"Good morning, Ms. Selene!" said a cheerful five-year-old boy.
"Oh good morning, Luca~! You're look so excited this morning, I'm glad to see that," Selene said to the boy.
He nodded, saying that it would be his birthday soon. Luca couldn't wait to see what surprise his mom might have for his birthday.
Selene was happy to hear that. She led Luca to his classroom and helped him take off his shoes and jacket. However, she was surprised by a bruise on his waist.
"Luca, it's..."
Before she could ask, Luca closed his shirt and smiled broadly before running into the classroom to meet his friends.
She looked at him with a worried and pitying gaze, questions filled her mind but she tried to keep them to herself first.
"Luca..."
Flashback End
She stood silently with her back to the Chief Warden in charge of the prison she was currently in. A smile was still etched on her beautiful face, but it was not the warm and friendly smile that she showed to her students.
Rather, it was a smile full of meaning to show that she was capable of committing the same sin for the same reason.
"Is it wrong if I do it for the right thing? Or will you also think that what I did was a big mistake?"
Caelum's eyes closed for a moment, then when he opened them, the look in his brown eyes implied something that Selene could not read.
"I can't determine whether what you did was right or wrong. But if you want to know my opinion, what you did was wrong," he replied firmly and flatly.
"You may have saved those children from the adults who tortured them. But sending the heads of your victims to their families? You have a sadistic side that you shouldn't have. Plus you're also taking away the children's right to forgive their parents for their mistakes," he said again, continuing the previous sentence.
That answer made Selene pause, she glanced back then turned her body to look at him.
She snorted in annoyance while smiling dismissively.
"Forgive them? Because children are so innocent and forced to trust their parents? The one who was supposed to protect and love them became the one who frightened them and even hurt them. What can they do if I don't do it for them?" Selene asked back.
"You have no right to," Caelum retorted.
"I have the ability to do it and I will do it again even if I have to burn my body to do it," she said again.
The man now silently stared at her, his face showing no emotion whatsoever. Even the look in his eyes seemed to portray a lot of questions and unspoken words. He seemed to be trying to digest the case currently before him.
A beautiful female criminal, but with a horrific trail. How could a seemingly gentle woman kill 29 people just because she loved children too much?
Was her motive just to protect them or was there some other trauma that triggered her to commit the crime and was then fueled by the child abuse incidents around her?
"You are a kindergarten teacher. You're supposed to teach your students good things. Not traumatize them knowing their favorite teacher is a horrible serial killer," the man said again.
"You won't understand what it's like until you have a child and see your child tortured like that," Selene replied.
He asked back, "Do you have one?"
"No, but to me all my students are my children. And I can't let them be hurt by the people who are supposed to take care of them."
She also said that him don't have to have children of your own to feel the pain and sadness of seeing a child hurt.
"Or..." She leaned over him, propping herself up on his desk with both hands. Bringing their faces so close together as she leveled with him. "You want to have a child with me to feel it? I'm ready to be a mother to your children, handsome."
Her gaze narrowed, her voice beginning to seduce the Chief Warden, Caelum Rothwell. Her fingers even dared to touch the tie of the cold, cruel man of the prison.
"From your physique, you have good stamina. I heard that the Rothwell family is a military family, which means you have a good body and a handsome face from your family genes," he said once again in a seductive tone.
As Selene fiddled with his tie, Caelum did not react forcibly but touched her hand and gripped it without hurting her.
It was the first time he had ever seen someone dare to speak to him like that, especially a woman. It was clear she had the power to do anything, including disciplining prisoners who dared to break the rules.
"Watch your language, prisoner 5261. Don't start something you can't possibly finish. Do you think you can match me?" he asked back, which made Selene's smile widen.
The reason was that Caelum was answering as if he was asking her if she was capable of playing with fire?
Selene straightened herself up and walked around the table to approach him. Once there was nothing in the way, she suddenly sat on Caelum's lap.
He didn't yell, push her away or hit her. He might have done so with any other prisoner, but for some reason he didn't with this woman.
Even from the look in his eyes, no one could read his thoughts. But clearly, he felt something from the criminal woman on his lap right now.
"You look even better from this close, Chief," she said while touching the shape of his face with the backs of her fingers.
"You know, I could throw you into a cold isolation cells and freeze you to death if you don't get up from my lap," Caelum said calmly.
However, his hand somehow found its way around Selene's waist. Gripping her firmly, showing who was in control here.
"Oh are you going to do it, hmn?" She moved closer to his face, feeling his breath on her cheek.
Amidst the heated atmosphere in the cold prison, there was a sudden knock on the door and it opened before Caelum could answer.
"Report Chief, we've just..." One of the warders appeared and was surprised to see Caelum sitting with one of their new female prisoners on his lap.
This was so new that it shocked the warden. However, both Caelum and Selene were calm. Selene laughed as she got up from his lap.
"I think that's enough for today. Such a comfortable seat, I think I'll mark it as my permanent seat in the future," she said as she casually walked out of the office.
At the door she paused for a moment then turned to him.
"See you later, Chief Rothwell," she said and winked. With no one to escort her back to her cell, she walked back alone.
"Jesus Christ that woman, what did she do to you, Chief?" the warden asked with a shocked look on his face.
But Caelum remained silent, his sharp brown eyes watching the direction Selene had gone. He felt increasingly curious and perhaps intrigued by the true motive of her crime.
Especially since Selene had refused to confess to her crime during the trial almost a week ago. It turned out that Caelum was in the closed courtroom, the man with the dark hair sitting at the very back.
He had been following the case for a long time and had seen the trial firsthand until finally meeting face-to-face with the Siren of Justice they had talked about in the media.
'See you soon, Selene.'