“Good morning, servant.” Candace grumbled to herself as she sat down at one of the seats in the kitchen, rather than sitting down in the dining room to eat as she usually did, wanting to be as close to me as she could be. “I don’t remember telling you that you were allowed out of bed before I was.”

The stove was on, breakfast was cooking, and that was the only reason I was already out of bed. “I was just preparing food, Ma’am.”

“And is using the master bathroom part of food preparation now, slave?”

Now that I was guilty of. Zap . My knees shook and wobbled as she sent a surge of electricity through me.

“Consider this letting you off the hook easy, now get me a drink.” Candace was unusually grumpy this morning, and for good reason.

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry, Ma’am.” I quickly fetched her a glass of tea. “The door to my bathroom was locked, and I didn’t want to wake you… and I know how much you hate me pissing on your floors.”

“Sound like a lose lose scenario to me, oh well~” She smiled to herself, slowly sipping her tea.

“Is something the matter, Master?” I returned to the stove, flipping breakfast over so that it didn’t burn. “Is it about tomorrow?”

“Of course it’s about tomorrow.” She sighed to herself. “Don’t ask stupid questions… and speak when spoken to!!”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am… I’m making pancakes, if that helps~”

“You’ve never made pancakes, what’s the occasion?”

“There’s no occasion, you’ve just never told me to make pancakes… they’re not easy, you know.”
“Then what’s different about today, thrall?”

I stopped, sighing loudly to myself as I flipped the pancakes over one final time. “I’m nervous about tomorrow too, Master…”

Candace frowned, nodding her head. “I can tell… but that attitude isn’t helping you.”

“Yes, Ma’am…I couldn’t fall back asleep… I needed to do something.” I started plating the pancakes and serving them to Candace, putting them all on a single plate, assuming that I wasn’t actually going to get any of them. “So I decided to serve, is that not my place, Master?”

“The problem isn’t your dedication to service, Chloe…” She held out her already empty glass for a refill. “The problem is doing so in the brattiest way possible.”

I refilled it as quickly as I could and brought it back to her. “I thought you liked brattiness from time to time, you said it was endearing?”

“I do enjoy it, Chloe. But it’s not going to fly tomorrow, you know that…”

“I’m sorry…” We weren’t married, yet here we were, bickering. “Maybe it’d be good to get all of my bratiness out of the way before tomorrow, Ma’am?”

“Oh, you think so?” She took the glass from my hand. “I suppose I can consider it, you are already acting up without permission, after all~”

“Brattiness isn’t a product of permission, Master.”

“Shut up and sit down~” She kicked out the chair next to her, demanding that I stop pacing around in the kitchen and relax for just a few seconds. I sat, turning to face her just in time to see her reach her hand under my chin and tilt my head up to look directly into her eyes. “You can be a brat if you want, but run your pretty little mouth off at me one more time and you will be getting punished for it~”

She just knew how much I liked hearing that. Eugh, I really was a brat, and I wasn’t very proud of it. I had been locked away and relegated to the position of housemaid, but I was her handmaiden now, and I wanted to enjoy a few of the privileges I was granted as personal slave to Candace St. Clair. I wanted to misbehave just a little bit, but I knew that there was no time left to misbehave.

Tomorrow night was the night I met Candace’s father, and we were both terribly nervous about it.

“You’re welcome to be challenging at any time, but don’t think you’ll ever be allowed to get away with it, okay?”

She was my world. Everything revolved around her. It was only through her that I could continue to exist. She was my only source for rules and guidelines. Guidelines.

“Would you like me to recite my guidelines now, Master?”

Candace answered wordlessly, and so I did, but by the time I was finished she had a strangely hungry look in her eyes.

Our relationship had evolved in many ways, but it was far from perfect.

It was full of love and passion at the best of times, but it was downright abusive in the worst of times.

I was to marry Candace St. Clair, and join one of the five families, and I had accepted that. But we were both struggling to convert what we had started off as into a genuine relationship.

Candace had grown up as a part of one of the most corrupt and abusive families on the planet, she had been born Cardinal St. Clair, named after her father, and despite trying desperately not to turn out as her father’s son, she had grown up to be just as abusive as her father was.

