chapter ninety-four

[ IN WHICH SHE LEARNS ABOUT JACQUELINE ]

I place a gentle knock on the door.

Seconds later, it opens.

It reveals the battered face of the female warrior.

She has cuts and bruises decorating her pale, white skin. From her appearance, I can tell that she wears her bruises both physically and emotionally. She has purple blotches on her cheekbones, and dark circles have covered her once-beautiful under eyes. When I saw her last night, I tried approaching her, but she quickly ran upstairs to her room before I could get close. Even then, her bruises did not look as bad as they do now. It seems that while cleaning the wounds, she had accidentally injured herself for the second time. Or maybe it wasn’t an accident. And she deliberately hurt herself?

“Oh, poor you. What did Luca do to you?”

I reach my hands to touch her swollen cheek, but she quickly takes a step back.

In a harsh tone, she says. “My apologies, your majesty. But I would like to be alone at the moment.”

“Oh.” I mouth, retr