A New Confrontation (Ch 5 – Part 2)

Vermon watched Orb carefully pass his hand over the table in search of the stick but did not tell him he was still holding it.

“Answer me, slave. Have you studied chemistry?” he questioned.

“No.”

“Botany?”

“No.”

“Toxicology?”

“No.”

“Then,” Vermon nonchalantly threw the stick on the table. “How do you plan on making something that you don’t know?” Vermon crossed his arms and continued. “I have seen your knowledge of herbs. Tell me the truth. If you haven’t studied it, you must have practiced it as a profession.”

“Incorrect.”

Vermon’s patience was running thin as Orb’s short answers gave him the impression that he was unwelcome.

“Are you trying to provoke me?” Vermon was annoyed.

“I read it in a book.”

Orb found the stick, which Vermon had thrown, and cautiously picked it up. Then, he was startled when Vermon hit the table with his hand in an unspeakable fury.

However, without revealing the slight uneasiness he was beginning to feel, Orb exclaimed, “I meant the new composition. I read about it in a book.”

“And why do you read about the composition of drugs and toxins in a book?”

Vermon’s angry tone calmed a bit, but it was tinged with doubt as that mysterious young man did not give him further details to satisfy his curiosity.

“I read everything,” Orb said in a neutral tone.

“You seem to like to read, but where are your books? I didn’t see you holding one when I found you.”

“I didn’t have one.”

Vermon’s body leaned toward Orb as he examined him closely with squinting eyes. “Why?” he wondered.

Orb was silent for a moment, and after leaving everything on the table, he straightened up and replied in a low voice, “Must I carry books with me?”

“Playing dumb, I see. Did you decide to give up your books after going blind?”

“...”

“Since you are so clever, why did you bury yourself in Awa Temple?” Vermon kept his eyes fixed on Orb’s solemn features. “Why didn’t you try to treat your eyes?” He asked in apparent sarcasm.

Orb suffered the sting of another painful question.

“Answer me!”

“I don’t feel the desire to share the details of my private life with the one who abducted and enslaved me against my will,” Orb said after a moment of hesitation.

“No, you’re just being evasive!” Vermon paused for a moment. “By the way, I’d like to know how mad and stubborn you are to run down the roads at night with damaged eyes. Are you sure you’re blind?” Vermon feigned ignorance and wanted a clear answer from Orb.

* * *

“Didn’t the Crown Prince tell you that I’m a Roaming Star?” Orb questioned Vermon’s intent. “I know the directions I want, even if I’m blind,” he was not sure what Vermon was aiming for.

“So you can find directions but cannot see what is before you.”

“…”

“And yet I’m still in wonder, for I’ve never seen anyone own what you have. It’s incredible!”

Orb did not want to comment on Vermon’s last statement, though his excitement sounded sincere and childish.

When Vermon did not get a reaction to his liking, he suddenly shoved the table aside and grabbed Orb’s shoulders, pinning him to the ground.

“Let me see,” he excitedly demanded.

Orb flinched at Vermon’s sudden action and the weight of his palms resting on his slender shoulders.

“See what?” he sounded confused.

“Your Roaming Star.”

Orb grabbed one of Vermon’s hands, intending to push it away as he protested forcefully.

“That is not possible.”

“Isn’t it in your eyes?”

Vermon seemed disturbed by Orb’s resistance, especially after Orb used his injured hand to try to get rid of Vermon’s palms; however, his resistance was weak.

“Of course not. It’s imperceptible, an unexplained paranormal,” Orb shouted in the same nervous tone.

Vermon did not believe Orb’s words and strongly felt he was trying to deceive him. He was sure of it because of Orb’s previous attempt to escape and his tendency to disobey.

“I don’t believe you!” Vermon angrily exclaimed.

Orb did not have the strength to prolong his resistance, nor could he convince the mighty villain of the reality of the Roaming Star within him.

