11 Charlotte's Horror

Still the same day, August 16th—8:30 PM.

Lucas arrived in his manor with renewed eyes. Earlier this day, he still looked at it as just another expensive mansion. But after hearing Mathias's words, an added layer of mystery and secrets have seemingly been added in this inconspicuous building.

When he walked through the entrance, the servants nearby lightly bow their heads in passing. Lucas walked towards the closest maid and asked, "Noticed anything strange with the mansion lately?"

The maid turned to him and spoke, "Nothing unusual with the building, sir. However, Miss Charlotte went outside earlier and still hasn't returned."

"Charlotte's out?" Lucas asked with a frown in his face and the maid nodded. He looked around to the other servants and they all agreed to the maid's words.

'Shit,' he cursed in his mind. In that moment, he felt like he understood his mother all of a sudden.

Lucas, originally being a 20-year-old university student, could somewhat sympathize with Charlotte if she felt like she wants go out with her friends. But this is Eldoria. This isn't New York, where she could go out, have dinner, and hang out with her friends during the evening. Literal slave traders roam the streets, just a few blocks away. This wasn't just a simple case of a young girl sneaking out to maybe go to a club or hang out with her friends, in Eldoria, she could get kidnapped on the streets and no one would bat an eye.

Then, when he went upstairs to ask his other daughter, Victoria, about her younger sister's location, she only shrugged her shoulders and said: "I don't know," like she couldn't care less.

'Should I look for her? Or should I just wait?' Suddenly, he fell into a dilemma. 'She'll have to come back somehow', he thought. But what if she couldn't? In the end, he called on to a few servants, mostly the men, and ordered them to look for Charlotte outside but they have to keep it discreet.

It wasn't until around 11 PM, Lucas was still pacing around the living room with worry, when from out the window he noticed a shadowy figure trying to scale the tree outside. Walking closer, he could hear a female voice panting with exertion, muttering curses under her breath.

"Shit, this tree is way too tall compared to the one back home," the voice whispered in frustration.

Surely enough, it was the Charlotte, her brown hair unmistakable, trying to sneak directly back into the second floor by climbing up the tree and then jumping through one of the open windows. Not only that, she showed some level of expertise when it comes to tree climbing as if she's been doing such escapades for years.

Lucas stepped outside and questioned with a cold tone, "What do you think you're doing?"

Caught off guard by her father's presence, Charlotte froze on the tree, her eyes widening. Slowly, she descended to the ground and faced him with an awkward smile. "Dad, heh, fancy seeing you here."

Arching an eyebrow, Lucas retorted, "This is my house. Why wouldn't I be here?"

Charlotte didn't reply after that, instead, she sheepishly stood there, rooted in place. She couldn't look more guilty if she tried. Lucas wondered if this is this how all parents feel after catching their children sneaking out. Though in this case, it's sneaking back in to the house rather than out.

"So? Where were you and what were you doing?" pressed Lucas.

"Uhh…" Charlotte looked stumped for an answer, and her eyes darted all over as she tried to rack her brains for an excuse.

Seeing that, Lucas couldn't help but frown. Not because he's disappointed by her behavior, but because he couldn't believe that Charlotte actually dared sneak out and not even have a single alibi prepared beforehand. Not even a single excuse.

'If it were me, I would at least have asked my sibling beforehand to help bail me out if my mother ever caught me sneaking out' Lucas thought.

Unbeknownst to Lucas, Charlotte used to prepare excuses and alibis as well. However, she hadn't bothered coming up with one the last few years and had become complacent, simply because she had never been caught once. Or more accurately, her father never cared whether or not she had already come home. Sometimes Charlotte wonders if their father would even notice it if she didn't return home for three days.

Now that she had been caught, she's utterly unprepared. "Uhm, I… I was…" she couldn't even come up with a single coherent sentence. Furthermore, her face is flushed red, indicating that she might've been drinking before this.

At such a sight, Lucas just shook his head like a disappointed father and said, "Follow me."

Charlotte followed Lucas into the dimly lit kitchen. Very few lights were open as everyone else was already asleep. Lucas made a glass of iced coffee as well as an extra glass of water, just in case. It was a ritual he followed whenever he felt a bit tipsy or on edge but still had to drive home. While he wasn't sure if there was any scientific basis behind it, it seemed to work for him, so he thought it might help Charlotte as well.

"So, where were you?" asked Lucas.

