"Have I ever written a book...?" The man echoed. The madness in his eyes softened as a faraway look crossed his visage. "What makes you ask such a question?"
Nastasia wanted to know that too. The voice that woken her from sleep, that claimed to be the one to have brought her here, whispered in her ears to ask after it. However, after giving it a bit of thought, she recalled the books in Li Yu Rong's study.
Among the chronicled histories and technical manuals were books containing fairy tales. Though there were differences, very slight in some cases and quite large in others, they were rather close to the tales she had often heard in her youth.
It didn't cross her as odd at the time. Many different cultures had stories that walked along the lines of each other's, but with minute differences. Although this was another world, with its own set of rules, it did not mean there wasn't a mind here capable of coming up with a similar tale.
It was very possible for the other kingdoms of this world to be similar to the past selves of the countries in her world. However, now that she was made to think about it, Nastasia began to consider if some of those books had been written by this man.
She wanted to stall for time, to find out as much information as she could but reminded herself to be careful. This man, whose name she'd yet to learn, was a bit off-kilter in his thoughts. If she poked him in the wrong spot he might react violently against her.
Thus, after careful consideration, she asked. "There are a few books in Li Yu Rong's study, fairy tales that you would find in my world... I was wondering if you wrote them?"
The hands that held her down tightened around her arms, squeezing painfully. Nastasia bit her lip to silence her yelp of protest. Her breathing came out in shaking breaths as she tried to overcome the pain. She didn't want to give this man anything. Neither satisfaction nor reason to act with more vigor nor anything else he might be looking for.
When she didn't make a peep he squeezed harder, almost feeling the bones beneath her soft delicate flesh give way. "That isn't his! None of it belongs to him, that thief! I wrote those books, I built that place, the knowledge he gained so easily were the fruits of my labors!"
Li Yu Rong had told her that the previous generations had written the books in his study. Yet, this man is claiming to have written them all. More than that, if she was understanding it right, this man was claiming to have created the Palace of the Four Gates.
How old was he? Was he even human?
Just as she was about to voice her queries, he pressed down on her with even more strength, driving his knee into her diaphragm, just below her ribs, as he raged. "The woman that popped him out was supposed to mine! The blood that sired him only knows how to take and take and take! Satisfied only with things that don't belong to them!"
Nastasia tried to force her voice out, to ask a question, to distract him. The bones in her arm were going to fracture and her ribs felt as if they might snap. After a moment, she was finally able to gather enough breath to say, "how old are you?"
It wasn't the best of questions, but it was all she could think to ask under such pain.
The man pressing down on her, digging into her arm flesh and wreaking havoc on her body, stilled. A second later laughter fell from his lips, but there was nothing delightful in its sound. "You know," he chuckled, "I can't recall. After a couple hundred years ago my mind started to get funny." He drew close and whispered huskily in her ear. "Humans were never meant to live this long."
Scared.
She was afraid of what would happen once there was nothing left to speak about. So, she blurted out questions to keep the conversation going as she hoped for someone to come to her rescue. After dealing with this man for a prolonged amount of time, she understood quite clearly that she couldn't escape him on her own.
There was a rising dread in her that something bad would happen the second he stopped speaking.
"Th-Then Li-are you the first person to own the Palace of the Four Gates?" She was about to ask if Li Yu Rong was the son of the beautiful corpse that rested to the left of them but held her tongue. Whenever he was mention or the woman, Xianmei, this madman would fly off into an uncontrollable rage.
Besides, the answer to that question was already painfully obvious. There was no point in asking it to further incur his wrath.
The man scoffed as if insulted. He spoke in a self-boasting manner, his dark eyes aglow, as he said. "The first person? Hardly. I was the one who created that place and its rules. After making the gates, that spiraled everything out of control, there needed to be a tool that kept it in check." He then said in a sing-song voice, "the palace and its prisoners became that tool."
Just as she was about to inquire deeper into the words the man had just spoken, they were interrupted as the bald man, who had been with him earlier, reentered the room. He ambled forward as if he didn't see his master's unscrupulous actions.
Rather, he just didn't care for them.
Even if his master were to be stabbing the woman over and over again with a knife until her blood flowed like a river, he wouldn't bat an eye.
Standing in front of his master with such an attitude, his expression one of total indifference, he said in even tones. "The samples gathered this time around were overflowing with energy. It was much easier to compare the leftover samples from the prior subject to the current one. This time the results show a perfect match to the desired pieces."
The corner of his lip rose a mere insignificant fraction that even if one looked all day they wouldn't be able to find the happiness he felt for his master. "The things you were trying to achieve, the current subject will serve well for it." He bowed low and then left the room, leaving his master to take care of the rest.
The madman rearranged his hold, forcefully dragging her arms to be raised above her head, pinned with a single-handed hold. His other hand drew down her cheek, her neck, and chest to snake its way into her robes to feel soft pliant flesh.
"Did you hear that, darling?" He asked softly, giving her a gentle squeeze, "you and I are going to make a baby."