Chapter 10

It has been a few weeks. Lord Roderick and Maria are on their way to some sort of gathering and me and Knuckles had to go with them. I hate social gatherings. Knuckles is here to be their bodyguard of course, and I am trophy, I think. I don't see a good reason to bring me here. I'm terrible valet and lord Roderick can't really trust his life on my hands.

Once we stop Knuckles turns to me. "You help Maria, I see my lord."

I sigh and jump off. I am wary about Maria, but it's better than the alternative... This is going to be a long day.

Just like I've been taught, I open the carriage door and offer my hand for her. I have to say that to her though, she wouldn't know it otherwise. I am really annoyed by these shallow and meaningless acts, all these small things that I am expected to do, even though I don't care to. She hesitates when she hears me. Maria has become wary of me. I'm not surprised, I haven't been very nice to her. Even now I couldn't care less about being here and I make no attempts to hide it.

She does take my hand. "Thank you." She practically whisperes.

I guess I should have gotten used to it by now, but she still manages to get me off guard with her thanks.

Lord Roderick walks beside her and make her take his arm. That bastard is lucky to have her.

I shake these thoughts off my head. It's dangerous to sympathize with a human. I sound like a broken record, but else I might forget. I can't forget. Still, I am getting tired of trying to hate Maria, she has been nothing but nice to me... But I must stay focused. I must not forget. She can't be trusted.

We're at the castle. It is a lot bigger place than lord Roderick's mansion. Probably belongs to someone more important and more influential. It doesn't matter in the end, I'm still stuck with the life that I have now.

Inside an old man greets lord Roderick and Maria. They exchange few words. I don't listen, they never talk about anything interesting.

Knuckles leans to me and whisperes "That's duke of Soleanna. He's the most important person here."

I didn't really care who the old man is. Though how Knuckles knows so much about aristocrats probably never stop to amaze me. I guess, he must have been in this kind of parties often.

It doesn't take that long before lord Roderick turns to order us. "Shadow, you come with me. Knuckles stay with Maria."

I am about to protest when Knuckles stepped in. "With due all respect, I think it's better if I go with you mi lord and Shadow stay with my lady."

I stare at him dumbfounded. I think all of us did.

"He does have nerve." Duke starts to chukcle.

Lord Roderick isn't amused. "Why would that be better?"

Knuckles stays quiet. It becomes obvious that he didn't expected that question.

Is he trying to protect me or something? I don't need his protection! I feel the anger creeping into my mind. Did Rouge told him? How hypocritical of her! I'm not hopeless, I can take care of myself! I am strong.

I cannot start arguing now, not here, but I definitely want to give him piece of my mind.

"He wants to come, let him." A hint of laughter stayed in Duke's voice.

Lord Roderick still have hard look on his face. "All right." he says eventually and his expression softens. "You follow me." After that he turns to Maria and kisses her hand. "I won't be for long." With that he leaves with the duke.

It's just the two of us now.

"So..." Maria hesitates. "Any wishes what you want to do?" She sounds nervous.

"You're asking me?"

"Who else?"

I glance over the hall. "I don't really care about these kind of situations. I'm going to have terrible time, no matter what we do."

"Are you sure? You haven't even-."

"I've seen enough of them to draw that conclusion. Trust me."

She twitches. I guess that my tone was a bit harsh, she does seem rather delicate. She looks uncomfortable. It seems like she is about to apologize, but before she get a word out of her mouth, someone comes to her. "Is this slave troubling you?"

"Ah, no. Not at all."

This new guest stares at me for a while before he introduces himself to Maria. "Count Wilhelm, at your service my lady." He bows and kisses Maria's hand and that makes Maria even more troubled than she already was. Nobility sure has ridiculous habits.

"Lady Maria. It's my pleasure." She doesn't sound like it is a pleasure. She presses the cane against her chest.

Count quickly turns his attention back to me. "Is he yours?" He tries to pet me or something, but I slap his hand away. "Heh. He got spirit." I swear, humans have no respect to personal space. "I could pay a hefty sum for a rare breed like him."

Maria turns sour. That's surprising for her. "You want to buy him? You don't even know him."

"Why does it matter? I'll get to know him eventually."

"He's not for sale." She have a demanding tone.

"I can pay a lot."

"I don't care. You are insulting us by suggesting anything like that."

The count turns to her in surprise. "I didn't intended to offend my lady!"

"...Please leave us."

He looks at her for a moment before he bows and slitheres away without a word. Maria's cold and angry look melts once she realizes that he had left. She looks sad. Abruptly she turns on her heels and rushes away, tapping the floor with her cane.

I didn't expect her to act like that, she always seems like someone too kind to get angry. I guess that do I owe her one now for getting rid of that pest, so I rush after her.

She stops at secluded and almost empty hallway. She takes a deep sigh and just stands there. Suddenly she turns around and almost bump into me. "Shadow?" She presses the cane against her chest.

"I'm here."

She seems to be relieved. "I thought that you stayed in the main hall."

