Belle thought to her self that if he could buy her, it will be her one way ticket to freedom. It was the only way she could think of to leave this place without anyone stopping her.
"I am not for sale," Zenon repeated, mocking her on what she had said before," I have no interest to buy anyone, and I certainly do not like meddling in other peoples business."
Belle was short of words, She couldn't understand this man standing before her, She lowered her head realizing how foolish she must have sounded to him, She was the one that told him she wasn't for sale , only for her to turn around and ask him to buy her.
Please forget what I said earlier, enjoy your night, she said.
She turned around and returned to her room, she didn't want to risk getting caught once again by another customer. She decided to wait till morning to get water.
The door is wide open, why don't you make a run for it? Zenon questioned her, He knew she didn't want to be here, he remembered how quickly she had left the room ,when he first met her and Rubin.
Belle smiled, Be careful were you roam and what you say. In this place, there's always someone watching. Good night, she bid him goodbye and quickly left for her room.
Though he did not hurt her, but being a foreigner she couldn't stay around him, if the stories were true , then these men are worse than what she is used to.
Zenon watched her as she walked away, the useless knife still in her hand as she held it behind her.
Come out, Zenon said.
General, one of Zenon's men stepped out of the dark corner, Your carriage has arrived or do you wish to spend the night?
Zenon looked away from where belle had disappeared, he was bored once again.
He sighed, come along before he offers more women, Zenon said, still irritated by Rubin's offer, They call us monsters but don't blink an eye to selling humans as long as it fetches them money.
Be careful it would benefit the king to have you held captive.
Zenon smiled as it humored him that anyone would believe any of these drunk fools could overpower him or hold him captive.
He chuckled at the useless thought.
.....
The next day Belle had left her bedroom early ,to get to the kitchen before the other women, she wanted to get water and food before it ran out.
Unfortunately most of them were already awake or they didn't sleep at all.
She made her way into the kitchen.
Oh! Good morning ,princess Belle, Ladies, make way ,we must let her royal highness use the water pipe.
Belle only ignored their mockery filled words, she dislike the nickname they had given her, and It was all because of Rubin's obsession over her. She knew many who wished to be her, to not have to take customers, to be treated with special care by Rubin, but she did not enjoy listening to Rubin's sick plans for her future either, they irritated her in the worst possible way.
She placed the bucket and began to fill it up with water.
Anna one of the prized women in the brothel walked over to belle. Tell us belle, when are you finally going to spend the night with graham? How much longer do you think he will wait for you, He will surely loose his patience with you very soon and when that time comes he will beat you up and take what he want's by force, She caressed belles face before leaning in closer.
She would have yanked belle's face if not for how she was treasured by Rubin, If you don't want to do it with him, I can teach you.
Belle slapped anna's hand away, Don't touch me , belle said.
Belle saw anna to be just as disgusting as Rubin, Anna was no different from her master as she also harassed most of the women in the brothel, just like the men did, Why couldn't Rubin just give his attention to Anna, belle thought, and it was something that anna wanted ever so badly.
Anna rubbed the place that belle had slapped her, She would love it if belle got deflowered like the rest of them, If belle wasn't careful she would have her before Rubin, Anna thought to her self.
Stop making life difficult for your self, offer yourself to him before it's to late, you won't like it if he should loose his patience with you.
Anna was jealous and furious , she was more than ready to become Rubin's woman , so why was he spending and wasting all his time on a woman that didn't want him.
She had sent a few of her admirer's to belle's room but those drunk fools never made it, If only she could get ruined by just one, that would be enough to make Rubin loose his interest in her, she thought.
Anna envied the opportunity belle had , she could even become the madam of the brothel, but she just had to be foolish and not know what was good for her.
You are truly a fool, he loves you, so just give yourself up already, If you continue acting like this sooner or later he will loose interest.
I am touched, I didn't know you cared for me this much.
Anna frowned, you fool I do not care for you, I am just tired of watching you act like you are worth more than you are, what's so good about you that he keeps you as a prized jewel and spoils you.
Belle was silent she didn't have an answer to her question, from the first moment Rubin saw her, he developed a twisted interest in her and claimed to love her, what type of love was that?
You're really pretty I'd give you that, but your not smart. If you don't open your self up to men ,you will never be able to pay off what he bought you for and you will be stuck here forever, Anna said while pulling on belles arm.
