Dawn- An age of Darkness

"And who are these two lovely ladies?" A handsome-looking man greeted us. I recognized the voice. It was the same vermin who Lianne was talking to back then. I almost wanted to punch him. Controlling your urges can be quite a hassle at times. 

He was dressed in flawless attire. He seemed to be in his late thirties. A decent build: little to the thick side. He was almost the same height as me right now. 

I faked a smile and bowed gracefully, tilting the hem of my skirt. I'd seen this kind of stuff in movies. "I am Daphne Valheiser, my lord. This is my aide." Susan bowed in a similar manner.  I praised myself in my mind for coming up with a last name on spot. Only a second later it hit, that it was kind of stupid.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance my lovely wildflower! I am Duke Vermillian Vernexo." The way he introduced himself made me want to puke. "We- our names have the word V in common," he said seductively. 

V in common?                                         

This guy seriously had issues and not to mention he had nothing better to keep the conversation going. I smiled to hide the awkwardness.

We were in some sort of well-decorated room. There were a lot of well-endowed women in here apart from us. They were giving me a lot of stares. But there was someone here that I hadn't expected to meet: Lianne. 

Lianne sat in the opposite corner of the room, dressed in a similar fashion like me: maybe a little less revealing. I got the picture that she was going to try something too. Her eyes opened wide seeing me, but she held her surprise and didn't say too much. More like she didn't open her mouth even once. But then again I didn't think I'd see her without that veil of hers like this either.

And I was really glad she didn't create a commotion because I was dressed like this when I had basically the same face as her mother. 

The castle was so-so but this room- this room was truly a masterpiece. This guy must have really spent a lot of gold in here: literally. Even the carpet was made of golden threads.

  "The pleasure is all mine, my lord."  I tried my best to be courteous.

Thank goodness I watched all those movies!

The two of us took our seats and the duke took his. Now that I thought about it, he called himself a duke instead of a king. I suppose that only made sense since this place was technically the property of Alfeim. 

The food was decent. I'd had better. I didn't eat much though. I still had to maintain my status quo, so I lied as I bat my eyelashes. 

"My lady, is this not to your liking?" he said, a bit sad.

I had to choose my words carefully or the chefs might have lost their heads.

"Unfortunately my lord, in our family culture, it is rude to eat more than one-quarter of our food at night. This is done to preserve our slim figure and health. My mother and her mother, and her mother before her, also did the same." I never knew I could come up with such lies. I guess my lying skills had finally leveled up after all this time. 

"Ah, I see." He smiled, showing me his teeth. I really wanted to break all those white blocks. 

Things went pretty smoothly if I do say so myself. He paid almost too much attention to me and my legs. The way his hand massaged my thighs made me want to punch him so bad that he'd regret being born. Alas! I had to contain myself.

Some of the girls were glaring at me, enviously. I guess some women have horrible taste. Or maybe the pay was good?

Anyway, the dinner was over before I knew it and he dismissed all the women. Before leaving Lianne looked at me and left. I had no idea what she tried to convey. But things couldn't have been easier. 

Mission successful.

"Why don't I show you my art pieces? I have quite a collection," the duke said. He flashed a smile and waited patiently for my reply.

I had a pretty good idea what sort of art he wanted to show me. Unfortunately, I had no such desire. If I did end up witnessing his art, I might or might not end up squishing it on spot. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that for both our sakes. 

"I'd love to." I cupped his hands and pretended to be happy. This was much harder than I thought. "But what about her?" I looked sideways, a bit puzzled. This was definitely a lot harder than I thought. 

Of course, I meant Susan.

"Sh-she can join us too!"

What a pig. 

"Won't it be nice if the two of us were alone?" I said, pleadingly. Honestly, if someone pleaded like this to me, I'd turn her down on the spot. I'd be too suspicious. 

But this guy was different. "Ye-yes!" 

I was disgusted by him and myself at the same time. After this I'd have to spend an hour in front of a mirror, lecturing myself.

"Guards!" A guard came in. "Show this lovely lady to a guest room."

"Sir!"

Susan left with the guard. I saw her grin. She had this covered.

Why were we bothering with this clown anyway? Honestly, at this point, I couldn't even bear to be near this clown. And yet, I had to. 

I leave the rest to you, Susan.

Now the two of us were all alone. "This way." He led me down the corridor. The walls of this corridor were rather fancy, unlike the rest of the castle. I got the feeling that soon we'd end up in a place I didn't want to.

But for both Lianne's and my sake, I had to do this. 

Well, it's too late to have second thoughts now anyway.

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