An entire year has gone by since coming to the Sandervile mansion. I’ve done everything I could in that time to increase my chances of escape, but I’ve come up short on almost all counts.

Even though I’ve totally mapped out the district and memorized the guard patrols with their frequent changes, I can’t find an opening. And that’s, of course, even considering if I could take advantage of it.

I’ve been training so I could be a direct servant to Adria Sandervile, who was essentially the princess of this City-State. But while doing so, I’ve been trying to heal and rehab my crippled leg. I’ve continued my training with mana enhancement and mana control in secret, as I can no longer cast spells.

I haven't been the same since that Vampire Jessine slashed my right calf and “healed” me. That’s not even including the phantom pain that comes from the wound or the similar pains on my scarred chest and damaged ears. Unfortunately, healing magic doesn’t seem to work, and no matter how many hours I focus on trying to heal my ailments with mana, nothing is getting better.

But at least my servant training has gone well…

Sylros deemed me to be fit to serve Adria last week, and I was awaiting final approval from Mayor Sandervile himself. I could do just about everything now, well… besides brewing tea… or touching any kind of food.

Chef Kando has forbidden me from having any contact with the food cooking process. He deemed me to be cursed by the food gods, and I wasn’t allowed to cook or make anything edible.

Fine by me. That’s just one less chore for me to do.

This only means I had more time for my escape efforts, but I’ve run out of my most available options. But there has been some light at the end of the tunnel. With my being here so long, my existence has finally stopped being a novelty. I’m no longer as exotic as people once considered me to be. I’ve finally managed just to be another slave.

Of course, I still stand out somewhat due to my appearance and the fact I wear a uniform that is entirely different from everybody else, and Adria gives me preferential treatment as her “friend,” but that is neither here nor there. I’ve garnered a reputation for being obedient, so most people weren’t likely to bother me now if it looked like I was going about some kind of “business.”

But today was the day I was finally going to inspect the library. With my preparation, I figured that the best time to come here to search for the royal escape path would be after dinner. Most of the servants would be on the first-floor post-dinner and today, I wasn’t part of that team. I wasn’t afraid of the guards coming in either since they only checked this room by opening the front door. I had waited weeks to make sure, and nobody came in here outside of cleaning time.

It was only on every third day did a squad of servants or slaves come into the library to clean it, and that was always after lunch. The cleaning day was yesterday, but I brought my own cleaning supplies just in case I needed to cover for myself.

None of the Sandervile’s used this library for leisure time, nor did any of the servants or guards. It was always empty around the clock. So it was finally time for me to investigate.

I strolled through the hallways of bookshelves and idly looked at the book titles. Most of them were… odd. I had expected this to be a library full to the brim with interesting books and other things, but why was there material like How to Bake a Cake Fit for Royalty, volumes one through fourteen? Why was so much paper wasted on fourteen volumes on how to bake a cake? To sate my curiosity, I selected the first two volumes and compared random pages side by side.

What the hell? These are the same thing…

These two books were almost identical. The “recipes” were almost exactly the same. Only they had a few different variations, like putting one extra flower here or using a different color there. This was… garbage, entirely and utterly wasteful.

Surely not every book here is like this, right? Wrong.

Nearly every book was similar to the first. Some were stories that just changed the Hero’s name but nothing else. Others were just odd books like Having Trouble With Your Dragonkin Soldier? Use This One Tactic.

What kind of self-help book was this? Even though the book was bound in thick leather and looked to be hundreds of pages long, this book, in particular, was only twenty pages in length. I checked bookcase after bookcase and it was the same story throughout the entire library.

So this place is purely meant for aesthetics? To show the wealth and power of the Sanderviles? By using all of these… useless books? What would happen if somebody just walked in here and decided to start reading all of these… oh, that’s right, most people can’t read, huh?

I was trying to put conventional logic from a spacefaring civilization onto this one and was coming up woefully short. But now that I think about it, if somebody couldn’t read and they walked in here, they would be impressed. I mean, I was impressed just by the size of this place. Wait, what am I doing? I’m getting distracted.

I shook off the weird feeling the nonsense of this place gave me and got back onto the task at hand. Now, if I was going to make an escape tunnel, where would I place it? This library was on the second floor and centrally located in the mansion. So it would have to be… against the thick stone walls, right?

