanwhile, the dark puddle on the floor was steadily growing larger. Cassis finally began to walk towards her, but his advance was stopped midway.

Clang.

The chain linked to his collar placed his progress in check. He was still several paces away from reaching the door. Several paces away from the door Roxana was leaning against. Having drawn closer, he could see that she was even paler than usual. Her hair appeared to be bejeweled with tiny drops of water, but Cassis was far more concerned about the steady dripping of blood from her arm.

“Roxana.”

Perhaps it had been due to him walking closer to her, or possibly that there was more force in his voice, but he had finally managed to shake Roxana free from her reverie to look up at him. A drop of water rolled down over her smooth cheek, then traced the outline of her ruby-red lip, before dangling for a moment on her narrow chin, only to finally drip onto the floor. Their eyes soon met and remained locked on one another.

* * *

I hadn’t even realized that I had been listening for noises on the outside of his door.

I was simply concerned that Deon might still be in the hallway, but in truth, I hadn’t actually heard anything.

On top of that, I had encountered him quite far away from Cassis’ room.

Yet despite knowing all that, it was hard to stop my mental feelers from searching beyond that door.

“Roxana.”

Had I not come to my senses at the sound of Cassis’ voice, I may have stood there stupefied for a good while longer.

My sight had gone somewhat hazy as if I had stepped through a mist, but soon began to clear up.

Once the haze had vanished completely, a pair of golden eyes greeted me.

“Cassis.”

Just when had he drawn so near?

I had been so absorbed with listening for anything outside of the room that I hadn’t noticed his movements at all.

In retrospect, Deon was to blame for me heading into that room without thinking in the first place. After all, hadn’t I been on my way to my own room?

A raindrop rolled down my cheek, so I wiped it away.

My eyes were also bothering me, but that was likely due to the rainwater. Blinking repeatedly hadn’t worked, so I rubbed at them with the back of my hand.

Meanwhile, Cassis continued to stare at me.

“You should stanch that bleeding first.”

At his word, I looked down at my arm.

The wound I had hurriedly bandaged had reopened.

In truth, it had probably been Deon’s fault for clawing at it,

but I honestly hadn’t expected it to be as bad as it looked.

Curse that asshole, Deon.

It was a good thing that I hadn’t wiped the rain from my face with my left hand moments prior. Otherwise, my face would have resembled something out of a horror show.

On top of that, I had become tense all over, which I suspected had been the case from the very moment Deon had detained me.

Upon recognizing where I was standing, my body slowly began to relax.

After doing so, I decided to take Cassis’ advice to treat my arm. I also decided not to leave his room right away since Deon’s unpleasant aura still seemed to be lingering somewhere on the other side of the door.

In fact, there was no way for me to guarantee with absolute certainty that Deon wouldn’t be waiting outside of the room. He did after all take pleasure in creeping me out.

“Hang on. I’ll get something for you to dry yourself off with.”

Cassis offered to help without prying into what had happened.

I could not tell whether he did so out of consideration or negligence, but either way it didn’t matter.