Lea and Mason were walking back to the main building very slowly. Lea had hurt her legs more badly than she had first thought. The pain made her limp so she really needed Mason's support.
"Kailey, this is the second time you hurt yourself while I'm with you. Am I a bad influence or are you just clumsy?" Mason had quite a bit of trouble formulating his questions so that he wouldn't seem to suspicious. He was trying to slowly ease her into the more important questions, but this proved quite difficult.
Lea laughed awkwardly. There's no way she could tell Mason the truth. "Maybe it's both."
This answer made Mason throw all caution in the wind. Screw subtlety. It wasn't getting him anywhere, and he really wanted to know Kailey better. How could he achieve those goals if he needed to walk on eggshells the entire time?
"Or maybe it's because you thought something you shouldn't?"
Lea stopped walking. How did he know?! Was she being that obvious? Lea knew she was a bad actress, but she had never thought she would be this bad. Or maybe it was because Mason was the protagonist and as an undercover criminal had really good observation skills? 'Yes, that must be it!' Lea thought. 'Normal people wouldn't be notice something like that.'
"What makes you… makes you say that?"
"Your accidents were all preventable. It seemed like you were doing it on purpose."
"I'm a good civilian and have never broken a law in my life," she said shakenly. Lea of course knew that she didn't have to fear Mason finding out her small transgressions, since he was a Criminal who was striving for free will, but her character, Kailey King, didn't know that. Even though criminality was kept in check through self-punishing, it was considered very shameful to even come to that point. The perfect civilian would never need to punish themselves. If people got notice of self-punishment the persons reputation would be ruined!
"Maybe not," Mason answered, "but I think you were thinking about breaking a law."
Lea didn't know what to say. Mason was right, but she couldn't possibly admit that! She also couldn't lie, because that was illegal. Damn it! Why was this world so difficult?
Mason took Kailey's silence as an acknowledgment. He needed to know more, so he guided her to a more shielded area, were he knew there were no camera's and thus he could interrogate her freely. Once they were there Mason let Kailey lean against the wall.
Lea wondered where they were. Weren't they going to the doctor? Wasn't that in the main building? That's not close to here at all!
"You don't like William Wright do you?" Mason put his hand next to Lea's head and whispered in Kailey's ear.
Lea was going crazy. This was the famous kabedon! She had never thought this would happen to her. What was happening? First a princess carry and now a wall slam! This was too much for Lea to handle. If that wasn't stimulation enough, Mason's warm breath was touching her cheek and made her mind a little fuzzy.
"He is the future president! How could I dislike him?" Lea countered a bit flustered. She needed to keep her head in the game. She couldn't afford to slip up, she had suffered enough punishments!
"He basically abducted you, and is holding you hostage. I don't believe for a bit you aren't holding a grudge, especially since all your small 'accidents' happened when we were talking about him."
Lea's eyes widened. What was this protagonist thinking? He basically admitted to being a criminal! Nobody can say bad things about the president's family! You might be able to think it, and get away with only a small punishment, but actually saying it out loud is basically impossible for anyone who had the hypnotization and indoctrination training. "You… how can you say that about William Wright? Who are you?"
Mason could punch himself on the head. He let his true thoughts slip out. He compromised himself in front of a normal civilian who would snitch on him even if they didn't want to. How could he be so stupid?
"What do you really think about the president's son?" Mason pressed ignoring Kailey's questions. He'll maybe answer them later, after he had made sure Kailey couldn't snitch.
"I… William is… William is cute!" Yes, Dwyl might be an a** sometime, but if anything she learned today that he could be adorable! That was the truth, and the only positive thing she could come up with at the moment.
Mason's expression got worse. Cute? Did she just call the future tyrant who in his young life had already ordered the executions of thousands of lives on his selfish whims cute? What was wrong with this woman? Had Mason really misjudged her actions so much? "You are joking, right?"
"I'm not! William is cute. He even wants to go on a date with you!" she blurted out. Was this an appropriate time to mention that? Lea wasn't sure.
