Quinn sighed and was the first one to get up. A man immediately came to him, bowing.
“Lord Suthell.” The man bowed. “I am supposed to escort you to your quarters.”
Quinn nodded, shooting one last look to Vesille who had indulged himself in some more of the food while Quinn got up and followed the man down to where his ‘quarters’ were. As he had expected them to be, they were outside the castle and behind where the ‘posh’ area of the city was in. The houses there were small yet looking much larger than the other houses, undoubtedly belonging to the families that were forced to move because of the tournament. He could see the ‘stadium’ in the distance where the tournament would be taking place and the amount o people that had gathered up all around it to gain special entrance ‘passes’ of sorts.
He didn’t focus more on it, instead, he focused on the man, who was leading him to one of the bigger and larger houses of the posh area, where he could see Azzie settling down. Azzie looked up and bowed as Quinn was given the ‘keys’ of his new ‘home.
“There shall be a personal servant for you coming over shortly.” The man said, surprising Quinn. He never asked for a personal servant. Even Azzie looked surprised. “One is given to each of the contestants that are nobles. Enjoy your stay and we wish you a best of luck for your tournament.”
Bowing one last time, the man walked off, leaving a baffled Quinn and Azzie behind. Azzie mouthed ‘servants’? And Quinn shrugged, walking inside of the ‘home’ given to him. He didn’t care who it was going to be as long as they didn’t try to sabotage him. Instead, he found himself slightly impressed by the home was he given. There was a small ‘main room’ with 2 couches kept around a table, a fireplace in the back of the home, and 2 rooms on each side of the main room. 2 of said rooms were bedrooms, of course for the contestant and whoever had accompanied him, another was a ‘storage room’, an empty room with no windows inside of it and finally was a kitchen to make their food in. The entire house had a nice aroma to it and undoubtedly was cleaned hours before their arrival.
Taking the room on the right, he found himself facing a bathroom that was attached to the room with a large bath inside of it, with marble tiled floors and even a hot tub of sorts. Undoubtedly Vesille had gone all out into making his contestants and guests feel welcome and happy.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the main door. Azzie walked down to open the door and Quinn found himself staring at one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen in his travels all across the continent.
“Good evening, my Lord.” The woman said softly, bowing. She had black hair, shining and glinting. Her face was pale, extremely pale, yet not the unhealthy kind of pale but the perfect kind of pale. Her black eyes were filled with no emotions as if she was locking the emotions but she looked extremely downcast and extremely sad. She was wearing a black robe.
‘Rag!?!’ Quinn thought as he looked at her, covering only what was need to be covered leaving her shoulders and much of her stomach bare, with a long, brown skirt wrapped around her legs till the edge of her thighs. She had a chain collar around her neck, braced tightly as if preventing her from doing anything else. “I am Alicia, your personal servant for your stay here.”
“Uh....” Quinn found himself unable to speak. It wasn’t her appearance that had caused him to be speechless, but rather the woman’s body that she was displaying to him. Her clothes didn’t leave anything to the imagination, as he could see the perfect curves of her body, even parts of her body that he was, most certainly, not allowed to see. “G Good evening, Alicia.”
“Yes, good evening indeed.” Watching his ‘masters’ reaction, Azzie grinned stupidly as he looked at the girl, and then at the Lord. “I would say it could have been good had you not come as a servant and as a helper to relieve Quinn of his stress, but then this works as well. I’ll leave you to it then.”
“Don’t open your mouth in the wrong places, Azzie!” Quinn growled at the retreating back of the man, shooting a dark look at him. Alicia found herself blushing, as she still hadn’t even looked up, bowing. As far as she knew, she didn’t even know what her temporal new master looked like. “And please, don’t need to bow.”
Alicia hesitantly stood up, looking at Quinn for the first time and her eyes widened. He was certainly not the type of noble she had been expecting to serve. He was handsome, had kind eyes and looked as if he was angry with the collar and not with her.