I moved to the right side of the room and checked the bookcase against the wall. I was looking for a break in the bookcase or anything that would constitute being off. I got on the ground and crawled around, looking at the floor for any kind of markings or anything that just seemed different. I even started pulling out random books in hopes that something would happen. Then I even looked up. Maybe it was higher up? That could be a possibility.

But my search on the right side ended in failure. So I went to the left side and checked there. I ran through the exact thorough investigation as I did on the right side. I couldn’t check all the books, but I tried most of them.

Part of me was also worried that I might accidentally set off a trap or an alarm. If that happened, I was going to have to rely on my acting skills to the best of my abilities. But I wasn’t confident in those at all. I doubted my cleaning act would hold up under closer inspection.

After all, I barely managed to get Dad to tell me about magic that one time and I really was a kid back then.

After about a whole hour of searching, I once again came up empty-handed.

No, no, no, this can’t be right.

I don’t know why I’m so confident it’s here, but it has to be. I mean, I’ve never seen royal escape tunnels in my life, but this entire mansion was built by somebody with a militaristic mind. I might not have created too many forts in my life, but I’ve raided enough of them to know a thing or two. It’s here… I know it is.

Then the realization hit me. I was once again trying to apply “normal” logic to this place. And by normal logic, I mean sense from an existence that didn’t have magic. For some reason, I completely discounted the idea that magic was involved. Why wouldn’t it be?

Earth magic, even illusion magic, would make for a great way to hide a secret passage. And that’s not even including some kind of magical mechanism or other schools of magic I’m unfamiliar with. For example, I remember reading about a magical drawbridge that Tel’an’duth had created. It used crystals and a rare item from a dungeon to make a functional drawbridge that could be operated with mana.

This was going to complicate things now.

I began to pace back and forth as I dragged my limp leg in frustration. I thought about using a large earth magic spell, but it’s been two years since I’ve cast any magic, and if I made any kind of mistake with using my magic, I would be done for. But I felt something odd during my poor excuse for pacing back and forth.

Is that… a draft?

Ventilation wasn’t a thing in this castle, so I shouldn’t be feeling any kind of air current. It’s not like it’s windy outside or anything. I paced back a few steps and walked back and forward until I found what I was looking for.

Yeah, that’s definitely a draft.

I began feeling around the bookshelf until I felt where the draft was coming from but to no avail. The current was so small and insignificant; if somebody were walking at an average uninjured speed, they wouldn’t have noticed it. But somebody limping around slowly might just be able to detect it if they did it enough times.

Thanks, leg, at least you aren’t entirely useless.

However, the bookcase looked tight and uniform, and there were no breaks in it at all. So I started pulling at random books when finally I touched a book that gave me a weird feeling that a book on a shelf shouldn’t have been there. The book was warm. Too warm to be considered normal. Warm, like the feeling I get when I feel other people’s skin when they are focusing their mana. I pulled the book out, but the warmth quickly faded. So I decided to try a different approach.

I placed the book back, then I focused my mana into my fingertips and was rewarded with a faint glow. A series of runes began running down the spine of the book I touched along with all the books in the entire row it was on.

Oh, hey there.

I tried to run, but I stumbled like the crippled fool I was. I was worried that I had just set off some kind of trigger, so I pumped mana into my legs and tried to get up as fast as I could. But I didn’t get very far…

When I turned around, what I saw surprised me. The bookcase had opened up like it was on a hinge without so much as a noise. I looked around and waited to see if anybody was coming, but I didn’t hear the charge of the cavalry, so it must be okay… hopefully.

The Dwarves make some pretty good stuff, don’t they?

When I went back over to the bookcase, I was greeted by a simple wooden door. I tried the doorknob, but it was locked. It felt out of place, so I was a little skeptical, but if I’ve gone this far, I might as well go all the way.

I placed my open palm onto the keyhole and cast my first spell in two years. And by casting a spell, I mean I just shoved a bunch of rocks into the keyhole using earth magic. With a slight push, the door opened, and the doorknob fell to the ground.

Oops.

And greeting me was a set of stairs that lead downwards. It was pitch black down there. I couldn’t just leave this bookcase open like this… oh, please tell me I can close this thing. I have to be able to close it somehow, right?

On the other side of the door on the wall was a series of odd symbols. They resembled runes, so I decided to try my hand at getting lucky twice. I placed my hands onto the runes and fed a bit of mana into my fingertips. I was rewarded with the dull blue light, and the bookshelf began to close itself. Well, crisis averted, I guess. Hopefully, this will work to get me out of here because if it doesn’t, it looks like I’m making an impromptu escape tonight.

