Not My Sins

Chapter Five 

"What were you doing in there?" Duke Elias asked with a look of slight disapproval pasted on his eyebrows, he glared down at his young daughter who was still trembling. Rain clasped her hands against her ears, her eyes were glued to the ground, tears streaming out of them. "I let you go outside the estate and you are already snooping around with the servants? What do you hope to achieve?"

The office grew silent, the only audible thing was the sounds of Rain's labored panting.

Annoyed by her sniffling, he banged his hands on the table making her flinch. "Answer me!" 

"D-Duke…" her tiny voice squeaked but she barely started when he interrupted her sharply.

 "Father...!" Rain trembled, scooting backward, she became even more afraid in case he decided to reach for her again, "Call me father, you have been in this estate for more than eight months, how long do you intend to call me Duke?"

He pulled the whip away from his table again and headed towards her, Arcane shivered slightly, he felt sorry for the little girl.

 Even though he was already used to the brutal means of his master on the other hand, Rain was just a little girl and he hoped the Duke would consider that while he punished her.

"F-Father…" She stuttered and flinched when he cracked the whips in his hands. "I will tell you everything."

"Good, now tell me." He got in front of her, Rain's breath became labored and he held her chin and tilted her face towards him slightly. "What is your name?"

"Rain Knvani—" she was interrupted by the crack of the belt against her back, and she burst into tears again.

"I am your father, Rain." He chastised again. "You are not in any way related to that whore, so you should better start getting used to it.."

He then began to whip her mercilessly.

"I will ask you again, what is your name?"

"R-Rain Roni." Rain's tiny voice spoke through the pain in her back. She wiped her tears with her shaky hands. "I am Rain Roni."

"Good." A dignified smirk reached his lips, the only reason he took her in was because he felt he could find a good use for her, but contrary to his expectation, the lad had proven to be useless for the last eight months she had been in the estate.

A brat who doesn't even know her name, how could she ever know her place?

"What are you to me?" He encircled her, taunting her and making her even more pressured.

"I am your daughter." She answered in a small whisper.

"Who am I to you?" Elias queried further.

"You're my father." Rain confirmed.

"Good." He dropped the whip allowing her to gasp for air. "Would I ever be in the stables talking to the servant?"

"N-No…" She stuttered. "I was only trying to give him some…"

"A lady like you should never be talking to a slave. You might have done it when you were the daughter of a whore but not anymore." He roared making her jolt in surprise. "You are a lady belonging to the Elderslot household and my daughter Rain. You should start to act your status, it's insulting enough that you are my child, my offspring, and my blood, yet you roll in the stables with horses?"

"My lord, shall I make a suggestion?" Arcane couldn't take it any longer, what was happening was nothing but a bully. Elias' eyes shot in Arcane's direction and they hardened; his silence had already permitted him.

"Speak." He put the whip away.

"It would be preferable if we make use of an etiquette teacher," He started in a confident voice. "I believe her lady was never tutored on how a proper lady behaves, hence the reason for her misconduct, it would be easier to learn from a teacher."

He paused for a while, and then he nodded in acceptance.

"You make a point, Arcane." He strolled back to the desk. "Please make preparations for the finest etiquette teacher in the empire, and also prepare the Ross residence, Rain would be moving into it from now on."

Arcane nodded with a faint smile hanging on his lips, the Duke was finally going to give Rain some power.

 Elias picked up a small wooden box from inside his drawer, he flipped the box open and selected one out of his sets of tobacco, his other hand searched for a scissor. Arcane understood his mission and he held out a lighter for him, the flavorful smoke filled the room, the tobacco was one of the finest in the Empire.

 Elias inhaled deeply, savoring the bitter tang of the tobacco, his green eyes watched his daughter intently, and he figured she would make quite a good tool, only if he shaped her in the way he would want.

A smirk tugged at his lips when a thought crossed his mind, he had always thought about what purpose she would be of, but now he realized it.

"You spoke to the serving boy, Doni, didn't you?" He suddenly breathed out the smoke, the air became tight in the room, and Rain coughed as she felt suffocated.

Frantically, she nodded her head.

"What did you two speak about?" He sounded even more curious.

"Nothing, Doni is a brute," She explained. "He didn't let me talk."

A smirk tugged at his lips, even after putting him under close observation for two years, Doni didn't seem to be pretending.

"Did he act strangely?" He inquired even more curious than before. "Did he say anything to you?"

"No, he hates me." She confessed pulling some strands of her hair away from her face, even though they were wet with tears. Satisfied with the information he received he nodded his head, and his hands went back to his mouth, he sucked the tobacco and puffed out the smoke clouds.

"You were very foolish to have met with him." He scolded but not so harshly. "Doni hates everything related to me, he could have hurt you, do you think you could ever like the daughter of a man who bought you as a slave?"

 Silence filled the room. 

"N-No," she answered honestly, but she also had complaints of her own. "Why don't you let Doni have a proper name?"

"A proper name?" He chuckles, his green eyes dancing in the direction of Arcane who stood there indifferently. "He has a name, Doni that is it. The dig deserves nothing more than that."

"Lily told me you gave him the name, but in the ancient language, Doni means a dog or a varmint." She explained which earned her a surprised look from her father, he didn't know she was this knowledgeable.

"How do you know the ancient language?"

"My mother taught me," she answered truthfully, noticing that he was interested she proceeded. "She taught me a lot of things too."

"I see," he stroked his jaw, pressed the burning tobacco against the Ashtray, and watched as the smoke got extinguished.

"Why do you think the name is not befitting for him?" He drew the blinds and Arcane helped him air out the room.

"The boy has golden hair that belongs to the lineage of Kings," she declared confidently, and Elias's eyes widened in shock. He shot a glare at Arcane who also looked surprised. "Giving him such a lowly name is a mockery of the Royal family and Royal empire."

"Rain, who told you that?" he asked in surprise. "Did Doni tell you he came from a lineage of Kings?"

She shook her head and sniffed back, wiping the blood away from the end of her lips.

"Some of the other courtesans decided to educate me." Once again confidence oozed from her tiny voice. "Mother was quite busy with work but I was given books to read by her other colleagues."

"You can read?" Arcane found himself blurting, the low lives were not allowed to read, it was impossible that a girl who had lived more than half of her life as the daughter of a whore could read.

"I can write too." She confirmed.

"The boy Doni comes from the descendants of foreign slaves, his golden hair is just a side effect of a prescription or it could be a genetic mutation. Doni never belonged to a lineage of Kings, he is and will always be a slave."

 " Elias felt the need to explain to his very timid daughter. "His mother stole something very precious to me and she abandoned her son here on my land."

 "What?"

"Don't feel too sorry for him," Elias noticed. "He would pay me for every single thing his mother owes me."

The door closed and Elias heaved a heavy sigh, his fingers ran into his perfectly styled hair.

The day had been hard on him, and he figured the idiot daughter he had was smart.

"What should we do about Rain?" Arcane asked desperately, he was also as surprised as the Duke. "Should I banish Doni to the other side of the estate?"

"No, let's wait and see what becomes of them." He felt something very promising from the girl and he couldn't wait to unwrap his present.