The next day I was excused from my chores and assigned to "take care of Master Eugene's pets". I had nearly forgot about them until then.

The room where he kept his pets was furthest room down the hall, where the study also was. I knocked on the door. 

"Come in, Miss Shuyan!"

His voice rang out loud and clear. I wondered how he knew it was me: we didn't see each other that morning.

I opened the door. I didn't know what type of room I was expecting, but certainly not what was before me.

Eugene sat on a divan, before a coffee table, and around him animals ran free—rabbits on the table, lizards on his body, and even the fish in the huge tanks around the room didn't seem at all restricted or caged. They all seemed to be enjoying their private sanctuary leisurely. And Eugene fit right in, with his easygoing demeanor.

Sitting there, and surrounded by animals, he looked like a prince right out of a fairy-tale, kind-hearted and handsome, hair wavy and pushed to one side. He raised his head and his bangs fell over his eyes like a curtain.

Then he smiled when our eyes met.

"How do you like this room, Miss Shuyan?"

I struggled to find words to describe it.

"It's—it's so different from all the other rooms. There's hardly any furniture, it's so spacious."

"It is."

I looked around at the animals running freely.

"You don't cage your pets, Master Eugene?"

"Whenever I come visit, I let them out," he explained. "They are always locked up, so I want to give them as much freedom as I can while I can."

"That's kind of you."

He laughed. "Thank you. Well, don't just stand, come sit here." He gestured to an armchair the color of apricot, made of such high quality brocade it seemed like a waste to use in a room of animals.

"Yes." I walked over to the armchair and sat down. Suddenly Eugene bent over to scoop up a black and white bunny on the table and then scooped it up into his arms like it was a treasure, and turned to me.

"Do you want to pet Snow-White?"

"Sure," I said. Instead of letting me pet it, though, he handed the whole rabbit to me. I stiffened when the rabbit was in my arms. It was soft, like a bundle of soft furs, and smelled like hay and animal feed, but not unpleasant. Her little nose twitched at she smelled me, but she didn't seem afraid.

"Her name is Snow-White?" I asked. "It's very cute: it suits her."

"Yes," Eugene said, leaning back on his seat and toying with a yellow chameleon or lizard of some sort that was on his shoulder. "She reminds me of you. The black spots on her ears are like your two buns, and she's small and always scurrying about."

I blushed. Was I like that?

"Oh, but Snow-White is actually a boy," he added.

"Huh?" I didn't know how to feel even more.

He laughed, seemingly pleased at my reaction. "I always name my rabbits after princesses, my lizards after fictional characters, and my horses after gods and goddesses. We don't keep horses anymore, though."

"Are you not afraid of horses?" I asked. He turned to look at me, a bit surprised, and then he smiled.

"I guess Tobias told you what happened." I gave a timid nod.

"Yes."

"Well, not really. Mars had the worse end of it. And Tobias."

"Master Tobias?"

"That day, it wasn't only two lives that were changed. It was three, and Tobias was probably affected more. The sole reason he is even living now is probably to live for my sake—to atone for his sin."

"And you know?" I whispered. "That's he's trying to atone for his sin?"

"There's not a single soul in this house that doesn't know. Even the staff know." The chameleon was now on Eugene's hand, and he lifted it close to his eyes.

He was looking at the chameleon, and yet he wasn't really, like he was deep in thought, and his eyelids seemed only halfway opened, his long lashes almost touching the chameleon. It made me feel distant.

Almost like he, too, was atoning for a sin.

Living for a reason other than to live.

"—Eugene!"

No longer had the name left my lips had I recoiled in horror.

"P—pardon me, Master Eugene. I did not mean to call out your name so familiarly." I held the rabbit tighter, as though Snow-White could protect me in some way. The rabbit buried her head in my chest.

"It's okay, Miss Shuyan." As always, he was forgiving. "Anyways, I called you out today to talk about something related to that."

"Yes?"

"I do not wish to be protected."

My heart fell at those words.

"What do you mean?"

