“Huh?” I asked in surprise.

I was being serious about being surprised when she said this place was her prison. There was no way I could take her words so lightly because of how simply she said them.

“This place is… your prison?” I asked uncertainly.

There was, without a shred of a doubt in my mind, that this was nothing like a prison. A beautiful house set in a secluded beautiful location outlooking a beautiful scenery. There is nothing but beauty build all over this place and yet, she called it her prison.

I was confused to say the least. So, I waited for her give me a response.

She took a moment before saying, “Yes. You heard me correctly. This is my prison.”

Again, with that prison thing when this place is nothing but! I mean, there was this news articles of some remote places located far away that were being advertised in the newspaper at the café that I always sit at. After getting curious about it, I asked the owner what that was about because they used some words that I simply didn’t understand.

“A getaway? What’s that, owner?”

I threw this when he was nearby and showed him the picture on the newspaper. He took one glance at it and smiled before resuming in cleaning the benches while he answered me.

“A getaway is like place to stay for relaxation and to enjoy. Such places are usually far away from their home, which is why they’re usually labelled as ‘getaway’ like in that article.”

“Oh. So, like a holiday place for people to visit, stay, enjoy and then return?”

“Yes.”

His explanation made me curious, and as I read the article further, I noticed how much the so called “getaway” would cost. I was alarmed when I saw triple digits that made me feel that I mistakenly read the wrong number. When I cleared my eyes and checked again, the number was the same.

Feeling as though something was wrong, I asked the owner, “Owner, these numbers look wrong.”

“No, they aren’t,” he replied without even turning to take a glance. “Those are the exact amounts that people pay to go to those places.”

I was shocked at his response and glancing down, I checked the amount once more and then calculated how much that was worth if I tried to pay for it. The calculation amounted to me doing my best in thieving and saving by avoiding two meals a day.

This instantly made me feel as though the amount shown was a rip off, and I made my opinion to the owner. I didn’t fear about being honest with the owner since he was a nice guy that always answered my curiosity with his wisdom.

“They aren’t being advertised for the likes of us,” he explained as he set the cleaning towel down and looked at me, “they are aimed towards the rich, the wealthy, and those that sit above us.”

“Oh,” I said shortly, realising what he meant and feeling irritated at the sight of this getaway thing.

“So, a lot of regular folks do their hardest to save money just so they could go on one of those trips and possibly hang out with the rich people. Although, I heard a rumour that none of that happens and the people just go, stay and come back very quickly since there’s nothing to grab their attention.”

“What?!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “Isn’t that a clear rip off from what’s advertised?!”

“Yes, but what can the people do when it’s the government they’re up against?” The old man asked, and I had no reply. “These advertisements are meant to draw in those with money and rob them while they focus on providing the more accurate version of the trip to the wealthy people. So, to say, the government is robbing people in the disguise of a luxury trip.”

“That is so cruel…!” I muttered darkly through gritted teeth and with my fists clenched tightly with frustration.

“It is what it is,” said the owner sadly. “We are nothing but pawns to them, and the people are blind to reality because of the empire feeds them this poison called hope.”

When the owner said that, he looked very sad. It made me wonder just what kind of experiences did he go through in life to make such a sad face. Still, it was a question I never posed to him because I thought it might make him remember something that he didn’t want to remember.

“What is it?” Irene asked me suddenly while I was deep in my thoughts

“Ah?” I reacted with surprise since I was distracted from my thoughts. “Just thinking about something similar to what I’ve seen that looks a little like this place.”

She blinked in surprise and asked, “Oh really? What is that place?”

“It’s written as a getaway in the news articles.”

“Oh. Those places,” she said after understanding. “Yes. They are designed to entrap the normal people and take their money while providing little or less than average services and facilities while providing the best to the wealthy people.”

“Ah. As I suspected,” I said as the owner’s words from back then proved correct.

Then she asked me, “Are you interested in going to such places?”