Mason felt like he might vomit. That punk wanted to go on a date with him? Well, it did explain the stupid tasks that William assigned to him.
Mason slammed his free hand on the other side of Kailey's head, now completely entrapping her between his body and the wall.
"William Wright is a murderer, with no consideration for other people. There is no way I'll ever go on a date with someone like him!" he screamed at Lea. How could she even suggest such a thing? The one he wanted to go on a date with was her!
Lea's heart fell. Did this mean she would never see Mason and William together? Noooo!!!!! Those two had to come together, otherwise what was the point of her life? She had to make Mason change his mind, and the only way to do that was to defend William at all costs!
Lea looked up straight into Mason's fiery eyes with a fire in her own. "William rescued me from a loveless marriage! He is my hero and he genuinely likes you. Yes, he might be an arro…" Before Lea could finish that last word her teeth bit her tongue. "Gaaaaah!!!"
She wanted to say that William was indeed an arrogant selfish prick, but that didn't mean he didn't know love. Those stupid laws didn't even let her say such an obvious thing! How could she make William look good if she wasn't allowed to acknowledge his faults? She sounded so insincere now. Only saying positive things about people doesn't make them necessarily look good, you know? Most of the time, it just looks suspicious. Nobody is perfect.
The metallic taste of blood spread through Lea's mouth. She had really bitten hard. Was her tongue still whole? Please don't let a chunk be missing.
"F**k!" Mason cursed. Why did Kailey always hurt herself like this? Saying William was cute must have been a delusion Kailey made herself believe, so that she could distract herself from the truth that would lead to overly self-punishment. Not only was hypnotization and indoctrination a violation of free will, it was also a danger to people's mental and physical health. "Stick out your tongue. I need to see the damage."
Lea was too preoccupied with the pain and cursing this world, to hear what Mason was saying. She hated this world!
It drove Mason mad that Kailey didn't listen to him. Seriously, what did he need to do with this woman? He grabbed Kailey's face on both sides and forced her to look at him. "Open. Your. Mouth. Now."
Lea didn't dare to disobey Mason's orders and did as she was told. He was so scary right now. His eyes were so intimidating.
"You're in luck. There doesn't seem to be too much damage." Mason sighed in relief. What if she had bitten her tongue out? She could have died, or forever been unable to talk. Sh*t, those hypnotized and indoctrinated people are frightening. Hurting themselves like that. If he was going to question Kailey any further, he needed to do it in a controlled environment in which she couldn't hurt herself.
For now, he would bring her to his room. There was still some time before William returned from his outing, and he needed to call Darian pronto, so they could decide what to do with Kailey. The servants quarters weren't planted with camera's so it should be relatively safe.
"You should give William a chance." Lea slurred her words because of the pain in her tongue.
Mason glared at her. How could she still say such a thing? She was obviously just going to say something negative about William Wright, which caused her to be wounded. Why did Lea defend the guy that caused her such pain? "Stop talking."
"No. You need to go on a date with him. He will be very upset if you refuse him." Lea stubbornly kept going. She was not going to give up!
Mason hardened his grip on Lea's cheeks. "Do you realize what position you are in? You should already have realized I am not influenced by the hypnotization and indoctrination. You want to match me up with the person I want to destroy? How do you think that's a good idea?"
Lea was stunned. Why is the protagonist telling her his true identity? How could he be so dumb? She was a normal person! She can't keep his secret even if she wanted to.
"Aaaah!!! Criminal! There is a criminal here!"
See? Her body already started to scream without her wanting to.
Immediately Mason covered her mouth with his hand. "Ssst. Be quiet!"
She can't. She really wanted to, but she couldn't stop screaming her lungs out.
Mason regretted every decision he made today. He should have done a better a job at this. He should've known better, but Kailey just had this influence on him. There was only one thing he could do now.
"I'm sorry for this," Mason said before knocking Lea unconscious. He hated that he had to hurt her, but he couldn't make her stop otherwise.