"You saw how the house was in an upheaval yesterday because of the townspeople." He brought the chameleon away and faced me, on his face a rare look of determination. "The House of Beardsley has always been isolated and subjected to hatred from everyone, but I can't deny that their system of marrying women and using them is unpleasant. When I first came here after being orphaned, I was unable to understand the system everyone accepted so easily."

He turned back and placed the chameleon on the table before turning to me and stroking Snow-White.

I tensed at his hand being so near me. I watched it too, the long and slender fingers, almost like a female's, carefully.

"I want to fight too, Miss Shuyan. So I want to ask you an important question." His hands stopped, and he stared right into my eye. They were green. Flecked with golden spots. They looked like the sunlight streaming in from the top of a forest, through layers of leaves. Once again, I was hypnotized.

"Will you support me?" he asked, voice solemn and low. "Not be my protector or servant, but my equal—my aide and my friend."

"—Your equal?"

I shook my head.

The idea was absurd. I couldn't never become his equal.

"I can't."

"This is a request," he said, his hand suddenly no longer on the rabbit but holding mine. I had to keep from sucking in my breath in overt shock. "Not only for me, but for my brothers, whom I want to free from this way of living, as well as the future generations of the Beardsley. And—and you, too."

"Me?"

What did he mean by that?

"Yes. I want to talk to you." He smiled.

Huh?

He released my hand, and to stay calm, I started smoothing out Snow-White's fur and focused on the rabbit.

"But we always talk," I finally said.

"We talk in secret. As maid and master. Don't you want to talk one day without having to hide under the guise of taking care of my pets?"

"I wasn't called here to take care of the pets?" I asked, bewildered.

"Well, not really." He looked at his lap. "And everyday I wonder how long this will continue. It makes me feel so insecure and uncertain of my future. It's just—it's just I don't want to risk losing anything I love in the future."

The words made me tingle. What was he exactly trying to say? I tried to understand, but I couldn't dare to believe in it, for it meant too much.

It was too big of a dream to believe in, too big of a hope.

He suddenly grabbed his cane and stood up.

"Well, it's time to put the animals back, can you help me?"

"Huh? But I didn't clean their cages yet."

He grinned at me. "That's Matheus's job, don't worry about it." I chuckled, pitying poor Matheus.

"I see."

"But while you're here, look at these—this snake is one of my favorites," he gestured to a glass tank where a sleek green snake is. "Are you afraid of snakes?"

"No, not really. But I don't like them either," I admitted.

"I see. What about those fishes? They came from a country in the East and are called Koi. Apparently they have a legend that if they swim upstream, they become dragons—isn't that wonderful?"

"Dragons? That does sound magical. Like a fairy-tale."

"Oh, see that big one with the red patterning? I named him Beowulf. The orange one there is Gawain, and that one's Lancelot..."

I watched as Eugene's face lit up as he talked about each of his pets. It was like he was introducing me to his friends.

"They really mean a lot to you, don't they?" I said. He paused, then turned to me and nodded slowly, as though only coming to the realization now.

"Yes, they do. I've never had a friend in the Beardsley mansion. Both Silas and Tobias kept their distance from me after the incident, and the twins have each other and Elias and Oliver each other. I guess I do have Matheus, but he is my valet and Silas hated it when I got too friendly." He touched the glass tank where the Koi swam. "But ever since you came, I've felt happy once again. Less lonely. And for once, I feel inspired to change this place."

"Master Eugene—" I walked to him, and felt Snow-White's cool nose on my finger, like encouragement. "I want to help you."

His lips parted slowly, in disbelief.

"You will?"

"But I don't know what it means to be your equal, or even aide. All I can promise is that I'll do anything to my ability to help you to achieve your goal. Your wish is my desire."

He nodded.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Shuyan."

Looking at his relieved face relieved me too. I had no idea how Tobias would receive this, but I had decided. Eugene didn't want to be protected. He wanted to fight.

And if that's what he was doing, I will help—because even one makes a difference.