As the coolness of the forest hit my face, the fog in my mind was dispersing, but the restlessness inside me was growing. Mirel was walking silently beside me, basket in hand.
She would occasionally look at me and smile, then shyly turn back to the path. This silence was making me tense. There were too many details left in the dark that I didn't know.
"Mirel," I said suddenly, pushing a tree branch aside. "How old are you?" Mirel paused. She was surprised by my question. "Nineteen, Master," she said.
I took a deep breath. At least she was an adult. "Do you have a family?" I asked, wanting to hear the answer even though I guessed it.
Mirel shook her head; there was no sadness on her face, only acceptance. "No, Master. I was twelve years old when you bought me from the slave market. You are my family."
Twelve. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach. "What about the others?" I said, trying to keep my voice flat. "How old is Sera? Lysa?"
"Sister Sera is twenty-two," Mirel said. "And Lysa... turned seventeen last month."
I stopped and looked up at the sky. "Great," I muttered to myself. "Seventeen. She isn't even of age. I'd be better off turning myself in to the royal army. Am I with a child?"
Mirel giggled. She couldn't make sense of my reaction. "You are very funny, Master," she said, smiling. "In our kingdom, a girl can marry after the age of fourteen. Lysa passed the marriage age long ago."
Leon's modern understanding of morality was screaming. Fourteen? This world isn't just corrupt; it is a hell that ends childhood early.
I continued walking, but my steps had become heavier. "Mirel," I said, asking the question I was afraid to ask. "I bought you when you were twelve... So when did those... bath matters, special services... start with you?"
Mirel smiled. Her face didn't hold the pain of recalling a traumatic memory, but the joy of remembering "good days." "It was three years ago, I think," she said cheerfully. "I was sixteen. That was when you first saw me as a 'woman'."
Leon took a deep breath. Sixteen. Even in the modern world, it counts as the age of consent in some places but... still, she was a minor. "Lysa?" I asked in a hoarse voice. "Was it the same time for her too?"
"Yes," Mirel said. "We came to your room together with Lysa that night. She was only fourteen, but... legally she was an adult, and you accepted us."
I closed my eyes. I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw ached. Clarean... You were a manipulator who followed the laws but disregarded morality.
He wasn't just a drunkard or a bum; he was an abuser who carried the loyalty of those girls to his bed the day they became legal, taking advantage of their "legal" status.
And these girls... they were brainwashed enough to think this was a "grace." How am I going to clean up this wreckage? How am I going to fix such deep damage?
Sera came to my mind. Our "punishment" conversation this morning. Punishing Sera... I thought.
I am using the 'punishment' method to control her, but this is wrong. She enjoys the pain.
She sees being punished as a bond, as attention. If I continue this, I will be feeding her masochistic obsession. I must cut this out. I need to teach her that love is not pain.
My thoughts were so intense that I almost missed the sounds of the forest. SNAP. A breaking branch. Not the sound of the wind. A footstep.
I opened my eyes rapidly. Ten meters ahead, amidst the dense bushes, a gray, massive shadow moved. Yellow, hungry eyes were locked onto us.
A wolf. But not a normal wolf; a wild wolf as huge as a bear, salivating.
Mirel was still behind me, interested in the herbs in the basket. She wasn't aware of the danger. "Master, these mushrooms..." "Shh!" I turned around reflexively.
I grabbed Mirel by the arm, pulled her to me, and pinned her back against the nearest tree. I covered her body with mine, clamping my hand tightly over her mouth.
"Mmph!" Mirel's eyes widened in shock.
There was no distance between us. My chest was touching hers, my breath hitting her face.
While I was looking over her shoulder with tension to watch the wolf's movements, Mirel's reaction was completely different. She should have been trembling with fear but... she was trembling with excitement. Her eyes misted over.
Her cheeks flushed bright red. She had completely misinterpreted my panic, my protective instinct. He is hugging me, I could read from her eyes. He pinned me against the tree. He covered my mouth. Finally... finally, he wants me.
I felt her lips curling under my hand. Her hand started to move slowly towards my waist. I struggled not to roll my eyes.
"Calm down," I whispered in her ear, hoping she would understand the urgency in my voice. "There is a giant wolf behind you. Don't move."
Mirel paused. She looked as if to say, "Wolf?" But then she shrugged. She didn't even care.
Even if the wolf tore us apart, being in my arms right now, being "cornered" by me, was the safest and happiest place in the world for her.
She leaned her head against my chest and closed her eyes peacefully.
Leon's inner voice screamed. God... We are under mortal danger, and this girl is experiencing a romance!
How am I going to deal with these perverts, these traumatic brains?
The wolf's growl drew closer. Mirel's hand on my waist tightened. And I, while holding this bewildered girl with one hand, slowly reached back with the other to gather my magic power.