Yet despite knowing how abusive she and her family was, I was doing my best to try and fit in with that family. I was trying to impress that abusive father of hers, because despite how abusive Candace had turned out to be, she loved me, and I loved her.

“Alright, have it your way Chloe~” Candace smiled and shook her head at me in disbelief. “If you want to get the brattiness out of the way today, then I will help beat it out of you~”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” I bowed to her, my last show of respect before I start to misbehave. “Do you think I’m ready?”

“I don’t really know, and I don’t really-” Candace started and then paused, sighing to herself. “You had better be, or else I don’t know what I’m going to do…”

“...Do you think your father will like me?”

“I really hope he does, or else it’s bye bye brat girl.”

“You couldn’t just go behind his back to keep me?”

“That’s complicated, Chloe… He could have me killed if he really wanted to.”

“He wouldn’t-”

“My mother was killed by the family, Chloe… don’t underestimate the kinds of things they can do.”

I froze. I never really stopped to think about the implications of that. Of Candace’s own family having her mother euthanized. What kind of monsters must they be to do something like that to her, especially knowing that she’s the daughter of the family’s patriarch. It was despicable.

I watched her stand, beginning to walk behind me, feeling her twist her fingers in my hair and pull me to my feet and drag me back to the kitchen, scolding me in her emotionless tone as she let go, tossing me forward and walking away. “Get to work.”

I growled under my breath, just about ready to turn around and pounce on her, but by the time I had regained my balance she was on the phone, getting ready to open the secret door to her basement. “...How the fuck do you even have a basement in florida anyways?”

I turned back around to start my work, hearing her shout at me one last time before going downstairs. “With a lot of fucking money is how~!!”

↞✶↠

And so I got to work, it wasn’t hard, especially after so many months of doing it. She hadn’t even directed me on which room to deep clean today, not that that was difficult either, considering that half of the rooms were unused anyways.

“Meewwww~"

What was that? I spun around in place right there in the hallway, the hem of my apron spinning with me. Thea never made sounds like that, so it must be…

“Mewww~!!!!” I felt one of the cats rubbing her cheek against my ankles, desperate for scratches behind her ears. Thea never did that either, she was a silent menace, black as the night, and I hardly ever noticed her. She did her best to stay away from me, never wanted my attention, never shed, and stayed in her room most of the time anyway, despite there being a cat door for her to come through.

“Sophia…” I looked down at my ankles, seeing the calico kitten at my feet begging for my attention. She was still small, but she had gotten bigger, big enough to be able to leave her pen on her own for the first time. “You’re not supposed to be out here, kiddo~”

Sophia said nothing, of course she said nothing, she’s a cat, and I was just a hopeless and desperate moron for wanting to have a conversation with a cat. This was the point where I would just step on her, or kick her away in anger… okay maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I didn’t really like cats. This was the point where I actually should have just been looking for things to kill my time with, extra busywork until Candace needs me, like putting Sophia back in her pen.

But Candace was expecting to beat the brattiness out of me today, wasn’t she?

“Come here, scratchy~” I leaned down, picking her up with both hands and lifting her into the air, careful not to squish her on accident… or on purpose. “Let’s go mess with your mom, okay?”

The door into Candace’s room was so silent it was almost creepy, back where I used to live my door creaked so badly that it couldn’t be opened without waking up my neighbors. “Geez Sophia, how come Candace lets you walk around without a collar or a harness?”

Really? Am I really honestly jealous of a cat now?

She was downstairs, and that meant she was probably on the cameras, right? That was where she went when I couldn’t see her, wasn’t it?

I sat down on the bed, having finished my required amount of work for the day, and I set Sophia down with me. I wasn’t being insolent, I was just waiting. If Candace came on the intercom right now and gave me a task to fulfill, I would hop up to my feet and do it, but she didn’t.

“...Are you… in my bed right now?” The intercom kicked on, and I could hear her flabbergasted voice, not upset or angry, just confused.

“I’m done for the day, Ma’am.” I lifted my collar to my mouth slightly so that she could hear me. “Besides, you scolded me for getting out of bed too early this morning anyways~”

“……” I could just picture her down there, sitting in shocked silence. “…What do you mean you’re done ? You’re never done, not until I tell you you’re done.”