The confined space had no light, so I summoned a tiny ball of fire to see what was in front of me. The stairs continued to go down quite a ways. I counted how long it took me to get to the bottom, and it was about eight minutes. But, of course, I was limping slowly down the stairs, so it shouldn’t take an average person that long.

At the bottom of the stairs was an antechamber, and on the other side was a long dark tunnel. I also noticed a small circular indent in the wall, but it wasn’t immediately clear what purpose it served. I let out one of the biggest sighs of relief I’ve had in years.

Finally, I found you. This is it. This is how I was going to escape from this place.

I was going to have to start stockpiling dried food down here so I could make my escape. I wasn't sure how long these tunnels went on or if it was a maze, so I needed to be sure I had enough food to survive down here.

I was about to step into the tunnel to see a bit further when a sinking feeling assaulted my stomach. It was my gut feeling. The feeling I got when I just knew something was off. I didn’t get this feeling very often, but whenever I did I learned to trust it.

I launched a tiny Fireball down the tunnel to see how long it was. I watched as my spell sailed down the tunnel until it eventually disappeared from my sight. I made sure the spell wouldn’t explode or anything like that. It was more like a flare than an actual Fireball.

Seeing that nothing happened, I decided to launch a pebble down the hallway this time. Nothing happened again. I heard the pebble bounce off the stone and roll until it eventually stopped. Then I heard something scuttle next to me. I increased the brightness of my light and looked right at a rat.

My heart skipped a beat, and I mentally punched myself for being afraid of a rodent. The thing just had its eyes closed and was trying to hide in the darkness of the antechamber. It must have gotten a bit spoked when it heard the pebble roll across the ground. But I have an idea.

I kicked the ground with my good leg and formed a pillar of earth under the rodent and sent it flying towards me. The poor thing screeched as it sailed towards me, where I caught it in mid-air. I felt disgusting holding this rodent in my hands as it flailed around, so I whipped around in a single move and tossed it along with another flare spell down the hallway.

The rodent went soaring down the hallway, illuminated by the spell screeching all the way. Eventually, it fell to the ground, and I watched as a giant pillar of fire engulfed the rodent the second it touched the ground, torching it completely.

Oh, that’s not good.

Maybe… I could try and spider crawl using both sides of the tunnel to shimmy my way forward so that way I wouldn’t be touching the ground. But no way was that going to be feasible.

I would run out of stamina long before I got to the end of this tunnel. And since I would be carrying a pack of food to survive, it just wouldn’t be possible without knowing how long this tunnel went on. But I could make a good guess. If it leads outside the city, then this tunnel could take over an hour to get to the end, even longer if it deviated at all.

Wait. What if I just used earth magic to make paths? Or at least footholds that would allow me not to touch the ground? I tried to summon a slab of earth using the wall but nothing happened. The spell core formed, and the mana was used, but if I tried altering the stone wall nothing happened.

Now that I look at it this stone is the same gray stone used in the construction of the mansion. Did it have some kind of anti-magic property or something? I tested my theory by launching a Fireball that lacked explosive power but was super hot with the intention of melting the stone. My Fireball impacted the wall of the antechamber but only left a black mark in its wake. As far as I could tell, I did no damage to the stone whatsoever.

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The same sigh I released upon entering this place was replaced with a sigh of defeat.

I can’t use this passage, can I? The risk of being burnt to a crisp or dying to any other kind of magic is far too significant. That’s not even considering if there are monsters down here. With my leg injured, I wouldn’t be able to brute force my way through this tunnel.

And if I started using earth magic aggressively to break traps, I’m sure a mage on the surface would notice me eventually. But I had a feeling that it wouldn’t even work in the first place because of this gray stone. Crap…

It’s okay; it’s all okay. I’ve come too far to give up now. Maybe if I can find the circular item that disables the trap, I can use it then, but for now, I just need to find another way. I noticed when going down that these stairs didn’t go up to the third floor, so that means there is a separate escape route that the Mayor uses. I mean, maybe this is the only one, but I highly doubt it.

I’ve been down here for far too long, and I need to return before somebody notices my absence. I feel Sylros or even Muriel are already looking for me right now.

