Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

Nike vowed that he would choose death before even mentioning Pablo's name to anyone. He was successfully filled with loyalty and mostly with fear of and for Pablo Castillo.

Pablo revelled in the fear of the slave and Cupid watched it but she had no words to say against that.

The most she could do is to tell Pablo that this was not how a master should derive fun in the suffering of his slaves but she would be ignored or worse, Pablo would answer her with an excuse that would make sense and she would hate herself for it. So she remained silent and let Pablo do whatever he wanted.

Pablo indulged in sadistic pleasure for a while longer and when he let himself enjoy for a few minutes, he finally returned on track.

"Alright, Nike." He said. "You got your lesson and I hope you will remember this for the rest of your life. And next time, if something like this happens…"

Pablo told the slave what to do when someone else tried to bribe him and Nike listened to every word of Pablo attentively.

After five minutes, Pablo finished telling Nike the way to deal with bribes and relaxed on the bed.

He sat cross legged and picked up the papers of the Egoes again and kept them on his lap.

Nike remained seated on the floor in front of him and he was finally breathing with relief. That session of hell finally ended.

But why was he still sitting in Pablo's room?

Pablo also had this question and he answered it himself.

"Get lost now. Get some sleep. And get up early tomorrow. I will have another meeting."

"Yes. Yes." Nike instantly stood up as he was only waiting for Pablo's permission to leave.

He reached near the door, opened it and just when he put one foot outside, he suddenly turned around to look at Pablo.

Sensing the gaze, Pablo looked at the slave too.

"What?" He asked.

The slave wasted no time. "What if Lady Sera calls me again? What should I tell her? She is really scary when she is mad. Hena told me how she banged her head on the floor."

"Hena told you that?" Pablo was rather surprised about that. He would have thought that the elf girl would keep it a secret that she and Sera fought each other like monkeys over a banana. Emphasis on banana.

Nike opened his mouth to answer but Pablo added:

"Close the door then talk."

"Right." Nike agreed and closed the door.

But he didn't sit on the floor again and remained standing near the door, resting his back on it.

After that, he talked.

"Hena and I are friends, sir. Mostly because we both are slaves. So one day I saw her going towards her room, all flushed, her cheeks red, hairs disheveled. I entered her room, an action she allowed only me and the other slaves, and asked her what's wrong and she told me what she and lady Sera did to each other in your room."

"Hmm." Pablo wasn't expecting that. "Did she also tell you why she and Sera fought?"

Nike chuckled. "When I asked her that, she threw me out of her room, hiding her face and I didn't ask about it after that incident. I don't dwell on others' personal matters unless they come to me on their own."

Pablo nodded. "Makes sense."

He was just about to end the topic and answer Nike's original first question about what to say to Sera but he couldn't because Nike had something more to say.

"But I must say, sir. Hena was so timid when I first met her, but staying with you changed her."

Pablo frowned. "How so?"

'She is still timid as I saw her the first time.' Pablo thought but Nike completely said something unexpected for him.

"She now talks a lot, she laughs a lot and she even does weird dance steps. Haha. I could have never guessed she was like this if not for you, sir. She is like a kid sometimes. She sings songs, she suddenly smiles while staring at the space. Because of you, sir. She is happy. And not just her, all the slaves, all of us. We are happy from all our hearts, sir. Thank you for giving us a life we never thought we deserved."

Pablo went blank.

Not only did he hear something he never thought he would hear about Hena but he also heard that the slaves were happy because of him. Him. The one who nearly stabbed the eyes of the young man standing in front of him. The man who threatened a girl that he would murder her was happy with him. What sort of face should he make? What sort of thoughts should his mind conjure now? He was at a loss.

The only one who could understand what went on in Pablo's mind at the moment was Cupid and like a good angel, she came to the rescue.

"Hena loves you so she is naturally happy. She now has food, clothes, friends, a place to stay, security. And this goes for all the slaves, Pablo. So of course they are happy. You occasionally shout at them, scare them but they have suffered enough and they received more good things from you than bad things. So they don't hate you. I am sure you also know all this but you can't just accept that someone is happy because of you. Like I said, no one is crueler to you more than yourself."

Pablo wanted to ignore the Angel this time too but he can't deny that her words didn't fall on his ears. He heard her and he had no answer to her.

Cupid also didn't pressurize Pablo as she let him stay with himself and Nike remained standing in the same place without saying a word. Mostly because he had no idea why Pablo was suddenly staring at nothing and he felt like if he spoke anything, he would disturb something.

However, Pablo didn't had all day.

The stacks of paper reminded him what he needed to do so he opened his mouth and said only one thing:

"Fuck off."

…