Chapter 7: How Can I Trust You?

Kara’s POV:

With my horrified gaze, I saw Arnold, standing at the doorstep of the garden hut bearing an overwhelming aura around him. His brown eyes were fixated on me in a cryptic way that sent shivers down my spine the second I locked my gaze with him.

Dressed in a warm long fur coat, with messy wet hairs as if he had just stepped out of the shower, he stood proudly tall without showing the slightest hint of remorse regarding what he tried to do with me a while ago.

It looked like he had come alone, and with his long legs, he kicked open the hut door. Scruching his brows, he mumbled at me, “Darn, this place is so dirty and damp… Even our pet hounds used to stay in a better place than this one.”

I was barely coping to get over the cruel assault I faced in this bastard’s hand earlier… I was punished and thrown here because of his wrongdoings. Now he dares to come after me, once again?

Immediately I leaped back from my position, several feet apart from him while trying to muster strength in my wobbling legs. I grabbed an old stone pestle from near the water tank as my last self-defense resort and raised that towards him.

Meeting his gaze with my hostile eyes, a furious shriek escaped my mouth, “STAY AWAY! DON’T YOU DARE TRY ANYTHING FUNNY WITH ME AGAIN! IF YOU DARE TO TAKE A STEP INSIDE, I SWEAR I AM GONNA CRUSH YOUR HEAD WITH THIS ONE FIRST!”

But even after I growled at him, Arnold calmly stood still in his position without showing any reaction. However, when he ignored my warning, I fiercely threw the pestle in his direction the second he tried to take a step inside the hut.

As the Grand Duke’s son who must have been trained hard since childhood, he meticulously dodged my attack but gnawed angrily at me, “Hey, I could’ve gotten seriously injured, you stray mutt! Watch what you are doing!”

“THEN WHY THE HELL YOU ARE BRAZENLY LUSTING AFTER THIS STRAY MUTT!? GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” Painful tears rolled down my cheeks when I mustered all of my remaining strength to scream at him hard, but watching my reaction, Arnold didn’t try to walk inside anymore.

He brushed his hair up with his long slender fingers before addressing me, “Look, I didn’t come here to hurt or scare you again. Hear me first before you jump to a conclusion. I heard from Raphael that you were classmates with him, is that true?”

At this point I had somewhat expected him to jump on me again like a dog in heat, but rather watching him stay calm and composed surprised me the most. Clenching my hands on the thin blanket I had wrapped around me, I mumbled, “Yes…so what?”

“Hmm,” a small pause prevailed after which he suddenly asked in a keen voice, “Don’t you want to go inside the manor? It’s freezing here outside, and in this damp dark hut, you won’t be able to survive through the night. So, I have a suggestion for you. If you agree, I can help you get inside…”

His words startled me to quite an extent as I had never imagined him to sound reasonable like now. Indeed it was true that I wouldn’t have to survive the night here with this thin blanket alone, but…my glare narrowed on him when I urged, “Do you think you can fool me again? Why should I trust someone like you? Did you forget what you had tried to do to me earlier?”

“I know, and I admit that I shouldn’t have allowed my instincts to take control over me.” His voice sounded a bit remorseful this time, which rendered me speechless for a moment.

Narrowing his keen gaze on me, he stated, “That’s why I came here to help you with a condition. Every night whenever I summon you, you will just have to accompany me in my Spanish Class and have to help me go through it. I hate studying for that subject more than anything in this world, so if you can help me get away with it, I will give you food and a warm shelter for cold nights without anyone’s knowledge inside. So, do you accept the deal?”

Glowering at him, I couldn’t believe that he was actually asking me something sensible as I stood frozen. However, my skeptical heart couldn’t easily process his request at that very moment.

After all, how am I supposed to trust that guy who could have raped me to death if Grand Duke hadn’t arrived at that time!

“How can I trust your words!” I gritted my jaws, quivering angrily at him, “You must be definitely scheming something again after you take me inside there…”

“If I had such intentions, then I wouldn’t have continued this conversation with you any longer.”

Arnold shrugged, taking a glance at his wristwatch before urging me again, “Do you even have a choice apart from dying here out in the cold if you don’t accept my deal? My tutor will be coming at any moment, so I don’t have time to pursue you anymore… If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. The guards will just clean up your corpse from here tomorrow. So, goodbye!”

With a small diabolical grin on his lips, Arnold raised his hand to bid me goodbye before he steadily started walking away from the hut. When I watched him leave, my body tensed up from fear and confusion as I started fidgeting! Indeed he was right, I don’t have any choice at the first place. But if what he just said to me is little bit true…then at least it will be better than freezing here to death tonight!

There’s no way I will helplessly succumb to my wretched fate! I have to survive…and I must!

My bare cold feet rushed ahead automatically when I almost ran after him, calling him with a loud desperate shriek, “H-Hey…Wait… I…I will go with you…”