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An amount of time has passed since Frei's futile attempt at escaping. The amount of time since he last saw the light of day was unknown to him. The only way for him to track the time passed was through Wall's constant appearance made into the basement, to extract the mana from Frei's blood.

The shackles that Frei was cuffed on have been replaced by a finer, more delicate shackle, or to put more elegantly, a restraint to restraint someone of importance. It had an insignia inscribed onto it and its thickness was rather thin compared to its predecessor but it was undoubtedly one of quality. 

The shackles were put onto all of Frei's four limbs, and each one was tied to a chain that was anchored onto the wall, minimizing his movements and overall chances of escaping. But by then, Frei no longer had any grand ambition of escaping though he would often dream of it. 

His knees were bent against the rough floor, and his arms were shackled tightly to prevent either hand from touching the other. 

The Iron door banged yet again. Light footsteps emerged and so did the sounds of metallic objects clashing with one another. Sounds of liquid flowing inside a pot too, Frei could hear all of them clearly. The sounds were something he'd often heard before he attempted to escape, it wasn't the light sound of leather shoes tapping against the floor, nor was it the sound of Wall coming in for bloodletting. It was the usual sound that would come before "Gloria" made her appearance with her bowls of food. However, the footsteps he heard were slightly different and incoherent, seemingly wavering, weak, fragile even, as if the person coming couldn't walk properly. 

Frei made his guess about the identity of the person entering and he was right. It was the often pleasant, sometimes melancholic and kind "Gloria". Frei gazed at her entry and noticed the different aura surrounding her. As well as her differences in appearance, the joy and cautiousness she had previously was seemingly gone, replaced by a deeper sadness and sorrow.

She had dark circles around her reddish eyes, her face was pale and slightly wrinkled unlike before. She widened her mouth, displaying a smile for Frei however it lacked any joy or pleasantness. Below her head, there were conspicuous hand bruises that stretched along her neck and throat. When she grabbed the spoon with her bandaged hands and as she extended her arm to feed Frei, her hands shook intensely.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Frei asked, deeply concerned for her health.

"N-No…I'm fine, just eat." She affirmed Frei, her hands still shaking intensely. 

"But your hand…"

"Please… stop asking. Just eat."

Frei bit onto the spoon, devouring everything on the spoon. While doing so, he observed her condition and noticed countless bruises that were just slightly visible underneath her sleeves. 

"What are the red marks?" He asked.

"N-Nothing. Just eat. Don't ask. Please." She replied.

"They looked like what Berg had." He muttered softly.

"..." 

She grabbed another spoonful.

"Eat Frei." She said gently, with a veiled smile on her face. 

"Is it because of me? Did you get punished like the others?" He asked. 

"No…"

"If so… I'm sorry." 

"No… it's not your fault Frei. It's nobody's." She said in a soft, gentle tone, comforting him.

"But…" 

"Please, just eat the damn thing." Her veiled smile dropped. "And be quiet for a moment." she murmured quietly.

Frei lowered his head towards the spoon, gently shoving the spoon into his mouth. He swallowed the food and unlowered his head from the spoon. She grabbed yet another spoonful and fed him as she looked into Frei's eyes despite her gazes being empty.

"Isn't it nice? The food. Master C-CornWall allowed me to feed it to you, isn't that nice of him?" She said, as she grabbed another spoonful but just before reaching Frei's mouth, her intense shaking caused her to drop the spoon.

 "I am sorry! I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." She said instantaneously when the spoon hit the ground and the contents scattered all over the floor. Her face went pale, drained of color, eyes and mouths were widened, her breathing grew unsteady and heavy. The shaking in her hand intensified and tears started flowing down her cheeks. 

Frei was shaken by her unexpected reaction. He was worried by her reaction yet simultaneously he felt an uneasy discomfort. His instincts gnawed at him, telling him something was wrong. Frei tried his best to comfort her, like what she did to him.

"Please don't be sad." He responded, carefully picking words from his limited vocabulary.

"Y-Yeah, I'm not." She hurriedly picked up the spoon that dropped onto the floor. "Sorry if I worried you. Haha." She gave an uncomfortable chuckle, one that wasn't genuine. "I'm fine so don't you worry!" She affirmed Frei with a bright smile as she wiped the dirty spoon with her dress.

When Frei finished eating the remaining food, it was time for her to leave because that was her only purpose here. However, she didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go back above onto the estate, she wanted to stay with Frei despite the musty air and unhygienic environment. She reluctantly left as she knew the outcome and consequences if she disobeyed her master's orders.

Before leaving, she gave Frei another veiled smile, one voided by any feelings.