To His Hell and Back
Chapter 44: Life Is Unfair

Chapter 44: Life Is Unfair

Stunned, she almost doubted what she had heard from Iliza who had leaned forward and hit her chest as she demanded for her answers. A sense of grim shrouded Arabella as she knitted her eyebrows tighter and shook her head at Iliza’s rude remarks.

Clenching her fists, she released her tight breaths, "You are shaken Iliza. That’s why I can ignore your words but you have to understand that just because I haven’t come back to the dungeon doesn’t mean my life is any easier."

"Really?" Iliza crossed her arms and tightly hugged her shoulders, "You stand there, untouched, defiant. You throw yourself into danger, and yet... no one dares to break you! Look at how everyone avoid you, isn’t this safety? Why can’t you tell me the secret? Why don’t you help us too? Tell the Crown Prince about us, persuade him-"

"Iliza," she cut through her friend’s words, or at least the person she had thought as friend. She closed her eyes, realizing how high and mighty she could come across if she doesn’t put her words together. She tried to calm herself, especially since Iliza was shaken, that’s why her words were so mean and spiteful. "He does take fancy of me but that doesn’t mean I’m someone he would listen to. I don’t have control over him. He has the control over me."

She tried to reach her hands to Iliza’s shoulders, to soothe the girl’s confusion as the reason why Iliza had became so resentful wasn’t exactly Iliza’s fault but the people in this castle, these people who are so desperate to see others suffer for their own happiness and entertainment.

But Iliza had broke down in tears, pushing away her hands, and clearly looking like a mess, "I want to live, Arabella! Help me, help me, can’t you just help me once?!"

Arabella found herself stunned as she watched Iliza who had meltdown in front of her. It was as f every words she would say became a dagger against Iliza and every words Iliza had said to her was as sharp as painful as a blade, enough to cause her heart to ache thinking about how the friend she thought was close and dear seemed so pushed over the edges that she would even resent her.

Hours passed since then and Bella didn’t know how she had managed to return to Cassius’s room but ever since she was there, she had been quietly hugging her knees, pushing her head down on the gaps of her elbows in silence.

Even when Nora and the maids had came to the room to turn the candles and mocked her, she was quiet, staring at nothing at the floor while she hugged her knees, quietly.

The words Iliza had said to her seemed to have haunted her, lingering in her head with no end, causing her to find no peace. They twisted around her mind, repeating like a curse, like an accusation she couldn’t deny. Iliza’s voice wouldn’t leave her alone, and the weight of her words sat heavy on her chest.

Did she really appear so untouchable? So safe?

Was she selfish for not trying harder?

A part of her wanted to argue, to tell Iliza that she had tried, that she was trying, but what had she truly done? She was surviving. She had no power, no real control. And yet, Iliza’s pain had made her question if surviving was enough.

A shudder ran through her as she gripped her sleeves tightly. She didn’t notice the door opening, nor the quiet, deliberate footsteps that entered the room.

But she did feel the presence.

A shadow fell over her, dark and looming, followed by a voice, smooth yet unreadable.

"I didn’t believe it when they told me you were down and upset. But much to my surprise, you have lost your vigor. What happened? Anyone who made you upset already birdie?"

Her body tensed as she slowly lifted her head.

Cassius.

She looked at his face and that frustrating smile of his that always seemed so unbothered. While looking at the floor, she asked, "When you became the King, will you continue this tradition of having human pets?"

Cassius who was smiling suddenly paused. His eyes twitched, "What makes you think of this now? Oh dear if anyone hear your words, they would think-"

"Cassius," she called out to his name and this clearly made his lazy eyelids to widened as he captured her entire figure. "What do I have to do so you would allow me to leave?"

Cassius stared at her, his smirk faltering ever so slightly. It was rare for his little birdie to call his name so plainly, without sarcasm, without defiance. And yet, there was something about the way she said it now, something that made his amusement fade into something unreadable. He had frowned, even though seeing her immediately lifted his mood now hearing her words made him feel somewhat annoyed.

His crimson eyes flickered with intrigue, with something darker beneath.

A slow, measured silence dropped between them.

Then, with an almost lazy tilt of his head, he repeated, "Leave?" He chuckled at the word as if tasting it, rolling it around his tongue like an amusing little absurdity. "Oh, Arabella, what is this... new attitude you have acquired in front of me?"

She didn’t respond. Didn’t rise to the bait of his teasing. Instead, she just stared at him, and for the first time, Cassius felt something unfamiliar crawl up his spine.

She was serious.

He clicked his tongue, his smile returning, but colder this time. He crouched in front of her, leveling their gazes, elbows resting on his knees, his expression unreadable.

"Tell me, little bird," he murmured, his voice dipping into something quiet, something almost gentle... "Why do you ask such things? Is it because of her?"

Arabella flinched. Cassius noticed.

"Have you heard?" of what had happened back in the hallways with Iliza? "No that would be a stupid question. You know everything inside this castle," she remarked, but her eyes were so lifeless that it began to make Cassius frustrated.

His little birdie wasn’t someone who would look so upset, so saddened.

"Iliza, was it?" His tone held mock consideration, but his eyes were sharp, gleaming. "The girl who wailed about her suffering and begging for you to help her when you’re having troubles helping yourself already."

"She—" Arabella stopped herself, shaking her head. "She just wants to live. You don’t know how it feels like, to always feel-"

"Bella, think of it," Cassius snapped, "Do you think that between you and me, who would have tried to survive from death more often? You who had just became a human pet for less than a few weeks or me, the crown prince who had waged wars since the age of sixteen?"

She frowned. It wasn’t a competition, "Unlike you who had gone war for your Kingdom, we are being killed as a livestock, no even worse because once we have failed to entertain you, it’s death that comes as our punishment. You won’t understand."

"And you think that you do? Let’s say that if I ended the ’tradition’ of human pets, would that really fix everything? How very naive of you, Bella." Cassius chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you think my court will suddenly become kind? That vampires who have treated humans as entertainment for centuries will simply... change? The hatred humans have to vampires and the despise that vampires held against humans. It can’t be changed because just one person’s heart wishes for it to change."

Her fingers curled against her arms. She knew it wasn’t that simple. Of course, she did. But still...

"Then do something," she whispered, her voice raw, vulnerable in a way she hated. "Anything."

Cassius regarded her, his amusement fading, his eyes growing darker, heavier.

"You ask me to move mountains, Arabella," he murmured, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of her reddish brown hair behind her ear, his fingers ghosting against her cheek. She shivered, whether from the chill of his touch or the weight of his words, she wasn’t sure.

"You ask me to change a world built on cruelty," he continued, his voice a low murmur. "And yet, you refuse to accept the truth and the reality that this cruelty wasn’t something anyone could change."

"You can," Bella’s green eyes peered straight to her red ones, sharply staring at his soul. "You can. If it’s you."

"I appreciate your praise," Cassius shushed her, "But that won’t be happening, at least anytime soon and about your request to leave-"

Her breath hitched.

"-You belong to me, Bella." His fingers trailed down, brushing her chin before tilting her face to look at him fully. "And I do not part with my possessions so easily."

The finality in his words sent a chill through her, but she didn’t look away. She met his gaze, trying to see anything inside those crimson eyes, anything, any sense of humanity that perhaps he had masked.

"Then tell me what it will take," she said, her voice unwavering now.

Cassius was silent. For a long, stretched moment, he merely studied her. Then, a slow, wicked smile curled his lips.

"Ah," he exhaled. "Now that... that is an interesting question."

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