Lithe [Zhongli x Reader]

III. Dedication

You are here to pick him up, and all the questions you have to answer are really getting on your nerves. You knew the yearly renewal of the collar, to make sure everything still works, was going to be a hassle, but it is so far more than you anticipated. The lady in white you are conversing with is asking you tons of personal and invasive questions about your life with Morax, how you treat him, how he behaves, every tiny bit of information. You make sure every answer is just in line with what they expect from a pet owner. Finally, the interrogation seems to be over. "Is that everything?" you ask as the lady fills out the last bit of paperwork and gets up from her seat.

She nods at you with a sickly sweet smile. "That concludes the paperwork. Now, please follow me to retrieve your pet." She leads the way and you follow her through the halls that are just equally as white as she is dressed. The whole place is so bright, it almost hurt your eyes. Just another reason to dislike it.

There is no sound except for the loud clacking of the lady's footsteps and yours following behind her, until she suddenly asks you another question. "Do you really discipline your pet accordingly?" She takes you by surprise.

"Of course I do," you answer her matter-of-factly. "You've already asked that question before."

"I just thought you might've been unsure," she told you, as sweet as before, making you puke inside. "Because it was disobeying us quite a bit, and we were forced to use some harsher methods to ensure the renewal of the collar wouldn't be disturbed." To your right there is a huge white door, in front of which she stops and turns to you to scrutinize your face again, just like she has done while you have given her all the answers to her questions.

"Disobeying?" That really takes you by surprise, you made sure to tell Morax to listen to everything they tell him, as a command - except of course if it would give away how you treat him. Still, you are sure that he has not disobeyed them. So why?

You only show light confusion on your face. "That's strange," you say calmly but knitting your eyebrows. "I gave him the command to follow your orders, just like required."

The lady doesn't reply anymore, instead she just opens the door in front of the two of you and immediately you know why she has stopped replying. She wants you to react. Inside is the chamber where they renew the collars, a huge circle on the floor, with illuminated runes, and some higher-ups standing around it. And in the middle, there he is. Morax does not stand there like you expected him to, instead he is crawled up, a picture of misery. There is blood on the floor, highly visible due to its harsh contrast in colour to the white marble; red streaks, puddles and droplets are surround him. Not even when you bought him has he looked anyway near this bad, mostly because now the wounds are fresh and still bleeding. At the sound of your entry, he slightly lifts his head and looks at you. For the first time, you can't read his gaze. A cold shiver runs down your spine.

In this moment you finally realize why all this is happening. The lady in white, as well as all the other higher-ups are scrutinizing you, waiting for a reaction. They are testing you, checking to see how you feel about your pet, if your relationship truly is just what it is supposed to be. Pushing down the red anger that is flaring up inside your stomach, you don't give them the satisfaction of showing any visible reaction other than a slight annoyance.

"Was that truly necessary?" you asked the lady with a sigh. "Those clothes were new, now they're beyond saving."

Her stare is drilling into you. "I'm afraid it was."

Then a silence follows, a painful one where none of you even blinks, until she finally gives in. "We apologize for the inconvenience and will reimburse you for the clothes."

"Good," you answer calmly. "And next time, I expect to find my pet in the same state I delivered it to you in."

"We will keep that in mind." The lady's eyes still don't leave you, but you pay her no mind. You just need to stay steady and continue acting mostly unbothered. With your attention back to Morax you walk towards him.