Anna got back to her dorm-room at the Mage Academy in the early afternoon. She ran past Matilda, who nervously sat in the living room, waiting for her roommate to return. Completely ignoring the young Marchioness, Anna ran into her bedroom and slammed shut the door before locking it. Then the poor young woman started screaming.

Anna’s sobs echoed throughout the dorm building, and Matilda just sat in the living-room, stupefied. While Anna’s cries filled the building and hallway monitors and chaperones ignored the outburst, Matilda’s eye twitched.

She was finally fed up with all this nonsense. This was gods know which time her dear friend was reduced to such a pathetic state, and enough was enough.

Feeling pissed off like never before, Matilda grit her teeth as she decisively stood up. She didn’t run, shout, nor make a fuss. Matilda just marched over to the men’s dorms with her fists clenched, as if she was on a warpath.

*Bam! Bam! Bam!*

Matilda forcefully knocked on the door of Wolf’s and Wayde’s suite, then waited, stewing in her anger. A couple of moments later, Wolf opened the door.

“Wolf! Get your ass over to our room right now,” Matilda said loudly, in a very un-Matilda-like fashion. “You have to smooth things out with Anna. The poor woman’s been crying the whole day yesterday, then the whole night. Then, this morning she was summoned by her family, and then her butler cried. Now, she finally came back, but she locked herself in her room and started crying again. What the hells did you do to make a whole family cry?”

By the time Matilda finished speaking, she was panting.

Wolf’s eyes went wide, as he had an urge to back away from Matilda, who towered over him. This was the first time he’d ever heard Matilda raise her voice, not to mention the words she used. Besides, there was something else which confused him.

What did I do to make the butler cry? Wolf wondered, but came up blank.

He understood why Anna would cry, but crying for two days and a night seemed like too much. Wolf didn’t have anything to say. Not just because the way Matilda was at the moment she brooked no argument. Resisting the instinct to shy away from her, Wolf nodded and obediently followed the young Marchioness.

This girl is scary, the young man thought, making a mental note never to piss off Matilda.

Wolf sheepishly walked behind Matilda, trying to figure out why she was so upset. Fortunately, they quickly arrived at the women’s dormitory. In front of the door to her and Anna’s suite, Matilda silently pointed her finger at the door, while frowning at Wolf.

The young man nervously bit his lip. He nodded and was about to call a chaperone, when he realized he’d turned one into a living puppet. Instead of shouting, Wolf issued a mental command, and after several moments, the elderly woman walked out of the girls’ suite, making Matilda and Wolf jump back in fright.

The woman didn’t look good. She had nothing to drink, or eat since yesterday, and if the bags under her eyes were any indication, she hadn’t slept a wink last night.

Did I forget to tell her to leave Anna’s room yesterday? Wolf wondered. Was Anna so distraught that she didn’t notice an old woman skulking in her bedroom the whole night?

Wolf’s lip twisted awkwardly, not because of the elderly woman’s state, but because he could now clearly hear Anna’s muffled sobs.

“Follow me,” Wolf ordered indifferently as he entered the girls’s suite.

While the elderly minder followed like a dog, Matilda spun on her heel and left. This was an affair between Anna and Wolf, and she wasn’t Barbara, who would likely eat popcorn in the hallway with fully awakened senses, waiting to hear the juicy bits. Matilda wasn’t interested in what Anna and Wolf did, as long as everyone was alive and well after the dust settled.

Is she really still crying from the talk last night? Wolf thought. Every one of Anna’s pathetic sobs felt like a stab to the heart. He’d finally started feeling guilty about Anna’s situation, not just Mandy’s.

Wolf knocked on the doorframe, then walked into Anna’s bedroom. His girlfriend lay on the bed, crying in a fetal position.

Wolf wanted to call out to her, but his throat tightened all of a sudden.

“Anna,” he whispered softly, after swallowing spit.

Anna shuddered as soon as she heard Wolf’s voice. She looked at him with what she believed was the ugliest, unsightliest face she’d ever had. She sniffled without saying a word as her mouth twisted and her chin shuddered.

“Anna, what happened?” Wolf asked with worry. “I didn’t think things were this bad yesterday?”

Anna looked at him, biting her trembling lip. Suddenly, she jumped up from the bed and dashed into her bathroom.

“I have to wash up,” she said in a raspy voice before slamming the door shut.

Standing in Anna’s room, with nobody to keep him company, save the chaperone, Wolf listened to unladylike sounds as Anna blew her nose, rinsed her mouth and splashed water all over the place.

After several minutes, she finally opened the door and got back from the bathroom, wearing a clean blue bathrobe.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Anna said in a tone Wolf found unfamiliar.

She was unnaturally cold and composed, her eyes shone with strange determination as she sat down on the bed and crossed her legs.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Wolf asked after hesitating for a moment, still feeling worried for Anna.

“I’ll tell you everything, but first tell the old hag to leave the room and not to eavesdrop,” she replied, training her gaze on the old chaperone.

“Old hag, leave the room and don’t eavesdrop,” Wolf parroted Anna’s words, and the chaperone pressed her hands to her ears while leaving the room.

Anna coldly glanced at the still open door, and Wolf closed it, earning himself a nod from Anna.

“My father ordered me to submit to you,” Anna said coldly, dissecting Wolf with her gaze. “I am to be your whore, to spread my legs whenever you ask, to fuck your whores for your entertainment, and last but not least I am to start popping out your babies, the sooner the better. And he wasn’t nearly as nice about saying it as I am. Now, I want to know what you think about this order? How do you feel about it?”

“Anna, I really never wanted to hurt you. I know how much you want to become a Mage—” Wolf said, moving to embrace her.

