Chapter 17: Confrontation

As the two moons shone through the window next to the bed, Sophia spread ointment on Veene's back injury with a piece of silk cotton. Veene lay there, shaking, and afraid.
"Done," Sophia said while she put the ointment in her pocket.
"Very good." I breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's okay, I'll be fine soon." Sophia reached out to pat Veene's head.
But suddenly, Veene jerked back like a frightened kitten looking directly into Sophia's hands with her pink eyes. Seeing that, Sophia also silently raised her hand down.
“Sleep well, Veene. Let me lull you to sleep with a song from my race.” Sophia lulled Veene to sleep with her song and her amazing voice.
“…Yes, thank you, Sophia.” Veene tried to answer calmly and began to feel yawn.
I also wanted to be able to hold hands, pat, and comfort Veene. But whenever I wanted to do that, I remembered Veene's frightened eyes from earlier. That made me just stand silently and look around. That's when I spotted something reflecting the blue moon's light into my eyes from under the table against the wall.
“The scale, why is it there? It must have been because I was…” I thought to myself as I slowly approached the table.
A creaking sound started to come out as I approached the table. I lowered myself to the table and reached for the scale.
"Almost there." I thought to myself as I reached for the scale. The creaking sound is stronger.
“What are you doing? I try hard to coax Veene to fall asleep.” Sophia suddenly whispered into my hand while she pulled my ear closer to the bathroom.
We both entered the bathroom gently. We both looked at each other, not knowing what to say. So I started talking.
“Lady Sophia, thank you for coming here. I hope you will forgive me for disturbing your sleep.” I lowered my head.
"It's okay, I was counting money at the time, so I haven't changed into my pajamas yet. And about Veene.” Sophia lifted me.
“Again, sorry for lying to you. But I don't know what's on Veene's arm."
“The slave imprint. Do you know about The Foundator Cirlus?” Her voice deepened.
“I read it in the history book. Can you go into details?” I scratched my head.
“The circle can be understood in many ways. One of them is integrity and perfection. So when someone is stamped with that mark, it will be like a stain on them forever. It will always be proof of imperfection, a proof of their enslaved fate” Sophia said in a sad low voice as she turned her face towards the window frame and let her hair flutter in the wind.
“So is there a way to remove that imprint ?” I ask.
“When someone is stamped with that imprint, an enchanted note, like a certificate of title, is required to go along with it. If the note is still intact, erasing that imprint can be done. Do you know any guys who did this?” Sophia turned to me, resting her hand on her chin, thinking firmly.
“I think they are Legions. When I saved Veene, I saw some going southeast.”
“Legion, even after all these months of operating around Intenna village, those looting bastards haven't been caught. Not only that, but they also started the slave trade. Sigh. We can only wait for the policemen or guilders to start getting involved.” Sophia sighed.
“Damn it..” Suddenly, Sophia grabbed my collar and pulled it to the side of my neck.
“Do you know what it feels like to be more miserable? That's how I feel right now. Even though I understand your and Veene's situation, do you know how "big" these things are? Hades, I hope you have no more secrets to hide from me, tomorrow we will continue this conversation.” Sophia said in an angry low voice and let go of my collar.
“All right, Sophia. Let me see you out the door.”
We both got out of the bathroom. Sophia picked up Puff, the fox that had been running around the room a while ago and was now sleeping on the floor. I opened the door and invited Sophia out of the room. When the door closed, I quickly went to find the scale. Where is it? I've certainly seen it... Suddenly, Veene jumped to his feet. Her eyes were wet with tears, she tried to stop the tears but they kept on shedding.
“Father...mother...Mr. Hades...Sister Sophia...please..don't..leave...me." Veene muttered while repeatedly reaching out towards the darkness as if wanting to be hugged.
I quickly moved closer to answer that call, but when I got close enough, Veene jerked back in fear, just like before, just like I was on that day. I ran over and hugged Veene tightly.
“It's okay, everything is fine,” I whispered to Veene's ear.
“Mr. Hades..huhu..hic..hic...” Veene hugged me tightly and cried herself to sleep.
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Sophia walked out of the room, returning to her room. She suddenly saw Puff wake up, and open his mouth. From inside the mouth was a bright, diamond-shaped dark black scale.
"I've never seen anything like this." Sophia held it up in the air, examined it closely, and brushed off any remaining Puff's saliva on it.
“Where did it come from..” that's when she saw Puff point her pointed nose at room 12.
Sophia stared at the door of room 12 and the scale in her hand. Signaling some change was about to come in the future when she began to gently close the door of the room.
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