Her question left me feeling a little strange since I was pretty much in a place similar to those places.

“Aren’t we already in such a place even though you keep calling this your prison?” I asked out of curiosity.

“But it is my prison,” she said flatly, but she smiled and said, “but it makes me feel happy that you think this is a spot for vacation.”

“Well, it is,” I replied bluntly to her vehement denial of reality. That’s when I got a question and asked, “Why do you keep calling this your prison in the first place anyway?”

As I asked, I glanced up at her and saw her blink a few times in surprise and suddenly look nervous. I didn’t know what to make of her reaction, but I knew whatever it was, I knew she was unwilling to tell me about it.

Just then, we heard a voice from behind that said, “Madam.”

“Ah!” I cried out in surprise as the voice seemed to come out of the blue.

Irene turned around while holding me and it’s then that I saw a girl standing there wearing what looked like a maid uniform. I recognised the uniform because I often saw a couple of them wearing those and roaming the streets, often times carrying luggage behind what appeared to be their master.

“What is it, Dolly?”

“The master has arrived and is waiting for you in the hall,” the maid named Dolly replied politely.

Upon hearing her words, I felt Irene suddenly become stiff for some reason. Glancing up at her face, I noticed her looking very nervous as a dark shadow was cast over her eyes. She looked down at me, and I was surprised to see the fear in her eyes for the first time since meeting her.

“Okay. I’m coming,” replied Irene in a quiet voice.

The maid bowed and departed by going down the stairs we used to come up. I watched her go and wondered why she was not making any sounds as she went down, which had me questioning how she had snuck up on them in the first place. But they had to wait because Irene was clearly scared because she suddenly began to hug me tightly.

“Irene?” I asked, feeling a little concern for this girl that appeared strong but was actually weak.

“Lark,” she began saying in a quiet voice, “whatever happens, do nothing. Okay? Whatever happens after I enter the hall, please don’t do anything. Promise?”

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“What?” I asked in confusion. “What do you mean? Promise? Why? I don’t understand.”

Instead of answering my question, she shook her head and asked, “I’ll explain later, but promise me right now that you won’t do anything. Please promise me right now!”

“Uh…!”

I was feeling conflicted about what to do; one part of me feels that I should help her although what help I can provide her in my rabbit body, I don’t know, but the other part of me wants to do exactly what she tells me for her sake at least. I looked into her eyes and seeing her pleading expression, I grudgingly accepted and placed my paw in her hand.

“Alright. I promise.”

She smiled to this and said, “Thank you, Lark. Thank you so much,” and hugged me warmly.

So, we descended down the stairs but instead of going straight down to where the hall was located, she placed me on a table near the entrance to her floor.

“Stay here until they are gone, okay?” She asked me softly.

“Uh… Okay,” I replied meekly as I felt I didn’t have much of a choice on the matter.

Irene smiled and left the room to descend down the stairs to the hall where this “master” was waiting for her. I waited for her, but my burning curiosity to find out who it was, made me leap off the table and land gently on the floor. Then I hopped my way to the edge of the stairway but not descent as I didn’t want to break my promise to her.

From my position, I began to hear movement as Irene seemed to have arrived at the bottom floor. I wondered at first what they were going to talk about when a loud slapping sound rang out from the bottom floor following by a dull thud as if someone fell to the floor.

“You really like to cause trouble for all of us, don’t you?” A man’s cold voice asked.

In an instant, I knew the person that got slapped was Irene, and she fell from getting hit. It made me instantly angry at that person even before I even met him. I don’t know why I felt such anger towards him, but I just did at imagining the pain she must be feeling from being hit and fallen to the floor.

“I… I don’t understand,” she replied while sounding as if she was choking on her tears.

“You don’t know what you did?!” The man demanded, rounding on her in an angry voice. “I allowed you to go shopping today, but you went out wearing a dress that made you stand out and what’s worse? Someone robbed you and this caused you to drew a lot of attention to yourself!”

