Hurt
The next morning, I woke up after many attempts to get myself to sleep. I looked around the room and groaned out loud, knowing that I obviously wouldn’t be let out until the time Lucas had ordered for me to be locked inside. I got up from the bed, opened the windows to let fresh air in, and then made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take my bath. I decided to take my time soaking and pampering myself a bit since I was obviously going to be in there for a few more hours. As soon as I was done with everything in the bathroom, I got dressed and went back to bed. It felt like time was passing at an exaggeratedly slow pace, and the more I stayed in the room, the smaller the space felt.
I was extremely bored, but I was lucky to have some books in the room. Even though I never used to like reading, I took a lot of interest in the books, trying to find one that was interesting to me.
“Ugh, none of these even make any sense,” I yelled out, as I threw away three of the books I was looking at. Most of the books were historical and political, which I obviously did not find interesting. The others were sci-fi and gothic, genres I do not enjoy even if I tried reading them.
“Those books are very expensive, you know?” I heard from behind, and I instantly flinched in fear. I turned back to see who the voice belonged to and was met with the usual disgusted face Simon always gave me.
“Are you deaf now? Didn’t you hear when I said that those books you just carelessly threw away with your filthy little hands are very expensive? One of them costs more than we used to buy you, in case you’re not aware.”
“Oh, I, um…”
“I didn’t give you permission to speak. Now zip it,” he said, and I bit my lower lip, embarrassed. I looked out to see whether Lucas had come along as well, as I was surprised to see Simon in the room. How he got in without me hearing the door locks being unlocked, I just couldn’t tell. I didn’t realize that he had been looking at me and noticed how I was looking towards the door until he snapped his fingers right in my face.
“And what are you looking at? Do I look like a joke to you?”
“Oh, I…”
“Keep quiet! Did I ask you to speak yet?” I pursed my lips into a thin line, and he frowned once again.
“And what do you think you’re doing looking at me? Keep those eyes down now!” I instantly dropped my face down, looking flat on the ground, and as I kept my eyes on his shoes, I couldn’t help but think of the striking contrast between Lucas and Simon with me. On one hand, Lucas would constantly urge me to look at him, and on the other hand, there was Simon who couldn’t stand me looking at even a strand of hair on his head.
“Now listen up, I have some work I want you to do, starting with getting all 563 of my shoes dusted by the end of today.”
“What?” He instantly looked at me with an annoyed look, and I placed two fingers on my lips, returning my gaze back down.
“Also, I have some clothes I want you to wash before the end of the day, so the earlier you begin, the better for you.” He turned to leave the room, and I quickly spoke up.
“Oh, Simon, I don’t think I can do that. The thing is that Lucas actually punished me, and I…” Before I could complete my statement, a slap instantly landed on my right cheek, and I cried out as I fell to the ground.
“Don’t you dare! Don’t you ever in your disgusting life call me by my name again, do you hear me? You are nothing but a slave, and do not forget that that is your place in this house, nothing less and nothing more.” I cried, allowing the tears to flow freely from the stinging pain of the slap he had given me.
“The next time I hear you call me Simon, I will kill you and feed your body to the dogs, do you understand me? Henceforth, you will call me your king, understood?” I whimpered in tears as I nodded in response.
“And look, I do not want to know whether my brother punished you or not; in fact, I couldn’t care less what tight corner that puts you in. But all I know is that if you do not get my work done before the end of the day, you will experience hell on earth. I will make life so miserable for you that you would even pray to go to hell instead, filthy slave.” He kicked me right in the stomach, and I yelped in pain. Walking out, he slammed the door behind him, and I coughed, feeling the pain his strong shoe had caused to my stomach.
I struggled off the floor, getting up and slowly making my way out of the room. I didn’t know the punishment that would await me once Lucas heard that I had left the room despite the stern warning he had given while ordering my punishment, but I did know that being punished by Lucas was far better and safer compared to Simon.
I went straight to Simon’s room, and as soon as I knocked on the door, he instantly yelled out, knowing I was the one.
“Come in, slave.” I slowly opened the door and then made my way into his room. When I got in, I saw him stomping on some clothes on the floor. Not knowing what to do, or more importantly, not wanting to do anything for fear that it would also annoy him, I just stood by the door, waiting for him to give me orders on what to do.
“And why are you standing there looking so stupid? You better not be expecting me to lift you in my arms. Get straight to why you are here.” I moved straight towards his walk-in shoe closet and froze upon seeing the majestic sight of about 500-plus shoes aesthetically arranged from wall to wall.
“Hey slave, I know how many shoes are there so you better not steal any because I already know how unfortunate people like you always behave towards expensive items,” he yelled from the room, and I sighed heavily. One by one, I slowly started bringing down each pair of shoes, cleaning the space before placing them and moving to the next. I hadn’t done up to ten when I heard him call from the room.
“I feel thirsty; go get me something to drink.” Still keeping my face glued to the floor, I decided to ask,
“Any specific drink you want, my king?”
“Are you stupid? Wine, of course! What else am I supposed to take? You know, I can’t really blame you; you’ve never been around a king or someone of importance before, so you don’t know how we fortunate people live our lives or the things we like.”
“Um, what type of-”
“Oh my goodness, get the heck out of my face right now! You have just 2 minutes to get me my drink, or things won’t be pleasant for you. Now get out!” I quickly rushed out of the room and ran down the stairs to go straight to the minibar in the house. I missed a step and soon sprained my ankle, but despite the terrible pain I was feeling as I continued walking, I just couldn’t stop for fear of what he would do to me for coming back late.
As soon as I had gotten a glass of red wine, I placed it on a tray and quickly rushed back to his room. When I got there, he looked at his wristwatch, and confusion was the only thing in my mind as I couldn’t bring myself to understand what exactly was supposed to be going on.
“Hmm, you’re lucky! If you had come 5 seconds later, you would have faced severe punishment.” Taking a deep breath of relief, I served him the drink, so happy I wouldn’t have to be scolded once again. This was, however, very short-lived, as he instantly threw the red wine inside the glass right in my face.
“What is this? Are you freaking kidding me? Red wine??”
“I’m so sorry, my king.”
“Be sorry for yourself, why would you be so senseless as to bring me red wine? Don’t you know that I only drink white wine?”
“I apologize, my king. I didn’t know that. Please.”
“You know what, just get out of my sight and finish what you were cleaning. You’re so useless, what a waste of money you are.” Quietly, I made my way back to the closet and continued cleaning, trying to speed up the process because of the number of shoes there were. I was still working on what he had asked when he called me once more, and this time, I couldn’t take it anymore. As soon as I went to where he was inside the room, my body finally gave up, and I fainted right there on the spot. Normally, one would have thought he would be in a state of panic or worry, but upon regaining consciousness, I remembered a tub of cold water had been poured on me. Simon rolled his eyes and walked back to sit down.
“What a lazy thing, using such an old trick to get out of work,” he said as soon as he noticed I had regained consciousness, quickly turning to face me again.
“Listen, if you think you can escape working by pretending to faint, then you are mistaken. Go change out of your wet clothes and return to what you were doing,” he said. I sniffed, trying to hold back my tears as I made my way out. I knew Simon was going to be tough, but I didn’t expect him to be so brutal, and it hurt my wolf a lot as he continued with everything he was doing to me