10 AM.
It is a beautiful morning, today. The sun is glowing nicely but not too bright, sending down to the Earth its neverending warmth. Thanks to that, the temperature outside is very pleasant.
Combined with the white clouds moving around the penthouse regularly, this place is truly worthy of the name Heaven Penthouse.
*Ting-ling-ling*
The sound of the doorbell suddenly rings in every corner of the house. It shares some similarities with wind chimes, which makes it pleasant.
In their room, Sam and Nycta are still not waking up.
On Nycta's forehead and her lower stomach are the two special crests that just appeared. Her fragile body is currently fully in his arms as she snuggles up even closer. They spent quite an energetic night together, so that much is understandable.
Lily, Yui, and Yuno are already awake. They are silently arguing about whom is the first to go into the bathroom.
They are still sitting on the bed, through. Last night, Sam chose this one because all of them were following him. The bed of this particular room is so big that there is still a lot of space left even when 5 people are on it. The rest is not that huge as they can only accommodate 4 at most. Still, that is bigger than the king-size beds already.
Coincidentally, this room is also the one in the middle of the ground floor of the penthouse. It can be accessed very easily from every other room relatively quickly. Nycta really did think of the layout of the building throughout.
"There is a bathroom for every bedroom in this place, you two should go back to your own." Surrounded by the Sound Proof spell of the twins, Lily says.
"Yui can not trust Lily anymore. You clearly are not good enough to be defending Sam. Right, Yuno?" Yui sits on the corner beside her sister.
The maid hears the doorbell but continues her work this morning, waiting to confirm the sound one more time.
"Of course, Yui. You lost to Nycta almost instantly! How are we supposed to believe you are not going to let her win again?" Yuno stares at Lily.
The azure eyes look dejected all of a sudden, yet she holds it in. "Look at you two. So high and mighty. You were stuck in that room for hours! You two have no rights to talk about me like that."
"" Guh!"" The two are taken back by Lily's remarks. "" You...you...!""
She breathes out deeply.
"What are we even doing? We lost and now we are venting our anger towards the losers..."
"...Yuno feels weak." "Yui too." The twins look down. "" We were too weak...""
"Me too...Me too..." Lily mumbles. She looks down at her hands.
"I lost to a blind person with no disabilities on my part." Her azure eyes start to become foggy.
"" We couldn't even fight her...""
"Strength. That is all we need. We need training. A lot of it. This is lucky because it is Nycta. But I can not imagine if it is someone with hostility..."
"Yuno will start training right away! Yuno wants to stay with Sam forever and ever!" The little girl raises her fist.
"Yui will join too!"
Lily looks at them. Not just the twins want to stay with him until the end. But to do so, Lily needs to change. Training is the only way.
She is also filled with determination.
*Ting-ling-ling*
The maid sighs, wondering what is going on outside. No order for anything has been made yet, so it should not be a delivery. There should be no visitors, too. No one knows the place belongs to Nycta except for her and the maid, as well as the constructor, of course.
From the first time the maid came to the penthouse, she has been taught to use the phone to call for anything the house was missing.
The penthouse is above a mega-mall not just for fun, but also for convenience.
After listening to the chime the second time, she puts the bed sheet in her arm down. The thing has a very typical smell of bodily fluids from last night. The maid is very familiar with the smell since she used to join in such activities with her ex. Now, she has no such chance.
She walks out towards the entrance. Her mind is not very clear since the smell makes her remember the event that happened just a few hours ago.
Last night, when she was in front of the door, she was instructed by her master to block a punch of Lily, giving her master the chance to use her magic. The punch brought blood to her throat, but she would have to take care of it herself, or until her master takes her to the hospital.
Or worse still, her master asks Lily to take care of her.
Because her womanhood was destroyed by acid, and the scars on her face were meticulously cut by Lily to avoid ever being recognized, she has a gigantic fear of facing those azure eyes.
