POV Hannibal Redwood

Finished with his journey, Hannibal was still incensed. How dare that lowly young master of the Brightcloud barony. He refused to sell his gorgeous guard! How could he! Hannibal was going to be a Marquess soon. It was his birthright to get what he wanted!

Still fuming, he made his way towards his father’s office. Knocking on the door, he respectfully waited to be let in. His father payed much attention on decorum.

Soon the door opened. Hannibal went in immediately, not paying attention to the lowly attendant who opened the door. He respectfully stopped ten feet from his father’s working desk and waited to be acknowledged.

The Marquess of Redwood was a strict man. He had canned his son in the past for light transgressions of etiquette. Hannibal knew his Father was full of ambition and drive. A man of iron will. Paired with a devious mind and cultured appearance, he was a highly successful and dangerous man.

Hannibal had been mostly brought up by his mother. She had come from a prestigious family. His parents had married because of political reasons, no love involved.

Living in the capital, his mother had shown him the pleasures of life. Now, having become older, his father had taken notice and started using him for his means. That had led to much grief at the beginning, as Hannibal had been unused to his father’s rules. Hannibal would never admit it openly, but he feared his father a great deal.

Still standing in front of the desk without having been acknowledged five minutes later, Hannibal waited. The lord himself, focused on writing a letter, didn’t pay him any attention.

Only after ten minutes had passed, something changed. With an audible click, the quill landed on the table and the ink jar top was screwed close. The lord of Redwood meticulously folded the now dry parchment before slipping it into an envelope and closed it with practiced ease. Only after he had finished this did he lift his head and mustered his son.

“Did you accomplish the assignment I gave you?”

Hannibal respectfully answered “Yes, Sir. I have talked with all the nobles on the list and have secured their consent to our matter.”

“Good, I expect the report about their detailed reactions on my desk tomorrow evening. You are dismissed. I have work to do.”

Hannibal bowed his head before he turned and made two steps in the direction of the door. Then he stopped and turned agitated back to his father. “Father, during the journey to the barony of Ravenhorst I came by the barony of Brightcloud. The young master there has been very disrespectful and has talked bad about our lands. He needs to be thought a lesson!”

The Lord slowly focused on his son. “Don’t touch the Brightclouds. They are off limits. I know you and your lewd behavior. Most likely the transgression has been from your side. The Brightclouds are utterly law abiding and just. Exactly because of that I didn’t include them on the list. They are unsuited to our ambitions. They would side with the naïve king, doesn’t matter the circumstances. So don’t try to fool me. I warn you only once. Leave the Brightclouds alone! Go now!”

Having been chastised, Hannibal made his way out of his father’s office and back to his rooms. Outward he didn’t show any feelings, but inwardly he was furious. How could they! Having arrived at his room, he sat down on a couch. A servant came over.

“Young master, would you like to drink or eat something?”

With a roar Hannibal jumped up and grabbed the head of the unprepared man. He repeatedly slammed it into the wall until the skull broke, accompanied by a cracking sound.

Hannibal stood breathing hard over the now dead servant. “Solus, clean this mess up and get me more information about the Brightclouds, especially about their servants, find the ones that could be bought or coerced!”

Having heard his master’s order, the shadow behind Hannibal moved and a person clad in black stepped out of the darkness. “As you wish, young master.” Bowing slightly the assassin turned to the corpse, wishing his arm through the air above it. Shadows moved, devouring it, leaving no traces behind.

Finished with the first part of the task, the man vanished in the shadows again. The second part still needed completion.

His temper satiated, Hannibal sat onto the couch once more. How should he get back at Aron? It had to be something covert. His father would not be amused if he killed this future baron openly. There had to be a different solution. Something nasty that didn’t outright kill but would make Aron’s life a living nightmare. Wait! His father had been working on something. That would be even better! The best thing was, nobody would ever think about it being an attack as there never had been a toxin that induced similar effects.

Hannibal would need to go digging through his father’s laboratory in the near future. He had to do it secretly. His father had big plans for this tincture. Hannibal only needed a little. Nobody would ever find out about it.

