Chapter Twenty-One: Hot Food, Tears, No Longer A...

Kenjiro watched as Refia entered the room with visible reluctance. He saw her close the door behind her and while she did that he saw a half empty glass of water sitting on a small desk in his room.

He turned his back to her and pulled down his mask and got a few gulps of water before he felt the burning sensation of pain in his throat go back down to normal levels. Well, normal after everything had happened to his face.

Before he turned around again he pulled the mask back over his face, not willing to show his face to anyone yet.

When he did he saw that Refia was kneeling on the ground on her knees. Which was no doubt painful because of how rough the floor was and she didn't even have anything to cover her legs.

Kenjiro made a 'stand up' motion with his hands. "Please, stand up. You can sit on the bed." He told her, but not ordering her. His voice came out soft like a whisper, not only because his voice was almost gone, but because he didn't want to appear intimidating to her.

Refia stood up slowly, only wobbling a little as she did so, but made no move to sit on the bed.

When Kenjiro looked at her questionably, she responded in a scared voice, afraid of punishment that she already did something wrong. "I shouldn't sit in your bed. T-that's only for you, master. Besides, I- I would only dirty it."

Kenjiro was going to retort, with what he didn't know- but he was! But then a knock at the door happened. Kenjiro walked over to it and opened it.

On the other side was a different maid than the one that took his order this morning.

This maid had long black hair that went down to her waist, she was short and had a very petite body. In her arms she was carrying two wooden plates that had food and water on the top. Kenjiro was very impressed by her balance with all these items, knowing he probably wouldn't be able to do that.

Kenjiro opened the door fully, and before he could even take the plates off of her, she walked into the room and set them down at the desk. "There you go, once you're done just bring them down, we don't need rats in the room." She said to Kenjiro.

Kenjiro nodded his head, and the woman, maybe a girl, accepted that and left, but not before sneaking a glance at the Wolf Demi-Human, Refia. Although Kenjiro missed that.

The maid then left the room after that, closing the door behind her.

Kenjiro then turned his attention back to Refia who was just standing at one wall of the room. And although Kenjiro would call himself stupid, he knew for a fact he wasn't anywhere close to being a genius or anywhere at the top of his class, he was smart enough and had enough awareness to notice that she was standing on the opposite side of the room then him, even though the room itself was pretty small.

Kenjiro pulled out the chair at the desk, turning it so it faced into the room, instead of just the wall. "Sit down, eat the food that you can." Kenjiro said to Refia, tapping the top of the chair.

Refia looked hesitant, and fiddled with her hands as she did so. She wanted to reject it, to reject the seat. And she could, it wasn't an order and her mark didn't activate. But she had already disobeyed him before by not taking a seat on the bed. If she did so again, it might be taken as a sign of disrespect… she could get punished for that. She didn't want to get hurt.

So, after her thoughts flowed through her quickly, she decided to accept the seat, even though in her mind there wasn't much of a choice in the first place. "T-thank you." Refia in a murmur.

Kenjiro only nodded and took his plate of food and sat on the bed, although he wasn't that hungry, he would have some food and if there was any left he would see if Refia wanted some.

As Refia sat down and looked to her right at the wood and cup of water there, she hesitated. She knew she was supposed to eat, her body desperately wanted to eat, she hadn't eaten a proper meal in months, maybe years at this point.

But as she looked over at her master who sat at the foot of the bed, his back to her as he picked at his food, Refia didn't know what to do. She knew he told her to eat, but he wasn't eating, so if she ate would that be disrespectful to him? Or if she didn't eat would that be disrespectful because he had offered her food?

Refia didn't know, she had never had a… 'master' before. But others that had masters before had told her some things. And when it pertained to food, they had told her some 'basics' so to speak.

One: Don't ever eat food in front of the master. As if you were eating in front of them, it meant that you weren't serving them to the best of your ability.

Two: If the master offers you food to eat, it's usually a trap. If Ryo offered you food and you declined then they would beat you because you were turning down their, 'oh so gracious kindness'. While if you accepted and they told you to eat, then it would be back to rule one, and they would beat you.

Three: Never be caught with food on you unless given to you by the master for a later date.

There were at least a dozen others Refia could think of at the moment, but those were the main ones, basically, if you eat food near or in front of them, you'll be getting a beating.

But… The Ringmaster only ever gave the bear minimum amount of food to his slaves. Enough that they wouldn't die and a bit more so that they could still look pretty and he could sell them easier.

But that food only ever came at the end of the day, and since she was bought, she didn't get her food today. So her body was craving for some.

And as she looked at the food, the hot food, something she hadn't seen in ages, with meat as well. Her tail started to swing from side to side faster then it had before, and one her Wolf ears twitched every few seconds.

She couldn't resist.

Looking back at her master, and seeing his back still turned to her, Refia decided that this was her only chance.

With her inhibitions now gone, she greedily reached out for the piece of meat on her plate and bit a chunk of it off.

As she chewed on it, she started to slow down. Each bite she took made her savour the flavour of the food on her tongue, the heat of it being something she hadn't felt in a long time.

It was delicious, Refia had realised. Although something she hadn't realised is that she had started to cry.

Not because she was sad, but because Refia was happy.

She kept taking bites of her meat, but didn't eat it as hastily as before. Instead taking normal bites and savouring the flavour of it on her tongue.