“Well, do you have anything else for me to do, Ma’am?”

“Oh!! So what, you need me to tell you how to do your job now, slave?”

“Of course not, I’ve finished everything that’s required of me-”

“You’ve never needed me to give you busywork, Chloe. You can find that on your own time.”

“I don’t really want to, Miss… unless you have something for me to do I just… don’t really want to find busywork.”

“Well, for starters, you can get Sophia out of my room before she sheds all over my bed, you have to sleep in that too, you know.”

Shit, she’s right. I quickly scooped Sophia back into my lap, picking her up off of the bed before she got cat hair everywhere. “You haven’t even assigned me an extra room to clean… I take Sophia back out and then what, Ma’am?”

“And then, you can clean the parlor chandelier.”

“The parlor chandelier?” I froze, taking in what she said. Chandeliers were the most grueling task she could possibly give me, so bad that I only had to clean one of them per month, and even then… I’d never actually cleaned the parlor chandelier, according to Candace, it was the most difficult one in the whole house, and the most dangerous as well, given how tall the ceiling in the parlor was. I didn’t know how to clean the parlor chandelier, and I could get seriously hurt just trying.

“Are you actually mad at me, Ma’am?”

“I…” Candace was still on the intercom, and she sounded even more confused now than when we had started. “…What?”

“I’m not really trying to upset you, Ma’am, I swear.” I stammered, unable to read her tone or her expression or her body language, nothing. Anything at all. I need to see her, I need something to go off of, I need something to read, something to analyze. That’s what I was good at, analyzing, but not from this distance. “Please… I’m sorry, I don’t want you to be mad at me. I was just trying to be challenging, I-”

“Wait, Chloe. Slow down.” She sounded concerned now. “What happened?”

“I was just being a brat, Ma’am.”

“...Is that what this is?”

“I’m not trying to upset you, I swear-” I choked, unsure of what exactly was happening to me, feeling like my heart was slowly being squeezed. “I- I’m ready to impress your father, I promise-”

I waited for a few moments, but there was no response.

Fuck. What did I do wrong? What do I do now? What’s going to happen? Is she really upset at me?

“Breathe, Chloe. Breathe.”

I didn’t even realize I was on the floor crying to myself until Candace was at my side, she must have gotten up from her seat to check on me before she even heard the last thing I said. “That’s it, we’re done with that, no more being a brat for today.”

“M-ma’am, I-”

“There’s a hairbrush on my bathroom sink, go get it.” She silenced me, handing me a direct order to follow so that I could get a hold of myself. “Now.”

Get a hold of yourself… I leapt to my feet immediately, letting her words flow into my brain and take over my body, helping me to complete my task and return to her side.

“I thought I recalled telling you to stop punishing yourself for your own bad behavior.” She was sitting in bed, her cat in her lap as she watched me walk back in. “Yet still I come up here to find you curled up in a ball sobbing to yourself.’

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“There’s no more room for sorry, Chloe.” She shook her head, setting Sophia to the side and patting her lap. “The bedroom doors are locked, come put yourself over my knee.”

“Am I getting punished, Ma’am…” I swallowed nervously, trying not to choke on my words. “Are you actually upset at me?”

“I wouldn’t be punishing you if I wasn’t upset at you, Chloe.” She didn’t have a very happy look on her face. She stood, grabbing my ear by the cattle tag and dragging me back to bed with her, putting me over her knee herself, ripping the hairbrush from my hand. “But I’m not upset at you for being a brat, I’m upset at you for self-destructing like that. If you can’t handle being a brat without beating yourself up over it, then you shouldn’t do it…”

I hid my face behind my hands as I laid there on the bed over her lap, trying not to cry before she even got started. “Candace…”

“Give me control, Chloe.” Candace gently placed the backside of the wooden hairbrush onto my bare ass, sweeping my apron out of the way. “I’m going to fix you now.”

“F-fix me? What do- OWWW!!” She brought the hairbrush down on my ass, forcing a pained squeal out of my mouth.

“Don’t question it. Submit.”

Submit. Right. My submission. That’s what’s- OWWWW!!!

My thoughts were shattered in my head before I could even finish thinking them, feeling Candace smack me with the hairbrush again. She put her hand to the back of my head as soon as I tried to sit up, gently pushing my head down to the blankets below. “Head down, ass up.”