I trudged back up the stairs and noticed something strange. It wasn’t like this when I left it, but now I could see through the bookcase as if it wasn’t even there. It had become completely transparent. Very cool. As I was about to open the passage up again, I kicked the fallen doorknob and groaned. I can’t leave this looking like somebody broke in.

I tried just putting the doorknob back on, but I had broken it thoroughly. So the only plan I could come up with was using earth magic to secure the knob back on. If anybody ever actually touched the knob, they would instantly be able to tell it had been tampered with since it didn’t turn anymore. But at least it would pass a visual inspection. Meh, good enough.

I was about to put some mana onto the rune to open the passage when Muriel, of all people, walked in front of the bookcase. She turned on her heels and looked right at me. It was as if this bookcase wasn’t even there, and she was staring into my soul. Oh, no… she has my scent, doesn’t she?

I held my breath and just stood there, knowing that wouldn’t help me, but it was the only thing I could do. I could feel the sweat building up under my hair as neither of us moved. Then I swear I saw a faint smile tug at the corner of her mouth as she turned and walked away.

I made sure the coast was clear and went back into the library. Fortunately, nobody else was there, and later that night, Muriel never ended up mentioning anything to me.

—

About a week after my failed tunnel reconnaissance, Sylros notified me that I would be having an audience with Mayor Sandervile today. I have never spoken to the man in my time here at the mansion. Only at the auction a year ago did I speak to him. I see him from time to time, but slaves rarely interact with him. Only his most trusted servants serve him directly.

I was waiting in the servant quarters alone, dressed to impress in my newest uniform. It was the same black and orange uniform as before, but it was recently tailored since I’ve grown a bit. But not by much, if I’m being honest… I’ve regained some muscle and fat again and no longer look like a ghoul. That’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve continued with what little physical exercise I can manage.

I’ve also been procuring a good amount of extra food from the kitchen. Even though I eat three square meals a day during my scheduled day, I manage to fit in about a whole extra meal’s worth of food throughout the day.

I’m also not the only one that does this. It’s common practice for us servants and slaves to eat “The kitchen rejects,” as Muriel dubbed them. Of course, some of the Chefs are slaves, so perhaps they do it on purpose just to spite Head Chef Kando.

“Kali! Are you ready?” Adria asked me as she bounded into the room.

She was not supposed to be in here… but well I guess nobody can really stop her.

“I’m ready. Let’s go, Young Master.”

“I told you not to call me that when it’s just us! ADRIA, that’s my name, not stupid Young Master or Young Lady, got it?” she said while punching me playfully in the arm.

“Sure thing, Lady Adria.”

“You…! Now you are just making fun of me!”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Let’s go, Adria, before Sylros has a stroke,” I said.

“What’s a stroke?” she asked as she tilted her head.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Oops.

Together we headed towards the central staircase to the third floor. I have yet to go to the third floor, so I was interested to see if it looked any different. And as I crested the top stairs and took stock of the hallway, I realized that any kind of fantasy I had about the third floor just wasn’t true. Uniformity was the design of this mansion, so I should have curbed any expectations as the third floor looked just like the second…

Adria guided me toward her father’s office. “This is your first time on the third floor, right, Kali?” she asked me.

“Mhm, I’ve never been up here,” I responded.

“It’s kinda boring up here. I just go to sleep in my room and go to Daddy’s study sometimes, but that’s it. I don’t really like being up here honestly…”

“Really? Why’s that? Shouldn’t you like the place you sleep?” I asked.

“I mean, I like my room, but I don’t like being up here because…. uhhh…. never mind” Adria trailed off as she began to speak and turned quickly away from me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” she yelled while skipping away faster than I could walk.

Where are you going? You’re supposed to be my guide…

Adria was acting weird. Normally she had no problems telling me what was on her mind or telling anyone for that matter. Maybe she didn’t like being up here because it reminded her of her mother? But she wasn’t skittish enough to not say something like that… whatever.

I just followed the general direction she headed until I found Adria, Muriel, Martin, and Ester waiting in the hallway. Most of the third floor was just hallways with lots of doors that I imagined led to bedrooms. I was sure that the Mayor’s personal guards lived up here along with his family. Sylros also had a room up here along with a few of the servants of more noble birth.