Those are only vibrant looking at Sam.
When they look at her, it is like looking at an insect: cruel, and heartless.
*Shudders*
The maid trembles just thinking about it.
*Kachak*
The door on her right opens up as she traverses the hall, and the twins walk out together. It looks like they decide to go back to their room, after all.
They see her, frown their eyebrows, and continue.
She bows down lightly. There is no word exchanged, no need for someone like her. If she says anything unnecessary, her master will torture her again, just like last time when she accidentally called out his name.
Inside of their heterochromatic eyes, the maid can see a clear emotion: contempt.
The twins ignore the maid, while the latter continues to reach for the door.
Once she reaches it, she pushes a button on the side.
Immediately, a holographic image appears in front of the wooden door, showing a person in a white uniform that looks a bit like a delivery guy.
On his shirt is the logo of a galaxy behind a golden scale. He is currently holding a big package in his arms.
What is that? She asks herself. Is there any delivery service that looks like that?
With her head slowly filling with doubt, she talks to the hologram. "Who is it?"
On the outside, the delivery guy can hear the question.
"Good morning, Madam. I am from the Intergalactic Delivery Service, or IDs, for short. There is a package for Mr. Sam." He says with a formal tone.
Is this some kind of a sick joke on her again? Is this another torture? She trembles.
IDs, there are no such organizations on Earth that have that name.
Still, she needs to go out even when this is a trap. If she dies, she dies. No one will save her. She is already in her hell, after all.
*Kachak*
The maid opens the door.
"A top of the morning to you, madam. We have this package for Mr. Sam. Is Mr. Sam at home?" The delivery guy bows down.
"Who are you guys really!?" Her voice is cold. "How did you find this place?"
He looks at her apologetically. "I am sorry if I have offended you in any way, Madam. I am here only to deliver this package."
Then, the delivery guy puts down the package, his right hand puts on the logo on the left side. It glows in a golden light after that.
"I swear under the name of our Lord, the God of Commercial, that I am speaking the truth and only the truth."
The God of Commercial, she has heard of him before. But what about this IDs thing?
"Please trust us, Madam. No one dares to lie to their Gods, after all!"
She nods lightly.
"May I know your name, please?" He asks politely.
"Mar... Ah, no. Not that name. It's Ari." Still in doubt, she replies.
"You don't have a past, and you will not deserve a future. So I take away the first place and the last letter of your name. From now on, you are Ari." Her master told her that very clearly.
"Ah yes, Miss Ari. We were told by the sender that you would be receiving the package if it is not Mr. Sam. Please just sign your name right here." He takes out a tablet.
"No pens?"
"Just touch it and sign your name please! No need for a pen." He smiles softly.
She nods and moves her index finger down, touching the tablet.
But completely due to habits, the name she signs is 'Marie'. Not 'Ari'.
Putting away the tablet, the delivery guy suggests. "Thank you very much, Madam! This is your package, do you need me to bring it inside for you?"
"Is it heavy?"
"No, Madam. Despite its size, it is not heavy at all."
"Then I'll do it myself."
"Thank you very much, Madam." The man changes into particles and disappears right after that.
Seeing such weird magic, the maid is stunned. Even Hero's Teleportation is not that fast. Hero has to create a portal first, this guy just faded into thin air.
If that guy could just help her...
No. No. She needs to stop this kind of thinking. If her master hears it, she will be in agony again.
The maid sighs upon her tragic fate and looks down on the package.
It is a big square box. The side of which is probably longer than her elbow a little. On the outside, there is nothing really special, just a normal metal cover.
What is interesting about it, however, is the note attached on top.
It says.
'To Sam, from Rhan.
All the other fuckers can get lost.
You girls are damn lucky I could not make it from my homeworld.'
There is also a line of indecipherable letters that the maid can not read.
But reading it is not her job. Her job is to bring it inside to where her master is, to start cleaning the bed sheet again.
It will stink at this point.