The two sisters looked at one another and shook their heads.

“No, we never saw what he really looked like. For some reason, he was extremely careful about who saw his face. In fact, he was extremely secretive about everything related to him.”

I frowned. They were maids. Shouldn’t they be quite close to him in general? This whole thing didn’t make a lot of sense in my mind.

“Aren’t you two maids? How is it even possible for none of you to have seen his face even once?”

They shook their heads again when they heard my question.

“We aren’t really maids. He called us…” The two of them shivered. “His playthings. That’s what he called all of us.”

“What do you mean by all of us? There are more than you two?”

They nodded instantly. “Yes, he has dozens of slaves just like us. All of them are girls just like us.”

I could see where this was going, but I still wanted to know more about Zero and what could have potentially happened to me if I had been bought by that mad lad.

“What exactly are the roles of the ‘play things’?”

“To satisfy when he asks us to.”

Nymira noticed my frown because of how vague her response was, so she clarified.

“Satisfying could be anything. Sex, getting humiliated, getting beaten up…we were his slaves. He could do whatever he wanted to us.”

She shivered suddenly as if thinking of a past memory.

“The times when he would ask us to satisfy him the most was when he came back from his meetings on Monday. Every time he came back from those meetings, he was always angry and he used us, slaves, to release his anger as much as he wanted.”

As I listened to their words, I realized that I was extremely lucky for Caedrel to have bought me in his place, or else, I would have suffered through the exact same thing as them.

That was also probably the reason why they were so shocked by how Caedrel acted. Not making them actual slaves, not caring about what they did.

“How long has it been since that man, Zero, had bought the two of you?” I asked, worried about their answers.

Slowly but surely, I was realizing that my story wasn’t that bad compared to those around me.

Caedrel had lost his parents in the war when he was a child, and those two had suffered abuse for years, most likely… In fact, compared to those two stories…mine was like a walk in the park.

“It’s been five years since he bought us,” Nymira answered as her sister didn’t seem able to answer those questions without breaking down.

I could see her crying as Nymira told me all those things, and I could only imagine what the two of them had gone through.

“It must have been quite rough on the two of you. I would understand if you two decided to leave tonight and escaped.”

The two of them laughed lightly when I said that for some reason.

“And where would we go? We have nothing. We don’t have money, we’re weak. The only thing we have going for us is our beauty. That was also the main reason why Zero had bought us in the first place.”

I frowned. “You could go back to the elven territory! I’m sure they would welcome the two of you with arms open.”

“Miss, I don’t want to sound rude. But you don’t know what it’s like outside of the Royal Family. The reason we were bought in the first place is because our parents sold us away because of how poor they were.”

Shivers.

I felt them again as I realized once more just how pathetic of a person I was.

Just a few minutes ago I had been talking about how hard my life had been, but…the more I heard about what they had gone through the more I realized that my story was nothing. They were so much more stronger than me…

“I-I see…I’m sorry for mentioning it,” I struggled to open my mouth without the words getting stuck in my throat. “I-I truly am ignorant. I was even complaining about what I had gone through while you two didn’t say a word…I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago, it doesn’t affect us as much anymore. Anyways, we will also stay tonight. We will protect you if that man ever does something against you, don’t worry. It’s our duty, after all, princess.”

I giggled.

“I don’t think I’ll be needing protection.”

I could hear Caedrel snore extremely through the walls without the slightest care in the world.

I didn’t know a lot about Caedrel, but I had a strong feeling that he was keeping a lot of things to himself, hiding them from those surrounding him. I noticed it when I spoke about his family; the empty look on his face was a dead giveaway. But I had a strong feeling that the loss of his family was nothing compared to what he had actually endured.

However, through all that hidden pain, he still decided to help those around him, I think. Still, one thing was certain: I would keep an eye on my new master. He was hiding things, and I wanted to help him as much as I could; after all, I had to repay him for those 125 Million Coins he had spent to buy me.

It was only fair.

***

Caedrel POV

“Ah…”

The sun was blinding me as I slowly opened my eyes.

-Knock! -Knock! -Knock!

I wasn’t too sure what was happening, but there were dozens of knocks on my door.

“Let me sleep!” I shouted to the people standing on the other side of the door.

“Professor, we are going to be late if we wait any longer!”

I frowned. “What are you all even talking about? It’s still morning. Just go back to sleep.”

“Professor! It’s already noon. The tournament is starting in thirty minutes.”

I clicked my tongue. “Right, sorry. Just give me a minute.”

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