Chapter 63

‘I’m afraid of you.’

Grace opened her eyes.

‘…It’s so brilliant.’

She closed her eyelids once more. What she realized in that brief second was the truth that her imaginative and prescient was tilted.

She was now not hanging from the ceiling. As a substitute of the strain of the rope, the gentle texture of the mattress and blanket was transmitted to her pores and skin. It appeared that she was mendacity on her facet on the mattress.

As she slowly opened her eyelids once more, the person who was clearly accountable for placing her down right here was sitting in a seat going through the mattress.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t taking a look at her.

Grace peered silently at Winston, who rested his chin along with his hand, holding a fountain pen and gazing down on the papers unfold out on her desk.

“Grace, to be trustworthy, I’m afraid of you.”

She laughed as she recalled the echo of his voice in her distant thoughts.

That individual couldn’t have mentioned that.

In a world the place cash was turning into all-powerful, the wealthy man who owned a complete western state was God… Aside from the principles of society, class was the legislation, so even within the navy the place there have been superiors, Winston was an exception.

He was a person with out concern on the earth. How might such a person be afraid of a girl held prisoner in his jail…?

Moreover, that individual had by no means known as her Grace since he had solely as soon as known as her sarcastically. After she misplaced consciousness, she will need to have dreamed of him.

‘…Such a loopy dream.’

Gnashing her enamel every single day, she mentioned that at some point she would make that individual beg to her that it even was a dream. She virtually died with out realizing her dream. Despite the fact that she didn’t know why Winston stayed right here when his enterprise was over, Grace didn’t wish to cope with him anymore.

As she was nearly to shut her narrowed eyes…

Draag.

Winston rose from his seat and lifted the tray in entrance of him with one hand. An opulent silver tray was coated with a silver lid.

He walked out the door with it, and he got here proper again. Empty-handed.

Grace pretended to sleep and closed her eyes. Though she actually wished to go to sleep, the sound of the fountain pen scraping the paper saved distracting her.

As she tried to distract herself by counting sheep in her head, somebody knocked on the door. When the sound of the fountain pen stopped, and different noises continued, Grace narrowed her eyes, unable to include her curiosity.

Winston took a silver tray equivalent to the one he had simply faraway from somebody, whom she might solely see the hand, and shut the door.

Watching him put it again on the desk, she misplaced curiosity and was about to shut her eyes once more.

“I do know you wakened.”

“….”

“Care for it if this will get chilly.”

Grace, who involuntarily opened her eyes, sat down and stared on the man holding the fountain pen with puzzled eyes.

‘Did he wait till I woke as much as have dinner?’

Did he really feel sorry for nearly killing me?

Bullsh*t.

She should kill him slowly and painfully, nevertheless it will need to have been earlier than deliberate.

Grace, although hungry, stood up. She stared blankly down on the bare physique and not using a single rope hanging on it. Her physique, which ought to have been sticky with sweat and liquid, was dry. Did he wipe it…?

‘What’s the matter?’

Stopping her delusions, she ultimately received off the bed. She didn’t have the power to get all dressed up, so she sat down with only a skinny nightgown over her bloomers. In the meantime, Winston didn’t even give her a look.

“Do you actually like me?”

The extra she thought of it, the extra embarrassed she was. After all, the reply was ‘no,’ wasn’t it? So, it was simply bullsh*t that couldn’t be a critical provocation. Of all of the provocations exchanged like boxers earlier than the battle, the lightest mockery would have been the decisive blow to Winston.

The eyes that couldn’t cover the agitation saved flickering.

She stared blankly on the calm man, like a very totally different individual, and he set free a brief sigh.

“You positive are a princess.”

Maybe misunderstanding Grace’s gaze, Winston opened the lid of the tray. Steamy consommé soup, mashed potatoes, gentle butter rolls, and custard pudding with melted caramel for dessert… all of them had been simple to eat.

A kiss after a slap on the cheek.

It was Leon Winston who humanized the widespread saying. Regardless, Grace was not ready to refuse his ‘kiss.’ She calmly lifted the spoon.

Solely the sound of the spoon hitting the bowl continued. The sound of the fountain pen had lengthy since ceased. Winston, who had been smoking a cigar as he silently watched her eat her meal, opened his mouth abruptly.

“I preferred Daisy.”

Therapeutic the surprising confession, Grace raised her head and stared at him.

“Sally Bristol… sure, I nonetheless like her.”

When the blue-green eyes with a bloody halo shook, he gritted his enamel.

