Chapter 27

As a concubine, Laverna must not sleep out of her place. She only did so when she occasionally drank more than necessary, prompting Agadi to reprimand her severely and instruct the servants to transport her without anyone's knowledge. It was a crime for the prince to come and not find his mistress, despite never having visited her.

Laverna spoke consciously for the first time: "Can I sleep with you?" I didn't answer, but Agadi brought blankets and placed them. Tait returned to her room, and Laverna and I remained lying in the darkness. After several hours, Laverna approached me, crying uncontrollably, "I don't know what he wants, and I don't understand him! I'm afraid, Yuana, afraid!" I lifted myself up and embraced her.

She looked at me in panic and said, "Like prey, we are prey! He listens to us and watches us, and I didn't even feel his footsteps for a moment!" She looked at me in panic and continued. "Like prey, once his interest ends, he will kill us." Then she laughed, as if she had grasped something. "Anseca! Anseca! She always repeats it when any girl receives sudden attention: It will end with their death."

Laverna felt the burden to make me understand this fear, so she began to explain in a more conscious way while she looked at me, then to the ground, trying to understand herself as well. "It's not an interest like his interest in Cardia; it seemed like an interest similar to his interest in Petra." Then she looked at me again, as if she finally understood. "Yes! When I think about it, all the girls he killed resembled her in appearance, personality, or manners." So her panic increased even more.

I asked in confusion, "Perhaps he possesses some kind of angry feelings towards Petra's resemblances." Laverna expressed some agreement with this conclusion, so I continued in despair, "But I don't think we resemble Petra." We returned to the same abyss, just as the snake used to torment us.

Our hearts felt like they were about to burst when the door suddenly swung open.