The Mask Of The Monster - Chapter 88

“Now shall we talk, Alessandro?” I asked as soon as Ella left.

“My lord, you and I both know that things are complicated. You’re a shifter and so am I. But I work against the shifters now. The shifters have caused enough trouble, they kill innocent people and they treat humans like trash. I’m ashamed to be a shifter,” he said.

“I know, Alessandro that you and the rest of your people want me dead just like they want Nicklaus and Father. And the reason is I’m a shifter too,” I said. “And I’m pretty dangerous as well, I would not deny. I killed humans too, but have you seen me taking a slave or raping anyone, or killing someone without a reason?”

“No, my lord. But still, you’re a threat,” he said.

“I am. But aren’t we going on the same path now? We both are against the Royal at this moment. Your goal is to make this world a better place and my goal is to take back my throne. I understand that we both are rivals in this case, but I don’t want to do anything against you right now as you’re Ella’s father. She would not like it even though she is angry with you. Even I want to kill you too, but she would not…,” I said. “Do you know why I truly haven’t killed her? Why do I treasure her so much? It’s because I saw her eyes shining not with fear, but with curiosity every time she looked at me. It was the first time I saw the eyes of not fear looking at me. She talked a lot, truly a lot, and about everything. But I didn’t find it boring and useless. Rather, I listened to her even though I used to try not to show my interest. And you know what I found out? She is deep, deeper than she thinks. You might think she’s just blabbering, but if you listen to her words attentively, you’ll find a different meaning, a different but true way of seeing life, a bold move towards the future, creative thinking. She might be bright sometimes, she might be enthusiastic and curious, but she knows what she is dealing with, she knows how to survive. Or do you think it was easy to ask a stranger, especially someone like me to give her a place to stay at the price of some information? She wanted to live, she wanted to enjoy life and for that, she even made a deal with me, and even without her knowing, she made me attached to her, and now thinking about not being able to be with her is hard like not being able to breathe.”

“Why are you telling me this, my lord? She is your weakness… I can use her against you,” he muttered.

“You think I’m stupid, Alessandro? I saw the love you have for her in your eyes. She is your daughter after all. You will not use her or hurt her, even though you did before. But I can forgive you for that as you didn’t know about her. And even if you try to use her, do you think she’ll go against me? She is not stupid, Alessandro. She trusts me_ with her life and I trust her, she is not going to leave me even though she found her father now. As she said, it’s not just the deal. But she hasn’t told you the whole thing. I would not bother as well, but as you are her father, I want you to know that your daughter is safe with me though I don’t like you myself,” I said. “I told her not to go to the castle anymore. I told her that she can stay with me and for that, she doesn’t need to bring me information anymore. But why would I do that? I was getting useful information from her. You know why I did that? Because I don’t want to lose her now that for the first time, I’ve found someone who understands me and doesn’t run away in fear from me. But she didn’t agree.”

“Why not?”

“That’s not something I’m going to tell you. If she wants to tell you, she will. But let me tell you one thing. I haven’t marked her forcefully. I’ve never planned on marking anyone. But that was before she came along and I felt a change. She wanted to be marked to know if she has shifter blood and I wanted to mark her so she could be mine. It might be a selfish reason, but I don’t want to lose her.”

“She is very young, my lord. She is not ready for…”

“I don’t want her for that! I want her as she is. I just want her around. And I don’t do anything she doesn’t want me to. I might be a monster, but I’m not shameless.”

“For my daughter, my lord, I’ll not go against you for now. Just keep her safe, my lord. It doesn’t matter who you are, if my daughter doesn’t want to be with you, I will go at any length to get her out. But she seems to like to be with you and trusts you. And she is right- it’s her choice. If she wants to be with you, I can’t stop her. I haven’t been with her in her life and now that she thinks that you care about her, there’s nothing I can do. All I ask from you is- please don’t treat her wrong.”

“I won’t,” I said and stood up. “I’m leaving now.”

“Yes, my lord. This meeting is a secret. No one from my community should know about this. There might be a problem if they find out,” he said. “And I live in the 2nd house of the ‘Fair line’ alley. If she wants to go there…”

“I’ll tell her,” I said and left.

Now she had found her father. I should be happy for her, but I could not help but feel a stone in my heart thinking that she might leave me any time. But I did not want her to leave. I wanted her to stay with me all the time like a selfish person. For her, I did not mind being selfish.

I looked at the castle once. It had been long I had given it a glance. I had not been here for two years. But I was going to come back. I would take back my rightful throne at any cost.

But it meant war. Ella was worried about war. That was because she was not used to this kind of life. She needed to understand that the purpose of life here was power. I was no exception, but still, every now and then there was a little part of me that would wonder if that power was truly the main purpose of my life. Was there nothing greater than power in my life? There was, but_ I was not sure.

“What’re you still doing here, Ella?” I asked, looking at the slender figure, peeking at me from behind a half-open door right beside me.

“I hurt my knee on the way, so I had to wrap it up. It took a while. Don’t worry I didn’t eavesdrop even though I wanted to. I trust you. I know you’ll tell me,” she mumbled. I looked down and saw that her right knee was bandaged poorly with a handkerchief. But she never kept a handkerchief with her.

I sighed and bent down in front of her. I unwrapped the handkerchief and saw that there was a wound that was bleeding, not too much but enough to make me punch whatever caused her this.

“How did this happen? Did you fall?” I asked.

“Well, I wanted to make a quick run to the store nearby and buy some chicken for Jed and me, so we could eat while working. I got some money this month and you know, I can’t just let it be like that, right? But on the way, there was this fat guy who purposefully pushed me and I fell. That’s when I got the knee cut.”

“Where is that bastard now?” I asked, clenching my teeth.

“Oh him? His friends said they are going to take him to the healer or something.”

“Why?” I asked, surprised.

“Because I beat him up with a stick that I found nearby. It turned out to be the walking stick of an old woman. Fortunately, I didn’t break it and moreover, the woman said she enjoyed the scene of me beating him up. She said that he had thrown water on her once. So, she didn’t mind me using her walking stick. And this is that guy’s handkerchief. I took it from his pocket.. Well, I didn’t have anything to wrap the wound with and the blood is disgusting,” she said with a normal face while I observed her face trying to find something that would stop making me surprised.