_________

POV Aron Brightcloud

The last few days had been great. Me and Sephiroth had gone hunting wild beasts often. I loved it. Somehow it felt sad to say it, but killing things grounded me. It was something I was confident in. My full focus was needed. For a short time I could forget about all my problems and simply enjoy the here and now.

I had made excellent progress in my general studies as well. Having checked off the most pressing topics I could now focus on the books regarding flora and fauna that Sephiroth had promised me at the beginning of my introduction into the wild.

Checking my surroundings for my beautiful guard I was surprised to not find her. Where had she gone? Hopefully she didn’t prepare some new pitfalls again. Well, I couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, so better concentrate on things I had the power to influence. A copy of the books should be in the library as well. I didn’t need Sephiroth.

Making my way through the mansion, I enjoyed the sun that shone through the windows, illuminating the detailed ornaments on the walls. At last I had arrived at the library. Turning around the corner, I almost crashed into my very surprised guard. To further improve my proficiency I had been using light step all the time. Looks like I was on the right track.

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“Sephiroth, there you are! What have you been up to? Normally you never leave my side. Preparing new evil schemes to make my life hell?”

She laughed innocently before replying, “ My lovely master I would never prepare evil schemes! Only funny and entertaining ones! My highest wish is to make you happy. Don’t you know that? And no, I had simply wanted to borrow some books to read.”

My lier warning system went off immediately. I scanned the books in more detail, nearly getting distracted by her using them to push her assets into my view. They were really wonderfully formed. And there we had the second clue. She was hiding something, and tried to derail me.

“Oh, you reading something? I am interested! Tell me more about these books. I normally never see you reading.”

“Haha, that's not true, I do read as well, but normally I don’t have the time when I am taking care of you.” This time her reply was definitely slightly more forced.

Having smelled blood I smiled my sunniest smile. “Really now, show me please, I am really interested in knowing what you like to read.” Not waiting for her to come up with an excuse, I grabbed one of them. Or at least I tried. At the last moment she moved her body and I had something much more malleable in my hand.

Sephiroth immediately took a step back, freeing herself from my not intended grip. “My young lord, please behave yourself!” Looking at me appalled, she tried to get away.

In the past this would have worked, but now I didn’t let her little play distract me.

“Stop it, Sephiroth. The book. Now. We both know this happened because you moved intentionally. Don’t try to wind yourself out of it.”

Seeing me not responding to her last ditch effort, she hung her head in defeat.

“Okay, if you must know…” Stopping fighting my advances, she handed me the books. I skimmed over the titles. They were all about the same topic. How to perform binding contracts with Non-humans.

“Have we been cleaning out the library of books you don’t want me to find out about?”

“No, I wanted simply to read up on them, really! I am interested in the topic. ”

Lie.

I grinned at her. “Why don’t you give me an introduction into the topic. And don’t try to leave out details. I will verify them later.”

________

POV Sephiroth

Damn, what a mess! Aron had become more goal-driven and calculative as of late. He still cared a great deal for her and they had a lot of fun together. Sephiroth had wanted to make sure he didn’t find out about certain options of controlling her until she had wormed herself deeper into his heart. Specifically, the multitude of possible servant-contracts could let her self-indulgent life come to an abrupt end.

But instead of discreetly keeping them out of his sight, she had pushed the contracts directly into his face…

Now she had to inform him personally. It really felt like she had dug her own grave.

“Okay, if you really want that. But we could do so many better things together.”

He didn’t react to her, but smiled even more. “Come, let's go back to the library. There you can present me with everything. I want to know all the details about such an interesting topic!”

Back in the library they seated themselves at the table before Sephiroth started with the introduction, having surrendered to her fate.

“As you might have already known, there are multitudes of servant-contracts. Some are more binding than others. All of the more elaborate ones need a formation drawn on the ground and a prepared speech. There, one agrees to the contract written in the formation and connects it with the ether to activate it. Depending on the specifications you will have to invest more time to draw the formation. All the details of the contracts need to be accounted for, otherwise the bound person could be able to bypass it.

