His words replayed in my head over and over again.
She is still useful.
Useful. Like a tool.
I kept wiping every spot over and over again until my arms trembled from fatigue.
"If lunch is late even by a minute, you will have to answer to the alpha." Innocent's voice suddenly echoed in the kitchen snappily.
Yet beneath all that, one could hear the faint smugness as if she had won a battle.
I raised my head just as Innocent turned around to walk away and the smile forming on her lips couldn't be hidden.
I stood there with my soaked clothes that had dried stiff against my skin causing an itch I couldn't even scratch for fear of being accused of spreading skin disease.
Only after a full minute did I realize that Innocent had remained in the kitchen as a punishment to me.
She knew that as long as she was there, I would not stop working or rest. I would also not get the time to eat.
So, I would be forced to keep working on an empty stomach, which would double my suffering.
Now that it was time to prepare lunch, I wouldn't be able to even eat the leftovers because I was afraid of serving lunch late.
The alpha would be at the dining table during lunch, and serving it late by even a minute would earn me a visit to the dungeon.
I couldn't believe how twisted Innocent was.
Because of Mike's warning, she couldn't deliver a physical punishment because it would be noticed, but a physiological one didn't matter.
I took a deep shaky breath and went to take out the ingredients for lunch from the fridge.
By this time, I was purely operating on instinct and trained motions.
I didn't need to think when I performed chores. Thank God for that, otherwise, the number of plates I would have broken that morning or the number of times I would have burned myself on the stove would be uncountable.
This wasn't the first time I was working on an empty stomach.
So, it didn't matter to me.
I was in the midst of chopping onions when a voice I wished I never heard in my life drifted into my ears.
"Val." It was a simple call of my nickname. And after my parents' death, only one person had called me that.
I had thought it was the only thing that made me feel safe, but now, that voice made me coil in disgust.
It made my hands tremble and almost cut myself.
But I steadied myself in the next second and schooled my expression to one of detachment.
I didn't turn my head, or show my usual smile when that person came to me.
I simply pretended to be too busy.
"Hey Karl." I replied flatly.
Karl sensed something amiss with the way I was behaving, but seeing the amount of ingredients on the counter, he assumed that I was rushing to prepare lunch.
"I brought you chocolate. Eat it quickly before someone sees you." Karl said as he brought a chocolate that he had just unwrapped close to my mouth.
I used to love such gestures from Karl. It made me feel that even in a sea of people where everyone wanted me to suffer, at least, someone cared about me.
At least, someone wanted me to be happy.
So, I cherished those small gestures. I still kept all the wrappers of chocolates and sweets Karl had ever bought me.
However, after last night, I wanted nothing more to do with the man standing behind me.
The smell of the chocolate near my mouth made me gang and almost wanted to vomit.
But at the same time, the hunger pangs and the way my stomach twisted at the smell of the chocolate made me swallow my pride.
I didn't say anything and just bit into the chocolate.
It was as sweet as ever, but for some reason, I felt as if something else had been added into the chocolate.
Something that made me disgusted. Yet I forced myself to swallow.
I needed the energy to get through the day, otherwise I would collapse in between chores and end up punished for it.
Karl had some doubts when he saw my reaction at first, but the doubts vanished when I bit the chocolate.
So, he became carefree again and spoke softly to me.
"Do you want to go watch the stars tonight?" He asked softly as he brought the chocolate closer to my mouth for another bite.
Feeling that disgust again, I tuned out my sense of smell and taste the same way I had learned to tune out everything else.
This way, I could eat the chocolate to recover energy without actually tasting it or smelling it.
"I don't think so. I am already so exhausted and I haven't been feeling well recently." I politely declined Karl's invitation.
This was the first time I had turned him down.
I always agreed to everything he asked because I treated him as my only friend. But he obviously treated me like a prize to be won from a bet.
I wasn't that cheap to keep entertaining him.
"Oh! I was looking forward to it. It is going to be a full moon tonight and it will be beautiful.
It is the day the moon goddess made for us wolves to be carefree and pray for our desires. Who knows, our wishes might be fulfilled." Listening to him sound like a poet, I really wanted to bash his head with a pan, but I didn't dare to.
He was an alpha, even as a guest alpha, he was still respected in the pack like a true alpha.
Also, even though he had used my trust against me, I still needed him.
He may be a jerk, but his presence beside me sometimes would tone down punishments and sometimes even help in escaping them completely.
Even though I was still processing his betrayal, I wasn't stupid enough to completely kick him out of my life.