"You want me to share a room with you?!" Rene exclaimed. The shock and embarrassment clearly visable on her face.
As she said it, Leo pictured the 2 of them sharing the room and it made his body heat up and his face turn read.
"N-No that wasn't what I was trying to say! I was going to go next door to stay with my assistants. You can use my room by yourself!" Leo blurted out, quickly trying to correct the misunderstanding.
Although Leo hadn't been around woman for several years while being a slave. He was aware of what romance and other activities that couples engage in are.
He had never had any of those feelings before today, but this girl in front of him, she was the first to ever make Leo feel... attraction.
Rene's face relaxed with a look of relief on her face, she calmed down by taking some deep breathes. "I thought you were suggesting we should... You know... Share a bed..." Rene quietly said, her face was still red, she was fidgeting with her hands and she was struggling to look Leo in the eyes.
"No I don't want... I mean it's not that I don't want to, it's just..." Leo was panicking, he didn't know what to say. When he tried to explain himself, it just kept coming out sounding wrong.
Rene suddenly grabbed Leo's hand and held them between hers. "Calm down" She giggled at the sight of Leo fumbling his words, she had seen many boys react like this when talking to girls. "I understand now what you meant. But I don't want to force you out of your own room. Also..." Rene paused and her mood shifted.
"Also...What?" Leo asked. He had calmed down a bit now. He was still flustered, but he could see that Rene understood his intentions.
"I... don't want to be alone. I'm scared..." she replied, her voice was quiet and although she was looking down, Leo could see some tears hitting the floor.
'She's shaking... She must really be terrified of being taken again. Is that why she doesn't want to be alone?'
Leo had a sympathetic expression on his face. He somewhat understood the fear Rene had. When he was a slave, the fear of not being in control of your own fate was something he often experienced, himself and others.
Leo squeezed Rene's hand in a comforting way. "Then I won't leave. I also won't be sharing a bed with you, so don't worry about that." Leo said with a gentle smile.
"Where will you sleep then?" Rene asked. She still had tears in her eyes, but when Leo stated that he wouldn't leave, she did feel a lot better. She felt safe around him.
Leo pointed at the couch. "I'll sleep there."
"Are you sure? I don't mind sl..."
Leo interrupted Rene, "No, I won't make you sleep on the couch. You will use the bed and I the couch. It doesn't bother me. Besides, it's only temporary."
Rene smiled at Leo "Thank you for being so nice to me." There was something about her tone of voice that Leo found strange when she said that sentence. He could hear a hint of pain behind those words.
"Of course." Leo said, he paused for a moment and released Rene's hands before he continued to speak. "I need to go make the arrangements for your new room. So I'll be gone for a little while." He then proceeded to walk towards the door.
"Wait!" Rene grabbed the bottom of Leo's shirt from behind "Please don't leave me alone." The tears were welling up inside her eyes again.
Leo thought for a moment about what to do.
'Taking her with me isn't a good idea, I don't think she's in the right state of mind to be wandering around. Hmm, I guess theres only one choice then.'
***
Some time had passed and Leo had already spoken to the private at the main entrance for the academy. There was no issues with Leo's request for a new room to be constructed and it was said to be complete after a week.
Satisfied with that, Leo began heading for the meeting room. He had asked for all the rankers to attend a meeting.
When Leo entered the room, all the other rankers were already there. Nila specifically was only just sitting down, so she must have only just arrived.
Leo took his seat.
"So why have we been asked to meet you here?" Heath asked with an annoyed tone.
"To discuss a punishment for trainee Trent Zemor." Leo announced.
Snythe rolled his eyes "How preposterous. You have no reason to punish him for anything." He said.
"What exactly did he do to deserve a punishment?" Nila asked while looking at Snythe suspiciously.
"You're all aware that I was attacked recently. When I woke up, I questioned the person that I managed to subdue before losing consciousness. He claims that Trent Zemor and his father are responsible for that attack. I then went to speak with Trent in order to ask him for myself if this information was true. When I arrived, I found that Trent and Snythes other 2 assistants were forcing the girl who healed my injuries to strip in front of them as a form of punishment for helping me." Leo explained the gist of the situation.
There was a moment of silence. The person who spoke next was Nila.
"You witnessed this with your own eyes and you didn't punish him immediately?!" Nila almost shouted. She was furious, her face and voice showed it.
"I was about to execute him for his crime. That's when Snythe threatened to use his familial ties with the king to punish my friends and I for doing so." Leo said.
All the rankers looked towards Snythe, who's face showed that he was feeling rather insulted by this 'ridiculous' accusation.
"He's lying to you all! He just has it out for Trent. You all saw what he did in the cafeteria before the testing." Snythe exclaimed with a loud voice, almost shouting.
Nila spoke up "Of course you would say that. If I remember correctly, your and Trents mothers are sisters. To think you'd use your connection with the king to protect a criminal just because he is your cousin. Perhaps you were involved as well and didn't want Trent to expose you." Nila was directing all her anger towards Snythe and even went as far as to suggest he was guilty of a crime.
'Do those two have history? They seem to know each other.' Dreifus commented.
'Maybe. I know Snythe is a noble, so maybe Nila is too? They might know each other through their families.' Leo suggested
"How dare you! You have no right to accuse me of such a thing! None of you have any proof of the crimes you claim Trent committed either!" Snythe shouted at the top of his lungs.
Heath looked at Leo "Where is the man that you questioned at the moment?" He asked.
"He's dead." Leo stated.
"That certainly makes things much more difficult." Heath sighed.
"See! I told you he had no proof. He's making it all up!" Snythe protested once again.
"That may be the case for the involvement with the attack, but it doesn't clear up the other crime. I'm sure you're all aware that rape is a serious crime." Nila stated.
"If you want the truth about who attacked me, then I could always question Trent I front of you all, then you could hear it for yourselves." Leo suggested.
Without a moment of hesitation "NO! That's not necessary." Leonard exclaimed. He remembered what the last person Leo questioned looked like when he had finished.
"If you can prove that Trent did force that girl to do those things, then that should be more than enough to punish him? Right?" Leonard asked with a hurried tone, he was trying to prevent Leo from torturing anyone else.
"Leo, did anyone see what happened with that girl other than you?" Nila asked.
"Yes there were 4 other people, one of them being the girl herself." Leo answered.
"All of those people are his assistants! They'll do and say whatever he tells them to. We can't trust their words on this!" Snythe exclaimed.
"I hate to say it, but it would be easy for someone to coerce their assistants into telling a lie..." Heath said.
"Then I'll bring the girl here and she can tell you all what happened for herself." Leo then stood up and left the meeting room. Heading back towards his own room.
The rest of the rankers sat and waited for Leo to return with Rene. Nila looked just as angry as she was earlier. While Snythe looked annoyed and anxious.
Finally the doors to the meeting room opened once again and in walked Leo with a beautiful girl following in behind him.