TBO-Hello again! Say hi Oz!
OZ: *Peaks out from behind door with multiple stacks of paper in his arms* W-Wait a sec-! I'm not ready!
TBO- Nonsense! Come out here! *Grabs Oz by collar* At least thank the reviewers, you dolt! *Smacks Oz over head*
Oz: *Rubs head sheepishly* Thank you for all the reviews that we received from chapter one.
TBO: And thank you so much Cstan for correcting my error in the previous chapter! I appreciate it!
Oz: She can be really careless...
TBO: You might actually die in this fic, Blondie. *Evil Smirk*
Oz: *Pales* Anyway, here's chapter two! Enjoy!
Alice POV
"Your Highness, you're so lucky." The young maid had told me for the fifth time, her black eyes looking at me in the mirror weakly, as she brushed my hair softly. I didn't know what to say in response, each time any of the maids told me that. But, all I could think of was how sad these girls were. Many were a tad older than me, and a few of the unlucky ones were really young.
She pinned my hair up into a braided bun, and brushed my bangs out. Every since that Eddrick guy brought me into his custody, the maids had been caring for me. On the first night, they scrubbed me down, tended to my injuries, and fed me.
The clothes were very elegant, but not very comfortable to wear. For some reason, all the maids disapproved of my boyish attire, ripping it from my hands and keeping it at distance away from me. Today was an example of when I had to wear one of Eddrick's recommendations.
A purple dress, with light pink frills on my waist, and the skirt decorated with pink bows. My hands were covered with white lacy gloves that stopped at my wrists. I had suggested that my legs were covered with thick tights, if they thought that I was not planning to wear any with Eddrick around, then they were damned. To finish it off, I was forced into black heels with straps.
I groaned as soon as the girl finished styling my ridiculously long hair. She smiled at her neat work and gave my shoulders a tight squeeze.
"Please, try to give a good impression. After all, you are a very lucky girl." She said softly in my ear. I shuddered at her action, but soon was distracted when she pulled me up from my seat, pushing me gently to the door.
"Hey! Don't push me-" When I got to the door, another maid with dirty blonde hair gave me a wryly smile. I stopped in front of her, surprised.
Another one? Just how many maids does this guy own?
"I'm here to escort you downstairs, Your Highness." She simply said, in the same regular tone that all the maids had talked in. The maid who had done my hair, closed the door behind me, which startled me. I frowned at the maid standing before me. She was taller than me, but had the glint of a child in her eyes. I smiled sadly, removing the frown from my face.
She's still a child. Most of them are…The least that I can do is pay some thanks.
I grinned at the maid, earnestly. "Thank you, I appreciate it." When those words left my mouth, the girl's brown eyes widened in surprise, but they quickly softened. Her lip trembled, and she let out a bit of a real smile towards me. I was surprised by how a simple five words could make a human so happy.
"Of course, your Highness." She bowed to me, silent tears slowly building up in her eyes.
Eddrick POV
I sat on the small couch, my right arm wrapped around one of my maids shoulder, and my left holding a cup of red wine. The poor fool was another lucky one, that I had picked off the street about two weeks ago. A brunette that had turned nineteen.
"Xyalnder-Sama, I-I can't do this anymore!" She exclaimed, bursting out into tears. I had wrapped my arm around her, pulling her down onto the couch, her head resting on my shoulder.
"What is it, dear? Tell me what's on your mind." I comforted her in a fake concerned voice, scowling inside. The girl's hands formed a fist when holding onto the button up shirt, and I could already feel the wetness of her tears.
"I'm not of use to you. I can't deal with those clingy clients anymore. I-I only belong to you Xylander-Sama. My heart, body, and soul. Whenever I tell these to my guests, they just brush it off. I don't want to go through the pain anymore." She continued to sob into my chest. A wicked smile spread across my face, at what she had said.
I absolutely hate broken toys.
"The reason why you're working with these people is because you love me, right? Afterall, I promised you that I would always be there to love you." I raised her chin, kissing her softly on the lips. That seemed to stop her tears, and she was quick to respond. I bit her lower lip, and felt her shiver under my cold touch.
"X-Xyalnder-Sama-!" I smirked and continued to kiss her neck. In the end, all this girl could ever be to me was a disposable play toy.
"You really are disgusting..."
That words left me in awe, and I raised my head to see an enraged Alice watching the scene, with a scrunched up face. Standing next to her was another one of my maids, that didn't look surprised at all. I was quick to push the girl from me, to stand up and bow.
"Young Master, thank you for accepting my invitation."
Alice POV
Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, THIS HUMAN MAN IS VILE!
I could feel my face getting hot with rage, as I watched Eddrick literally throw himself onto the child, eager to suck the life out of her with the many kisses he was giving her. Just whatwas going on here? My hands tightened into fists, and I could already feel a vein popping out of my forehead.