Belle continued to ignore her, out of anger of being ignored Anna pushed the bucket of water that belle was fetching and it spilled , which caused the bucket to trip over, as belle bent down to pick up the bucket , Anna thought of kicking her in the face and leaving a scar on that pretty face.
Belle quickly picked up the bucket on the floor ,worried it might crack , she didn't have the money to get it repaired or buy a new one, and she couldn't ask Rubin for one, what might he ask in return , she thought.
Oh do forgive me princess, my hand must have slipped. I have many gifts from my admirers, I could easily give you one, or if you please me I could add in an extra gift, she said as she laughed.
Belle tried her best to ignore her, there was a small crack on the bucket, but thankfully when she filled it with water it didn't leak, Anna got annoyed that she was being ignored and continued to taunt her, I heard a handsome foreigner was here last night ,I have not been with a foreigner before, but belle could it be that you have been saving your self for a foreigner all this time, Is that why you refuse to spend a night with the master.
Watch your tongue, before I put you in the cold mines, Rubin said as he came between Belle and Anna. Master Rubin, Anna quickly said trying to suit the atmosphere after seeing how angry he was, we were only playing-
Did I give you permission to speak, he said as he looked at belle, he wanted to spend more time with her, but his guest arrived and ruined their precious bonding time .Anna bit her lips as she kept her head low.
Belle flinched when Rubin touched her hair , she immediately looked away when he tried to touch her cheek.
It was evident on Anna's face that she was furious, Rubin didn't punish Belle for her behaviour! , if it was someone else by now it would have been a different story, filled with jealousy she thought to ruin belle, thinking of who she would send to belles room tonight.
Rubin smiled entertained by her usual defiance, she is more calm unlike years ago, with time she will grow accustomed to my touch and learn to love me, he was in no rush to sleep with her as he enjoyed their little game of cat and mouse.
shouldn't you be busy preparing for your performance tonight ,Rubin asked as he lazily turned to Anna, She earned the brothel a good amount of money and was always obedient but she just couldn't keep her hands of, off belle.
He told her off and warned all the other women standing around , they didn't have time to stand around and indulge in ideal gossip, there was work to be done.
When anna and the women left, belle took the opportunity to slip away but was quickly cut by Rubin, O not you my love, Unless you are ready to perform for me?belle lowered her gaze and avoided looking at him.
Look at me when I am talking to you, he said why forcing her to look at him, Did you like my guest last night?
No , belle answered immediately.
Good, very good, now know to stay away from those bastards and don't let me catch you looking at them, he warned her while he ran his fingers through her hair.
It's a cruel world out there and no man will treat you well the way I do, H e took her hand and placed a few coins in it, some women will be going out to the market later today, join them and treat yourself to something nice, she didn't like accepting money from him, having the thought that it was adding to her debt.
Do think of me ,won't you ?Rubin said, I expect to see you in my quarters tonight, he said before he kissed the back of her hand. she felt irritated by the kiss he had left on her hand and she wanted to throw away the money he had given her but she didn't , instead she would just hide it like she always did.
If the other women should trouble you again, do not hesitate to ask for my help and I will get them to stop ,now take the water back and prepare yourself and remember to cover your face when you are outside. he said.
Please let him have another visitor today, she thought.
She took her bucket of water and made her way back to her room, she noticed a group of women having a discussion. Did you hear the men from last night will be staying here, including the handsome general, they said , and I also heard the King has assigned a skilled group of guards to come to town and make sure they were not causing any troubles.
Just then , she felt a lot of pain, coming from a side of her back , she tried to ignore it and continued walking to her room , when she it happened again, being so close to her room she rushed in , took of her dress to have a look , and just as she had expected it was her birthmark or that's what she called it, she has had the mark for as long as she could remember.
But the strange thing is that it started of as looking like a wound mark and over time she would feel sever pain from it and whenever she checked it would take form and be shaped, with how long it has happened most of the mark had tuned to a crescent moon, leaving her to wonder what the other half would be, the mark was light pink in color but there was no mistaking it for a crescent shaped moon, she never opened up and told anyone about it, because she did not want to be labeled as a witch ,she was already being called a whore, if she was being called a witch , she would end up crucified and burned alive, so she thought it was best to keep it to her self.