“I… I didn’t mean for that to happen,” she pleaded with the man. “Argh!”

She cried out in pain as a scuffle occurred before there was another slapping sound before another thud sound came as she clearly fell to the floor again.

“You don’t mean anything to happen, don’t you?! Just like you did back then!” He yelled at her, his voice rising in tune with his anger. “You didn’t mean it when your knight got killed, you didn’t mean it when your maid got raped, and you didn’t mean it when your pet got butchered! Everything that happened, you didn’t mean any of it!”

“I… I really didn’t mean—!” Irene tried to plead with this unreasonable man.

“Shut up!” He shouted at her, and she instantly fell silent. “If it weren’t for you, our family wouldn’t be in so much trouble and having to deal with your troubles every single day! You should’ve died back then! You should’ve been the one to die instead of…!”

He left the sentence hanging as if unwilling to complete it, but he quickly seemed to recover as he said curtly, “Whatever the case, I have to deal with your mess and dispose of that body that you killed. However, you are hereby banned from setting foot out of this place until I say so! Do you understand?”

“Yes. I understand,” she replied feebly.

“Hmph!” He breathed in a huff, and I heard sounds as if he was patting himself as if to clear the dust off of his clothes.

I heard footsteps of him walking away before the sound of the main door opening, but before he left, he unleashed some vicious parting words at her.

“Why were you born in the first place?”

With that, the door closed and there was only silence downstairs. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of someone getting to their feet before that person began to walk closer to start climbing the stairs upward. I remained in my position and watched as Irene’s face emerged from around the corner as she climbed up the stairs while holding one side of her face with her hand.

She was not looking forward but downward and didn’t see me there, so I called out to her.

“Irene.”

Upon me calling her name, she looked up and after seeing me there, she showed a really sad smile and asked, “Lark. You promised you wouldn’t do anything no matter what happened downstairs?”

“Yes, and like I promised, I didn’t do anything,” I replied firmly, “but you never told me that I wasn’t allowed to hear what was happening, right?”

My words surprised her for a brief moment before she let out a light chuckle and said, “Ah. I messed up.” Then her smile crumbled as she asked, “So, you heard everything?”

As she reached my floor and knelt down to me, I extended my hand out and lightly touched my paw on the cheek that was slapped.

“Are you okay?” I asked with concern.

In an instant, her expression changed from being smiling to complete depression. My words acted like a trigger that opened the gates to a water fall as tears began streaming down her eyes at an unbelievable rate.

“Irene!” I cried out in alarm as I panicked by seeing her suddenly crying.

A moment later, she wrapped her arms around me and brought me into a tight hug as she continued to sob into me. I didn’t know what to say, so just patted her lamely on the shoulder while she continued to cry. It felt the right thing to do by letting her cry her sorrow out before she could return to normal.

She continued to cry for a several seconds before her tears slowed until she began wiping them away. Every now and then, she sniffed to block the tears and the effect it would have in her voice as she spoke softly to me.

“I’m sorry that you saw witnessed such an embarrassing side of me, Lark,” she said finally.

“What’s so embarrassing?! You were cute when you were crying!” I replied by giving her my honest opinion. Then I realised what I just said and quickly tried correcting myself by saying, “No! I didn’t mean that! I mean, you did look cute as you cried, but I didn’t mean to say that you crying was good! Not at all!”

As I flustered about in trying to ensure that she didn’t misunderstand, she showed me a glowing smile for the first time since I met her. It was so beautiful that it was mesmerising and breathtaking, that I had to seriously ponder whether this was the person that killed me and put my soul into a rabbit.

“Have you calmed down?” I asked her cautiously.

“Yes. You calmed me down,” she replied sweetly.

“Huh? How?” I asked, but she simply snickered and poked my small nose with her finger.

I quickly realised that she was playing with me, so I shook my head and asked, “Since I kept my promise, would you mind answering some of my questions?”