"I guess someone have to look that you don't run to the wall."

She crosses her arms, not exactly happy with that remark. Though it doesn't stay long. "...I hoped that I was right. You have an angry step. And it's not humans step." She laughs nervously. "I would have been so lost, if I was wrong."

I sift... I can't tell someone by their footsteps. Then again, I could always see who it is. "I am supposed to stay with you."

"Oh. It was like that, wasn't it..." She bit her lip. "I thought that you would take an advantage of the situation."

"Seeing how glad you are for me being here, maybe I should have."

"I-I didn't-"

"Relax." I sit down on one of the empty benches.

Maria looks unsure. She fumbles a bit to find the thing I sit on and once she did she sits down, as far from me as she could. "Does that happen a lot?"

"The count thing? Which one? Buying or groping?"

She sifts. "...Both."

I massage my brows. This isn't exactly pleasant topic for me. "Former occasionally, later every time."

"...I see. No wonder you have some strong opinions." She stays quiet for a while. "I'm going to change things."

I grunt. What a naive thing to say.

"You don't believe me?"

"You can't change the world. Humans don't see anything wrong with the way they are now, too many assuring the reasons why this is okay, and even if you do manage to convince few to change their ways, it wouldn't matter much in the end. Most of them don't want to realize that they are wrong. It would be too inconvenient, and people hate inconvenience."

"It has to start somewhere." She says that with determined eyes.

"You cannot even see."

She crosses her arms. "I am not toothless."

"You'll only get yourself hurt."

She turns to face me as well as she could while sitting on the bench. "I don't need your approval!" It is like she almost looks at me.

This fragile and meek blind woman before me is full of dedication and stubbornness that I thought that I would never see on her. I find that somewhat funny.

"Stop laughing, I'm serious!"

It suits her though. Who knows, maybe she does have a point. If not, I can appreciate someone at least thinking about this stuff. "You know what, if you manage to convince enough people, I might start to believe you myself. Hell, I'd probably help you once that happens."

She looks surprised, but it doesn't take long for her to give me a confident smile. "It will happen. You'll see."

"What's your first step?"

She ponderes for a while. "I don't know yet."

"So much for that."

"Have a little faith. I just need to think for a while."

"Right. It couldn't hurt, I guess."

For a second she doesn't say anything, once she does, she have a faint smile on her face. "I'm glad to see this side of you."

I tense. "What side?"

"Hopeful."

I stand up to get some distance between us. Had I lowered my guard this much? I had tossed aside the thoughts of freedom long ago and she rekindled this desire for it so easily. And she saw that. And I hate that she saw that.

Maria again take protective, wary stance. She seems sense my consern. It makes me realize that I am glaring angrily at her again. She can't see it, but again I feel like I'm attacking her.

I look away from her. "You have a knack to make me feel bad."

"I'm sorry..."

She might have misunderstood me... Whatever... I'm not going to be her pal anyway. She is my lady after all.

We are surrounded by the awkward silence.

...

Our host demanded that we stay a night here. Lord Roderick must have impressed him somehow. Why does nobles find him charming, I probably never know.

Me and Knuckles are at the slave quarters. It is one room with multiple beds, kind of like in slave camps, but a lot smaller. Slave, that shows us the place, says that most of the beds are empty, since this is where guests slaves also sleeps. Sometimes they all don't even fit here. Host must love sleepovers.

I turn to Knuckles. "When we got here, why did you wanted to swap places?" There is no one else here, so I'm not afraid to tackle with this now.

He stare at me, looking almost confused.

"Did Rouge say something?" I press.

He snaps out of it. "Rouge said that I shouldn't let you and him be alone."

I knew it. "I can fight my own fights!" Dammit, I'm not weak!

"The hell you are getting mad at. I just saved you a trouble with a little to no effort."

"The hell you did! I don't need your fucking pity!"

My anger is getting better of him. "I'm not pitying you! I don't even know the whole story!"

I glare Knuckles. I guess he really doesn't know. I will probably yell at Rouge once I get back, but that will be between me and Rouge. I don't really want to drag him into this mess. I need to calm down. "I need some fresh air." I say and leave.

"Hey! Where you think you are going! Shadow!" He doesn't go after me.

I storm through the hallways. Walking does help a little bit. It's easier to think. I need to talk to Rouge once I see her. I can't believe that she ordered Knuckles to look after me. She knows me better than that.

...It's eerily quiet now...

I find myself in the same hallway where Maria and I sat before and my thoughts wanders back to the conversation we had. Maria, why try so hard? You won't gain anything from the future that you pictured. Why you try so hard to get along with me? It would be so much easier for both of us if you wouldn't. I sit down on the bench. I think about her words, the hope she made me feel. I had sworn that I wouldn't let a human to fool me, but I have already started to accept Maria. It is almost frightening how easily she saw through these barriers I've put around myself.

...I cannot trust her. I need to remember that. I can never trust a human.

I take a deep breath and relax. Tomorrow is a new day. I have time to worry about her in the morning.