Sid wanted the distance of an observer, not the humiliating, dangerous reality of a servant. He scrubbed furiously at a wine stain, his muscles aching from the unfamiliar labor. The entire experience was a terrifying betrayal of his original goal. He was a participant, an actual target for Evelise's capricious cruelty.
"I don't want to be part of your miserable, tyrannical past!"
He whispered into the quiet room. He realized that the system wasn't letting him watch; it was forcing him to live her history, forcing him to feel the fear and contempt that surrounded the woman she used to be.
The manor settled into a tense, uneasy silence as the clock chimed ten o'clock. All servant duties were finally finished, the only sounds left were the low, rhythmic snores of the servants crammed into their shared quarters and the faint ticking of a distant clock.
