"You don't like it?" He pretended to be sad.
"It's not a matter whether I like it or not to you..." Rena looked away, breaking eye contact with him.
When she returned her gaze at him, she gave him a challenging look.
"If you are going to ask my opinion about this, then don't decide thing one-sidedly, 'Master'."
Frei gave oddly satisfied reaction.
"Anyway, it doesn't really matter to me. Serena, -rena... I still can be called Rena." She said.
"Then what's the point of giving you a name?" He protested, making a childish expression.
"Like hell I know...?" She got annoyed.
"Please use Serena from now on. Only I can call you Rena, okay~?" He demanded.
"....." She didn't want to reply.
"Okay?" He put a slight pressure on his tone, his lips almost touched her cheek.
"...kay." In the end, she resigned to his demand.
(...I want to know what's going on in his mind.)
Rena didn't object this idea since she thought getting a new name in the different world wasn't particularly a bad idea. Normally, she wouldn't accept this. If she wanted to change her name, she'd rather do it herself. But right now, she had decided to stay on his good list. If she wanted to survive in this world, she needed more information and any help offered to her. At least for now, she was convinced that Frei wouldn't do something terrible to her.
Not long after, the carriage stopped in front of a nice looking inn. Facing the ocean, it gave amazing views. The building was simple and elegance. The white color plastered on the wall, and it was decorated with many arc windows.
Frei's assistant, the guy who drove the carriage, opened the door.
"Master Frei, we've arrived."
Rena took a glance at him. The guy looked like a serious person, a middle age man with dark blue, shoulder length hair neatly tight in the back. His dark gray eyes framed by spectacles, and there's a scar on his left eye.
When he helped Rena get down the carriage, his movement was sharp and smooth.
"Rena, I have business tomorrow morning, Sebastian here will take care of you. Don't be afraid to ask him if you need anything." Frei introduced his assistant to Rena.
"Sebastian, this is Serena. From today onwards, I leave her in your care."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Serena. It's my pleasure to offer you my assistance." He smiled and did a butler style bow, he spoke with a polite but impassive tone.
"Ah, nice to meet you too. Then please take care of me." Rena also bowed.
Sebastian was a little surprise when she bowed, it wasn't a common behavior to bow for greetings. Even though he bowed himself, the mannerism was different. He was trained to do this because he was a butler.. *cough* Master Frei's assistant.
As if not noticing this, Frei continued speaking,
"Sebastian, ask another room to be prepared for her."
"Yes, Master." Sebastian slightly bowed his head and left.
Rena's face brighten, she was excited to get her own room. After all, she had been sleeping on the hard surface these past few weeks. Her body ached like an old man every morning.
"Ok, Rena before we parted, is there anything else you want to say?"
Rena thought for a while and then said, "What would you do if I run away?"
She thought it was a little suspicious, everything is too good to be true. Even though she was a slave he bought, he treated her like a free person. She wasn't collared or shackled, she was even given another room in this nice looking inn.
Frei smiled.
"Ah, he smiled..." She muttered.
Rena had learned nothing good will happen when he smiled like that.
"That's impossible, isn't it? We're bound by magical contract."
"Magical contract?" Her heart stopped for a second hearing that word.
Frei took a parchment and showed it to her.
"There was my blood and your blood here on this parchment, it's magically binding. You're only be given of the amount of freedom as I allowed it. You can't run away because you'll be caught soon anyway."
Rena's heart sunk. It never crossed her mind that a magical contract exist. Magic exist in this world, something she didn't have any knowledge of. Was she too naive thinking she could get her freedom back? What would she do now?
Frei sensing her disappointment said, "That said, I never bind a slave forever. You'll work for me, prove your value, and in return, I'll let you earn money. If you can pay me back the amount of money I have invested in you, I'll give you the contract."
"!!" She glanced up, looking directly at Frei.
"A-are you serious?" Rena still couldn't believe what he said.
Just a moment ago, Rena was at the bottom of the well, now she could see a ray of hope shined through. Think of it as a debt, she only needed to return the money that was borrowed from Frei.
"I... I'll work hard! I'll definitely work hard! I'll pay back the amount of money you have used for me. S-so..."