“Fuck off,” Anna hissed. “I don’t want you to touch me right now.”

Even though Anna said those words she didn’t try to block or evade Wolf’s advance in any way. Quite the contrary, she fell on her back, positioning herself as a victim ready to bear the torture coming her way.

Wolf froze instantly, without even a hint of anger. He knew Anna had just gone through something that wounded her deeply because of him. What she needed now was time to heal and to figure out what she wanted to do next.

“I’m sorry. Is there any way I can help you?” Wolf asked with concern, but couldn’t make himself meet Anna’s gaze.

“There are two options,” Anna said as she undid her bathrobe, revealing her bare body and spreading her legs so much it hurt. “You can either rape and then strangle me right here, right now, or we can talk like civilized human beings.”

Even though she tried to sound cold, and even though she was furious and dejected and utterly humiliated, Anna’s voice trembled. Deep down she was afraid Wolf might choose the first option.

“Can you please put on your clothes, and stop acting so extreme?” Wolf asked, implicitly answering Anna’s question. “What can I do for you?”

“Acting extreme?” Anna said, while laying like a corpse. “Look at you, making a long face over some embarrassment. Do you have any idea what you did to me? What I had to go through?”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?” Wolf asked, calming Anna.

“Father told me that yesterday you declared you’d destroy the noble families of those involved in—” Anna faltered, not knowing what to say.

“…that incident,” she said, finally finding appropriate words while getting up and making herself decent. “I want you to add one more house to that list. I want you to crush the house Didot. I want them beaten down so badly that they have to look up just to see the commoners’ feet.”

Anna let her hatred seep into her voice. Wolf recalled the way she spoke about Mandy yesterday, but the hatred she showed yesterday was hardly a speck of what she was expressing when talking about the Didots.

Still, the house Didot was her own family. If Wolf did anything Anna regretted it later, he would be the villain.

“How about this,” Wolf started, wanting to talk some sense into Anna, unaware of what she’d gone through just hours ago. “When the time comes you will decide what happens with them. If you want to forgive them, nothing happens. If you want them dead, then they die. If you want them beaten, then I break their bones and make them regret the day they were born.”

Wolf paused for a moment, looking at Anna.

“Is that fine with you?” he asked weakly. “I don’t want to promise something now, when you are angry, and then have you change your mind later when I have to fulfill my promise.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but I won’t be changing my mind. I want that bastard dead,” Anna said, not a hint of sweetness touched her face or voice.

“I only want my mother to be spared, but maybe even she should be put out of her misery,” Anna continued emotionlessly. “If it was me in her shoes, I would’ve long since cut my father’s throat while he slept.”

Those words horrified Wolf. One of his greatest desires was to somehow get his parents back. To resurrect them, or find their reincarnations. In fact, as far as Archibald was concerned, Wolf would’ve been satisfied to know his father had reincarnated happily somewhere.

“Anything else?” Wolf asked weakly, seeing Anna was silent.

“I don’t want you to touch me for a year,” Anna said, balling her hands into fists as her anger flared yet again. “Maybe longer. Not even to hold hands, or to tap my back. I still don’t know whether I love you or hate you.”

“I understand. Do you still wish to see me, or should I avoid you?” Wolf asked sadly.

“We have to see each other, we’re getting officially engaged the day after tomorrow,” Anna said matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, Father will kill Mother. This is not negotiable.”

After a moment of stunned silence in which Wolf’s mind reeled, the youth nodded in agreement.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Is there anything else you think I should know?” Anna asked coldly.

“What do you want to know?” Wolf asked.

“Everything,” she replied, glaring at him.

“I slept with Mandy again last night, and it won’t be the last time. I plan on visiting two brothels tomorrow.” Wolf admitted everything while Anna bit her lip.

A moment later blood started oozing down her quivering chin. Suddenly, she sighed despondently.

“You don’t have to tell me about brothels. In fact, if possible sneak out and fuck whores so that I don’t find out. I know you’re whoring, but there’s no need to… to slap my face with it. As for that woman…” Anna’s sad face changed into a disgusted one, filled with killing intent. “I guess it can’t be helped. I’m to blame for that to an extent. Just so you know, if you ever get bored of her I will kill her with my own two hands. I won’t have a gang rape her. I’ll have an army take turns on her until she drops dead. Do you understand me? Now get out of my sight.”

“Anna, please, if you really care about me, please don’t do anything like that,” Wolf pleaded, but then his voice turned hard. “I may be kind to you, but that kindness is not without limits.”

Anna blinked as Wolf turned to leave her room.

“Wait,” she shouted.

Wolf froze, then he turned around and faced Anna once more. The young woman stared into his eyes, dozens of emotions seething and clashing within them. A moment later she finally spoke.

“If you dare screw me over one more time, if you fail me like this just one more time, I swear before all that is holy, I will ruin myself and try to bring down everything you care for,” Anna threatened in a cold voice.

“I will become the cheapest whore. I’ll go kill my family myself. Then, I will make it my life’s mission to make you feel as miserable as you made me feel. Do you understand what I’m saying?” she asked, her breathing turning ragged.

“Even if you decide to start fucking pigs or goats or little boys, I want to hear it from your own fucking mouth. I don’t want to read about it in a letter some whore’s son sent me to spite you. I don’t want Matilda telling me either. And I especially don’t want Father telling me. Do you fucking understand, you son of a bitch?” Anna growled, sounding hardly any different from an animal.

Wolf nodded.

“Please don’t.” He whispered with a hint of disappointment and left the room. Unlike yesterday, Wolf didn’t forget to dismiss Living Puppet from the chaperone, and the woman immediately fainted in the hallway.