"You really are disgusting..." I snarled, loudly enough for Eddrick to look up at me. He gave me a look of bewilderment, shoving the girl away from him, and standing up to bow to me.
"Young Master, thank you for accepting my invitation." His words pissed me off, and I felt like finding the nearest object to throw at him. How dare this man fool around with all these innocent girls, putting his filthy hands all over them, and toying with their feelings and emotions.
"As if I care about some dumb invite! Just what the hell were you doing just now?" I questioned angrily, pointing an accusing finger at the middle-aged man. Eddrick smiled at me, strolling over to the staircase.
"Please forgive me for the way I presented myself in front of you. If I had known that you'd be ready," He looked back at the dazed girl on the couch. "I would have cleaned up faster." When the girl realized that he was talking about her, she jumped up from the couch, a scared look on her face.
'If I had known you'd be ready that quickly, I would have cleaned up faster.' The words repeated in my head, much to my annoyance. They held no sincerity within them. This man was just screwing around with her.
"Don't give me any of that filthy shit. I just saw what you did, so don't just brush it off so easily!" I snarled, and bared my teeth at the vile man. The maid looked between me and Eddrick, looking at us with a look of remorse on her face.
"I'm terribly sorry, your Highness! Please don't blame Eddrick-Sama, he should not be blamed. For it is I at fault. I'll accept any punishment! I'm not worthy of your presence, please forgive me!" She apologized, bowing to me. I didn't know what to say to the either of them, but I bit my lip and decided to that my ranting wasn't going to help the situation at all.
"I'm not mad." I said, in a leveled tone. The maid took that as an invitation to leave, and glanced at the middle aged man who continued to stand in silence. When he hadn't dared to spare her some eye contact, she bowed her head.
Both of the maids scrambled upstairs, leaving me and the King of Eros behind. Eddrick sat on the couch, a cup of red liquid in his hands, and motioned for me to sit with him. Still appalled by the nasty presentation, I refused, and made sure to stand at least one foot away from the man.
I avoided eye contact with him, and focused more rather on the pictures of a beautiful black haired woman that was grinning triumphantly in every photo that was displayed on the walls of the room. The one that was sitting on the table with a young Eddrick scowling with her arm around his neck in a fierce headlock caught my eye. Eddrick's hard gaze was on me, I fidgeted under it.
"I loved her, you know." He cracked the awkward silence that I had created. "The one that I mistaken you for the other day." I slowly turned to him, only to see a sort of guilty look dawning over his face.
I didn't answer him, and kept my hands on my hips, frowning. Love, huh? It seems to have a lot of importance to humans. I've heard it used many times.
"Sariah and I didn't really get along. We were forced into marriage, and she hated my guts as much as I did hers. She was as feisty as you, and really beautiful too." I looked at Eddrick as if he had lost his mind.
Never thought that this guy would be capable of talking so warmly about a woman.
"But, god was she annoying as hell! Always pestering me about how my attitude towards women was vile and how I was never faithful to our marriage. Sneaking out to be with other woman was something that she had always hated about me. I never understood why though." I almost face palmed.
"But, the one thing that she didn't know was how badly she affected me. Her smile…her laugh… and goddamn her temper!" I jumped at how dangerously loud that the man's voice had become. His dark eyes became more crazed as he almost crushed the cup in his hands. I gulped and listened a bit intensively.
"I could never touch Sariah the way I touched those other girls. I just couldn't." Eddrick took a sip of the red liquid in his cup and closed his eyes, before rubbing his temples. I looked on in awe at how quickly a man could break down.
It almost seems as if he were crying inside…
The moment of silence was dragging on for too long, so I quickly decided to interrupt it.
"Then, what happened?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. Eddrick's bangs sheltered his eyes and he raised a hand caressing his forehead. His posture loosened. "She disappeared." Then he sighed and spread both of his arms across the couch.
I suddenly heard whimpering, and sweat dropped as I watched the maids dapped at their tearing eyes with napkins. I crossed my arms across my chest, and slowly turned my lilac gaze back to the mysterious man.
I didn't know what to say to him. He was so sad, this man. It wasn't that much of a surprise that he had turned out to become a man who picks up random girls off the street and toys with their emotions. I sighed. It is truly unsightly of him to become such a man.
I scowled at him.
"You're right. She looks very beautiful and she sounds like a strong woman. There is no surprise that she would leave you, you're just trash." I said, piercing him with my sharp gaze. I heard a light chuckle from him, and my attitude dropped below zero.
"What a great similarity between you both." He said, as he met my stare with ease.
I inwardly seethed at the bastard. There was no way that I could understand what he was thinking. Only thing for me to do now was just play along.
I closed my eyes and smirked. "What was that? You want to die already, you pervert?" I retorted, opening my eyes and averting my gaze. Eddrick quickly closed his mouth and looked away as well.
"You still haven't given me your name, young master. It would save me the trouble of having to know what to address you by." His gaze flickered to me and I blinked.
"Young Master is fine. I don't really care."
