Chapter 6 Discipline

Valerie

“Happy birthday! Val!”

Whenever we had my birthday celebrations, mom, dad and Mathilda would give me a big hug before I blew out the candle light. On occasions, if I had invited a few friends to the party, mom would looked at us in a distance with an assuring smile.

“My little girl was growing up into a beautiful lady.” She would say something like this, while my dad, on the other hand, would say, “No matter where you go, Val. You’ll always be our little girl.”

Whatever wishes they blessed with me counted for a naught now.

I sat on bed, staring numbly at the closed door where the master had left. It was until tears fell onto my laps that I realized I was crying. I hadn’t shed a single tear after being captured, even when I was brutally whipped by the guards.

But now, I felt like suddenly being caught in the tide of pains that I had buried deeply into my heart. The tide pulled me out to the sea of sorrow, where I had no place to stay and nothing to rely on.

A sense of emptiness wrapped me as I forced myself to stop weeping. I lifted from the edge of this soft king-size mattress and looked around. The decorations of this room here were rather simple. There’s a large wooden closet at the corner near the door, painted in dark brown. Same-colored nightstands were positioned against wall on both sides of the bed, with a vintage lamp being placed on the right one. A large desk was standing near the window, at same height of the window sill.

These were all the fitments in this room. No other ornaments except a small decorative stone sculpture in shape of a woman’s face being placed on the desk.

I was wandering around observing the furniture while someone knocked at the door. Before I was about to give a permission, an old woman had already come in. She glanced at me with a severe countenance and introduced herself as the head maid in this castle.

Her contemptuous gaze skimmed over my body.

“There are some clothes here you can put on.” She said with her brows furrowed.

I realized that she was discontented by the indecency of my nakedness.

Opening the closet as she instructed, I found all of the clothes hanging on the rod were outfits for men and the head maid, watching me impatiently with a scowl, obviously had no intention to help.

Not wanting to infuriate her further, I just picked a white man’s shirt and quickly button it on. The shirt was large enough to cover my upper thighs.

The head maid, though made no commentary, didn’t seemed to be pacified by my choice. But since there’s no proper alternatives, she didn’t raise a disapproval.

“I will get you a uniform tomorrow.” She said.

Then she turned up on her heels and led me out of the room, “Follow me. I’ll show you around.”

We walked downstairs and stopped at the front hall where I had seen the servants, all gone now, bowed in lines.

“There’re three floors here.” She introduced, “Kitchen, pantries, dining room and the great hall are on the first floor.”

I nodded as she brought me around to see where the entrances were.

“Masters’ bedrooms and studies are on the second floor. Servants and slaves will be sleeping on the third floor, except you though.” She glanced at me thoughtfully before continuing, “Alpha told me that you’ll be accommodated with the spare room on second floor. There’s also a door to the terrace at the end of third-floor, where you can get a view of the surroundings.”

I looked up to the area as she had pointed. There’s no lights on the third floor and the corridor was invisible in such darkness.

“Slaves were not allowed to use lights after 7pm. The whole floor would be discharged.” She explained as she noticed my confusion.

“Oh remember,” she added, “You must not go onto the terrace while it’s in use by either of the masters or guests. Any questions?”

Honestly, I had loads of things that I was puzzled about. But there’s a clear sign of relentlessness in her expressions. So I decided not to overestimate her leniency by asking only one of them, “Sorry... what exactly is my work here?”

The head maid widened her eyes with brows furrowed deeply on her face, as if I said something excessively ridiculous.

“You haven’t been told?” she rolled up her eyes and mumbled resentfully, “I don’t understand why Alpha even brought you here…”

I didn’t know how to reply.

The way she treated me was weirdly unfair.

I first thought she looked down upon me because she knew that I had been bought as a sex slave. But she seemed to be unacknowledged of that.

So I guessed perhaps, she might just be a bit jealous, as I noticed when she did the introduction, that I somehow had the privilege to get a spare room on second floor.

But now, I was baffled by her sulky words on my ignorance as a new hand.

“Okay then,” she let out a heavy sigh and said grumpily “I will arrange some work for you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, and…” I said.

Since her attitude seemed not to be changed at all by my reservation, I decided to ask one another.

“What?”

As I expected, her countenance now turned to be intimidating in smothered anger.

“I was wondering about the masters. Who are they?” I put out my confusion cautiously, “Because I had thought Alpha was my only master and I didn’t…”

“We had three masters in this castle.” She cut me off abruptly “Alpha Xavier, Mr. Lang and Mr. Drakos. Alpha Xavier regularly come and stay for a few days, since he is very busy with pack stuffs. Mr. Lang, perhaps you have already met with him, liked to stay in his room on daytime and he only come down when nights fell. And Mr. Drakos have been back since last month, though he rarely stayed even when he came. But all of them, despite the absence, require perfect service and sincere respect.

“And of course, if you haven’t met them in person, they will be easily recognized from appearance.” She added.

“…are they all werewolves?” I asked.

She peered at me with suspicion, “it’s not something you should care about. Masters are masters and your sole responsibility is to serve them with perfect work.”

The head maid didn’t give me another chance to ask as she had already turned around to leave. She walked onto the stair with her stern back towards me and commanded toughly, “”

“It’s late enough now. Get some sleep and wait here for me at 4 am tomorrow morning. Don’t overrate yourself.”

She disappeared into the gloom of that corridor.