World’s Biggest Harem Ch. 04

Celeste was a little bit surprised when I told her to watch out for a girl with black hair and red eyes. She knew me well enough at this point that I generally made a move on anything with two legs, and immediately caught on to the fact that something was wrong.

“What did she do?” Celeste asked. “Was she crazy or something?”

“All women are crazy, Celeste.” I told her.

“I’m a woman.” She reminded me.

“That was a good way to prove my point.”

She huffed at me and refilled my teacup. “Have you figured out the mystery of who killed Washington yet?”

I froze. I absolutely had, but I had no intention of letting Celeste know that. I had already decided that my life was very much in danger because of what I had discovered. I could not risk Celeste as well.

“I thought about it a little, and I decided to leave it to the authorities.”

“That’s unlike you.” She said, surprised. “You’re usually so thorough.”

I felt bad for lying to her, and considering that I thought I was in danger I felt I needed her to have a lot of distance away from me.

“You know, Celeste, I think you deserve some time off.”

She stopped. She looked surprised. “Huh?”

“Why don’t you go to Europe for a bit?” I suggest. “And see the sights.”

At first she thought it was a joke, but after a brief conversation she realized that I was being serious.

“A month?” She breathed. “Master… I don’t know what to say…”

“Just say you’ll enjoy yourself.” I told her. I was surprised when she bent over and gave me a hug.

“I love working for you, Master.” She said. “See you next month.”

She left in higher spirits than I had ever seen her, humming to herself as she packed her things. I worried briefly whether I had been giving her enough time off.

I had never been alone in the building since I moved in. It was oddly quiet without Celeste coming in to check up on me, and it wasn’t long before I began to miss her presence. When it started getting dark, however, I found myself steeling up for the inevitable. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and kept it close at hand as I tried to relax, half expecting the assassin to come bursting into my home at any moment.

Washington had been killed by gunshot, so I made sure that I wasn’t near any windows and that all of my locks were fastened. I sat up, listening intently for any unusual sounds. I heard nothing.

I had been so concerned about Celeste that I hadn’t considered what I would do once night fell. I sat up in a chair, heart beating rapidly, almost certain that eventually someone would come for my life.

I sat up all night like that, paranoid and afraid. I dared not fall asleep or work on my books out of fear that I fail to notice the approaching assassination kaçak bahis attempt. I expected to hear footsteps at my door, or a shadow to fall across the window. But in the end, there was nothing. When the sun rose, I was rattled, and exhausted.

I felt a little bit more comfortable sleeping during the day, so I did. When I awoke, it took me a moment to remember why I was so anxious. It was still light out, so I still had time to plan for the following night.

Perhaps I should leave town, and go on a trip. I wasn’t exactly a public figure. If she had no idea where I was, she couldn’t hunt me down. With that plan in mind, then, I began packing my things. Without Celeste around to do it for me, it took me a considerably long time.

I opened the door to leave and barely noticed that someone was standing right outside it.

“Hey.” Scarlet said.

I shut the door in her face.

“I’m not here to kill you.” She said, annoyed. “Open up!”

I pressed my weight against the door. She groaned, clearly exasperated.

“Look.” She said. “I just want to talk. About what you know.”

I turned and opened the door. We stared at each other.

“May I come in?” She asked, a little bit too politely.

I let her come in and closed the door behind her. The knife was still clutched in my hand, and her head was turned away from me. I wondered briefly whether I should plunge the knife into her head, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I set the knife on the stand next to me and followed her into the kitchen.

She sat down, rather gracefully, and I prepared tea.

“My maid is on vacation.” I told her. “My apologies if it’s not to your liking.”

“You have a maid?” She seemed amused as she took the cup. She sipped it. “It’s quite fine, thank you.”

I stood facing her. There was an awkward silence.

“Why are you here?” I asked her, perhaps a little bit too bluntly. She took a moment to answer. She sipped the tea, and then set it gingerly on the table.

“You haven’t told anyone about me.” She said. “Why?”

“Should I have?”

“If you had I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to you.” She said. “My work must be conducted in the utmost secrecy. I wouldn’t have been able to afford a formal investigation. I would have been removed and relocated somewhere else. I would have been given a new job, a new identity… a new life.”

She glanced back down at her tea, perhaps wondering if she should pick it back up and take another sip.

“You are terrified of me, and yet… you have said nothing. I want to know what you want from me. Why did you confront me at work? Is it money you want? Or do you need someone killed?”

Gone was the nice, friendly girl I had met earlier that month. bedava bahis In her place was a cold, somewhat aloof professional killer. I found myself wondering which girl was the real her.