Eddrick chuckled loudly enough from me to hear it, and shook the wine glass cup in his hand. "Are you sure about that? I think that Alice is a befitting name."
I froze, and my lips slightly parted in disbelief. This human...how did he? I quickly regained my posture and glared at the smirking man.
"You talk in your sleep too much, Alice-Kun. You might want to get rid of that habit, in case you have something deeply important that you don't want anyone else knowing about." Eddrick said, almost teasingly.
I looked at him wearily, and felt like I had lost a small battle. "Stop talking rubbish. What did you invite me here to tell me?" I inquired in a sharp tone, cashing the maids beside me to flinch.
"Well, you both are unusual in many ways. Anyway, Alice-Kun, I wanted to inform you that I will be enrolling you into a School. You will become a student of the School for the Young and Wealthy, Pandora." He concluded blankly, setting his wine back onto the table.
I raised an eyebrow and stared at the man, skeptical about the concept of what 'School' was. Eddrick seemed to catch my expression and sighed heavily. I hoped whatever this, 'Pandora' school was, it wouldn't be much of a hassle.
"Alice, there's no reason for you to fret over it. I'm sure that the Maids will tutor you, or I'll have someone at your school help you with your studies." Eddrick raised his hand to pat my small head. I blinked in confusion, shifting my head to the side, feeling uncertain.
"Eddrick, I want to stay home. I don't like being around people." I lied, hoping that he would fall for it, and allowed me to stay at the Mansion. After all, it was safer here than anywhere where people were able to hurt you in so many ways. I clutched my gloved hands into fists by my sides.
He simply pouted at me, giving me the middle-aged man version of the puppy eyes. "B-But, It took me a lot of time and hard work to find a place where you could learn with others. A place where you couldn't hide the fact that you were a chain. Plus no boy could harm you since you would be disguised as a boy." He said, pulling his hand back.
I shrugged my shoulders at him. "So, that doesn't change the fact tha-HEY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'CHAIN'? YOU KNOW THAT I'M A CHAIN, YOU ASSHOLE?!" I screeched loudly, taken back. Eddrick stood up, turning his back to me, and walking over to the wall full of pictures. I watched him, my eyes widening with every step he took.
"Words, words, words, Alice. Control your words and hold your tongue. A woman should never swear. For she will not receive a hand in marriage." He scolded me.
I held back a menacing glare.
Did it really matter that I had better act like a lady, after all, hadn't he made it clear enough that being a guy was what he wanted?
I waved him off.
He stopped in front of a picture that hung loosely off the wall, quickly adjusting it. He slowly turned back at me, a hand resting on his hip. I made sure that his posture did not lower my courage.
"Ne." I said lowly, my eyebrows raising up in surprise. Surely, most of my powers had been sealed and I was just a weak little shell of a monster. I could already feel all my nerves tingling and my body was shaking. A new life, huh? What a great way to start it off, Alice.
Eddrick smirked wickedly at me. "'You're a very lucky boy, Alice'. Was it? You sure are. For me to welcome you into this warm home of mine. Where you don't become a maid, but actually a part of my family. I have decided. No boy can touch you, that privilege is mine alone. Remember that." He whispered looking glumly at Alice.
I pressed my lips into a firm line and looked down at the white and black checkered floor.
Had he forgotten who was in control here? I am a chain, a very powerful one at that. I can't be bound by such selfish and meaningless rules that will not give me any gain.
You wanted a family. Now you have it. Seems fair.
I loosened the fists at my sides, and inhaled slowly.
This deal will result in my favor. I will soon acquire the upper hand in this game.
I exhaled with ease.
He shook his head, holding it up with his hand. "I'm starting to already feel the after affects of that wine...-Oh! Did you hear that, Alice? Sorry, you are dismissed." He lightly chuckled waved a hand dismissive towards me, and I quickly rolled up the front of my dress by the hem, and walked quickly towards the dark lit staircase. I looked back at him, and I wasn't surprised to see him cuddling with another maid, while holding another cup of red wine in his hands.
"I'm starting to feel like I understand why Sariah might have left you." I said, loudly enough for him to hear. He paid no attention to me, and I gritted my teeth.
I will not be tricked by a human.
My grip on my dress tightened and I cautiously walked up the stairs in the unusual heels that were forced onto me. Whatever that man plans to do with me, I'll make sure to put a stop to it all. Besides, how much more can I even take until my time runs out?
TOB: And that pretty much wraps it all up!
Oz: Now, Eddrick is the one you should kill. He actually deserves it.
TOB: Hmm...Nah! That would be way too blunt! Killing you would be more intriguing...
Oz: *Stares at TOB, then looks at audience* OK, thanks for reading!
TOB: YOU'RE ENDING IT SO QUICKLY?! I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED TALKING YET!
Oz: R&R! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THIS AUTHOR FROM WRITING ME A FUNERAL! *Runs away and is eventually chased by TOB*