POV: Amanda Brightcloud
Having heard her son's story, Amanda was livid. The guard that should have been protecting her beloved son had gotten him to jump out of the bedroom window. Sephiroth had even thrown a short sword at him. Amanda wanted nothing more than to give her a good beating. The woman’s only defense was that Aron was the one that had wanted to be taught how to fight and react to such situations.
Still, that was nowhere near reason enough to do something like that to him!
Looking at the girl, her anger bubbled up again. No! She had to stay clear-headed. Nothing had happened and Aron had defended himself very well as was evident by the chaos left behind.
Bearing this in mind, it might have not been such a terrible thing. At least he got firsthand experience without being in actual danger. If something like that occurred in the future he could handle it much easier.
Nevertheless, Sephiroth had to be punished. She needed to be put her in place. What would have happened if Aron hadn’t been able to evade the short-sword? A conclusion had formed in her mind.
“Sephiroth, in the light of Aron having been learning how to fight and survive from you, I will turn a blind eye on this whole mess and only penalize you lightly this one time. If I ever find out about a similar event, I will severely punish you! Do you understand?”
Sephiroth meekly bowed her head in submission and acceptance.
“I won’t ever do something so reckless again! I assure you, milady!”
Amanda tried to catch any signs of deception on Sephiroth’s face, but couldn’t find any. It seemed she was regretting her wrongdoings for real. With a nod, she spoke further.
“I will deduct the damage from your pay. You will help in the kitchen during the mornings for the next days.”
Knowing that she had come out much better than she had any right to hope for, Sephiroth could only bow and be thankful.
As the situation had concluded Amanda commanded the surrounding guards to get back to their stations and her son back to bed. He would use one of the guestrooms as long as his own quarters were being repaired.
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POV Aron Brightcloud
I had hoped for a harsher punishment for Sephiroth. It would have given her a more memorable lesson. Sephiroth tended to forget rules rather quickly.
I could have insisted on her getting a harder sentence, but I didn’t want to be excessive. It was a difference if I was the one who forced the chastisement on her or my mother. As long as my mother decided by herself she had to swallow everything that came at her. Naturally she was going to prank me back, but if I manipulated her sentence, the payback would change from hilarious to murderous. Knowing Sephiroth, the future training sessions would have their pain level drastically increased for one reason or another if I did that. All in all, the outcome was satisfactory.
Not long later I had arrived at my new sleeping quarters. I quickly slipped into the bed and relaxed. I felt great, Sephiroth had me patched up, after our mother had left. All my wounds had vanished. She had promised me a very thorough revenge while taking care of me sweetly. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling happy.
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The sun shone through the window onto my face. I slowly opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. Right, I had moved to the guest-quarters.
I enjoyed the warmth for another second before I moved. It was time to train. Sephiroth was busy peeling potatoes, that didn’t mean that I could laze around. Finished with clothing myself, I moved out of the room and was greeted by Mors, who was standing guard at my door.
“Young master, I hope you have slept well.”
“Good morning, Mors. Yes, it was very restful. Lets go over to the backyard I want to exercise.”
Mors nodded in affirmative and moved to follow me. Arriving at our destination, it surprised me how quickly the servants had taken care of the mess we had left behind yesterday. All the glass and wood splinters had already been cleaned up.
Good, that would make my training easier. I grabbed one of the training swords and began with the warm-up.
Mors did the same next to me. Not long later we were ready.
“After you, young master.”
I grinned “As you wish.”
With a shout, I threw myself at him. For the next two hours we fought each other, pushing myself to my limits.
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POV Sephiroth
Standing in the kitchen, Sephiroth held a potato peeler with one hand while looking at the mountain of potatoes in disappear.
Oh Aron, she would get back at him for this!
She couldn’t believe it! Being a bodyguard was one thing, but having to work her way through a ton of potatoes in a servant attire was too much!
She knew that there was no way around this, Amanda would check up on her progress and if she didn’t do the work to her current masters satisfaction she would be in even more trouble than now. There was only one solution to this. She had to grit her teeth and get to it!
With a determined glint in her eyes, she grabbed the first potato and peeled.
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POV Aron Brightcloud
The sword training had been rewarding. The moves I had learned previously were slowly becoming second nature to me, letting me execute them precisely and with even greater power and speed.
After a brief shower, I followed the urgent pressing of my stomach to the kitchen. Sword-fighting spent a lot of energy, so it was mandatory to refill my energy-reserves periodically.
As I walked through the door, I came head to head with my bodyguard/evil taskmaster and now miserable looking cook maid.
I greeted her with my sunniest smile. “Hey Sephiroth, how are you doing? Enjoying the novel working experience?”
Hearing my voice, her head turned in my direction.
When she saw me standing in the door, she began to smile her innocent and gorgeous smile, which put me instantly on guard. Every time she had that beautiful smile on her face I got the short end of the stick. It didn’t matter if it was a trap, a joke or something else. Somehow I always caught something bad afterwards.
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“Ah, my young master, it is a pleasure to take care of your needs. I have prepared some biscuits for you, why don’t you grab some before lunch is ready.”
She grabbed a plate full of delicious cookies that she had hidden to the side and pushed it into my hands.