He was aware that any discussion with him was futile. So he prepared himself for a fierce confrontation with him again, even though he worried about being hurt while he had not fully recovered.

“Let me go! I’m not lying!”

“Shut up!”

In those few seconds, Orb saw, with his blurry vision, Vermon, who was on all fours over him. He saw his thick, dark braided hair adorned with shiny ornaments cascading around his oval face and broad shoulders. His lips were full and red, and his eyes were big with thick eyelashes. Orb deduced that he was handsome and still young.

Orb was startled by Vermon’s fingers resting on top of his left eye and roughly opening his eyelids, much to Orb’s annoyance, who struck Vermon’s palm with his arm away from his eye for a moment.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” He irritably shouted.

“You won’t stop me, slave!”

When Vermon tried again to examine Orb’s eye, Orb raised his head quickly and bit Vermon’s wrist fiercely.

Vermon was taken aback for a moment but did not budge. He just opened his mouth in rage, then decided to suppress his pain and anger.

As he watched Orb sticking his teeth in his wrist, Vermon was strangely patient despite his severe pain and bleeding wound.

* * *

“You Devil! I will tear your mouth open!” Vermon smiled in excitement.

When Orb saw the silhouette of Vermon’s smile above him, he freed his wrist from his fangs.

“GO TO HELL!” He shouted again.

Vermon’s palms struck the floor above Orb with force. Then, he looked at him with disgust. “YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT! I AM YOUR MASTER!” He reprimanded.

“I OWN MYSELF. I DO NOT RECOGNIZE YOU AS MY MASTER. YOU—YOU MONSTER WHO USURPED MY FREEDOM!”

Orb turned his damaged eyes away when he shouted these words as if he hated Vermon gazing at them.

“How arrogant! I can lock you up here and humiliate you forever. I can kill you, drink your blood, and dance on your corpse until it dissolves!” Vermon pressed his lips tightly, then retorted, “You should practice thanking me!”

“Thank you for saving my life. But as for the cursed seal you put on my hand, I will never thank or forgive you!”

Vermon’s hand swiftly grabbed Orb’s shirt, intending some violence, but he changed his mind and restrained himself.

“I regret asking Luba to treat you,” he hissed in resentment.

“You will feel so much regret with me,” Orb scorned.

Vermon caught Orb’s little face with one hand and squeezed the delicate skin with his angry fingers while fuming, “You bastard! Are you threatening me while your life is in my hands?”

“I will never —give you —what you want,” extremely pained and struggling to breathe, Orb retorted with a muffled voice.  

“I can take what I want from you if I wish!” Vermon smirked as his eyes swept Orb’s body, “even though I regret saving your life, I will not let you die! There’s so much to do with you! You should know that it’s not in my nature to think of the consequences of my actions.” Vermon snickered.

Vermon released Orb’s face after leaving him panting with red imprints on it. He glared at Orb with wild eyes, then slapped him before standing up straight.

“A good event awaits you days from now—I can’t wait to humiliate you!”

Vermon kicked the small table into the air, smashing it and scattering everything on it; the medication, the incense stick, and the paper on which Orb was writing.

“I won’t let you do what you want, you bastard, until you beg me,” he menacingly spoke as he watched the pieces fall on the floor.

Orb’s face turned red in rage, but he managed to control his temper and said nothing. He remembered Akinos’ words when he warned him not to provoke Vermon.

And even when Vermon summoned the servant to take the paper, and the incense stick out of the room, Orb fought the urge to tell him the real reason for ordering the incense stick.

I only wanted to improve it to help me sleep better at night. Too late. He is enraged. Why can’t we have a normal conversation?

Hence, Orb only observed Vermon in silence until he left.

After that, Orb spent part of the night trying to calm his pounding heart, feeling uneasy about the mysterious event that Vermon promised him days later.

He was not ready to taste a new wave of torment and pain.

* * *

End of Chapter (5)