Upperhand

"You are… not… nobody. You are everything. Powerful… Magic…"

Mikel weakly mumbled, his eyes still closed, as if he was talking in his sleep.

"Magic?" Sylvia's calm lips trembled.

As soon as she heard that phrase, a switch flipped inside her and she frantically held the injured man.

She shook him hard, trying to wake him up.

As someone who had been weak and powerless for her entire life, this single word held tremendous importance for her.

"Can I do magic? Do I have mana affinity? How can I do magic?"

"Does this have something to do with the glowing crescent tattoo?"

"Please… Please… Tell me."

Sylvia begged the man for answers, without even realizing that tears had spilled out of her eyes, out of sheer desperation.

However… No matter how much she pleaded, it all fell on deaf ears.

Except for a few incomprehensible slurs, nothing else came out of Mikel's mouth.

The man had seemingly fallen into a deep slumber.

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it all!"

Sylvia's voice reverberated in the empty kitchen chamber, as the woman hugged her knees and buried her head in the darkness.

She was so close to everything that she needed, all the answers, yet the next minute, she was back to square one.

"Damn it all." She muttered under her breath, her chest restlessly heaving up and down.

The moon and the stars brightly shone down on her, a magical luminescence slipping in through the open window.

She sat like that for a while, allowing the gentle breeze to caress and heal her tired body.

Soon, the woman slowly stopped trembling. Her breathing stabilized and she calmed down.

She might not have gotten everything that she had wanted tonight, but she had gained more than enough.

First she needed to know WHY!

Why did he spend so many gold coins just to buy her? Why did he bring her here?

He was clearly not interested in her sexually. Otherwise he would have tied her to his bed and had his way with her from the very first day.

He also didn't torture or torment her, well the occasional teasing and exaggerated bullying aside.

She was only a weak commoner woman without any magic talents. So why the hell was she here?

The only thing that stood out about her was that single glowing crescent tattoo, which never showed up after that day.

Did that mean something? Did she also possess some kind of power or magic talent?

Was that why he had brought her here to experiment on?

Sylvia's eyes gazed on the mesmerizing man in front of her. He seemed to be comfortably sleeping, without a care in the world.

The cunning devil didn't realize it yet, but today, he had inadvertently revealed to her something important.

The man needed her alive and he was not going to physically harm her at least for now!

This had become exceedingly clear to Sylvia.

And more importantly, she might be able to do magic after all.

These two things were now her only strength and her only weapon against this bastard.

And she was going to escape this prison! No matter what!

Sylvia had never considered what she wanted from her life. She was far too young to think about something like that.

But circumstances had lead her to mature early. She might still be unsure of the future that awaited her but this was most definitely not it.

Sylvia took one last look at the man on the kitchen floor and slowly but steadily walked away.

It was best for her if she didn't jog his memories when the man woke up, perhaps in the morning or perhaps tonight itself.

She decided to head back to her room and act as if she had no idea what had happened.

For the first time she had gained an upper hand against the devil and she intended to keep it that way.

This was her secret.

And as for the man's sweet and flowery words… the words which he had spoken in the same delirious state… the words which promised her safety and well being…

Only a fool would believe those words…