The pain in her hip disappeared after what Andrie did. She wondered how he knew how to reset a dislocated bone, remembering Esma’s words about Andrie being an underground fighter. That explained his heaviness and muscular arms.
She still felt weak lying face down on the bed when Esma entered with a glass of water. Placing the glass on the bedside table, Esma looked at her, wondering why she hadn’t sat up or faced her, as she usually did whenever she came in.
The older woman smiled faintly. “I couldn’t bring you food suddenly because I had a fever these past few days. Didn’t you leave the room?”
She moved her eyes and glanced at Esma from the corner of her eye. “I’m not allowed outside.”
The woman gasped. “You haven’t eaten in the past few days?”
“It’s not a big deal anyway,” she murmured.
Whether she ate or not, the Clasisos didn’t care. To that family, she was a criminal who deserved imprisonment, so it wouldn’t matter if she told them she had a headache from hunger multiple times.
She heard Esma sigh. “Sir Andrie informed me you can now leave the room. I didn’t bring food either because he wants you to go to the kitchen yourself when you’re hungry.”
The woman didn’t wait for her to speak further before leaving the room. It seemed she only came in to check if she was still breathing.
She forced her body to turn over and stared at the ceiling. “Andrie,” she whispered his name. What is he planning now?
Her mind was still in turmoil over what had happened. Until now, she could still feel Andrie’s warm lips on her back. She wasn’t sure if that was still part of what he planned to do or not. He could have just straightened her bone without kissing her skin. She blinked as she realized it.
She quickly got up from the bed and faced the small mirror on the wall. She brushed her hair to the side and inspected her neck. It was difficult at first, but she eventually saw what she was looking for. There was a red mark on her neck, a kiss mark.
She gasped. That man!
She clenched her fist. She was pale, so the red mark on her neck was noticeable at first glance. But luckily, her hair was long enough to cover it.
She decided to take a shower in the small bathroom and put on the only white dress hanging on the door. She let her hair down to cover the mark left by Andrie. What would Clasiso’s reaction be when he saw the mark?
She stared at her reflection in the small mirror. She was lost in thought for a few minutes, and a smile crept onto her lips. Suddenly, some plans to escape the Clasisos’ grasp came to mind, but for now, she needed to dress properly to attend the table. She didn’t want to embarrass her family’s surname, especially since she was the only heir to her lineage.
After dressing up, she walked out of the door. She walked through the long hallway she had passed through earlier. But she stopped when her feet stepped on the top of the grand spiral staircase. Memories of her father’s mansion suddenly came to mind. Her eyes clouded over, but she tried to remove the threatening tears. It wasn’t the time to be soft.
She slowly descended the stairs. There were a few servants at the bottom of the stairs who glanced up at her as she descended. They looked puzzled. Perhaps it was because of her pale skin that she had adorned with a white dress. She might have looked like a walking corpse in their eyes. She just smiled at the servants.
She continued down the path she thought led to the kitchen. She remembered Esma passing through there to get water when she first entered that huge mansion.
And she wasn’t wrong because a few minutes later, she saw a large door in the distance leading to a dining hall, followed by the kitchen.
She entered the door and was greeted by a mixture of aromas from various foods. Her stomach suddenly growled while she stood at the entrance of the dining hall.
She heard a suppressed laugh. She turned to her right and saw Andrie leaning against the wall, beside the door as if waiting for her.
He grinned at her and gestured for her to sit on one of the chairs lined up at the large table. “Sit and eat,” he said.
Her eyebrows met. She suddenly felt embarrassed by the man. A small sense of pride also emerged in her mind, so she bowed her head and looked away, remaining standing in her place.
Andrie blew a breath as he approached her. Azora was alerted. She prepared herself but was startled when he stood behind her and brushed her hair to the side to see the mark on her neck.
She raised her hand to brush her hair back, but Andrie caught her hand and raised it to her head.
“I just checked if you still have blood in you. It turns out, you still have and a dark one.”
She clenched her teeth and stepped forward to get away from Andrie. Because it seemed like he had no intention of stopping the harassment, she decided to sit on one of the lined chairs.
She glanced at Andrie from the corner of her eye. He was staring at her. After a while, he shook his head and walked towards the table. He sat in a chair opposite her.
“Eat,” he ordered again before he first served rice and food on his own plate.
She discreetly looked around. There were no servants or staff nearby. It seemed like Andrie had prepared it. She looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know what he was planning and let her leave the room.
“Azora,” Andrie called. He lowered the spoon and fork he was holding. “You should eat. You’re thin.”
“Why are you doing this?” Her lips became a line. “What’s your plan?”