It was time to be honest with her.

“I had no idea you were a professional killer.” I said. “I was looking into Washington’s death to pass the time. When I mentioned that to you it was just a coincidence. I didn’t actually accuse you of anything.”

Her mouth fell open in a wide O. She composed herself quickly, but I caught on rather quickly. She really had had no idea that she had simply given herself away.

“What now?” She asked, her voice bitter. “What are you planning to do? Turn me in?”

“As you said, I could have done that by now.” I told her. “if I was going to do that, I would have done so the instant I got away from you.”

She stared at me. Her gaze was cold and expressionless, but I was beginning to grasp that it was nothing more than a façade. She really did not know what to make of me.

“Will you kill me because of what I know?”

She hesitated. She had clearly, at some point, thought about it.

“That will not be necessary.” She said. “As long as you don’t tell anyone else.”

She stood up. Her steely gaze was on mine.

“And I have my methods of knowing if you talk.” She said. “If you so much as even breath a word as to what I am, I swear to you. I will kill you.”

We stared at each other for a long while. It took me a moment to realize that I was still attracted to her. I smiled at her reassuringly, and she recoiled, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“I will.” I said. “If you finish your tea.”

She looked up at me sharply, and then back at the cup of tea, and then back again. And then she giggled.

“You’re pretty when you laugh.” I told her, as she wrapped her slender fingers around her cup. Again, she looked taken aback.

“Are you saying I’m not pretty?”

“Laughing shows off another side of your beauty.” I was beginning to get a feel for the girl’s personality. Scarlet, it seemed, had very little, if any, experience with men. She was rocking back and forth now, seemingly conflicted. I could tell that she was attracted to me, but at the same time… she knew it would be a bad idea to let things continue.

I understood how she felt, but I pressed onward anyway.

“Is your name really Scarlet?”

“It is.” She said. I wondered whether or not it was true.

“That’s not a codename or something, is it?”

“No.” She responded. She sounded amused. “I thought you had no desire to hire me.”

“Well, you never know…”

She laughed. She brushed her hair out of her face and stared at me. “You don’t seem concerned about my profession.”

“There kazandıran bahis siteleri are worse jobs.”

“Like what?”

“Being my maid, I suppose.”

She laughed again. “Your maid has it that rough?”

“Probably. I gave her time off today, and I’ve never seen her happier.”

She gave me a look. “Where did she go?”

“Europe. She’ll be there for a month.”

“A month?” She sounded impressed. “How very generous of you. I’ve only ever gone for work.”

It looked as if she had said too much, because she went pink and fell silent. I felt it was important to establish that she could be herself around me.

“Who did you kill?”

I had tried to poise the question as if it were a perfectly normal one, but she immediately got very quiet.

“I can’t talk about that.” She said, her voice stiff. “It’s classified information.”

“What can you tell me, then?”

“What do you want to know?”

I leaned in closer to her.

“I want to know more about you.”

She went pink again and averted her eyes.

“I’m not a terribly interesting person.”

“If that was true we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“I’m really not.” She said defensively, as she looked up back at me. “What makes you think I am?”

“Because I want to get to know you better.” I told her. “If you were like anyone else, I wouldn’t have even bothered.”

“Of course I’m not like everyone else, I’m an assassin.”

“There’s more to you than that, I’m sure.”

“No, there really isn’t.” She insisted, as she got to her feet. “Everything I do is a cover for my work. My interests, my day to day life, my relationships. Everything revolves around my profession.”

“Surely you could have a boyfriend or something.” I suggested. “To take your mind off things.

She laughed derisively, shaking her head. “Who would have me?” She asked, her voice rising. “Who would want to be with an assassin?”

I stood up.

“I would.”

She stopped moving. She stared up at me as I stepped towards her, and tucked her hair behind her ear with my hand. I leaned in close, and kissed her.

She raised her hand to my chest, and I felt she must have at first wanted to push me away, but her hand went limp. She squeezed my chest, and in the moment pulled me closer to her.

When we pulled away we stared at each other. She blushed, cheeks red.

“That’s right.” She said. “You actually asked me out.”

“Did you forget?” I asked, amused.

“It slipped my mind.” She admitted. “But that was before you knew that… I was…”

She clutched my shirt more tightly.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend before.” She confessed. “I have no idea what to do, or how to act, or what you expect from me. I’m only good for one thing, and that… that will be of no use to you.”

“Don’t be silly.” I told her. “You only have to be yourself.”

I took her hand and guided her back to the table.

“I suppose this will be our first date.” I told her, amused. “What would you like for dinner?”