Her sniffling had caught the attention of Kenjiro, and when he turned around he didn't expect her to be crying.

Kenjiro didn't know how to comfort her, or if she needed to be comforted. But he felt the need to. So he would try his best.

He pulled his mask back on and stood up, unnoticed by Refia who was still too absorbed in eating the first proper meal she had gotten in a long time.

He grabbed a glass of water for her and handed it too her. "Have some water, you don't want to burn your mouth." Kenjiro said softly, knowing that the food was hot and that Refia hadn't had anything to drink yet, the glass was still full.

Refia looked up at Kenjiro startled, the tears still in her eyes, but after swallowing the piece of meat in her mouth she did realise how hot her mouth was, like it was on fire.

She grabbed the drink out of Kenjiro's hand roughly, but Kenjiro didn't care for that, he probably would have done the same.

She gulped down the water greedily. With the water cooling down the fire that was in her mouth.

After that she took a gasp of air as she stopped drinking. "T-thank you, master." Refia said.

Kenjiro paused at the name she called him, 'master'. It didn't feel right, and it wasn't. "You don't have to call me that, my name is fine." Kenjiro said to her.

Refia paused at that. "Are you sure, master? I'm just a dirty slave, I don't deserve to be treated like a human-."

Refia then got cut off by Kenjiro speaking to her. "You're not a slave Refia, not anymore. And I don't plan on treating you like one, you're a normal person, and deserve to be treated like one." Kenjiro said in a resolute tone of voice. "I don't want you to think of yourself as a slave from now on, Refia. Because you're not, you're just Refia."

Refia listened to what her master was saying, or- now he was Kenjiro. He wasn't going to treat her like a slave. And Refia could tell it was true, the tone of voice he had used to say it, and the way he held himself. Refia could tell that he wasn't lying.

The tears which had stopped because of her fright at Kenjiro coming over now started to flow again at full force, streaming down her face as she sniffled and whimpered as she tried to hide it, even though that was impossible.

Kenjiro tapped her shoulder, and as Refia looked up he had his arms spread open hesitantly for a hug, unsure if she wanted one- or if she would even be comfortable with one.

But Refia didn't care, she was too happy at this point. So, at the opportunity to hug the person that saved her from a much darker fate, she didn't hesitate to hug him.

Jumping into his arms she wrapped her arms around his neck as she hid her face in the crook of his neck, no longer trying to hold back her cries. She was no longer crying just because she was happy, but she was crying and getting rid of the pain and sadness that had built up within her from her past.

Kenjiro held his arms out awkwardly at the side before he slowly closed them around Refia. He didn't hold tight at first, but as he heard her muffled crying onto his shoulder he couldn't help but hold her tighter.

It was a long lasting hug, with Refia not letting go but eventually stopped crying, and with Kenjiro not letting go until Refia did.

While this was happening, Kenjiro couldn't help but see some similarities in this situation.

Kenjiro smiled as he thought of that, he missed Eisen and the small village.

He then noticed that Refia started to go limp in his arms, and as he looked down at her face, he noticed that her eyes were closed and that she was asleep, or close to falling asleep.

He carefully moved Refia, picking her up which was easier to him because she was shorter then himself. And he placed her in the bed, covering her with the light blanket that he was given.

When he did so Refia started to curl in on herself to keep herself warm.

Kenjiro smiled a little at that behind his mask.

He then looked at the food left on the desk, almost all of Refia's food was gone, while his food remained mostly untouched.

But, he needed to bring it down to the kitchen before he went to sleep.

Kenjiro grabbed both plates, quietly exited the room and went downstairs with them.

When he got there, only the inn owner was there, sitting behind the bar, putting away cups and other utensils.

"Thank you." Kenjiro said quietly, only noticing now that his throat was killing him. Probably from all the over-talking he did today. But he didn't regret it, if having a sore throat meant he could get Refia to understand that she wasn't a slave anymore, then he would do it any day.

The owner looked up at him, his gaze wasn't as friendly as the day he first came here. And being honest with himself, Kenjiro wasn't surprised. "I heard crying earlier, from your room, it sounded like a girl… if I find out that your hurting her, or using her sexually, then I don't care if your renting a room here, I will kick you out. And trust me, it won't be pretty." The man threatened Kenjiro, his gaze hardening and his muscles flexing, making them look bigger with veins starting to appear on them.

"I didn't hurt her." Kenjiro assured him.

The man only looked at him, before letting it go. "I see, I'll believe you for now, but if I see something or hear something out in town. A few words won't get you out of trouble."

Kenjiro nodded and left the room, still feeling the mana gaze on the back of his head.

It seemed to Kenjiro that although having a slave might be legal, it seemed not everyone agreed with it. Or, Tedbaldus was lying to him and it was illegal. The latter of which wouldn't surprise him, considering the type of person Tedbaldus seemed to be.

Kenjiro went back into the room, now seeing that Refia was in a deep sleep. And then he realised that the bed was only big enough for one person, although even if it was big enough for two he still wouldn't have gotten into it.

So he moved the chair towards the end of the bed where he put it down. Kenjiro then sat down on the chair while putting his legs on the bed, taking off his shoes, even though he did that there was still plenty of room left for Refia to move in her sleep. This was just for him so that he would actually be able to sleep.

And although it took a while, he did manage to fall asleep. Although his dreams haunted him at night again.