The Royal Deal

Alexcent turned to leave.
Viyan was shocked by his refusal, something she had never experienced before.
It had been her experience that men were always smitten by her beauty and do whatever they could to simply touch her arm, not to mention the more intimate areas she was offering now.

She leapt to her feet.
“Stop! How dare you! Come back here.”

Nonetheless, Alexcent refused to react and continued for the door.
She rushed in front of him, grabbing his arms.
“How dare you ignore me!” she screamed in his face.
“How dare you refuse your master’s orders!”

“My master is the lord of this household, not you,” Alexcent replied.

“So, you refuse to obey to me?”

“Yes.
And please don’t summon me any more to do your service.”

“And now you dare to give me orders? My word is law here! You are bound to do what I tell you to do! Got it?!” She was starting to sound like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but she couldn’t help it.

“Please stop,” he said, removing her grasp from his arms.
“This attitude is not becoming for a virtuous lady such as yourself.”

“I told you to obey.” Viyan knew she was behaving immature, but she couldn’t believe that a slave would actually stand up to her.
“There will be serious consequences If you step outside of this room.”

Alexcent turned back to her, prepared to argue.
Viyan smiled seductively at him.
“That’s better.
Honestly, where else will you meet a pretty girl like me?”

“What part?” Alexcent asked.

“What do you mean?” Viyan had not expected such a strange question.

“I’m asking what part of you do you feel is pretty.
It’s not good to be consumed with pride.
In my eyes, nothing I see is pretty.” Alexcent had looked her up and down, shaking his head.

“What!? Most people couldn’t even dream of being with someone like me.”

“I don’t know.
I certainly wouldn’t want to have that dream.” Alexcent decided the only way he could get her off his back was to be ruthless.

“If you leave this room, I swear you will live to regret it,” Viyan shouted, her face red with anger and embarrassment.

Despite the warning, Alexcent slammed the door behind him as he stormed from the room.

***

“Father!” Viyan called loudly as she opened Lord Veolense’s study door.

The older man was busy checking the quality of the latest batch of jewels that had been mined.
The sudden intrusion made him quickly return the jewels to a pouch and lock them into the drawer of his desk.

“What is it?” Lord Veolense asked, as he noticed his daughter’s eyes on the verge of tears.

“Father, please kill me rather than have me live in this state of shame.”

“What are you talking about!” Veolense had never heard his daughter talk like this before.

“I’d rather die than bring such shame to my family.
Please, end it all now.” Viyan was in hysterics.

“I asked you to explain this state that you are in,” Veolense repeated.

“The slave, that came here a few weeks ago, he tried to rape me!”

“What?!” Veolense was on his feet in an instant.
He didn’t know how to react, as he could tell that his daughter’s tears were fake.
He knew she had a tendency to make playthings of the servants.
Normally he would let it slide, but this was a slave they were talking about.
That changed everything.
If a rumour went around about a noble’s daughter and a slave fooling around, it would cause not only shame on her, but on his entire family.
He had to resolve it now.

“How dare he! Trying to ruin our family’s name!” Veolense was furious.

It has always been said that taking on a slave can ruin a family.
Every noble household was reluctant to take on a slave, and Veolense was no different.
He had no intention of taking a slave to begin with, but it was hard to refuse anything from the high-ranking Roden family.
This was why he had shoved the slave into the mines, instead of working in the mansion where he could be seen.

He didn’t know when his daughter took an interest in the slave, but it was now time for that slave to disappear.
It wouldn’t be hard.
No one would be surprised with a slave disappearing.
So many of them ended up becoming God’s Guardians very quickly.
Many of them couldn’t handle the shame of becoming a slave, since they were once nobles, and ended up taking their own lives.
Even if they didn’t, most died from the extreme labour and beating they were given.

“I will kill him right now!” Veolense stated with authority.

“Pardon?!” Viyan had not thought he would go to such extremes.
She thought that the slave, at most, would get further beatings.
She didn’t want him killed.
She started thinking of the past servants that she had taken as lovers.
She had always assumed they had been kicked out but now, seeing her father’s rage, she wondered if they had been killed as well

“How dare a slave try to rape my daughter,” Veolense continued raving.
 “I will wash this shame off our family by making him a God’s Guardian.”

“Wait.
I don’t think…” Viyan tried to interject.

“No.
Our family’s reputation depends on this, like you said!” Veolense was insistent.
He needed to solve the problem by eliminating the source.
What if the slave somehow turned his daughter’s heart and ran off with her? He couldn’t even think about it.