The formation can be drawn and written in different languages, but if you want a strong one which can’t be broken, you want to use a demonic script. The demons are the oldest species and due to that the formations written in their language are the strongest. The harsher contracts will be imprinted in your skin as well. A sign for all to see. Most of the time the master can choose the place where the magical tattoo should appear, only in a few it is already pre-defined.”

Following that, Sephiroth showed Aron drawings of the most often used contracts.

Having arrived at the last one, Sephiroth once more informed her master of the specifics. “This is the contract one uses on people whom one wants to bind most closely to themselves, no cancellation possible.”

_____

POV Aron Brightcloud

I scanned the shown formation thoughtfully. There were many application methods to such a contract. I had to learn more about them. Not to use them, but to shield myself against their use on me. Although their use seemed highly regulated, I didn’t want to find out too late that they could also been used more covertly after someone had caught me in one.

As pragmatic as I usually was, the freedom of oneself was very important to me. I still felt uncomfortable with the whole Lord and master business. If someone crossed me, I would kill them without batting an eye, but as long as they had done no harm, they could do whatever they wanted. Naturally some beatings could easily be administrated to support them on keeping to the correct path. No forced contracts for me.

Mulling it over in my mind, I asked some more questions. “Are there possibilities to change these formations in slight ways so that it changes the meaning completely, yet undetectable from outside? Would that also go for the tattoo that will show up on ones skin?”

Sephiroth slowly thought my question over. “Yes, there are ways, but most of them I don’t know. I only dabble in the art of formations. The sneakiest one I know is like followed. You have to use the last formation I have shown. Do you see the glyph on the left top side of the formation? If you add an additional line through the middle, the meaning completely changes. One-sided servitude becomes equality, still binding the participants together, but none will have power over the other.”

“Is there also a way to completely swap the servant with the master?”

Shaking her head, my beautiful guard replied, “No, that is impossible. This change is also only possible for the last contract, the others can’t be changed with this trick.”

Good, she spoke the truth. That took away a big part of my fear. Spotting a formation was doable, but getting caught in eternal servitude because of a slight detail would be a catastrophe.

I really needed to learn more about these formations. Yet I already had so much on my plate. All the new information that needed to be absorbed. My survival instincts screamed at me to suck every piece I could get. Only after I had a deep understanding of everything, could I make the most efficient and correct decisions.

“Master, if it is agreeable to you, could we continue this lesson tomorrow or on another day? I really need to rest. Normally I sleep during the afternoons.”

Her whole body suddenly radiated tiredness and pitifulness.

Right… Nope, not buying it. But she was right. It was her off time. My most pertinent questions were answered. We could continue this later. She should go to sleep. But not before some payback.

“So what do you think, Sephiroth? A little contract? Wouldn’t be so bad, right? Giving you some boundaries would make my life a lot easier. Or how about having to follow all my commands? Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Sephiroth reacted like she had gotten stung by a huge wasp.

“Nooo! My most beloved young master! That really doesn’t need to be done! How much fun we would lose if we did that?! You wouldn’t want that, Right?! Haven’t you always enjoyed my funny and entertaining ideas?”

She scuttled closer, once again radiating her most pitiful being. Could she do that on demand? A picture of pure innocence. She gazed up at me, aggrieved that I even had the audacity to propose such a horrendous idea.

God, my Jaw-muscles were under horrendous pressure. I needed all my might to keep a straight face at her playacting. We both knew that we were not serious. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made the joke. I could be crude, but not with this topic. In reality, talking to her in this way had assured her that she was safe. No plans from my side to make her my eternal slave any time soon. To drive that nail home, I told her that as well after we had played the little beggars-game a bit longer.

In an attempt at forestalling any incoming hug-attacks I stepped to the side after having finished. A millisecond later, my beautiful guard flew through the space I had been previously inhabiting and crashed into the wall.

“Sleep well, my dear.” I grinned and walked out of the library.