“I am Quinn.” Quinn introduced himself, tilting his head and smiling as he got up. He raised his hand for her to shake.
Alicia was looking at it horrified. “Please, I won’t do anything bad. I just want to shake your hand, for I have never met someone as beautiful looking as you.”
Knowing that he shouldn’t be doing this, instead, he focused on her expression and knew this was exactly what he needed to do. This beautiful woman needed to bring out her expression and not be the ‘servant’ she was.
“I I cannot, my Lord.” Alicia shook her head. “I I am a lowly servant, I don’t deserve things like that.”
“Before being a servant, a lord, a peasant or a king, you are a human,” Quinn said, his hand still raised as he looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “And as a human, I wish to simply shake your hand in a greeting.”
Her flush rising, slowly, but hesitantly, she brought her hand up, but then stopped, forcing her hand down. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t!!
“I am not going to set my hand down unless you shake it,” Quinn said. He was the most stubborn person in the entire of Drenston, there was no way he was going to lose to her. “And as long as you keep me waiting, I’ll have to keep you waiting as well. So unless you let me shake your hand, I’m not letting you do anything else.”
Finally, she cracked and rose her hand to shake his hand. Quinn surprised it by grabbing her hand and pressing his lips to her knuckles. That was enough for her to jerk her hand back and look at him, eyes wide.
“Please, I won’t do anything to you.” Quinn rolled his eyes. “Well, what exactly, are you told to do.”
Not finding her voice, Alicia was looking at him with wide eyes. He had kissed her hand like a noble would to a lady. He had treated her like an equal, like someone that he respected. She was a slave! She didn’t deserve anyone’s respect!
‘You are to behave!’ Vesille’s voice was loud and harsh in her head. ‘You are to not show any weakness and serve your masters with all you can offer! You hear me?! You will not hesitate in doing whatever your master commands because that is your place!’
Gulping, Alicia opened her mouth, then closed it again, then opened her mouth again while Quinn waited patiently. He had expected this reaction, it was the same reaction all the servants would give, especially of the harsher masters.
“I... I... am su... supposed to s serve you during your stay.” Finally, the girl found her voice and stuttered out, still blushing at the unexpected gesture. “From cooking your food to washing your clothes, preparing your bath, cleaning the house to s serving you for anything you need whether it is physical or not, I have to do it.”
“Well, let’s get 3 rules straight first,” Quinn said sternly. “You will not call me ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’. I’ll take only Mr. Suthell or Quinn from you. Secondly, you will not treat yourself as if you are my property. You are a person and deserve your freedom, whether you like it or not. And I’ll make sure that you are treated properly whenever I am around. Finally, under no circumstances are you to force yourself to do something. If you find yourself not liking what I ask of you too, you must stop whether I like or not and say it to me.”
“But I cannot do that, my Lord!” Alicia gasped, terrified of his words. “It will be a disgrace to the house of Cyzen if I do so!”
“Right now, you said that you are supposed to be ‘my servant’ for the next 3 weeks I will be in this city for the tournament, so during that time you don’t represent Vesille, but you represent me,” Quinn said sternly, folding his arms. “So yo
u will do as I say. Is that clear?”
Alicia shyly looked away from him, biting her lower lip before nodding. “Y... Yes Sir.”
“Good.” Quinn smiled brightly. “And always remember, if someone, anyone gives you a wrong gesture, you will tell me what is wrong and what is not wrong, is that clear?!”
“Y Yes Sir.” Once again nodded, Alicia looked resolute. “I’ll try my best to satisfy you.”
“Good.” Quinn nodded. “Very good. Where will you be staying?”
“Outside, my l.... Sir.” Alicia said, pointing towards the door. “There is a shade out there for servants to sleep at. You may wake me up at any time you need me.”
“Absolutely not!” Quinn exclaimed. “You are not to sleep outside! What if someone kidnaps you?!”