I did as I was told, burying my face in the faux furs below as Candace continued to spank my ass with a hairbrush. My hands curled into the blankets and after just a few minutes I felt myself sobbing once again.

I felt her gently petting my hair as she held my head down, she wasn't trying to suffocate me by burying my face in the blankets, she was just trying to exert her dominance over me, and I let her. I wanted that, Candace was my world, and even though it was painful, being over her knee like I was brought me great joy. It brought me closer to her.

It made me happy.

I curled up in her lap, my face red with tears by the time she was done spanking me. She broke the hairbrush on my ass in trying to beat me back into submission, but at least she had succeeded in suppressing my bratty tendencies.

“I- I’m sorry a-about the hairbrush…”

“It’s the hairbrush that you want to apologize for?” She smirked at me, mocking me for being the one to apologize for the hairbrush snapping into two on my ass. “Don’t you have other things you should be apologizing for, slave?”

“I’m sorry for not doing my work, Ma’am…” I lowered my head in shame, my clamped shut eyes still wet with tears.

“Apology accepted…” Candace placed one hand on my cheek, lifting my face up to meet hers, waiting for me to open my eyes for continuing. “Now I want you to try not to break down like that again.”

“Breakdown?” I bit my lip, she was referring to me having a panic attack here in her room after our conversation over the intercom.

“Did you lose the ability to be a brat over the last couple of weeks?” She smirked at me, picking up the barely functioning hairbrush and beginning to straighten my short head of hair with it.

“I don’t know, Ma’am. please don’t make fun of me…” I felt my head leaning into the hairbrush to make it easier for her.

“I’ll make fun of you whenever I want, sweetie.”

Sweetie. I really did like the sound of that. It was nice. Being hers was nice.

“I’m going to do my best tomorrow, I promise…” I took a deep breath, sitting up straight in her lap, ready to do my best for her, watching Candace’s cat climb back into my lap again.

“Looks like Sophia likes you, huh?” Candace smiled, setting the hairbrush down on her nightstand.

“Why did you give her my name, Ma’am?” I took Sophia into my hands, holding her as I stood up.

“To make fun of you, of course~” She stood after me, leading me out of the room with her. “We’re having guests in the parlor tomorrow, I want the chandelier cleaned tonight.”

↞✶↠

We slowly raised the chandelier back to the ceiling once we were done. It was difficult at first, the parlor being so tall meant that the chandelier only lowered about halfway down the height of the room, though I wasn’t sure that she didn’t just want me on a ladder so that she could ogle at me from below.

Candace of course, didn’t lift a finger to help, but she did watch, and she did help guide me through it. Then once I was done, she sent me off to get dressed. Candace didn’t usually make me dress up, I spent several weeks completely naked and only recently did she start having me wear an apron, my new uniform, and she makes me wear my leather harness beneath it at all times now.

I was in Candace’s wardrobe room when I heard a knock on the door into the room.

“O-one moment, I’ll be right out!” I responded automatically, still trying to choose between two dresses that I had picked out, red or blue. But hearing the knock on the door to hurry me up, I quickly picked the red one, nervously trying to dress myself as I heard yet another knock on the door.

“I’m coming, Ma’am, I promise.” It was a little bit odd for her to be knocking on the door. The door wasn’t even locked, and if she wasn’t knocking on the door to tell me to hurry up, why was she knocking?

“Cumming already, puppy?”

Oh no. I opened the door and froze as I looked up at her. That wasn’t Candace at all. What is she doing here?

“I haven’t even started playing with you, fuckmeat. You can’t already be finished~”

I sighed in exasperation, lowering my head in confusion, unsure of what I was supposed to do in this situation. I knew how to address and treat Candace, but I didn’t know how to address her. “Hello, Mrs. Griffin…”

“Awe, you’re not going to keep calling me Ma’am? ” Liz giggled, fake pouting at me, her hands on her curvy and clearly fake hips. “Booooo, that’s lame.”

Her father isn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow, why are her brother and his slave here?