I bowed to Muriel and the two guards and announced my presence. Martin who was standing next to the large double doors, didn’t even react, was he sleeping standing up? I was pretty sure he was snoring. Ester just narrowed her eyes at me and said nothing. Adria looked away from me, and Muriel gave me a wry smile as she beckoned me over,

“Come wait over here, Kaladin. Lord Sandervile is finishing a meeting with an ambassador.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Together the five of us waited outside of the room in silence. Martin was definitely snoring, and Ester was just dogging me the entire time. Muriel paid nobody any mind and stood at attention. Adria crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact with me or anyone else.

At first, we waited five minutes, then ten minutes, then ten minutes turned into twenty minutes. And twenty minutes passed into thirty minutes. After that, I stopped counting.

Finally, the door swung open, with Sylros holding it open and bowing. Martin snapped awake and gave a slight bow along with Ester. Adria didn’t budge, and, like the trained dogs we were, Muriel and I bowed correctly. However, when I gazed up to look at the man who was walking out, my chest sank, and my heart rate increased.

“Redder, the deader.” One of the final things Squeaks ever told me.

At first, I didn’t understand that Dwarven saying, but now I get it. The man walking out of the office in purple formal attire was a Vampire. Unlike Jessine, whose bottom quarter of her eyes was crimson red, this man’s eyes had four rings of red.

The other parts of his eyes were white, and even though he had more red in his eyes, they still looked just as lifeless when you compared them to everyone else’s eyes in this world. I could feel his gaze bore into me as he strode past us and went right straight to Adria.

The atmosphere between the guards and Sylros became tense. “Lady Adrianna, it’s an honor to be able to see you today. My master, Duke Arnet, sends his warmest regards. He hopes that your family will consider visiting our land someday. Do let this most humble messenger know if such interest ever arises. We would be overjoyed to welcome you to our dukedom,” the Vampire said in a sickly sweet voice.

He was a tall man and his features resembled that of a High Elf, with high pointed ears, sharp facial features, and blonde hair. Jessine was of Human descent, but it seemed this man was Elven. However, unlike Sylros, who I could tell was part High Elf, I didn’t get the same feeling about this Vampire. His pale skin and crimson eyes didn’t resonate with any kinship with my Elven blood.

“Ah, yes, thank you for the invitation, good sir… but I’ll have to decline, sorry…” Adria said awkwardly.

“That is a shame. But, please do notify me if you ever have a change of heart,” he said with a creepy smile.

Adria just nodded her head, and the man took his leave. The tense atmosphere had faded as he rounded the corner. Sylros then approached Adria and asked her something in a hushed voice, but she just shook her head. Then he strode over to me. He looked me up and down while nodding, then wiped off imaginary dust on my shoulders.

“You’ve cleaned up well. Good work,” Sylros said honestly.

“Thank you, sir. I hope I have met your expectations,” I responded.

“You have. Now then, Kaladin, you will be coming with me. Muriel, Lord Sandervile has also asked for your presence. Young Master Adrianna, your father asked that you please stay out here.” For Sylros to use Adria’s full first name, he was being awfully serious today.

“What?! But I wanna be there too!” Adria complained.

“I’m afraid your father has explicitly ordered me to have you wait out here. I’m truly sorry, Young Master,” Sylros said with a bow.

Adria just huffed and stormed away with her fists balled. She was clearly displeased with the verdict, but Adria never went against her father’s direct orders.

She might complain, but that was about it and Sylros never lied about Mayor Sandervile’s orders or used them as a way to control Adria. If he uttered a request or order that included Mayor or Lord Sandervile, then it was meant to be taken very seriously.

Sylros looked somewhat crestfallen as Adria stormed away, but he motioned for us to follow him into the study. As I entered the office, I tried to glean as much information as possible in one go. Sitting behind a large wooden desk was Mayor Sandervile himself. He looked all the part of a general, and his intense gaze followed us as we walked into the room. Behind him, to his right, standing upright, was Sir Bril, the commander of the royal guard in his blue-colored plate armor.

Pinned to the right side of the wall was a map of the continent of Illyrcium. It was my first time seeing a complete map of this continent, so I tried my best to get a good look at it.

All three of us bowed deeply, and Sylros introduced us. “Lord Sandervile, I have brought the slaves Kaladin and Muriel before you as you have instructed.”

“Sylros, has the boy completed his training?” Mayor Sandervile asked.

“Yes, my Lord. Over the last year, Kaladin has shown exemplary work in his training. I personally feel that he is both prepared and determined to meet any task that is required of him in service to this house,” Sylros responded.

