Hope is a very fragile thing in the end. And yet, as thin and frail as it is, it is enough to fill your head with ideas, to make you bend your chest and smile at the prospect of a better tomorrow. It must be the prerogative of the weak and the naive, like me.

Silly to believe that I could ever escape from here, I wonder, does purgatory have an outcome if not more fatal?

The evening of the reception, the mansion was boiling. Neither Claude nor the master paid any attention to me; in appearance only.

The ball had started, all the guests had arrived. It was there that I decided to flee this cursed place where my body does not obey me anymore, where my mind always departs more from the straight path, a little closer to the abyss with every caress that is given to me by my young master.

Isolated in the most easterly wing of the mansion, I took advantage of the darkness outside and the silence around me to slip into the garden. As I slipped between the shrubs along the paths to reach the woods adjoining the estate, no breeze was blowing and no shadows were visible on the floor of this moonless night. That's why I did not see him reach me, without any doubt. But I felt it, as briskly as icy water splashing you, when he stood behind me. My whole body froze, as if petrified by this sudden presence.

"Hm ... I cannot tell if the master will hate or worship what I'm going to tell him ..." Claude said softly, adjusting the glasses on his nose. "But we shall come back to that later; the master is waiting for you." He added, looking as hard as his posture.

I wanted to beg for forgiveness but no words came out of my mouth as he led me back to my room. My mind, subdued by surprise and a sort of relief whose reason I did not understand, mechanically dictated me to advance without opposing any resistance. Even if I had the strength, I have the feeling that Claude would have reduced me to nothing with a simple wave of the hand.

And yet, something in the firmness that he showed reassured me. I would put this on the account of the depravity of my soul that came to light. What respectable and dignified being would thus be complacent in debauchery and servitude?

Claude made me enter my room and closed the door behind him. Without a word, he reached for my bed. There he pointed to the long, light white silk kimono that had been put there.

"Do I need to explain to you what the Master expects of you?" he questioned before my immobilism and my incredulous gaze.

I did so, taking off my clothes while he looked at me. Despite my back turned, I could feel the burning of his eyes on me. I believed then that he despised me and reveled in humiliating me as well as whenever the master had taken me in his presence. He was always straight, his gaze fixed on me and his face, at worst, displayed a vague repugnance, at best, a kind of intense indifference. However, he did not move and would not do without a word from the young master who, despite the outrages he made me suffer, never felt the slightest embarrassment to show off our antics.

Now I know it was not so. I do not know if it's out of habit or mere perversity, but I know now that he actually savored those moments, just as much as I reluctantly did.

I followed Claude who stopped in front of a closed door. The garment on me was so light that the slightest movement of the air crossed it and allowed to guess the slightest reliefs of my skin contracted by the freshness.

I knew the room behind it. It was a little parlor, almost a boudoir, only furnished with a few shelves adorned with dusty books, two large comfortable armchairs facing an opulent fireplace, all wrapped in blood-red hangings.

But I did not see anything at first because Claude covered my eyes with an opaque cloth before opening the door. He grabbed my hand, which he held in front of me, guiding me across the room.

As an echo to my heartbeat, which intensified as we moved forward, I felt the pressure of his gloved fingers rise on my hand until we stopped. I felt him depart then before hearing the exalted voice of my young master.

"Look, Ciel, it's her, come see!"

Footsteps approached, stifled by the thick carpet on the floor, but I perceived their presence near me when at the same time fingers pulled on the belt that encircled my waist, undoing the knot. The fabric slipped on both sides of my bare chest and I tried in vain to control my breathing.

"Do you see how smooth she is?" Alois said to his interlocutor, "Lili is an adult but her skin is very soft, look."

The guest let out a brief protest soon interrupted by a slight gasp as soon as I felt hands with fingers intertwined land on one of my breasts. My body stiffened sharply.

"It's nice, you do not think, Ciel? Hm? Claude, let her see." He ordered briefly.

The band on my eyes relaxed immediately and I felt my cheeks flush when in front of me, a few steps behind one of the armchairs, I saw a tall and elegant black-haired man with inhuman beauty observe the scene unfolding in front of him with amazement, before giving me a polite smile after seeing my gaze on him.

I began to wish that the ground opens under my feet and engulf me whole but it was still without having paid attention to the boy just in front of me whose master held the hand on my breast.

"You feel how the tip hardens in your hand? It means she likes it ..." Alois continued in a soft voice, squeezing his guest's hand on me harder.

While my master was giving me an indecent smile, the only visible eye of his young friend oscillated nervously between my face and my chest; his right eye was obscured by a black band on which fell his dark hair. The red on his cheeks and his half-open, mute mouth revealed his embarrassment and innocence.

"Here too you can touch." Alois continued, his blue eyes glowing with jubilation, leading the hand of the young boy down on my body, on my fleece. "It's warmer here ..."

My flesh shuddered at the touch of their fingers and I moved uncontrollably. My back hit the chest of Claude who was still standing behind me, so close that my body barely waved, my master did not seem to notice anything.

The boy immediately withdrew his hand abruptly, apologizing silently with a look confused at my intention, before declaring hastily:

"Alois, I'd like to dance now!"

The master briefly pouted before his face lit up with a radiant smile again.

"Yes, come on Ciel!" he cried happily, grabbing him by the arm to pull him out of the room.

"Sebastian!" his friend emitted before disappearing, calling out the unknown man in front of me.

The trouble I was feeling was struggling to dissipate. I did not even realize that I was still resting against Claude when the man in front of us started to move forward.

His gaze fixed on me, his smile was then nothing polite. I had the strange sensation that he was looking inside me, that he was probing my mind. For a second, when I could not take my eyes off his, it seemed to me that his eyes shone with a scarlet glow when Claude suddenly appeared between us, obstructing my sight and putting an end to the cottony sensation that filled me then.

The two men glared hard for a few seconds crossing each other, before the called Sebastian left the room, but not without sending me a last nod, renewing the same polite smile as at the beginning.

The discontented frown on Claude's face seemed to indicate that he did not really appreciate the provocation. It was the same pout that he showed when he came back to my room a few hours later.

"Lilia, put the kimono back and follow me." He ordered me curtly from the doorway, before turning his back to me.

I executed myself and undressed again, my stomach knotting at the prospect of being exposed once more. He preceded me in the corridor but I could not remain silent this time.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked feverishly.

No sound emanated from Claude's high, severe figure as he advanced, leading me to the alley where the guest rooms were.

He stopped us in front of a door before turning around and finally crossing my panicked look.

"The young master's guest solicits your presence." He said to me, his eyes hard.

Astonished that such a shy boy could make such a bold request to my master, I then wondered what his reaction might have been.

"But ... the master ..." I stammered, before Claude interrupted me dryly.

"The master wishes more than anything that his friend the Count enjoy as much of his hospitality as possible."