Chapter 36 Lion’s Den
\[Lilia\]
My eyes were still wide, as I continued to feverishly search for the doorknob and twist it open before sliding out the door. My attention quickly shifts to my immediate surroundings, where I attempt to locate the butler who escorted me here, but he is nowhere to be found. Hence, I was unostentatiously trying to spot the curly-haired woman right on the long corridor, but instead, I was greeted with an already empty scene.
How come she’s gone so quickly?
I vigorously shook my head. Now that the fuzziness in my head had cleared, it occurred to me that I was completely alone. Why is it so quiet? There was supposed to be a raucous audience, clapping and cheering, but it was now so quiet that I could almost even hear a pin drop at this moment. Was the performance already ended?
Where are Kael and Val? Had they forgotten about me? Why would they just leave me here? Alone.
I double-checked the door where I had come out to be sure that I was in fact in the comfort room and not just having a hallucinatory experience.
Tasha had really messed up my head with her kiss, and it had taken me too long inside to break my trance.
I moved my sight down the long corridor, expecting to catch a glimpse of even a single person making their way down to this location, but it appeared as though the entire building had been abandoned.
What the hell is going on?
“You seem lost.”
I immediately jolted to my feet, and my heart nearly stopped as someone unexpectedly spoke close behind me in the hallway. I twirled around with my hand pressed on my chest, seeing a thin older man wearing a combination of a gray and blue four-piece suit with a red necktie. He had a wooden tobacco pipe pressed between his thinning lips and a black top hat perched on his head.
One thing I also noticed was the ring on his finger. Embedded in the middle was a huge red stone with some scriptures written on its silver band.
I slightly calmed down, exhaling in relief, knowing that I was not alone. Great, I really thought I had been locked up inside. However, this does not feel right.
“Yes…I just went to the ladies’ room, then when I came out. The butler was gone, and everyone seemed to have gone home.” I explained, casting my gaze back on the long corridor right behind me and then back to the man.
He momentarily followed my gaze and then nodded as though he had finally gotten what I meant.
“Ah, the bidding has already concluded, and so is the circus performance. The rest have gone to the sanguis anulus,” he said, tipping the pipe into his mouth and sipping.
So, Kael indeed left me here. The very thought of it shot a stinging pain across my chest, and my heart hammered in dread, remembering what Tasha had told me if ever the organization would take me back. Yes, I do wanted to get away from his grip, but not in this place where there’s no way out.
However, something caught my attention about what this man said.
Sanguis anulus, I heard about it a while ago. If my memories serve me right, it is one of the main attractions inside this gigantic dome.
“What is that?” I asked him, trying my best not to cough as the smoke from his pipe swirled around the air and wafted through my nostrils. However, the bridge of my nose began to twitch.
“The arena for pit fighting.” He answered after dragging a long sip on his pipe and blowing the smoke carelessly.
Arena?
“Arena for a what?” I wondered aloud, my brows knitting into confusion. There's an arena inside this place? Pit fighting, he said, and do I have this feeling that area would be bloody. Just the given name itself already makes sense.
He first flicks his pipe, sending the ashes to the floor, before he looks around us. Just then, I became very conscious that there’s nobody else in here except for the two of us.
The old man darted a long glance on my length, seizing me up from head to toe before he proceeded with his inquiry. “Where’s your master?”
Instantaneously, a lump of fear forms in the back of my throat. Just as I felt a sensation of foreboding settling deep in my gut, my heart rate increased in response to the dread. In an instant, the air around us grew thick with an inconceivable amount of tension.
I do not like this.
“He was just there, watching the performance when I needed to use the ladies' room,” I battled not to stammer, writhing under his leering glare, and slid back further away from him, making an effort to maintain a reasonable gap between us in case he takes an unexpected action.
A wolfish grin suddenly stretches on his face, showing a row of a silver filling on his teeth. “Do you want to come with me? I can help you find him.”
A shudder elicited on my spine under his gaze, my feet teetering along the wall, the back of my heels hitting the side. “Uhm, no, thank you. I think I’ll be going to wait here. He might come back for me.”
Perhaps, perhaps not. I have no idea.
Where is Kael? Why did he just leave me alone in here?
As though reading what my thoughts were, the strange, scary old man moved forward.
“It would be horrible on my side to leave such a defenseless woman inside the lion’s den. Let me take you out of here.” He leered, dropping his eyes on my chest, and went on with his enticing offer. “Don’t you want to be free?”
That made me halt, gaping at him as my mind raced for the possibility. Free. My freedom. Such a tempting offer.
“You can do that?”
Can this man really give me that?
“Yes. Of course, I can give you what you want. Just come with me.”
He strode closer once again, and I moved back. Unfortunately, my rear side ended up against the wall, and he had me in a tight spot. My head was screaming at me to run, but my feet refused to listen.
Red flags are waving inside my head but my body won’t budge.
I have a bad feeling about him. At first glance, he appears to be nice, but the longer he looks at me, the more animosity glints in the corners of his eyes.
“Thank you, but I have to decline your offer. I don’t even know you.” As much as I wanted to be free, I didn't want to shove my life into another predicament that would mean another hell for me.
I do not know him, and for all I know, he might be worse than Kael, nor do I even know anything about who he was.
As though knowing exactly the things running on my thoughts, he extended his arms and reached for my hand. Goosebumps skittered along my arms soon he touched my skin. Even though I desperately wanted to go away, I felt tethered to my spot, unsure of what to do next. If I run, surely I wouldn’t make it that far before a bullet shot through my brain. My heart was hammering in the back of my throat, and my breath was ragged as I struggled not to puke from the nauseating stench of his tobacco-infused exhalation.
He's getting a little too near for comfort.
“I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself—”
The man didn't even get the chance to finish what he was about to say as he was suddenly peeled away from me, and the next thing I know is that he was pinned to the wall, and his pipe went flying into the air.
“Don’t you dare lay your filthy hands on her!” Kael's roaring voice resonated through the long corridor, almost making my body tremble at the weight of his rage flowing through him like lava.
His face was flushed, huge veins appear at his temples, and his lips curve in disgust, directed to the old man.
He had him under his clutches. Long, thick fingers wrapped around his neck, threatening to choke him to death.
Panic registered through the older man's face as he began sputtering, “Whoa, M—master Kael, easy, I was just messing around. I didn’t know she was…your pet.”