"Though I came back home safely, after an hour villagers came at the door, banging it and shouting. Claiming that I had tried to lure men. One of the women who was walking by felt it to be the case. Calling out names as usual," she smiled sarcastically, exhaling from her mouth, "They pulled me and started to...throw things at me. My mother couldn't do much about it as her sickness had only invaded her body making her sicker with every pa.s.sing day. After some time the magistrate intervened, telling he would talk and settle the matter when in truth all he wanted was to run his hand on my skin," her voice appeared distant. 

Damien took a deep swig from the cigar, his mouth blowing out the smoke which he had inhaled after some time. 

In complete seriousness, he asked her, "What did he do to you?" 

"Touched me."

"Where?" 

It appeared that Damien wanted the specific details and just knowing the man had touched her wasn't enough for him, "It was my legs."

"Which part?" Damien could see the uncomfortableness that formed in Penny's eyes but right now she was his pet and boundaries between them were something that he did not appreciate.

"From my knees to the top of my thigh. Closer to the middle," Penny stopped at that, pressing her lips.

"Most of the people in the higher position will take opportunity and pleasure with what they can make use of. There are only a few who don't and mind their work. You don't have to worry about him anymore. I will make sure he knows to follow up with this village's work diligently," taking another puff from the cigar, he let the smoke mingle in his chest to release it in the wind. 

The faint smell reached Penny's nose making her draw her eyebrows together at the smell of it. 

"I know that," it was an obvious fact after all. People with power always trampled on others for their own use and purpose. 

"For a local man or woman,  people above them are always daunting and difficult to approach. But then it is not about approachability we are speaking of here," Damien had pulled out the cigar from his lips so that he could talk much clearly, his fingers holding the cigar in between each other, "If for you he is someone you are scared of, there is someone above him who he is scared of which in turn makes everything into a similar pattern of food chain. He just knows I am someone you should not mess with and he knows to not go complain unless he wants to perish from these lands." 

Seeing him take another puff, Penny asked the question she had been meaning to ask, "Master Damien?" which gained the attention from him were his eyes and eyebrows lifted to look back at her, "Can I ask you something?" 

"You already did. Ask," he signaled her to go on.

"Why did you decide to buy me?" After what Penny heard from Lady Maggie about Damien hating slaves because of what happened to one of his acquainted friend she wondered why did he spend the hefty amount on her. In the few days that she had known him, she had tried to figure him out. 

For a few seconds, Damien didn't answer her making her wonder if her words had reached him or he had decided to choose to ignore her, "Because it is you," came out the simple few words which didn't feel simple at all. 

What did that mean? asked Penny to herself. 

He then asked her, "Does this house hold any sort of importance to you?" throwing the cigar on the ground, he stepped on it with his expensive boots. 

She shook her head.

"Hmm," he responded back. Pus.h.i.+ng himself forward to stand straight, "Lock the door. I will meet you outside near to where the carriage is parked," with that he left her before walking away from the house, his footsteps falling one after another on the wet ground. 

Penny looked around the house, remembering some of the moments she had spent with her mother. With the way the mother and daughter had lived with each other all alone, there weren't many happy times to remember but only a few countable ones. And even though they were only a few, those precious to her. Times like when she had plucked plants that could be eaten from the forest with her mother. Her young times were the most beautiful yet sad at the same time. 

She touched the walls wondering if the wall could speak if it would reiterate the memories she had lived in the past so that she could miss her mother a little less. Her eyes p.r.i.c.kled, her face feeling warm as her chest started to feel heavy.

She stepped out of the house, pulling the door closed and locking it. 

As she worked on locking the door, placing the lantern down and turning the key, a shadow lurked from behind a house, its height small and a hood that was covered as the person continued to look at the girl who was locking the unused house. The person didn't take a step forward or to the side, with one of their hand that was placed on the wall of the house, the person continued to stare at her.

Once she was done with the lock, Penny picked up the lantern and placed it on the hook outside the house. Diming the light until the fire exhausted itself.