Mia's Lecture

After the prayers, everyone opens their eyes up, and the nuns are back with plates of steaming hot food in their hands. Bishop Cecilia returns to the kitchen to help.

The table goes back to lively chattering.

"I have never had to say prayers like this," Faye says with a smile.

"Yeah? How was it?" Astra asks.

Faye thinks about it for a second.

"I… think I feel closer to our Goddess now," she says.

You wouldn't believe it.

"That's good. For every unlucrative prayer you say with genuineness in your heart, you become a step closer to the Goddess," Astra says.

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do. Sweet Goddess is one of many prayers. I can teach you more if you would like."

"That'd be great!"

"Alright, here's one."

The nuns come over and place food on the table in front of us. Sister Mia cuts between me and Astra and whispers into my ear discreetly.

"Meet me in the lobby in ten seconds," she says firmly. It is not a request. It is a command, and I do not like being commanded, but I am curious.

I nod.

Mia walks away and leaves the dining hall.

What's the point in asking to meet in ten seconds? Why didn't she just ask me to follow her?

"Give me a second," I say to the girls, "I have to use the bathroom."

"Don't get lost," Astra says.

"Keep saying your prayers."

I step into the hall and walk to the lobby. What could this be?

The light of day has gone, and only lantern flames are illuminating the wooden interior. The polished planks of the floor reflect the light. At night, the antiquity of the building is really brought out. Not in the sense of age, but fashion.

I walk into the lobby lit by the grand chandelier. Sister Mia is waiting alone at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the second floor with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"What did you call me here for?" I ask.

"You know the reason," she says. Her dark blue eyes pierce into my soul.

Do I? I have an inkling, and it's not one that I want to guess out loud.

"Explain, please," I say.

"Assault on a religious sister of any form is punishable by death," she says.

"That's… good to know? Why are you telling me this?"

Her mouth begins to frown.

"Do you send so much blood to your groin that you already forgot what happened earlier?" She asks.

"Hey, watch your mouth. No one talks to me like that."

"What are you going to do? Feel me up?"

This fucking girl. I thought she was on my team because she essentially saved me earlier, but I guess I thought wrong.

"Listen, I don't know what your problem with me is, but I was not the one initiating the events, alright?" I say.

"But you could have done something, couldn't you? But no, all you did was just lie there and 'enjoy'." The last word is weighed with heavy sarcasm.

I can't get mad at her. Her appearance makes that impossible. I hate to admit it, but her angry face is quite adorable. No, no, that's not the point.

"So, what did you expect me to do? You said yourself assault of a nun is punishable by death," I say.

"I don't know, call for help?"

"Call for help?"

"Yeah, what's so unbelievable about it?"

Huh, what's so unbelievable about it?

"You wanted me to call for help because I was almost molested by a nun not much older than me?"

"That's right."

Her seriousness tells me that she has no idea what's wrong with it.

I breathe out a sigh.

"This will never happen again. You understand?" Mia says.

"I don't know what to tell you. I will… try my best, I guess?"

"Good. Now you can go back." She dismisses me with a wave.

I just got leashed by this girl. What happened to me?

Upset, I walk back to the dining hall. There is still anger that couldn't be vented inside, and it did not take long for me to find the next exit.

Beside the girls, three guys took seats, the wolf whistle guy among them. They are in their late twenties and early thirties, it looks like, and they are talking to the girls with so much lax it's as if they are family members.

One of them has his arms on Faye and Lohikaarmi's shoulders, and the other is brushing through Astra's golden hair.

Faye looks to be clearly uncomfortable and is chuckling awkwardly. Lohikaarmi is completely stone-faced, ignoring another man's hand slowly approaching her chest. Astra is… smiling?

"Why don't you come with us tonight?" The wolf whistle guy says to Faye.

This is a scene all too familiar. No one else is helping. There are only two nuns here, Melanie and Lydia, who are both watching with concern but immobile.

"I-I think it's best for me to stay with my friends," Faye says timidly.

"You are a slave, no? Shouldn't you listen to what we say?"

"I…"

That's it. I have to thank these assholes for providing me with a way to release some anger.

"Get on your knees," I walk up and say coldly. The two guys beside Faye and Lohikaarmi look up.

"K-Kris," Faye gently calls out. There is a sense of relief in her voice.

"Now!" I shout and slam the table, a little too hard. The wooden corner snaps off and dangles from the edge by a thread

The wolf whistle guy stands up. "Man, you can't just come in here with these beauties and not expect to share them, alright? You can't be so selfish."

"Get on your knees, now," I repeat.

Astra laughs with a guy's fingers still in her hair. "I suggest you listen to what he says."

Wolf Whistle looks over to Astra. "I suggest you shut the fuck up or you won't enjoy what we do to you after we are done with this pomp."

"I warned you." Astra shrugs.

"I said, get, on, your, knees," I say each word between gritted teeth.

Wolf Whistle doesn't budge. Instead, he takes a step closer toward me.

"You are a real arrogant ass, you know that? Just because you were once rich doesn't mean you can boss others around."

I have a limit.

"I will say this one last time. Get on your knees."

"Or what? You are goin-"

BAM!

I rip the wooden corner of the table off and wack him right in the side of the head. He flings to the side and drops out cold.

Melanie and Faye let out a shriek. The room seems to have frozen.

I turn to the other two.

"Are you going to defy me, too?" I ask, holding up the wood covered in a splatter of blood.

They stare with wide eyes and shake their heads violently. The two guys back away from Lohikaarmi and Astra and immediately drop down to their knees.

I toss the piece of wood onto the Wolf Whistle guy's unconscious head and turn to the table.