So it is done

Ugly side of a beautiful fairytale

Jonathan's mood from this morning was, to put it lightly, stormy. Lengthy late night reflections on life till the sun rise, followed by an early wake-up would make anyone grumpy. The close call with a disaster was just the cherry on top of the disastrous day he just had. He would say that it was the worst day of his life, if not for the fact that yesterday was the worst day of his life... for now.

But Jonathan was not discouraged, much, not to say that he was especially cheerful either. With his situation being a literal illegal alien, it did not seem that bright to be unequivocally cheerful. However, as befits a person who has accepted and resigned himself to his situation, he has slowly been able to see not only negatives, but also positive ones.

With some things, it was more difficult. It is difficult after all, strictly speaking, to find any silver linings in domestic violence. Against a persecuted girl who is at any moment could snap and just start hurting her tormentors.

Hey he's saying that he could see some positives in his position, not that there were many of them... or that there's not a lot of negatives. Sigh, his situation is shit.

"Hmm," Jonathan had a random thought wriggle into his mind. "If Cinder is already put into the corner so much that she is ready to hurt her tormentors, why does she still continue to obey them?"

Jonathan would be the last person to advocate for a child to run away from home, but Cinder had a much better reason to do so than when he did it at least.

When he was a lot younger, and a lot more stupid, he did not quite understand why using magic was so dangerous. Being the stupid brat he was, he constantly argued with the old man about it. So much so that the old man's constant prohibitions on the use of magic annoyed him. He was very young and stupid... After all, three whole years have passed! Jonathan has grown so much during this time!

Jonathan chuckled at his own joke and shook his head.

Cinder, ha, Cinder... Cinder, cornered, embittered, and ready to go for the throat. And yet, for some reason, she continues to obey her tormentor. Why?

The thought that she feared some kind of 'punishment' floated into Jonathan's mind, making him frown. The 'punishment' can be a lot of things. It can range from something as simple as a talking to, to something that can create life-long traumas like locking her overnight in a dark and damp basement full of cockroaches... But that would hardly have worked on Cinder.

Cinder doesn't seem to be the type to be that cornered with punishment with shame or other unpleasant emotions. There are indeed other kinds of things that would be scarier but...

Jonathan exhaled slowly and shook his head.

It is unlikely that Cinder could have been physically abused or the other sordid things that his mind had conjured up. Even if Miss Sunny had some influence, something that his previous jaunt through the city had disproven, if Cinder had bruises, abrasions or even traces of the other kind of abuse, then one of the guests would have noticed it. Especially considering that one of the Hunters had noticed even his stilted, and not at all can be confused as anything else conversation with Cinder. The Hunter had even, if somewhat politely, threateningly approached both of them to inquire about what was happening.

So, judging by what had happened yesterday, the only possible abuse that he could think of is Miss Sunny withholding food from Cinder. And if she would be able to stoop so low as to intentionally starve Cinder, then she probably also forced her to live in disgusting living conditions. Possibly even unsanitary ones.

Jonathan wanted to spit on the road under his feet in disgust, but when he saw the nearest robots, he resisted the urge. He will not tolerate these tech dummies making a remark about the manners of a true British gentleman!