Lilia's Tale

Chapter 3: Escape Plan

The next day, I was woken up by being whipped. Apparently, I had overslept. I apologized and went to work. I was still skeptical as to how Yuki was doing, so I checked up on her consistently to make sure she was doing fine, or that she wasn't being reckless again. To my surprise, she seemed more careful than usual, putting in extra effort into completing her work.

Seeing her dedication filled me with happiness that I could not understand. Maybe my overprotective side, as an old man, was taking over. Maybe I simply saw her as the one person I could trust. Maybe I thought of her as a real friend. Regardless, it wasn't necessarily something bad, so I didn't pay it much attention.

At night, when I was allowed to go rest, I went to sit on my bed, expecting Yuki to come and talk, as we couldn't the day prior. As expected, she came over.

"Lilia...?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if we could talk for a bit?"

"I don't. Is something on your mind?"

I moved to the side, giving her a bit of space to sit beside me on my bed. She noticed and came to sit.

"Yes... I was thinking about how you basically saved me the other day."

"About that. Are you sure you're recovered enough to work? It would be bad if you ended up in an even worse state because you didn't take care of yourself properly."

"I don't know if I'm fully recovered or not, but I am good enough to start working."

Her tone suddenly went down.

"I can't let you overwork yourself either, after all," she continued.

I simply stayed silent.

"Lilia..." she followed, after a while. "Thank you so much for saving me."

I could see her tears welling up again. I sighed.

"There is no need to thank me, Yuki. I did what I thought I should do in this situation, and that was to save you."

She looked confused.

"Yuki, I'll tell you something. You're the only person here who dares approach me. Maybe it's because I'm a dragon or something like that and everyone is scared of me, but the point still stands. If you were to be gone, I wouldn't have have friends here anymore. You're important to me."

I stopped talking for a second, trying to think of something to come up with to follow whatI had just said, when I was suddenly tackle hugged.

"Wait- Yuki!"

"I'm sorry I worried you," she cried out loud.

I sighed, and let her cry as she wanted. Eventually, she calmed down and got off my arms.

"I promise, Lilia. I will take care of you just like I take care of everyone here!"

"I appreciate, but I think I will be fine on my own."

"No! I insist!"

"Fine," I replied, after a short silence. "We should sleep for now, though. I think it's getting late and we all have a rather heavy day tomorrow."

"You're right. Let's go sleep."

She went to her bed to sleep, and I laid down on mine.

The next day, we were made to go to the river to wash ourselves. When we arrived, Yuki was very forward in wanting to help me wash myself, so I let her. The same pleasant feeling as last time, being bathed in water, filled me. I didn't think about much, as I wanted to relax after the few days of nonstop work. Eventually, we went back, and were left in our stables, and our slave life resumed.