Rena couldn't finish her sentence. Tears were flowing from her eyes, but this was tears of happiness. She cried like a little girl. Frei hugged her gently, rubbing her hair. He didn't say anything, letting her cried out all her feelings.
"Thank you, Frei..." She mustered herself to say that word between her sobbing cries.
"There, there... It's fine." He gently pat her head.
After that, Sebastian came and Frei escorted her to the room that had been prepared for her.
"You have been through so much these days, so please rest well tonight. Good night, Rena." He said that and left her for the night.
---
Now that Rena was alone, recalling what was just happened, made her embarrassed. How could she cry like that in front of him, she made him comforted her too. They just met today but he had done a lot of things for her.
(Although he is a little mischievous, he is a good guy.)
Rena closed her eyes, she felt overwhelming gratitude toward Frei.
When she opened her eyes again, glancing at her surrounding. She saw the moonlight had penetrated the room, giving a nice contrast of light and shadow. There was something gleamed in the corner of her eyes.
"Mirror!"
As soon as she saw the mirror, Rena ran toward it.
She stared at the reflection in front of her. What she saw there was a girl she didn't recognize. She had long black hair, like her original body. But everything else was different. Her old appearance wasn't bad but her current body was like a doll. Rosy cheeks on porcelain skin, lips like a petal flower, a slightly turn up nose, and her eyes... she had a pair of deep purple eyes. She also looked younger, Rena guessed, this body was around 16-17 years old.
"I do really have purple eyes..." Her hand moved touching her face that reflected in the mirror. With her long black hair and porcelain skin, the eye color gave a mysterious and ethereal look to her appearance.
Rena wondered what happened to her original body, she remembered that night she felt a little drunk and decided to sleep. Did she die? Was she reincarnated into this world? But she didn't have any memory of her life in this world. Was she transported here? If that's the case, she would still be in her original body... No matter how many times she thought about it, she couldn't get an answer.
After quite sometime, Rena felt the effect of aphrodisiac had worn off, soon she was attacked by accumulating fatigues. She threw herself on the bed and fell asleep right away. She had a long deep sleep that night, her first peaceful sleep since coming to this world.
---
In the other room, Frei was standing on the balcony, holding a glass of wine, staring into the distance night sea. His golden hair danced with the wind.
"Did the rat eat the bait?" He asked the guy who was standing in the room.
"Yes. After he returned to his mansion, he told his servants to move."
"Good. Tell Senka to standby, soon the rat will lead us to its hole."
Frei smiled, but there wasn't any trace of his warm expression from before. It was the smile of a predator who successfully cornered his prey.
"Will do soon, Master. I'll make the necessary preparation. And if I may inquire, what will you do with the girl after that?"
"It's out of my expectation, but she turned out to be a valuable asset. It would be such a waste to let her disappear with the rat."
When he turned around, the moonlight illuminating his face.
"Sebastian, I'm keeping her."
"As you will, Master Frei. Then, Sebastian will do his best to protect her."
"Thank you, Sebastian. If you don't have anything else to report, you may go now." Frei dismissed him.
"Yes, Master." Sebastian bowed and left the room.
Frei watched the retreating figure of his servant. Sebastian had loyally served the family since his father's time. He would follow Frei's every command even if that meant sacrificing an innocent life. Usually Frei wouldn't take a risk like this, he would clear all traces of his involvement after a mission. He must minimize any risk that could possibly be ruining his goal.
But, during their short conversation in the carriage, Frei noticed an unusual thing about the girl. She didn't speak with an accent. He got curious.
At first, he spoke to her with the common language used in most regions on East Continent. And then he switched, using the languages from West Continent. Rena didn't get confused, she didn't even realize the change. When Frei read her lips, her lips movement didn't match with the words he heard. Frei then remembered, in the legend, the purple eyes wizard were said to be able to understand all languages. It was his gift, a magic that didn't need a spell to be activated. But all his descendants after that didn't inherit his gift, even worse, none of them were able to use magic. When he understood what this meant, he got excited.
Also, there was another thing that he couldn't just ignore. Frei looked at the twin purple moons in the sky and muttered to himself.
"The bloodline of Amethyst Wizard, huh? What a coincidence that we share a name."
---