บท 3: Who are you?

I woke up feeling sore in my neck after falling asleep on an uncomfortable chair for the whole night. I didn't even realize I was drifting off to sleep while staring at my mate. When I opened my eyes, the first thing that I saw was the goddess-like mate of mine, staring right at me. So this was how it felt to see my mate first thing in the morning. I could get used to this.

I swear I could hear my heart beating a little faster than it usually did after I saw her, and I didn't hate it at all—in fact, I loved it. I suppose every morning from this day on will be a wonderful one if I get to see this sight every time I wake up.

"Good morning," I said, smiling at my mate. She didn't say anything but only stared at me with her two gorgeous green eyes. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Luke, and you are?"

Still, silence. I stared back at her and I could say that we looked like we were in the middle of a staring contest—not that I'm complaining. I could do this forever, but I wanted to know the name of my mate who I have always long for. I wonder what kind of name will fit her beauty?

"Violet," she said with a tiny voice that sounded like music to my ears. It is, without a doubt, a lovely name befitting the lady.

My wolf started to stir inside me, clearly happy to know the name of the woman who we adore so much. I had only met her for less than a day and I already felt like I was the happiest man alive. I couldn't imagine how happy I would be to spend the rest of my life with her. It will be a very blessed life.

"Violet," I repeated. Her name rolled just right from my mouth and I smiled, happy that I now knew the name of my mate. "How are you feeling?" I asked, worried about her condition, but it was another silence that came after my question.

She looked like she was thinking about what kind of answer she should say to my question—or whether she should answer the query. "Not very well," she finally answered after a few moments, still staring warily at me. I'm sure waking up to an unfamiliar man smiling at her must be a bit startling, wouldn't it?

"I will ask my most trusted doctor to check up on you every day, so don't worry, you will be fine," I assured her. "You must be hungry." I mind-linked my chef to bring her breakfast to the room, not forgetting to ask him for the best quality of food for her to eat. Right after I contacted him, Andrew's voice was heard in my mind.

[Alpha, there's another rogue attack on our territory.]

I let out a heavy sigh after hearing what he said. Those stupid rogues. I just wanted to spend time with my newly found mate, can't they let a man do that?

"I'm sorry, but I have some urgent matters to attend to. Will you be okay by yourself?" I inquired, though I was unwilling to leave her alone in the room. It would be better if I could stay longer. She nodded at me, so I reluctantly stood up to leave the room. Before leaving the room, I heard my mate's wonderful voice sounded out.

"Thank you for helping me yesterday."

"Anytime." I couldn't help but have a smile spread widely on my face, thinking that I could do anything to help her for the rest of my life. It would be like a blessing to me.

...

After the man left the room, I took this time to admire the room I was in. It was very big and opulently decorated but not too excessively done. The bed I was lying on was also very posh looking, with an elaborate mahogany headboard stuck to the wall behind it.

The wall was painted with the color of soft gold, and a few pendant lights throughout the room exude an elegant ambiance around this place. The window beside my bedside table showed only a view of an empty green field. The way this room was decorated showed that it belonged to someone who was very luxurious.

My dad was a successful businessman who had a lot of money and power, but my room from back in the days could never compare to this one. Even the bathroom was bigger than my old room. I wonder how big this place actually was.

One thing that caught my eyes in this room was the portrait of a woman that was hanging on the wall. She had her blonde hair up in a tight bun and looked very sophisticated. She held her chin up and her blue eyes were fixed on the window beside my bed. I was mesmerized by her beauty. I continued to stare at her for a couple of minutes and was startled when I saw her eyes moving towards me—it was staring right back at me.

My breath hitched after seeing her eyes fixed on me and not on the window beside me. I rubbed both of my eyes and looked back at the portrait, but now her eyes were fixed back at the window. I exhaled the breath I was holding before, feeling relieved that it was only my imagination. Maybe I was still too tired after all the things that happened yesterday.

I felt weird being in a place I was not familiar with, but on second thought, it was better for me to stay in a place I was unfamiliar with rather than the one I was accustomed to. I wandered around the room and stopped when I saw my reflection in the mirror on the dressing table. I finally realized I was wearing a different dress from yesterday and my body was cleansed of the dirt that was stuck on me after days of not bathing. The ragged dress that I previously wore was replaced by a dress of high-quality material. It was soft to the skin and rather comfortable despite how elegantly decorated it is.

Though my dad had a lot of money, he never spent it on me and also never gave me beautiful dresses women my age used to wear. When other women wear colorful dresses that are adorned with elegant laces and patterns, what I was used to wearing was a dull and rough dress—sometimes torn. It seems that the man who helped me yesterday was one of those rich aristocrats by the look at the place I was in, also by the dress that I was wearing.

I shifted my attention from my reflection in the mirror to the door when someone knocked on it. "Excuse me, miss. My name is Bob, and I'm the head chef of this house. I am here to bring breakfast to you by the order of Al—Master Luke," said the man just outside the room. "May I come in?"

"Uhh, yes," I said, unsure of my answer. The man walked in, bowed to me, then proceeded to put the tray of food he was holding on one of the tables that were in the room.

"Please enjoy," he said, "I will come back and collect the plates later. Do you have anything you need, miss?"

"Do you... have any spare clothes?" I asked him in a small voice, not sure whether I could ask him for such things. "Can I take a bath here?"

I assumed someone cleaned my body, but I wanted a bath because I still felt dirty. Dirt and dried blood clung to my body for days without being able to be cleansed. It must have been hard for anyone who helped me to take those off from my body. I wanted to make sure all parts of my body are now cleansed of them.

"Of course, miss. I will send someone to bring you the clothes and prepare the bath for you," he said while bowing his head down again.

