Questions

Sylvia panted in utter panic and dread.

A wave of anger swept through her body, consuming all of her muscles, bone, and blood and she had instinctively jammed the metallic arrowhead onto the man's chest.

She hadn't thought through it at all. Even when she secretly hid the arrow, she didn't have a clear plan in her mind.

But when the man had nonchalantly groped her, acting as if she was invisible, she had lost control of herself and rammed it into him with every ounce of strength that she could muster.

She knew that she shouldn't have but she still attacked him, hard enough to draw blood from his defined body.

Mikel's gaze shifted. He looked at the arrow on his chest and then at the woman in front of him. His piercing eyes glared at the woman like a beast eying its prey.

"Did my slave just attack me?" The man raised his eyebrows, his voice reaching a dangerous threatening pitch.

"I… I…" Sylvia stammered.

Right in front of her eyes, Mikel yanked the arrow and casually tossed it down as if it was nothing.

Her attack with her full power behind it was nothing more than a mosquito bite to the monster.

Sylvia panicked and in that split second, she tried to run away. She didn't know where to but she just wanted to get away from there.

But unfortunately, a pair of lean and muscular hands shot out, imprisoning her on both sides.

And with the wall behind her back, Sylvia had nowhere to run.

Mikel looked at her flustered eyes and sighed. He leaned forward, his head touching the wall and his face right next to hers.

"Just this once, I will forgive you. Go."

Sylvia blinked dazedly, trying to digest the man's words.

Did he just let me go just like that? Even when I attacked him with an arrow and wounded him?

She could neither believe what she was hearing nor could understand his behavior.

But she didn't want to linger there any longer and test his patience.

Seeing that the man had retracted one of his arms, she turned on her heels and ran away towards the servant's quarters.

She held the ripped upper half of her clothes with her hand and ran as fast as she could away from the monster.

Loud thumping noise echoed in her ears, her heart ramming against her chest like never before.

She huffed and panted and reached her small cramped room, but still, nothing changed. She did not feel any safer.

As long as she was here… As long as she was someone else's slave… someone who could be tossed out and replaced in an instant… someone who was absolutely powerless… she would never feel safe.

But this was her fate. How could she possibly overcome it???

No matter how much she wanted to change her current circumstances, how could she possibly go against her predetermined destiny?

Tears streamed out of her eyes as the woman screamed and cried into her pillow and she eventually fell asleep.

When Sylvia woke up again, it was already dark outside and probably late in the night.

The sleep had helped her calm down and her mind was somewhat settled.

In her frustration earlier, she realized that she hadn't paid attention to a lot of things.

But now, she was at least clear-minded enough to think about those small details.

Why did Mikel simply let her go?

The man might be kind-hearted, might even be a saint, but still… why would he forgive a mere slave for raising her hand against him?

More importantly, she was literally just used as a live target dummy but still, there was not even a single wound on her body.

Not a single arrow had hit her body except for that one that had marginally grazed her.

These were just small insignificant details but when Sylvia calmly considered them, she could see a hidden meaning.

She could tell that she was important to the man.

It absolutely made no sense for someone like her to mean something to someone like him.

But still… her gut feeling told her so.

And why was she important?

This definitely had something to do with the mysterious glowing crescent tattoo which occasionally appeared on her chest.

Sylvia didn't know or understand anything more than this now, but she silently resolved to herself to find out more.

This was her key for survival and this was her only gamble.