“Sure, but so long as I can answer them,” she replied with a smile. “So, what are they?”

“Who was that person just now?”

She looked troubled for a moment before replying slowly, “That… was my father.”

My mind was blown by the honest answer, and I exclaimed, “What?! That man is your father?! Are you kidding me?!”

“It’s the truth. He is my biological father true and true,” she replied after shaking her head to deny her joking about it.

I stared at her in disbelief at this unbelievable fact and asked, “I can’t believe this. That guy… is your father. God! He’s the worst father! How could he hit you like that?!”

Irene did not say anything, but she smiled softly as I expressed my concern for her. I continued to berate him by calling him whatever I could think of and even compared him to dog dung because that’s how horrible he was to his daughter. Throughout it all, Irene remained calm and stroked my soft fur gently with a smile on her face.

“Honestly, what a horrible personality he has!” I finished by heaving a sigh. Then I looked at her and said, “I’m sorry for being so rude about your father, Irene, but… seriously! He’s the worst kind of father to have! Honest!”

She didn’t say anything except let out a light chuckle and continue smiling at me while stroking my fur.

Then I asked my next question of, “What did he mean by you dying instead of someone else? What was that about?”

“Oh,” she said shortly and instantly stopped stroking my fur.

I knew I ventured into a topic that could be dangerous for me, but I was so worried about her. This girl did kill me and put my soul in this rabbit body, but she showed me great kindness afterwards and though she did kill me by accident because I made her angry, she still showed great affection for me and was very considerate towards me. That was why it made me want to help her if I could somehow.

My question seemed to have put her in a tight spot because she was making a troubled expression on her face.

This made her ask her, “Is it something that I shouldn’t know about?”

“No. It’s not that,” she replied hesitantly.

“So, is it that you don’t want to tell me?”

“Well, yes,” she admitted grudgingly.

Her hesitation made me feel frustrated for a moment before I thought about something and decided to make her answer me by applying pressure to her feelings instead.

“Irene, I thought you said you loved me,” I said by applying to her feelings. “I thought there shouldn’t be any secrets between lovers.”

My words made her freeze and blink a few times as if she could not believe what she just heard.

“We’re… lovers?” She asked me questioningly with a hesitant look on her face.

“Aren’t we?” I replied instantly.

Honestly, the feelings I have for her right now are not what I would consider love. I don’t even know what love truly is, and I had long forgotten the love that I once had for my parents since its been a long time since they died. But I can safely say that I do feel inclined to be close to her and help her out through her troubles. In fact, she is very beautiful with no fault to her appearance at all to not love her, so I was not lying when I said that we’re lovers from a certain perspective.

Irene continued to stare at me as if she could not believe my words before a huge smile broke over her face. Then she hugged me tightly as if she was extremely happy to hear me say that.

“I am so happy to hear that!” She said happily while hugging me tightly. A moment later, she let me go and said, “We need to celebrate! We need a cake! We need decoration! We need—!”

Her mind was racing with excitement at the prospect of her first lover, and I found it very amusing. However, I wanted my question answered and so I probed her about it.

“Okay, okay, Irene. Let’s do that after you answer my question, okay?”

At that, she hesitated and looked very troubled. She glanced at me, and I instantly made a dejected expression to further apply pressure to her feelings. This made her give up all resistance and plead with me to not appear so sad.

“I’ll tell you, okay? Please don’t look so sad,” she told me with concern, and I inwardly grinned triumphantly. She hesitated for a few more seconds before saying, “This happened long ago, right after I was born.”

“Huh? Right after you were born?” I asked, surprised by this unexpected information. “What happened?”

She looked a little sad as she explained, “On the day that I was born, the person that my father loved dearly died and I… was the one responsible for it happening.”

“What?!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “You… killed someone right after being born?! How?! How is that possible, and just who was it that died?!”

At my demands, she began to fidget and say weakly, “It was a curse that got trigged on my birth and the person that died… was his wife… who was also… my dear mother.”