Chapter 6 - Gallery

"Well?"

Deep in thought, I forgot that I am still in front of the suspect,

"Yes? Your highness?",

I asked,

"Won't you start eating your food now that I've started mine?",

He said,

"A-ah yes",

I started picking up the table knife, I don't know how to use these because I've only known how to use spoons only, there are so many tablespoons here that I have no idea what they are for,

"Hahaha, you are really an adorable child",

The duke chuckled, he stood up and came near me, which had me terrified, he picked up the knife and started slicing the steak, he stab one piece of the sliced steak with a fork and gave it to me,

"Here",

My heart started beating scared of him, and he walked back to his seat,

After finishing all the food, well I didn't taste anything all the food tasted nothing as I was so aware of anything that I forgot to enjoy the food, who would even enjoy food in front of a possible killer,

"Are you wondering why I bought you from Penelope? Your mother?",

The duke suddenly asked,

"..."

I was just quiet but I am also curious,

"Well I hate parents who don't care about their kids, and I believe that all kids deserve the best childhood while they are young, I think maybe right now you are scared of me",

I flinched at his words as he glared at me with his red pupil eyes,

"Don't get scared I know sometimes I do weird things all of a sudden, and many people will get suspicious of how I act but don't worry I only do this purely out of kindness, so don't get too tense and enjoy your dresses and dolls",

He smiled at me, weirdly enough he didn't let my guard down,

He signaled something in the air with his hands, and soon after maids came in cleaned the plates on the table, and put desserts on top of the table, colorful and beautiful sweets,

"They're beautiful, aren't they? Why don't you try them?",

I picked one dessert that has the color pink,

"That's called a macaron",

I tasted it and the sweet flushed onside my mouth,

"Tasted delicious right?"

The duke stood up again and the maid took the chair beside me, and he signaled his hand telling them to leave,

After they left the duke stared at me, and suddenly said,

"I brought you here because I like to paint",

The duke said,

What paint? Paint with my blood? Does he mean he's going to kill me?

"I like painting beautiful people you see, and you are a beautiful child",

He said,

"After you are done eating I will bring you to my gallery and I will show you many beautiful things in there",

Is he going to kill me after I finish these desserts?

After I finished eating he took my hand like I was his daughter, surprisingly he seems calm and gentle for a person who plans to kill me,

While we were walking in the garden there was another manor I saw, a huge white manor, with a beautiful design, and the glasses were diamond-shaped,

We came inside, and I saw a lot of pictures, those were hand-drawn and majestic, lots of them were kids like me they had different appearances, races, hair color, and other things they were either boys or girls, and many of them have a really happy face, seems like he has helped a lot of children,

I might be thinking wrong about him, what if he's a good person?, Then does that mean my sister died because of a different reason?

The duke led me to another room, the room looks huge and there were a lot of brushes, colors, and papers lying everywhere, the place seems to be messy like a typical artist's studio,

"This is where I paint the pictures",

The duke had said after wearing his apron, and he pointed his hand to the chair in the center,

"Sit there I will paint you",

I sat down on the chair and wondered what he looks like when he works,

"You can pose whatever you want",

I sat there in my most awkward pose,

"Hahaha, that's good",

He chuckled and continued drawing,

His face was serious and focused almost like he kept looking at everything about me, the air was just calm and the moon was shining at the diamond window, reflecting my behind, I saw the duke smile,

"Done this is the picture for you",

He handed me the drawing, and I saw myself so beautiful with the moon shining behind me, my navy dark blue hair was almost white because of the moonshine, and my eyes were glowing,

"Do you like it? I name it 'Moonshine' because of how the moon was shining for you",

I smiled at him,

"Yes, it is beautiful",

Maybe the duke is not so bad at all.

And soon after that day the duke would draw a picture of me every night at exact 1:13 pm, maids would be barging inside my room and preparing my clothes at noon, the duke is strict on time he would always shout at the maids saying that he wants to start at the exact time he has given, one time a maid caused me to be late at the given time and was punished for it,

Have I ever been punished? No, surprisingly the duke is always acting nice to me, he would be giving me compliments whenever I show him a good pose, the duke is a nice person,

8 months have passed and the time struck at noon now, surprisingly no one barge in, I waited and waited for a long hour until the clock struck 1:00 pm, the head maid was the only person who came in,

"The duke is waiting",

The head maid said,

"I won't be preparing a dress?",

I asked,

"There is no need for that today",

The head maid replied,

While walking in the long hallway, I had a lot of thoughts in my head about why all of a sudden the preparations had been canceled,

"Weird, why didn't the duke make me prepare for the next frame?",

I said in my thought,

"Oh, maybe it's a new concept",

When we've arrived in front of the white manor, the head maid left me and said to come inside alone,

When I came inside the white manor, weirdly enough the atmosphere gave me chills and also had me so scared because of the weak light of the lights,

I've never felt this way while I am here, usually, knights are guarding the place but I've never seen one after just today,

I've reached the studio door and came inside it, the duke was already wearing his apron the apron was clean and the room was also clean, weird how I've always seen this so messy,

"I am here now your highness",

The duke came towards me and held my hair, he smelled it and kissed it, and the duke said,

"Take off your clothes and sit on the chair",

"Huh? W-what do you mean, your highness?",

I asked stammering as I got scared,

"I said to take off your clothes and sit on the chair",

The duke repeated what he said while he had a terrifying smile on his face,

I got scared and I have no other choice to make but to follow what he ordered, I took off my clothing pieces by pieces, and was covering my body parts with only my arms and hands,

"Now pia sit in the chair",

He looked at me like he was enjoying the view,

I froze there trembling from a frightening man in front of me,

"I said SIT DOWN AT THE CHAIR IN THE CENTER!!!",

Duke montage shouted, it's my first time hearing him shout and seeing him with a scary face, I hurriedly sat at the chair so scared as I didn't want to test his patience,

"Good, now give me a stunning pose",

I posed while still hiding my private parts,

"No, try spreading your legs and you can decide what to do with your hands, but do not hide your private area",

The duke said, as I did the pose he instructed me, tears began to fall on my cheeks, scared and the helpless feeling was fighting inside me, I wanted to run away at that point was all I could ever think about.