Jasmine also goes to her room leaving the three of them to themselves. 

Lilian had carefully inspected every inch of the apartment, but found nothing that could be used to torture her aside from the kitchen knives. And after a small conversation with Jasmine she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be very happy if Marianne or Cesar used one of them to skin her alive.

But she's still not able to let her guard down, especially cause she knows that Marianne's always nice to her victims at first.

"So... Did you find anything interesting?", Marianne asks her with a smile. 

It's the type of smile that's completely and utterly fake to hide ones real intention.

"Interesting?"

"Yes, you seemed to be very intrigued by the kitchen knives, you even started to question Jasmine about them", Marianne says playing with one of them in her hands.

"You'd almost think you were planning on using one of them to escape. But you wouldn't do that, right?", she asks her smile starting to look softer and warmer.

´Right, there's no way she would've changed, she's still the same psycho as before.` 

She didn't pay attention for a second and suddenly Marianne's standing in front of her the tip of the knife under her chin.

"Don't you think it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you?"

"I was just thinking about something else."

Lilian smiles at her trying to find out if she's going to kill her for real this time.

Jasmine hears muffled voices from behind the door, but she isn't able to understand what they're saying. She doesn't want to eavesdrop, but she can't help but feel that something's wrong. In the end she goes to sleep hoping that she's just imagining things.

"From what I understand you've started working for him, correct?", Marianne says.

Cesar is just watching them interested in how this is going to end.

"You mean Radwill?", asks Lilian.

"Yes", she answers shivers running down her spine.

"Yeah, it's not like I had much of a choice."

"What do you mean", Cesar asks.

"What I said, if you didn't agree to his offer he'd kill you", she says imitating a gun with her hand.

"And what exactly was that offer?", Marianne inquires as her stomach tightens.

"What do you think?", she asks with an all knowing smile on her face.

"Answer the question", she says digging the tip of the knife into her skin.

"I'll tell you so put that goddamn thing away!"

She puts the knife down without looking away from her even once. She places it in a way that she's easily able to pick it up if Lilian were to try anything funny.

"He'll let you out and give you a job, in return we have to look for you. By now he's probably placed someone who knows you in every city watch to find you, but you've already noticed that haven't you?"

"So I was right", she mumbles to herself as she nervously goes back and forth in the living room. 

"Alright I have an offer for you as well", she says breaking the silence.

"And what makes you think I'll agree? I've already got something going with one psycho, I don't need another one, especially not you."

"I know you don't want to I wouldn't either, but as it turns out I've got something you want."

"And what's that? Some empty promises like before?"

"No nothing of the sorts. I can make you normal again."

"What?"

"The effects of the experiment, I can reverse them. All I need from you is information about how he's planning to look for me next and if he finds any trail. Easy, right?", she says a confident smile on her face.

She knows Lilian will accept the deal, no matter how much she despises her, she knows as well as Marianne that this is her only chance to regain her old life.

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"The next time you come to report to me I'll give you a small dose and you'll see for yourself."

"You seem to be confident that I won't tell him where you are."

"Because I'm your only chance for a second go at life and if we're being honest you despise him just as much as you despise me."

"Believe me the hatred I have for him doesn't even come close to the one I have for you. But you're right, I won't tell a soul about what I've seen and heard as long as your miracle cure works."

"It's good to have you on our side, Lilian."

"We'll see how long you can say that", she says before lying down on the couch showing that this conversation has ended.

"Good night", Marianne says leaving Cesar and Lilian in the living room.

The air in her room is cold and the window is opened slightly so a small breeze can come through. Quietly she closes the window and looks at the sleeping boy on the matress.

~He's getting better~, she thinks with a smile on her face.

The past few weeks he would suddenly get up at midnight and stare blankly at the wall for hours before he got back in bed. She caught him the first time a few weeks ago when she went to get some water in the kitchen and saw him standing in front of the window in the living room.

It took a few of these incidents until she realized that he was sleepwalking and not just ignoring her.

As she sits down on her bed tears start falling from her face. Ever since they escaped it became a habit of hers where she cried herself to sleep just like when she was young.

After some time she finally falls asleep and the boy gets up gently checking her wrists for new marks. To his relief there aren't any new marks and it doesn't look like new ones will come up any time soon.

He spent the past few months looking for her everywhere in hopes she was still alive. He even went as far as spreading one of the more developed drugs to see if there was any reaction or if one of the districts didn't recieve a backlash as bad as the others, but nothing. 

It's as if she's been swallowed by the ground leaving no trace behind.

He knows she won't forgive him, but at the very least he wants to know if she's alright. If she's being taken good care of.

If he were to see her again maybe he could explain everything to her, but deep down a part of him didn't want her to know. At least not yet, he just wants her to enjoy her life a bit before breaking the news to her.

Who knows, maybe she won't change at all. But he knows that if she were to find out she'd never be the same again and not in a good sense.

"Marcus."

"Yes, master?"

"Stop the search for Marianne and the boy."

"May I ask why, master? Could it be that you've finally come to the realisation that they might've died from the fall?", the butler asks.

"She isn't dead. And the prison break from this morning just proves it. There's no one else crazy enough to free him just like that."

"If that's the case then why are we stopping the search?"

"The other families aren't fools, they know something's up."

"I'll do as you said, master, but they'll still try to dig deeper even if you drop the search. Should I ask, you know who, about their whereabouts and send some guards?"

"You don't have to worry about the others I'll give them something else to worry about in our next meeting. And I don't think anyone can harm her with Cesar by her side."

"Indeed, our dear 'blood hound' tends to be a bit overprotective of the little miss", Markus says with an amused smile. 

It reminds him of the old days when his master, Marianne and Cesar were still inseperable. 

At the same time a small thought creeps up in him, one that bothers him way more than it should.