Puppet's String

"Ella, do you fear me?" he asked.

I couldn't look up. Even though I might not be scared of him, this body certainly is. It goes to great lengths to make me feel this way.

"Ella, I'm asking you something," his voice was low but sounded loud.

I didn't answer.

"Ella, I'm asking you something," he shouted this time, hitting the table.

I was startled, and then the door behind me opened out of nowhere.

"What's going on?" It was the duke's voice.

"Father?" I looked behind.

"Ellanious," I knew another drama was about to start.

"Ronan, why didn't you tell me she has returned?" he said to him.

"Father, I wa—"

Before Ronan could say something, a slap landed on my face. This was the second time I'd been beaten by this family. The first time was by the duchess, and now by the duke. But he was not behaving like she did. He wasn't even showing fear.

"Did I tell you to do that?" he asked, his tone cold.

"Father, Sh—"

Ronan tried to speak again, but he kept getting interrupted by the duke.

"Ronan, I'm still your father. I'm still the duke of this empire. Even if you're called the young duke, you're not above me. So, make sure to stay silent when I'm talking. Do you understand?" he said, looking at Ronan.

"Y-yes, Father," Ronan obeyed.

Yeah, he had that much strength.

"Now tell me, Ellanious, did I tell you to go to your banquet and then leave with the Archmage?" he asked me finally.

No, you didn't.

"Did I tell you to disobey the crown prince?"

No, you didn't.

"Did I say you could look at someone else?"

No, you didn't.

"Ellanious, open your mouth and answer my question!" He kept on asking me, but I didn't utter a single word. I wasn't bound to answer him.

I began walking toward the door, but he grabbed my hand and brought me back into the room.

"Did I say you could leave?"

"No, Father, you didn't," I spoke.

"Then why are you walking away?" He was asking me like a normal person, but I could assure you that if I opened my mouth again now, another slap would land on my face, making me bleed even more than before.

"Because I don't want to obey you. Didn't I say that last time?" I made him do what I said that day when I came out of the room, breaking the room door by myself.

"I'm not going to obey you anymore."

"I will do what I feel like. And I will marry whomever I feel like, and that person is not the crown prince at all."

"And one more thing, I already told you I'm no longer a saintess but a witch. But I still don't understand why my father didn't even utter a word when everyone is accusing me of being a witch, drinking the crown prince's blood in the royal court? Now you're so desperate to sell me off to the same place?"

Yeah, I raised this question on purpose, or the slap was already waiting for me on my cheek.

"What are you talking about? Who said that? No one called you a witch?" Wow, was this some kind of uno reverse?

"Father, I think you're facing amnesia, that's why you can't remember. So let me remind you what happened that day, okay?" I spoke.

The duke extended his hand to stop me, but I said it anyway. I explained how someone from the royal ministry told me I was the same saintess as the one who was executed five hundred years before. The accusation was for drinking the crown prince's blood, and many commoners were witnesses to the scene.

"Father, I don't think I ever heard about any of this," Ronan asked.

He didn't know? How was it possible when Father and Count Bastian Turtle also told me about this?

"Ronan, you go back to your room. This is nothing you should be worrying about." The duke started acting even weirder than before.

"No, Father, I want to hear the story. Which saintess are you all talking about, which I don't know? I have taken classes for succession, but there wasn't a single book that talked about someone born in our family as a saintess. Then what is it?" Ronan asked many questions.

I thought I would get lots of answers, but something changed.

"Ronan De Olger Usoro, are you disobeying your father?" Duke said it in a weird tone facing Ronan, making me even more doubtful.

"No, Father, I will return to my room now." Ronan passed me.

What just happened? Just a while ago, he was asking a lot of questions. Just a while ago, he was on my side, but all of a sudden, he left as if someone whispered something into his ear.

"Ellanious," the duke called me in a spooky tone.

"F-father?" I was scared.

"When I say stop, you should stop."

"When I say do that, you should do that."

"But now you have started rebelling against me."

"Tell me what kind of punishment I should give you?" He glared at me as if he was staring at my soul.

"F-father—"

"Ellanious, I asked you something."

"Tell me what kind of punishment you want." he asked me again.

I didn't say anything.

I kept taking steps backward, closer to the door, just to escape from this room, but he came toward me. This time he picked up the whip placed on the table and walked toward me, rolling the whip in his hand.

"Ellanious, get on your knees," he said, and I instantly knelt. It felt as if I could no longer control my body. Why? Why isn't the body moving as I desire? It is mine. It belongs to me then why I have no control over it as if someone is holding strings of my body and making me do as they say. And the duke is making me do so.