The next day Elaine wakes up, sad to find herself still in her humble cell, and she was not back in the Aekerman family's magnificent villa, as she had been in her dream, while there was also no Nanny Anna standing by with the clothes she needed to wear.
She stared blankly at the off-white ceiling for a few moments, and the chaotic images of last night flashed through her mind.
Memory and sanity returned, propping herself up, she slowly sat up, while the air-dried contraceptive fell from her face, landed on the messy sheets.
There was pain all over, the pain of her raped vagina, the muscles in her back and legs ached, and her cheeks hurt from the blows, while her eyes hurt from crying, with the pain in her throat.
Elaine had never felt so helpless for a moment. If the suffering she had endured all this time had been the price she had paid for hurting Selena.
She felt truly wronged, and that no one could believe her, and she was increasingly unsure whether she was increasingly unsure whether her grievances would ever be found, at the same time ,the rushed overwhelming sadness that had overwhelmed her was like a flood.
She clutched herself in despair, hunging her head on her knees, which had been red last night.
For four or five days afterwards, no one visited the cramped cell. The men outside brought her food twice a day, opening the small window in the outer door, and the tray was brought in through the gap in the bars of the inner door.Then they closed the window and left immediately afterwards, not saying even half a word to Elaine.
For the first two meals. Elaine, accustomed to fine steaks and cream of mushroom soup, could not tolerance such crude food, and the treatment here was even worse than in the previous prison, so she refused to eat. But she starved herself for the whole day and no one took care of her.
By the next day, she was unable to resist the physical need to eat, she shivered and stuffed the cheap bread into her mouth, gulped it down with tears in her eyes, her heart desolate.
The area is quiet for the most part, except at regular times of the day - after the second meal delivery, to be specific - there is a noise outside, a loud. First there is the sound of footsteps and joking as groups of men pass by, from a distance.
Then, in a few moments, the sound of the cell door opening and closing and the creaking of shaking beds came intermittently. Some were right next door to Elaine's room, some a little further away.
The occasional feminine greeting was interspersed with the sound of a delicate voice, and this was particularly noticeable in the group of gruff, heavy male voices.
Elaine was horrified the first time she heard these sounds, after looking at the bedside table full of drawers of condoms and erotic products, she was already convinced of Jeff's story, totally.
At this time of day, any footsteps passing her cell door, she blanched with fear. She was afraid that the owner of the footsteps would next open the door and rape her, as Jeff had done that day.
No one ever entered her room, though, while after a few times, Elaine was scared out of her wits, so shee woke up at night and hugged her pillow and wept.
Not being able to eat or sleep well, she didn't know how to take care of herself. Elaine's injuries were slow to heal, while it was not a serious injury, but took her five days to heal herself.
On that same day, as she chewed her bread and stared warily at the cell door, praying that the footsteps outside would just pass by as they always did, while the sound of the lock suddenly reached her ears and Elaine's hand shook and the bread fell to the floor.
Shiny military boots stepped onto the concrete, and the tops of the boots are long legs encased in military trousers, while the belt was meticulously fastened around his waist. Under the brim of his hat was a grim face, the visitor was Jeff.
The man's gaze darted towards Elaine.
Elaine didn't have time to react, and before could react, she heard a snort of laughter.
"Miss Elaine has a lot of 'backbone', being a military prostitute still retains the aristocratic style. How dare you waste food like that, you really don't seem to know anything about the rules of the barracks."
There was an easily detectable note of displeasure in his tone.
Elaine should have explained to him, but perhaps it was really the aristocratic habit that had penetrated her bones, and perhaps it was the bitterness that had been repressed for days, and these grievances filled her chest like stones, and made her unwilling to bow down to Jeff: "Such coarse food, is the food of the lowly commoners of the Third Frontier. It is an honour for these food to be thrown away by me!"
She had been a noble lady for seventeen years, had all grown up almost in Spencer's hands' protection. So such condescending words came easily and naturally.
"Heh." Jeff lowered the brim of his hat over his eyes and let out a sneer.
Elaine regretted it as soon as she said it, and now that she's heard the sneer, she's even more scared, but there was no taking back what had been said.
She can only watched as the man walks up to her, expressionless, and knelt down to pick up the half-slice of bread from the floor.
"Eat it." He pinched Elaine's cheeks with one hand. In one hand he took the bread and shoved it roughly into a mouth that would not please.