“It is the law,” Alicia said softly, afraid of his voice. “I cannot disobey it.”
“How can you say that?” Quinn asked, gritting his teeth. “It is simply unsafe! You are supposed to be a lady, a woman that represents the people of Nelphil.”
“I am a servant,” Alicia replied, looking away from him, gulping. “ That is how the people treat me, My Lord.”
“Once again, no calling me lord. I won’t hear it from you.” Quinn sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You know what, you want orders, don’t you? Well, this is my order. You are to grab your sleeping equipment and set up inside of the storage room.”
“I can’t do that!” Alicia gaped at him. “It is meant for you to store some extra baggage! Not for me!”
“If you look around, we don’t exactly have any extra baggage.” Quinn pointed out, smiling victoriously at her. “So you will have to sleep inside the storage room, or I will have to use the alternate.”
“Alternate?” Alicia asked. At his look, she decided it wasn’t a good idea to continue. “Alright sir, I’ll move in the storage room.”
“Good, or I would have to make you sleep on the bed.” Quinn dropped in the last attack. At that, she took it as her cue to move and instantly had shifted everything inside of the storage room, while Quinn found himself staring at her backside as she walked.
‘Well, she might not be a queen or a prince,’ he thought, waiting for her to bring her things inside of the room, ‘but she is most definitely a beautiful young girl.’
Not knowing what else to do, Quinn simply waited for her to finish her moving before she came outside of the storage room that he had given to her. Once she was done, she stood in front of him, waiting for another order.
“Today I don’t think there is anything that I want you to do,” Quinn said, looking outside at the slowly darkening sky. “And it is not as early yet for us to go to sleep, yet I am very tired. Can you show me how to set up the bath?”
“I will get on it instantly, Sir.” Alicia bowed, instantly rushing to his room. Quinn looked at her, gaping. She didn’t even wait, simply left! What was her ‘upbringing’ if this was how she was treated?!
One thing that Quinn hated was when people mistreated women and children, especially children. Now even though not a child, Alicia was still a woman and every man in Brenston was taught not to mistreat a woman and help every single female in need with all they could offer. For him to see Alicia bound up in such a way was akin to blasphemy for him and unknown to even himself he was slowly starting to get a side of him ‘activated’, the side which wanted to free Alicia from her bindings.
Shaking his head, he waited for the woman to get done with what she was doing while he waited. Azzie was most likely asleep and as much as he wanted to punch Azzie in the face, he was still his best friend and oldest ‘servant’. Azzie would be intolerable at times but that is how he was and had been. What was important though, he wasn’t going to use Alicia.
Similarly, Alicia found herself finally alone to so she could ponder on what to do now. When she had been told she would be serving a foreign lord, she found herself wondering if her life was going to finished. Lucky enough to find herself still unharmed by the abusive males that dominated the city of Nephil, she had given herself to her fates, unknown that the fates had smiled down upon her and she had landed in the grasp of the Lord of the Suthell family from the far-away country of Actnare. She had been told that Actnare was a country all the way in the northern parts of the continent, not a part of the ‘mainland’ of Actnare and instead of a large island country in the north. She had also heard that Actnare was one of the coldest countries in the entire Deni, and was told to help him warm up with whatever she could if he needed.
But instead, she found herself with the kindest and most good-looking noble she had ever seen. He had the most handsome face, the perfect golden brown shade of hair and eyes and a body undoubtedly a cause of the various tournaments he had entered. When the ‘steward’ of the man had first told her to be the ‘stress relief’ that Quinn needed, she had realized her worries were correct, but instead, she was dead wrong.
Quinn was dead set against treating her as a servant and treated her as an equal, going all the way to making sure that she was safe and sound and even told her to move inside of his home, with the alternative being to sleep on his bed. Not going to let that be the alternative, Alicia had quickly moved inside and was setting up the bath. 10 minutes later, she was done.
