Chapter 03 [arc four]

'Why are we moving so slow? Aren't monorails meant to be super fast?' The redhead's thoughts melted away like stardust hanging in the air. The twenty-two-year-old was having trouble staying calm with everything going on. 'I don't even think it's the glasses anymore. Everything is off-putting.'

Karilyn knew the man had taken her to such an extreme place on purpose. He wanted her to be terrified of the outside world and to run back into his arms after the day ended. She refused to do so. She had to get some fresh air outside of the palace. The slave girl doubted she could bargain away her status as property. It was clear that this society saw her as a dimwitted woman meant to stay quiet. Any attempts at breaking free could ruin her life or worse, end it. The only thing she was going to manage was to accept it. And to get whatever wins she could, no matter how small they were. 

Hearing herself think that way made her disgusted with the mindset she was developing. It was a way of thinking she didn't believe was healthy. But this world was the exact opposite of that, and she had feared that it would get worse. The ogre king was trying to isolate her, but he had his reasoning for it. She found it to be bullshit. Those women were not who she was in the present day. She lived and thrived on her own for years in her past life, so it was insulting to be smothered. But she had to push all of that resentment and hatred aside to deal with the relationship the two had grown. Every bit of it was eating away at her deeply. 

It hurt to acknowledge it, but she was noticing the benefits of living in luxury. Back home, she had trouble maintaining a diet that wasn't hot dogs and ramen noodles. The ogre king would make Lili ask for her favorite meals and drinks. Those were things she would pray to have a taste of back home. And he was trying so hard to learn more about her personality without asking himself. The night she hit him, the man showed genuine guilt once she screamed about her true feelings. His face was no longer calm, but full of emotion. That singular movement left her feeling hollow inside. Then he switched off and turned into an emotionless shell. 

It wasn't like he was dumb and unable to feel, though. Her cheeks reddened as she reflected some more and closed her eyes to fight another headache. The nonhuman knew he was actively mistreating her and it drove the redhead slave mad. She didn't get why he couldn't emote properly and let her live as someone free from ownership. If the bastard simply expressed his intentions fully, she'd be happy and maybe agree to stay. All she deserved above all was for the royal to have accountability for his actions toward her. With that, the redhead frowned, feeling her mood dampen as that reality was nothing but a dream.

'The game downplayed his coldness.' Her hands started to melt as she briefly held them in her lap. The dress she wore felt strangely soft against her vibrating skin. 'He acts like a horrible person. He is a horrible person for making me go through this.'

Karilyn's mind betrayed her, and she couldn't help but cringe at her thoughts. She was so messed up mentally wise because of everything she'd gone through since arriving in this world. The feelings she had towards the ogre king were very complex. Part of her felt like he was genuinely a god-awful person for keeping her captive. She was grateful for being saved from starvation by him. But it wasn't an excuse for the things he had done. If she had not been a maiden, he would have left her. This was something the twenty-two-year-old knew was a fact, and it added to her lingering fear for her safety. Being a maiden kept her safe, but it also was why she was being controlled. 

From what she could make out, sacrificial maidens had a short life span. They lived a life that wasn't in their control, but in the world. Instead of being gifted with nonhuman bodies, they were born as fragile human women. It pissed her off, and she wondered why the hell the game's writers would make it that way. For such a crucial figure to be so close to death constantly was ludicrous. She didn't even know if being on the side of the demons was right. The ogre king could be lying about his intentions. He could be obsessed with making her do his bidding eventually when she fully submitted to Stockholm syndrome. Which she was anxious about to as she was so lost inside 

He could throw away the redhead if they found another maiden. But if that happened, she would be able to get away from him. She would be free but the idea of an unknown future was bone-chilling. The slave hated herself for being so indecisive. Her past self was screaming at her timid current self to get up and fight. That first day she woke up here, it filled her with fire to survive no matter what. She thought that her knowledge of the game would give her a tremendous advantage. When in actuality, she felt so weak. It was getting harder to recognize who she was now as the same woman she was back then. Karylin hated that one person made her feel so insane. 

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been shaking for the entire ride." The man in question put his hand against her forehead and hummed. She watched frozen as he removed his jacket, giving it to her to wear. "Here. You can wear it until we get back to the palace and then I'll make you soup."

The redhead felt awful accepting the jacket. But she was so sick from the glasses, she didn't care.