“…However, I hate Grace Riddle.”

Was it reality or lies? Winston’s pupils had been obscured by the haze of smoke that rose right away.

“A minimum of, you look fairly once you cry and settle for me calmly, so if you wish to save your life, deal with your self.”

With these phrases, the blue-green eyes stopped trembling and glared at him as if to kill him.

“I’ll let these rebellious eyes go.”

Was he saying he wished to go now that he had mentioned all the pieces?

Grace glared on the man finding out the spread-out papers, then quietly slipped her tongue between her molars.

Clench.

The second she bit into it, the sharp style unfold together with the ache that pierced her eyes. When she picked up the spoon with a barely trembling hand from the ache, as quickly because the soup-filled iron was pressed to her lips, Grace set free a small cough.

The second blood dripped from the rim of the soup bowl, the hand that closed the cap of the fountain pen stopped.

Crash.

Her hand trembled, and the loosely gripped spoon plunged headlong into the bowl of soup.

“Gasp, cough…”

Grace coughed violently, protecting her mouth along with her hand. Straight away, her palms turned bloody.

“What’s fallacious?”

Winston turned the desk and tried to come back her approach. When he might solely take one step, Grace let go of her blood-soaked arms and let go of her physique.

As a substitute of falling to the chilly flooring, she fell right into a scorching embrace.

An individual who used to stroll leisurely was operating… it was unpleasant.

“Open your eyes.”

The hand that touched her cheek was chilly, not like his arms. She coughed up blood from her mouth intermittently, pretending to be in bother and quietly opening her eyes. The second her eyes met Winston’s, Grace had to make use of all her power to carry again a smile.

And people eyes…

Identical to when she requested if he preferred her, Winston was agitated.

Why? Didn’t he say he’ll purchase a brand new one as soon as she dies? Didn’t he say he will get excited when she bleeds, proper?

Nonetheless, why was he making that face?

Leon Winston, you possibly can’t tame me.

Grace closed her eyes once more.

“F*ck…”

Leon stopped his hand whereas checking the heart beat of the girl who handed out coughing up blood. His palms, which had been as white as his head, had been moist with crimson blood. On the similar time, his coronary heart was beating wildly. It was not like when the girl bit his lip and drew his blood.

The scent of dying was not nice.

It was the primary time since that day way back when he discovered his father on a distant cliff. He was afraid of blood.

…No, he was afraid solely of this girl’s blood.

Leon reached out his black-gloved hand to the tiny capsule. When he lifted it into the daylight, white crystals within the milky white movie had been dimly mirrored.

“It should be cyanide.”

He requested Campbell, placing the poison capsule again within the little wood field and taking off his glove.

“The place was it?”

“It was in a mattress ordered for the torture chamber.”

“They will need to have recognized by way of that girl that it was solely equipped to the torture chamber.”

“Sure, it appears so.”

“I’ve considered it since she was a maid, however she is a extremely needlessly diligent girl.”

Campbell was silent, not understanding react.

“By the way in which, the management is fairly silly. In the event that they put it on the mattress or one thing, they received’t know what the possibilities are she’ll get it on time.”

Nevertheless, ultimately, it wasn’t a really fallacious technique, as they used up the inventory in a single month and needed to order extra.

“Bastards, they solely gave me the trace that the girl is aware of some fairly necessary data… Data that might put the management in peril if revealed.”

No insurgent had ever been despatched an order compelled to commit suicide on this approach. Those that have been caught to this point have been small fish, or even when an enormous sport was caught on uncommon events, like a fanatic, they hold their mouths shut till the top.

But the management, who had a powerful religion of their comrades, wished to eliminate solely that girl. It meant that they’d a cause to show in opposition to the girl, who was a fanatical follower greater than anybody else.

…May it have one thing to do with the rationale why each of her dad and mom died, and her brother turned away from the rebels?

‘However, she says she hasn’t modified her thoughts but.’

What ought to he do to make her flip in opposition to the rebels?

So long as the girl was in her arms, he thought it might work out. Nonetheless, people had been grasping animals. He, too, was a helpless human being.

Ought to I let her meet Jonathan Riddle Jr. and discover out why?

In that case, he would possibly find yourself splitting the stomach of a goose that may at some point lay golden eggs. She could run away, not understanding that she is being watched, or she could grow to be cautious of her environment and refuse to contact her outdated comrades…

Deciding to make use of it as a final resort, Leon turned his consideration to the letter from Little Jimmy that was within the poison field.

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