“Apologies, Ma’am…” I coughed, grumbling to myself under my breath as I tried to look down, as was appropriate when faced with superiors, even those who I didn’t respect. “The Mistress didn’t tell me we were expecting guests tonight…”

“Candace called us up this morning and asked us to stay the night!” Liz smirked, looking me up and down in the most condescending way possible for another slave to do. “Poor little thing… Guess she didn’t tell you we were coming, huh?”

Staying the night? I glanced up at her, noticing that she wasn’t moving from the doorway, preventing me from being able to walk back out into the hallway. Candace didn’t usually have houseguests, especially so intrusive ones like Elizabeth here, and even when she did I had never heard of her letting them stay the night. “Mr. Griffin is here too, then?”

“Well of course he is, dummy.” Liz scoffed sarcastically, mocking me for making such an obvious observation. “Master is with his kid sister now, finding us a room.”

His kid sister? I snarled under my breath, it was actually upsetting to hear a fellow slave referring to Candace as something so informal and disrespectful, to my face no less. His kid sister, really? That’s how you’re going to refer to her?

“Your Master’s kid sister is my Master.” Attack dog mode activated. I couldn’t stop myself, maybe I was too smitten with Candace to disrespect her to her face, but Liz clearly wasn’t above disrespecting Candace, so I wasn’t above disrespecting Liz. “Please show my Master the respect she deserves, slave.”

“Did you just call me a slave??” I watched as Liz’s eyes went wide eyed, a huge grin on her lips as she gasped with disbelief. “So the puppy has teeth, does she?”

“When you disrespect her owner, yes…” I smirked, trying and failing to avert my gaze back downwards as I watched the expression on her face.

“I’m surprised she even let you out of your cage.” Liz lifted her eyebrow, snickering maliciously at me. “I thought that even I was above Candace’s bootlicking little idiot.”

“Maybe a month ago you were~” I smiled, nodding my head and trying to push past her. “If you’ll excuse me-”

“Nope!!” Liz continued to block the doorway, her big tits and round ass making it impossible to go around her… as well as impossible for me to take my useless lesbian eyes off of her. “Candace told me to make sure that you don’t go somewhere you’re not supposed to~”

Where in the house are Candace and Cyrus that I can’t follow them? I paused, biting my lip as I patiently waited, hoping that she would move out of my way. “The guest bedroom… right. I won’t follow them inside, I know better.”

“Oh, you know better?” Liz stepped forward into the room with me, pushing me backwards slowly. “What, you can learn things now? How’d that happen?”

I stepped backwards, trying not to let the other woman touch me. “With a little bit of tough love… and Master’s encouragement.”

“Tough love sounds about right, my Master had to break my legs to get me to behave… but I guess a natural submissive like you is too soft for that, huh?” Liz followed closely, still preventing me from reaching the door. “So what, have you learned to love it yet?”

“Love what? You mean Candace?”

“Do you love slavery yet, stupid?”

“I am not stupid, and I most certainly don’t love slavery!!”

“Oh really? Is that so, Chloe?” Before Liz could respond back, I heard another voice from the doorway behind her. Candace’s voice . “Did you hear that, brother… maybe I should go ahead and send my little brat to the facility right here and now~”

“M-Master, I-”

“You want to take that back, don’t you?”

“I do, Ma’am.” I pushed past Liz, quickly finding my way to her side. “And even if I didn’t love slavery… I do love you…”

Candace smiled, nodding her head before she led Liz and I back out to the parlor, where Cyrus was waiting patiently, his loyal slave making her way into his lap as soon as she saw him. “Cyrus and Twosie are here to help us have a little rehearsal before tomorrow, I want everything to go perfectly when my father gets here.”

“Makes sense to me, Ma’am.” I nodded, my eyes still pointing down at those feet of hers I loved to kiss so badly. “You should have told me to expect visitors.”

“Oh, should I have?” I watched Candace tap her foot impatiently. “Are you trying to tell me what to do, slave?”

“N-no Ma’am, I would never dream of it…” I swallowed nervously, kicking myself for continuing to fail. I’m really not ready for tomorrow, am I…

“Aria is here too, she’s just in playing with Thea and Sophia. She really loves Sophia, which doesn’t surprise me, she’s adorable~” Candace looked me straight in the eye, catching my upwards drifting gaze as she winked at me.

