101: Absolute Obedience

Absolute Obedience

Inside the Palace of Thistle, the royal residence of the Crown Prince of Griven.

Arlan's butler, the gentle-looking Roman, walked inside the study where the Crown Prince could be seen working all by himself. It was nighttime, and his administrative aides had long retired to their own homes. 

Multiple ornate lamps illuminated the large room, causing the entire study to be as bright as day. This was clearly the preference of the Crown Prince who disliked the darkness of the night.

Roman put the tray he brought on the table and silently served tea for his hardworking master. Arlan stopped writing and accepted the tea.

"Your Highness, I have received news from the royal chamberlain. The new servants will be arriving at the palace tomorrow morning. Out of them, one is appointed to the Palace of Thistle."

Arlan nodded as he swirled the contents of the tea cup in his hand. He felt a little exhausted after dealing with seemingly endless paperwork, but the news Roman brought washed away his fatigue. 

"You must be relieved that a new servant is coming to share your burden of serving me."

Roman lowered his head. "Serving you is not burdensome, Your Highness. If I made you feel like that, please punish me."

"You want punishment?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Then stand with your head on the floor and legs up in the air."

"Yes, Your Highness." The man in his thirties kneeled on the ground, positioning his arms to carry the weight of his body, and was about to raise his legs up in the air when—

"Stop it, stop it," Arlan said with a groan.  "When will your brain learn to differentiate between a real order and leg-pulling?"

"For me, every word of Your Highness is an order."

Arlan pressed his temple. "Really? Then go and jump out of that window."

"Yes, Your Highness." 

Without even batting an eyelid, the butler walked towards the window. The prince's study was on the second floor of the palace building, and if Roman truly jumped down, he would no doubt break one or two bones.

"Roman Chadwicke!" Arlan roared when the butler opened the glass windows and stepped on the sill. "Step away from that window and close that right now!"

His butler obediently did as told. 

Roman's absolute obedience was indeed Arlan's nemesis. "Make sure to ask what your mother ate when you were in her belly—"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"—and let me know so that I can warn my future wife what not to eat when she is with child."

"Yes, Your Highness, and I am glad that you are considering having a wife and children."

"You didn't get the insult?"

"If my faults can pave a way to help the future wife and offspring of Your Highness, then I must say it is an honor rather than an insult."

'I can never win with this servant of mine. Thankfully, I stopped this insane man before he jumped out of the window.' Arlan let out a frustrated sigh. "Make sure to train that new servant well."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Hearing his answer, the Crown Prince had a bad premonition. Arlan could only hope Oriana would not learn strange things from his unhinged butler.

"You can leave."

Once his butler left, Arlan leaned back in the chair, shaking his head at the unbelievable thing that almost transpired. If he stopped him a second too late, Arlan would once again be forced to use his powers just like he did with Oriana.

'Just one more sleepless night, then my nights will be free of  nightmares from now on.' He closed his eyes, a satisfied smile on his handsome face. 

'Once a hunter catches his prey, there is no escaping fate. It is up to his will whether to butcher or to tame the hunted. 

'Once that silly village girl enters the Palace of Thistle, she officially becomes my possession and… I plan to be a very good master to my new pet.'

—

Back in the city residence of the Ahrens, Oriana lightly jogged towards the classic-looking country house serving as temporary quarters of the hired laborers.

As she reached the entrance, she found the entire building silent except for a few workers who were drinking and playing cards outside in the patio. 

'I forgot it's quite late. I wonder if Luke is asleep already.' Entering the common hall, she saw there were two hallways on both sides and there were at least ten rooms on each hallway. The smell of sweat was heavy in the air, which was within expectations given this was an all-male lodging, causing her nose to crinkle. 'Which room belongs to him? Shall I just ask those men outside?'

Oriana went to the patio, but even before she could say a word, those four brawny men all  looked in her direction. 

Having their gazes on her body, seemingly leering at her from head to toe, made her take a step back. She forced a polite smile on her face.  "Good evening, misters. Do you know which room Luke stays in?"

"Luke? Ah, Luke, that lad. I was wondering where I have seen you," one man spoke with a grin. "I saw you meeting with Luke secretly a few times."

'Secretly? What are they saying? He's making it sound like we're doing more than talking in broad daylight?'

"Yeah, this is that pretty boy I told you about," another man said. "I personally saw him and Luke holding hands."

This elicited a boisterous laugh from the others.

'What the heck? I will just find him on my own.' 

Just as she was about to turn and leave, a voice stopped her. 

"I know where Luke is," the third man said and stood up. "I will take you to his room. Follow me."

"It's alright, I will come back tomorrow. Don't mind me. You enjoy whatever you are doing." Oriana could sense their bad intentions. As a woman, her senses were alarming her to stay away from them. 

Also, it was not a good idea to create trouble with these men. As Ken mentioned before, accidents happen often while doing construction work. If these men were to target Luke to vent their anger and endanger him…

The man hurried after her and grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, pretty boy. Look at my body. It isn't that much different from your beloved Luke. I should be your type, right? Besides, don't you want to experience an older man—"

"He will even pay you!" another hollered, causing another round of laughter. 

"Fortunately, today we received our pay!"

Oriana shrugged off the grimy hand on her shoulder. Just as she pulled her arm back for a punch, another much larger and faster fist came flying from behind her.

"Ahh!"

The man pitifully crumpled on the floor, whining in pain while covering his nose with both hands. There was a tall young man with shoulder-length hair standing next to her and his fist had blood on it. 

"Are you alright, Orian?" 

Though his expression was as dark as a stormy night, his voice was laced with concern. He even took a step forward, shielding her from the men who all stood up upon seeing Luke's arrival.

The raging anger Oriana felt dissipated. She felt safe with Luke, and for some reason, she didn't hate it. Though she could protect herself, it felt nice to be protected, to know someone has your back. 'I'm fortunate to have Luke as a friend.'

"Luke, you bastard, you dare fight? Are you asking for trouble? Don't you want to work here anymore?" the others said loudly. 

The young man stared at them with anger brewing in his eyes. His body seemed to emit a dangerous aura.

"Ask yourselves if you can continue working here if I break one leg from each of you." 

"Luke, don't fight." Oriana tried to pull the young man away. If a brawl happened, though those men started it, Luke would undoubtedly be fired as well. "They only harassed me."0

Luke moved his gaze from them to her face. "Since they ask for a beating,  I cannot help it."

Those  anger-filled eyes were staring at her with concern. 

"Even if you did not come, I could have beat them up on my own. It's not the first time—"

"When I am around, let me take care of it."

As he said those words, there was a tenderness in his eyes which Oriana had never seen before. 'This guy…"

"See? Didn't I tell you there is something between them?" one guy said, causing  Luke to charge at them like an angry bull. 

Not even a minute later, those four men were lying on the floor, none of them able to survive more than one hit. Luke was renowned in the village as a hunter with the strength of a bear. How could these city people withstand the force of his punches?

While crying in misery, they heard Luke say, "Even if there is something between us, it is none of your damn business."

'As the elderly say, the anger of the quiet people is the scariest. May the Spirits bless the ones who offend him in the future,' Oriana thought in passing.

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