"Thank you," I thanked him, receiving a nod as a reply before he left the room.

I didn't feel hungry before, but after looking at the food in front of me, the hunger that I have been holding for two days started to resurface, causing my stomach to growl loudly. I sat down and started to dig in, trying to ease the rage in my stomach.

As I ate, I couldn't help but think about where I should go after this. I was rather lucky to encounter someone who was kind enough to lend me their room for the night, but I can't stay here forever. I didn't really have anywhere to go, but I also didn't want to go back to my dad's house. Wait—what will happen to Anna?

She was caught helping me escape the house yesterday! She is going to get killed! I need to help her, but how? I couldn't possibly go back there, or else, all the efforts that I made yesterday would go to waste. What should I do? Should I ask for help from Sir Luke? But I didn't know him. I couldn't trust just anyone even if he helped me yesterday. I didn't know if he had any certain motive for helping me out yesterday.

I kept searching for someone in my head who could possibly help me out, but no one crossed my mind. I didn't really have any friends because I was practically locked up inside the house since I was eight. Yesterday night was the first time I have stepped out of the house after being locked up for nine years straight.

I snapped out of my deep thoughts when someone knocked on the door. A woman asked for permission to come in and only came in when I allowed her to. She gave me the spare clothes I asked for before, and also started to prepare the bath for me. I was not used to these kinds of treatments from someone else, which was why I started to shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Thank you for bringing me the spare clothes, but you don't have to prepare the bath for me. I can do it myself," I said, uncomfortable with the service she provided me.

The woman glanced at me but kept on doing what she was doing before. "It's my job to do so," she said, smiling at me. Hearing how she insisted on doing her job, I simply nodded and let her do what she wanted to do.

After she left the room, I went to the bathroom and slipped out of my dress. I let my body fall into the bathtub, making the water rise against me. I felt my body relaxed after soaking in the hot water, feeling the fatigue that I had in my body slowly drifted out of me.

Feeling a little drowsy after the relaxing bath, I decided to sleep again on the bouncy and comfy bed. My consciousness soon ebbed, and my mind went into a free fall, swirled by the bits of memories that I had.

"Violet, let me introduce her to you. She is Fiona, and she will be your mother from now on," my dad said with a stern voice.

"Hello there, sweetheart. You're as lovely as what your father said to me." A woman with long dark hair moved from behind my father's shadow, flashing me a gorgeous smile—one that I did not welcome.

I was still feeling sad after the loss of my mom and clearly was not in the mood for someone new in my life, so I ignored her. My dad, unhappy with how I acted, started to shout.

"Why didn't you answer her? You insolent child!" He slapped me. He slapped me so hard that it made me stumble backward.

"Why did you slap me?" I looked at him with a look of disbelief, dumbfounded by what had just happened. It was the first time that my dad had hurt me.

"Because you didn't respect your mother!" He replied with an angry voice. He slapped me because I ignored a stranger who he brought all of a sudden, saying that she would be my mom when she clearly is not? How could he be on her side and not mine? I was his daughter first before she was his new wife!

"She is not my mother!! My mom is Emily and not her! I will never accept her as my mother!!" I retorted with a voice as loud as my dad's.

"Yes, and she is dead! And do you know why she is dead? It's because of you!" He replied, slapping me for the second time with a bigger force than before. The slap caused me to fall to the ground and I looked up at him with tears blurring my vision. And that's when I saw it—I saw my dad with a look I had never seen on his face before. It was a look of pure hatred and disgust.

"Darling, don't be so hard on her," Fiona said with a concerned face while touching one of his shoulders.

"She needs to be taught a lesson. I have spoiled her too much all this time." After saying that, he grabbed my wrist roughly and started dragging me towards the underground room I never knew we had. He shoved me inside, making me fall hard onto the floor.

"Bring me the whip," he said to the guard standing behind him.

My eyes widened and I looked at him with a baffled look. Why is he being like this? He was not the dad I used to know. It's like he was a different person. The person in front of me is no longer my dad, but a cruel and cold-hearted man. What happened to him?

After a couple of long hours being in the underground room, my body felt numb and I didn't have any energy left to move my body. The floor where I was lying was flooded with my blood. I didn't know humans had this much blood on them. I suppose I lost most of it.

"Do you acknowledge her as your mother now?" asked my dad while pointing to the woman beside her.

"...never," I said weakly, knowing that the consequences of my words would be painful.

My answer made my dad even more furious and started hitting me again with the whip. Before he started hitting me, I saw Fiona with a wicked smile on her face that she quickly hide, but not too quickly as I saw it first.

"S-Stop! Please stop! It hurts!" I screamed at my dad with the little energy I had left in my body—but he never stopped until all I saw was darkness.

"Violet, wake up!" I heard someone calling me, continuously shaking my body for me to wake up. I opened my eyes to find myself in someone's embrace. I looked up to see the same man who helped me escape yesterday.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a worried look evident on his face. He held me with both of his arms, which took me by surprise at how close we were right now. "You were screaming in your sleep."

"I'm fine," I said, pushing my body away from him. It wasn't the first time that I'd had this dream. This nightmare has been going on for the last few years, and I'm used to it.

"Nightmares?" he asked while wiping the beads of sweat that were forming on my forehead.

I nodded at him. I glanced at the window beside my bed and noticed the sun was already missing from the sky and was replaced by the moon. That means it has been a day since I escaped from the house. I couldn't stop thinking about the thousands of bad things that could possibly happen to Anna.

Should I ask him for help? I considered it for a few moments before deciding to seek his help as I didn't have any other options. To prevent unwanted events, I needed to help Anna out of that house as soon as possible.

"Can you help me?" I asked, and his face immediately lit up.

"Anything for you, Violet."