I blushed, biting my lip in frustration as I nodded. “So it’s going to be like your afterparty, Ma’am?”

“Not tonight, no, but tomorrow maybe. Granted, Lilith won’t be here tomorrow, my father and his ex-wife are mutually exclusive when it comes to parties.” Candace sighed, sitting down in her seat and gesturing for me to kneel next to her. “Surprisingly, tonight’s rehearsal is one of those rare occasions where Malcolm and Leah have chosen not to attend, he only has so much social energy after all, and she, well… let’s just say Leah is having a rough time with her husband right now.”

“Rough is an understatement, Candy… Didn’t you hear?” Aria exited from the cat’s bedroom and made her way to the parlor, little Sophia in hand. “They’re getting a divorce~”

“And where did you hear that?” Candace was almost annoyed that she was only just hearing this from one of her houseguests and not from her chauffeur directly. “Since when do you and Leah talk?”

“Ever since yours truly convinced her to dump his neglectful ass is when~” Aria grinned smugly, sitting down on one of the round sofas with the kitten. “I’m a relationship solver after all, didn’t you know?”

“Sure you are~” Candace sneered sarcastically. “So what, you’ve replaced me as your best friend then?”

“I would never even dream of it, Clairbear~” Aria taunted her, purring under her breath like a cat would. “She’s great, but she’s no you~”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in Malcolm’s room, Aria?”

“Nah, the kitten’s room is just fine, I can sleep on the floor no problem~”

“You’re not Chloe, I’m not going to force you to sleep on the floor.”

“You don’t need to force me to do anything, mama cat ~” Aria smirked, winking at Candace as she purred, almost swooning over my Mistress. “Unless you want me to sleep in your room~”

“Not this time, Fairmont. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the last time I let you sleep in my bed with me.”

Last time? I was never really sure how I felt about Aria, but I did not at all like the way that Aria and Candace talked to each other. It was almost like flirting, and I did not at all like getting jealous over watching someone flirt with Candace, my Mistress, my Candace.

“Is something wrong, Chloe?” Candace reached down, gently pinching my left ear between her fingers. “You look tense.”

“I-it’s nothing at all Master-” I smiled up at her, leaning into her hand eagerly, watching the smug grin on Aria’s face fade as she instantly looked away from me, and more importantly, stopped gawking at my Candace. “My apologies… I’m dreadfully sorry for making you worry, Ma’am, may I please make it up to you?”

Nailed it. Candace grinned happily, continuing to rub my ear between her fingers as she proudly cooed at me. “Loosen up and continue to look pretty for me, doll.”

“Yes, Master.” I smiled, watching Candace turn her attention back to Aria, still fiddling with my ear and my hair idly.

“If she’s not with her husband then she’s probably with my father.” Candace shook her head and sighed under her breath. “You’re a bad influence, Aria. Let me guess, you had sex with her?”

“Just the once, she was having a bad night and needed a fling~” Aria smirked, unashamed of herself. “She asked me for it, she’s never been with another woman after all… so who better than me?”

“Can you not keep it in your panties, Aria?” Candace scoffed, slowly pulling her hand from my ear.

“Never ever ever~!!” Aria once again mewled under her breath at Candace. “Why should I ever do that?”

“Are all of your friends gay, sis?” Cyrus chuckled at Candace, his hand up Liz’s skirt as he watched her squirm.

“Pretty much~” Candace shrugged. “Just another lesbian for the lesbian pile, I guess?”

“Sooooo, Candace~” Aria piped back up. “When do we get to see you play?”

“Play?” Candace paused, looking back over at her. “Play what, exactly?”

“Well I don’t want to watch you two have sex. I may be a sex freak, but I’m not a voyeur.” Aria glared directly at me as she spoke, petting the kitten in her lap. “I meant the game.”

“What game, Aria?” Candace also turned down to look at me, a concerned look in her eyes.

“This is supposed to be a rehearsal isn’t it?” Aria continued to watch my reactions as she spoke. “Leah told me that your father is expecting to see you two play each other again, did she not tell you?”

“You mean my father is expecting me to play-” Candace growled under her breath, the words getting caught in her throat.

“Stolen Cosmos.” Aria smiled, glaring directly at me as she giggled. “Yeah~”

↞✶↠

Candace pulled me aside, into the gaming room, needing to speak with me in private.