“The bath is ready Sir Suthell,” Alicia said, bowing once again. “I shall have your night-clothes ready for wear too.”
“I’ve already done that.” Quinn pointed to his clothes. “But, thank you for your help. You can go to sleep now if you wish, I will be heading straight to sleep as well. Have you eaten your dinner?”
“Yes.” Alicia nodded, not revealing anything. “Are you sure I can head to sleep, my Lord?”
“Sir,” Quinn said, palming his face. “And yes, you can. Unless Azzie wants something. Do remember that the same rules that apply to me apply to him as well. If he asks the impossible of you, deny him.”
“.... As you wish.” Nodding, Alicia bowed one last time before heading inside of the storage room set up as her room. Quinn shrugged and walked inside of his room, closing the door behind him. The bath water looked absolutely amazing and he simply wanted to freshen up before he could go to sleep. Spying to buckets of normal water set down beside the warm water tub as well, Quinn was quick to strip down and get inside of the water for a nice, hot bath.
Sighing in content at the hot water encasing his skin, he let all his thoughts about Alicia and the upcoming tournament be washed away as he entered a nice state of trance. Smelling the aroma of the freshest of the roses, he wondered what scent had been used in the bath but didn’t care. Making sure he was submerged till his neck so all the cramps and slowly resolving knots on his body could dissolve away in the warm water, he was sitting inside of the bath for over 30 full minutes before he headed out, wearing a pale blue night robe to go to sleep. The next day was going to be a big day, he just knew it.
Chapter 3- The Tournament begins
Quinn woke up the next day to the smell of the most amazing breakfast he had ever smelt. Knowing that this wasn’t his own chefs back at home but someone else because it wasn’t the smell of his favorite tea and eggs but rather something else entirely, he got up and looked around to sight where he was. His memory came rushing to him, remembering he was in Nephil for the tournament. As much as he would have loved to go back to sleep, the food smelled really delicious and he didn’t want to miss the food, so he got up and out of bed, opening the door and finding the door of the kitchen to see who exactly was cooking.
“Alicia?” Quinn asked, surprised. “Are you cooking?”
“Yes, Sir.” Remembering his rules from the night before, Alicia turned around and bowed once. “I am cooking scrambled eggs, Bacon, Baked Beans and have prepared a board of 7 various types of cheeses for you to enjoy.”
“It is..... 7:30 AM in the morning....” Quinn said, looking at his watch. Sure, the time showed itself to be exactly 7:30. “And not even Azzie is awake. You could have slept for some time more.”
“Sorry Sir, but I had to fetch the ingredients from the market,” Alicia said, turning back around so she could resume her cooking. “You need a good breakfast if you are to participate in the tournament and I hope you like what I make for you.”
“Indeed, it does smell good.” Deciding to go with the flow, for now, Quinn looked at the sizzling pieces of bacon on the pans and shrugged, turning back around. “I will be waiting then.”
Alicia blushed at the appreciative looked he gave her before he left, and went back to cooking. Quinn found himself excitedly waiting for the breakfast to be laid on the table. In the mean-time, Azzie woke up as well. He also commented on the smell of the food and was waiting beside Quinn, talking with him about the tournament.
Azzie was much shorter than Quinn and looked to be the ready to fight himself. Armoured upper-wear, armored boots and a sword of his own beside him, Azzie was the perfect steward for Quinn, or so Quinn thought at least. And the two visitors weren’t disappointed as in 10 minutes Alicia walked outside with large plates balanced in one hand and a giant tray filled with different kinds of cheese in the other. She bowed and walked off to let the two eat their food, but Azzie stopped her.
“What about you?” Azzie asked, looking at Quinn and then at the girl. “Are you not going to eat?”
“I will eat after you are finished,” Alicia said, turning around. At Quinn’s inquisitive look, she blushed once again. “I if there are any leftovers left after you are done, it will be my breakfast. I am-.”
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