Hey guys! It's been a while since I updated this so here you are. This chapter is shorter and for that I apologise but the next will be longer! This is also the last chapter that is like the original after this you'll see the changes (they are for the better)

It had been a week since Iago left Gunter to adjust to his newfound position. Days after the monster left, the staff arrived. They seemed to be all one mass, the uniforms all the same. They cooked and cleaned, as they should have. The role of leadership was not difficult for the veteran. He left his post, overlooking the servant's work, and wandered into his office. He released a long drawn-out sigh as he sunk into his chair. Had he really been holding onto it for that long? Details were swept out like the dust from his mind. The isolation never was so relieving.

His mind kept swirling with questions. The circumstances surrounding the girl made no sense. Why did she never speak? Why did she cower in fear when anyone entered her room? Why was she in this gods' forsaken place? Where was her mother? What happened to this child in the first place? All of them were questions Iago never bothered to answer, and they ate at Gunter's mind. He was grasping at straws.

Gunter gazed down at the whip. How was that going to solve anything? She was already terrified of anything that moved, let alone anything Iago could have ever had in store for her. No, punishing the child for circumstances she couldn't control was no way to go. He wracked his brain to try to come up with a solution. Then it came to him. While it was impossible to take the girl away from this wretched place, it was possible to use the whip in some way and better than Iago's way.

The veteran set himself to work. He tore the whip and stripped it of the barbs. He wound the leather around itself and tucked the ends in. After a couple of layers of repeated work, he had formed a simple ball. He was proud with the result.

Gunter nervously climbed up the stairs leading to the girl's door. Slowly Gunter opened the door and rolled the ball into the room. The toy tumbled over to the girl and stopped by her leg. The unexpected intrusion startled her, causing her to scoot beneath her bed. He recalled how he met the child in the same spot; perhaps that spot made her feel more secure. Slowly the redhead crept up to the ball and cautiously nudged it in the direction it came. The ball rolled for a small distance but fell short of its' destination.

"Will you get it or shall I?" Gunter asked gently. The girl looked up at the man with fear in her eyes. As the knight took a step forward she took three back to support the distance. The veteran sighed internally "this will not be as easy as I first thought." He reached the leather bundle and rolled it over to her again. The next time it rolled to her, she seemed less afraid but just as nervous. She looked at the knight carefully and rolled the ball back to him with more force than the last time. Gunter smiled as the plaything bounced into his lap.

"Good girl" he praised. The small redhead burst into tears. That was the absolute last thing the veteran expected or wanted for her. He went over to her and pulled her into an embrace to console the wailing child. Her entire frame shook from her sobs and hiccups. It had been awhile since the man had dealt with children of this age but that didn't prevent his parental instinct from kicking in. He rubbed her back gently and spoke to her slowly. The child's crying tired her out until she nodded off in the knight's arms.

Gunter carefully placed the child in bed and covered her with the thin cotton blanket she hid beneath before. Her reaction to his words bothered him. He intended to encourage, so why did his praise cause her to cry? Was she the kind of young child to cry at the smallest thing, or was it the first nice thing that someone had said to her all this time she had been here? Gunter didn't know the girl well enough to know the answer, but what this told him was that he needed to praise her more.

He quietly left the room and closed the door behind himself careful not to disturb the child.