"Ummmmmmmm-!!!" Elaine was caught off guard and was nearly suffocated by him. Subconsciously, she struggled back, and the sudden outburst is so strong that it pulls Jeff a step forward.
Jeff was angered, raised his hand and slapd Elaine. Through his gloves, Elaine's face was unceremoniously scarred with red.
The dull sound of the slap, bounced off the empty wall and the faintest of echoes reverberates.
The slap stopped everything Elaine was doing, and she tilted her head in a daze, puffing out her cheeks and stuffed with bread.
Elaine's hands rested feebly on the man's iron arm who was pinching her jawbone.
"Elaine, you suffer to swallow," Jeff wrenched her face upright, smiling a shuddering sneer, "Otherwise I'd be embarrassed."
Elaine was forced to look at him, not daring to breathe, and her throat moved up and down. She tried several times but could not swallow the dry mass. Instead, her throat was rubbed raw from the bread.
Without another word, Jeff unscrewed the water bottle and poured it into her mouth without a word.
"Ugh - cough...cough...!" In the confusion of, the bread in Elaine's mouth was pushed and pressed down her throat, the excess water flowing into the windpipe.
Without the support of the man's arms, Elaine falled to the ground, choking and coughing.
Jeff walked to the bed and sat down, resting his elbows on a pair of long, spread legs, patience as she recovered.
"When are you going to...ahem ... When are you going to let me leave?"
Elaine sat on the floor without getting up, asked him, holding back the discomfort in her throat and turning her head sideways.
Her eyes fluttered, not looking directly at the man as she had done before, instead her eyes rested evasively on his knee.
Jeff pretended to be surprised: "Hmm? Why don't I remember saying I was going to get you out?"
"You! You clearly said that the other day!" Elaine's eyes widened.
"Said what?"
"You said would get me ...served you well and then you'd get me out."
Remembering the humiliation she had received that day, Elaine's heart was as clogged with a clot of blood that wouldn't stop, because it hurt and hurt.
But remembering what she had been afraid of all these days and the nightmares that kept her awake at night. She had to swallow her hatred and give in to Jeff, her abuser.
"I said I'd think about it if you served me well, but you haven't done me any favours either, Miss Elaine?" Jeff smiled this time with genuine pleasure, sat up straighter and tapping his fingers on his knees, " You're really bad at serving men."
*
As soon as Orville entered the door, saw that Janet, who was sitting straddling Chad, suddenly pressed up against her and smiled slyly, her voice not too high or low, "Are you shy, Deputy Head?"
Then she continued to press closer to Chad, with peach blossom eyes curved like crescent moons, let me help you so you don't suffocate."
Orville knew Chad's true gender, and he'd heard a lot of these flirtatious comments at dinner tables and parties in the past, had never taken it to heart. But today, for some reason, when he heard this, he had a sudden frown on his face, not happy about it.
Janet was just about to continue rubbing up against Chad, but then Orville spoke up slowly: "You only play with Chad, and leaving Regulus and Lord Clare out of it. Isn't that a little biased."
When the two men next to him heard Orville's comment, were no longer polite and they both reached for Janet's hand.
Janet hadn't expected Orville to come back so early, and she knew how to read people. Seeing the look of discontent on Orville's face, in a few steps, she moved back to the front of the line , re-shaking her skirt and smilt: "Lord Duke is right, that Chad is just like wooden, not a thousandth of the flavour of you, so why not sing and dance for you?"
Orville didn't reply, his attention was all on Chad.
As soon as Janet let go of her , Chad then rose abruptly and body was all red, with tears in her eyes. She bowed to Orville, then she fled without a backward glance.
Everyone else was so absorbed in Janet's beauty, while only Orville found her so embarrassed. Orville thought, she's still bending over backwards to apologise. It was so cute that he couldn't help but smile.
The corners of Janet's mouth curled up in a sneaky way, too. There were men she'd seduced before who had been restrained, but never one who had run away from a fight. It was the first time she'd seen such a decent man who was true to himself. She was overjoyed, was determined to eat the meat.
Orville didn't refuse, Janet took that as a yes. She got up and borrowed a feather fan from the maid, half covered her face with the fan again. Then she babbled and sang.
The Count didn't like to listen to singing, but he had to admit that Janet was not only a great dancer and a great bedside manner, she also had a great voice. Her voice was more melodious than that of a bird.
The sound of a bird in his ears, but he was thinking of someone else.
The one who could not speak or sing, that little mute.