“We have to get this right tonight, right now.” Candace closed the door behind us, turning on her machines. “I’m not having you fall apart like last time.”

“Fall apart, Ma’am?” I nervously followed her, placing myself on the floor by the sofa.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed it Chloe…” Candace sighed, sitting down on the sofa. “You’ve been doing pretty much perfectly for the last few weeks, but…”

“What is it, Miss?” I blushed, my eyes looking down at the floor. I knew exactly what she was about to say.

“It’s still a sore spot for you sweetie, I know it is.” Candace sighed, gently pinching my ear in her hand once again. “But you have trouble when it comes to the game…”

She was right, I did have trouble staying in line when it came to playing Stolen Cosmos with her, as we had both clearly seen just a couple of weeks ago. But it wasn’t just the game that was the problem, it was everything that had to do with my past life. It was Sophia Cavalier that was the problem.

“Master… How can I make sure that she doesn’t come back and take control?”

“By she, do you mean Sophia?” Candace sighed, petting my hair, twisting her fingers into my peach locks.

“Yeah… Last time we played, it was really hard for me not to lose control and just… fall back into being her .” I nodded, closing my eyes and lowering my head in shame. “And in the end… she was who you wanted to play against anyways…”

“That may be true, but tonight, I want to play against you, Chloe.” Candace tugged on my hair, prompting me to look up at her, turning in place to face up at her.

“What does that mean…” I swallowed nervously, glancing over at the screen. “You want me to lose this time?”

“I want you to make it look like you’re trying to win, but yes…” Candace smiled, grinning evilly at me. “I want you to lose to me.”

The unstoppable gears in my brain were moving once again, and I was helpless to stop them. Last time I lost on purpose she got upset at me, and that destroyed me inside. I knew that if that happened again I would absolutely lose control of myself, and if I lost control of myself, Sophia Cavalier was going to take over again. I can’t handle Candace being upset at me, I just can’t. If I fell apart now, I was never going to come back, I would lose control of myself forever. If Sophia Cavalier took control of me, I was going to lose her forever.

I swallowed nervously, grumbling to myself. “But last time you wanted me to play honestly…”

“This is a special case, Chloe. Do as I say.” She put her hand to my cheek and held my head up to keep me from lowering my gaze. “You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

“I do, Ma’am!!” I almost shouted at her, my heart beat quickening. “I’m just scared…”

“Don’t be scared, Chloe.” Candace smiled, climbing down from the couch and getting on her knees on the floor next to me. “We’re in this together.”

I placed my hand over hers, frowning at her. “But what if I screw up again?”

“You aren’t going to screw up again.” Candace smiled, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine, sweeping me into a passionate embrace. “You’re going to do amazing.”

“But what if she comes back, Master?”

“That’s not going to happen, Chloe.”

“But how can I-”

“There’s no such thing Chloe, she doesn’t exist… Sophia Cavalier and Chloe are the same person, you do realize that, don’t you?” Candace put her other hand on my cheek. “Sophia Cavalier is the girl that I fell in love with… and she’s not gone, she’s sitting right here in front of me. You may have a shiny new coat of paint, but you’re still you.”

I bit my lip, feeling tears beginning to form in the corners of my eyes. Just hearing her voice made me so happy, and hearing her say that she loved me made it feel like all of this was really worth it. This was how it’s meant to be.

“I can’t let people know that she’s here with me, but don’t let some fictional other girl scare you, Sophia dear… It’s just a name, it’s just a design change. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t love you for who you were before you became mine.” Candace smiled, pulling her hands from my cheek and gently taking my hands into hers. “You’re still the same character, you’re just wearing a different skin… a very special edition skin, but a skin just the same.”

“I hate you…” I smiled, giggling under my breath as I shook my head sarcastically, trying to show her how much I loved and appreciated her. “I hate you so much…”

“I hate you too, Sophia~” Candace wiped the tears from my eyes with my own hands, before clearing out her throat and smiling at me. “Excuse me… I meant to say Chloe~”

“Does that mean I can play as SoCavalier?” I asked nervously. “...Master?”

“Yes.” Candace smiled and nodded in agreement. “Yes you may~”