Chapter 4: Trust.
Mina, a feline therianthrope, was barely more than a beast in the eyes of her captors and had gone almost three days without food. From the moment they caught her and locked her in that dungeon, she knew what her fate would be.
There were only two paths: either they would kill her for being considered an unclean creature, or she would become the sexual toy of those humans attracted to exotic species. Thus, upon hearing the voice, she assumed that this would be the day she met her inevitable end.
Naturally, she couldn't help but deeply regret the cursed day she trusted humans. She truly thought they would be kind when they offered her some food, but she never imagined that a dignified warrior, as she once was, would end up captured by them. Powerless to fight, since she hadn't eaten anything even before being captured, she was at the mercy of her captors.
She was sold to the nobles for a miserable silver coin and thrown into this cold, foul-smelling dungeon. She had been there for two days when, once again, the unmistakable sound of a human voice made her try to get up and lean against the wall.
However, exhaustion and hunger paralyzed her, preventing her from moving. When she finally managed to get to her feet, she was face to face with the human.
He had beautiful eyes, silver like the moon. She had heard that such eyes were extremely rare; in fact, it was rumored that only one man in the world possessed them. "I... I won't... I won't be..." she tried to say to herself with determination.
A part of her mind screamed that those silver eyes definitely did not belong to any noble in the region. Furthermore, his scent did not resemble that of Caster or his son; it was a strange mixture of blood and fresh flowers.
"Why are there two of you now, not four...?" she muttered to herself before simply collapsing forward.
Rose sighed, unable to help it. He had hoped it wouldn't be like this; did the fate of slaves always end the same way? He didn't need her to complete the phrase about "I won't be your..." to know what she meant.
However, his honor and pride as a prince of an empire that had abolished slavery, considering it a violation of fundamental human rights, prevented him from simply leaving her there. He wielded Desmos once more and cleanly cut the door, which fell to his feet in pieces.
Upon entering, he felt the young woman's pulse and, to his relief, discovered that she was still alive. Knowing that dehydration had caused her to hallucinate, he took some water from his provisions and gently poured it into her mouth, allowing her basic survival instinct to make her drink. Then, he picked her up in his arms, princess style, and carried her out of the dungeons.
Mina felt a comforting warmth, so pleasant that it reminded her of her mother's embrace.
"Huh... warmth?" she thought, confused. Slowly she opened her eyes and found herself looking at an unfamiliar ceiling.
She wanted to get up, but the warmth enveloped her, and her body refused to move, limiting her to observing her surroundings. She was in a room she didn't recognize, lying on a soft bed under a fluffy and very warm comforter. Although, on second thought, that wasn't the most important thing at the moment.
With a swift movement, she pushed the comforter aside, examining her body. She sighed in relief, noticing that she was wearing the same clothes, and after checking her chest and her intimate parts, she sighed again, confirming that she was intact.
"Obviously," a voice commented beside her, making her jump.
Turning around completely alert, she saw the same silver-eyed young man standing by the door, holding a tray with a bowl of soft white rice.
"Are you feeling alright?" the prince asked calmly, trying not to upset her.
[«Answer me out loud doesn't help, idiot!\» Desmos complained in his head. Clearly, they had arrived at a bad time, and Rose saying "obviously" out loud didn't help the girl feel calm with his presence.
"Yes!" Mina snapped abruptly, her face tense and her ears flattened back. If Rose wasn't mistaken—and he doubted it very much, given his older sister's personal feud with cats—that indicated one of two things: either she was scared or she was about to pounce on him.
"I brought you some food, you must be hungry," Rose said calmly as he placed the tray of white rice on the nightstand.
"I won't..." Mina tried to refuse, but even if the food smelled bland, her stomach completely betrayed her.
At that very moment, her face flushed a furious red, and she couldn't help the urge to yell at him. She was a proud feline warrior and would never accept scraps from a mere human. Furthermore, being a human—inherently evil beings—he had surely put some sleeping draught in the food. Even if it didn't give off that detestable smell, without a doubt, he was plotting something!
"She's terrified," Desmos commented, to which his best friend only nodded.
"I have things to do. I'll leave this here for you to eat," he said, turning around. He had started the general audit of the books... Honestly, he didn't know why Carter had left him behind, but, hey, it made his job quite a bit easier.
"I'm not going to eat," Mina growled.
only for her stomach to rumble again, causing her face to redden even more, something that impressed Rose, since given her starvation, one would think her blood wouldn't have such an intense color.
"Suit yourself," Rose said. Then, he simply left the room. He knew that forcing her to eat would only kill her, and he wouldn't do that.
Mina didn't really expect him to leave. In fact, she waited for him to force her to eat, shoving the spoon into her mouth. However, she didn't have much time to think about it, as her stomach rumbled again.
Before her mind could stop her, she took the spoon with a trembling hand and brought a spoonful of rice to her mouth. She had never tasted rice; in those lands, it was incredibly expensive and, therefore, not suitable for people like her.
Soon after, she began to eat at full speed, afraid that he would return and take it away.
"Delicious... it's so delicious!" she murmured.
With each spoonful, she felt her eyes slowly well up, as the taste and aroma of a simple bowl of white rice flooded her senses. For someone like her, rice was a luxury, a delicacy reserved only for the highest-ranking human nobles. In fact, she had only tasted it once before, purely by chance, and it didn't taste as delicious as this.
Just as she finished the first bowl, she turned her head and noticed that a second container had appeared on the table. She hadn't realized when it had been brought, and when she looked towards the door, she found no one. Could it be that he had brought two from the start? No, that couldn't be, but... what if he did?
Unable to help it, she began an intense internal discussion with herself.
"You already ate one bowl, can you eat another?" she wondered.
"No. Just because the first one wasn't drugged doesn't guarantee the second one is safe. Don't forget that humans have lied to us before!"
It was almost as if an angel—ironically, the part of herself that refused to trust—and a demon—which incited her to eat—were locked in a mental battle.
In the end, the demon prevailed.
End of chapter.