Charlotte had long thought about the day when her father would catch her in the middle of her shenanigans. She often wondered what his reaction would be. She believed she would be able to handle it if he was angry or if he yelled at her. But the calm and disappointed look unnerved her instead, and she confessed the truth.

"Well, I wanted to go for some light drinks… so I left and looked for a bar I could drink at." she spoke, throwing occasional glances at Lucas's face, trying to gauge his reaction. "Then I found one, two street away, still in Clockwork Heights. However, it wasn't quite what I expected…"

Back in Arkhantia, bars were well… bars. People usually just sat and drank, most of them tired from work, some looking for a hookup. Charlotte had visited a number of them, and though she preferred the high-end establishments, if she really needed a drink, she wouldn't slumming it to a local tavern.

However, all that she had experienced couldn't have prepared her for what she saw in her first bar in Eldoria. Yes, people were drinking. Yes, there was music. But there were women, called 'Floor Crawlers', dressed in seductive outfits, just 'serving' some of the customers.

These women were always crawling on all fours, forbidden from standing upright. They would clean shoes, wipe the floor, and even give blowjobs to customers, and the most surprising part is that no one batted an eye.

Charlotte saw a man drinking with his colleagues when he suddenly called one of the Floor Crawlers over to suck his dick, and she just did. None of his friends paid special attention to the fact that their friend was getting a blowjob under the table, and just went on with their conversation as usual.

It wasn't until a few conversations in that she realized those women were slaves. And an inadvertent chill ran down the sheltered lady's spine as she realized the reality of being a slave.

She had read it in her history books but seeing it for herself was another story. Even if it did exist, she thought it would be in the dark underworld. But this ugly reality wasn't hidden away to a dark corner of the city, it was very much present in their casual everyday lives.

Not to mention, this is in Clockwork Heights, the supposed 'high society' of Eldoria. Who knows how much worse it can get in the other more unruly district.

Charlotte continued to recount her story, horror dyeing her face, when she saw that there were female patrons in that bar as well, but not a single one of them showed a shred of sympathy or concern for their fellow women who were being used as cumdumps by the men.

What disturbed Charlotte the most was how commonplace the practice of using Floor Crawlers was in similar establishments. Rather than being an optional feature, they were seen as a necessary part of the experience, much like waiters in a typical restaurant. The fact that this kind of degradation was culturally accepted and integrated only served to deepen her disgust and anguish.

As Charlotte recounted her story, Lucas sat across from her with his hand covering his mouth. He watched the disgust and horror on her face and tried to imagine the scene as she had described it. Shamefully, he found himself becoming aroused by the idea of such services. He quickly crossed one leg over the other, attempting to conceal his growing erection.

"I was planning to warn you about it, the same way I did with Victoria. But from the looks of it, you've already had a rude awakening as to what kind of world we'll be living in from now on," said Lucas. "One wrong encounter when walking alone at night in the streets, and you might join those women you just saw this evening."

Charlotte nodded and Lucas told her to think about her actions before sending her back to her room.

Sigh... Lucas was planning to do a preemptive search around this house, just to see if he could find anything of value before the Crows come over and search for any trace about the Plutonic Research Society. But this entire ordeal with Charlotte sneaking out of the house caused him to not do anything for the entire evening, making him waste a crucial night.

"I'll have to go to sleep soon myself" he looked at the time and thought about how he still had to wake up early tomorrow.

* * *

August 17th, 4:30 PM.

At the same exact time and the same exact place, Lucas met again with Mathias. As he said yesterday, he is supposed to meet the team here. However, besides Mathias himself, he only saw another person and it was a woman.

She possessed blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. She had a high nose and her hair tied is into a loose side bun, with bangs that framed her beautiful face. She looked to be in her late twenties, but there were some signs that she could be older than that.

There was an air of sophistication that emanated from the way she carried herself. It didn't come off as forced, as many people pretending to be rich tends to do so. But it was natural and subtle, and Lucas only noticed it because Montague had been around many people from the upper strata.

Lucas's gaze unconsciously moved down and he saw the huge pair of honkers that is contained within her coat. MILF—that's what immediately came to Lucas's mind. He struggled to raise his eyes and take his gaze away from her calcium cannons, for if he stared any longer, then she might notice his ogling.

"The name's Vivian, it's a pleasure to meet you." she stepped forward and shook Lucas's hand.