“Here, take these. I have realized I was wrong. Please accept this as a token of my sincerity to atone for my wrongdoings, I overdid it. Training is necessary, but not like that. These cookies were made though a secret family recipe, they will give you an unforgettable experience.”
I looked into her deep eyes and only saw her earnest wish for atonement. Should I believe her? No… clearly not. Even though my gift for seeing lies told me she meant it, I decided to not blindly believe her. My gut feeling told me that these cookies were more than they seemed.
“Thank you Sephiroth, it is okay. You only wanted to teach me. I have already long forgotten about it.”
She smiled at me. “Great. It has already been close to two weeks since we have met each other, but we never went out to tour the town around the manor. Wouldn’t it be nice to get out once in a while?”
That was right, since I had come here I had been focusing myself only on training and learning. Yes, it would do me good to get out and see more of this world.
“That's a magnificent idea, let's go tomorrow afternoon.”
Her eyes dimmed a little, “I had hoped to go with you today, my master.” She looked hopefully at me.
I gave her a kind smile before answering, “Oh, I somehow have the feeling that you will be occupied today, but tomorrow is not that far away. So don’t fret over it.”
Sephiroth looked at me with questions in her eyes. Why would she be occupied later? I simply smiled and winked at her, walking out with the plate.
Whom should I use as a guinea pig for these?
Mors? No, that wouldn’t be fair. He had been helping me all the time.
In thoughts I walked back towards my quarters. At that moment my mother came around the corner.
Ah, that would fit perfectly!
With an innocent smile, I walked towards my mother.
“Hi mum, I have been in the kitchen a moment ago and Sephiroth gave me this plate full of delicious cookies. She requested to give this to you as an additional apology. She is sorry about the mess she had made.”
My mother looked quite surprised. “Oh, that's thoughtful of her.” She took the plate, grabbed one cookey and immediately bit into it.
“They are delicious! Do you want one?”
I politely denied and told her I had eaten something already.
With that, I said goodbye to my mother and walked further toward my rooms. My stomach was still clamoring about its urgent need for food. Nevertheless, I had to wait. All to not hinder the hilarious episode that was going to unfold soon.
Five minutes later I suddenly heard a furious voice shouting through the manor.
“Seepphhiiirrothhh!!!!”
I had been right.
I happily sat back in my armchair and observed the birds chirping outside. It was a wonderful day.
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POV Sephiroth
She observed full of anticipation as Aron left the kitchen with her special cookies in his hands. Ha! That would teach him not to do something like this a second time. And the beauty about the entire thing was that she hadn’t even lied.
She had hidden a ton of aphrodisiac in the cookies. That was going to make him feel fantastic. She would have loved to see the scene when he got hot flashes speaking with his mother or Mors. Sadly, she had still some potatoes to peel.
Not pushing her work off any longer, she peeled further, much more cheerful this time. Engrossed in her work, she dismissed the strange sentence Aron had said as unimportant. Why should she be occupied this afternoon? She only had to work during the mornings.
Then, suddenly:
“Seepphhiiirrothhh!!!!”
Having heard someone furiously shouting her name, Sephiroth flinched instinctively. What had happened now? That was Amanda’s voice. She hadn’t done anythi- Oh no! Aron wouldn’t have done that?! No, he couldn’t be so evil. At that moment she remembered his sentence. He had known! He must have suspected her having spiced the cookies. Following that thought to the end, Sephiroth felt a cold shiver run down her back. She was in deep trouble now.
Bang!
The kitchen door flew open, and a disheveled Amanda flew into the room. She had glossy and dilated eyes.
“What have you done?!”
“I- I have done nothing, Milady!” Sephiroth immediately denied everything.
“Then why do I feel like I am in heat?!”
Sephiroth searched frantically for a way out. Not having enough time, she went with the first idea that popped into her head.
“I am so sorry! It is all my fault, I must have dosed the powder incorrectly! Normally, these cookies should let one feel good and full of energy. I am very sorry! I don’t know how that could have happened.”
Sephiroth immediately put on her most innocent face when she answered Aron’s mother.
Amanda wanted to keep being angry, but seeing Sephiroth’s pure and innocent face, she couldn’t keep being furious. Yes, how could Sephiroth have done such a despicable act. She had to be innocent.
In thoughts, Amanda let her eyes wander over Sephiroth's smooth skin and curvy appearance. Reminded of Sephiroth’s gorgeous body, her thoughts bend in forbidden directions. How good it would feel to touch her, caressing that gorgeous piece of art- Wait! What was she thinking?! The aphrodisiac!
Amanda needed to leave. Otherwise she would do something she would forever regret.
“You will clean all the dirty pots and the entire kitchen until two in the morning! Is that clear?!”
As soon as she had finished, she turned and fled the room.
Sephiroth stood alone. She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. The salvation of being able to stop cleaning had receded into the far distance.
“Oh, I somehow have the feeling that you are going to be occupied today, but tomorrow is not that far away. So don’t fret over it.”
She replayed Aron’s sentence in her head. Sephiroth would pay him back! But first, she had work to do. With that she turned her attention towards the mountains of dirty plates, all the while forging revenge plans in her head.
Without her realizing it, she had begun to smile. It was a first that she had someone who she could play around with like that. Normally they would fall for her too easily or became suspicious, so she had to kill them or flee. She never had someone like Aron who would put up with her antiques even-though he knew a big part of her secrets.