“Such praise for a single slave, Sylros. What makes him so deserving of your recommendation?” questioned Mayor Sandervile as he stroked his trimmed beard.

“Kaladin has shown tremendous growth in just a year’s time, and he isn’t even past his first decade of life yet. Although he has failed miserably in his duties regarding food preparation, he has gone above and beyond the call in all other areas. Despite his crippled leg, Kaladin has never once complained about his duties and sees to it that he meets every expectation that is put upon his shoulders. His attitude is that of the ideal servant, and I find his work ethic to be commendable. All servants in House Sandervile should strive to be as Kaladin is,” Sylros said without hesitation.

I knew I was trying my best, but this was not what I expected. Sylros praising me so openly filled me with warmth and sickness. The last thing I wanted to be praised for was my ability to serve others. But hearing kind words from the man I’ve spent a better part of a year learning from felt good. I might be a slave and a servant to this hell hole, but Sylros’s words of praise were genuine, I think.

“I see. And what of Adria’s desires? Have they wavered at all over the last year?”

“I don’t believe Young Master Adrianna’s desires have changed in the slightest, my Lord. If anything, she wants Kaladin to be her servant now more than she ever did in the past,” Sylros responded.

Mayor Sandervile sighed and began to massage his face, “I believe it is as you say, Sylros. I believe my daughter’s wish is for that to become true. With her tenth birthday coming up next year, along with the planned welcoming of dignitaries from Luminar, her only request has been to have this boy become her servant. After hearing such praise from one of my most trusted retainers, I would be a poor father and man if I did not accept your honest praise of the boy,” Mayor Sandervile said.

Then he looked straight at me. “So tell me, boy. Are you going to serve my daughter to the best of your abilities? Even until she is old and frail? Will you serve her as your mentor Sylros has served me?

“My Lord, I shall meet any and all expectations placed upon me. I shall do whatever it is you ask of me,” I said loud and clearly.

“That’s not what I asked you, little Elf. I asked if you would serve my daughter as Sylros has served me. Will you place your life into the hands of my daughter and follow any and all her orders, even if it means your death?”

I screamed at myself internally for what I was about to say—making promises had become sacred to me at some point. I’ve made promises to many people in my lives. Some I did my absolute best to keep, others I outright failed to keep, and some I even broke of my own volition.

I promised myself I would return home to my family and my friends. I made big lofty promises like trying to be the best son in the world. I made a promise as a son to the father I loved to maintain my hair so that we could enjoy a special day together.

I even promised an odd Dwarf that I would free him from his chains one day. I’ve made many promises, some small, others large but I always had the purest intentions to see them through to the end. Besides that one time, I lied to Dad about not trying magic. Sorry, Dad.

But today, I was going to make a promise I never intended on keeping.

“I promise to serve your daughter, Adrianna Sandervile, with every ounce of my being. If she ordered me to jump, I would jump. If she orders me to die, then I shall die. Whatever it may be, I shall follow her will. It’s the least I could do for her saving my life that was already forfeit,” I said with so much conviction that I felt like I was going to vomit.

It took me a few moments to realize why I sounded like that or why I felt sick to my stomach. It was because I hadn’t spoken like that in over nine years…

“You speak the truth, I can tell. It’s a shame there is no longer a war and that you are crippled. Perhaps if you were born healthier and a few years earlier, I would have turned you into a fine soldier after hearing your resolve,” Mayor Sandervile said with a chuckle.

Not a chance, old man. There isn’t anything you could ever teach me about war.

Then he got serious again. “However, I can not let a single slave boy attend to my only daughter. You may be young now, but I’m no fool. Things change. Boys turn into men eventually rather than be slaves or soldiers. It happens to all of us. Which is why I have called you in today, Muriel.”

Is he suggesting? I guess he is. I don’t have those kinds of urges towards Adria or anyone for that matter. Actually, if it were Jessine and Alnwar, I’d kill them given a chance. Even if they were sleeping, I’d do it. But I understand where he is coming from. I mean, I wouldn’t trust myself not to kill someone.

Mayor Sandervile stood from behind his desk and spoke to both of us. “Muriel, I understand you were Isha’s personal attendant at one point. She always spoke fondly of you, and Sylros speaks highly of your skills. Although you have already been performing these duties for many years, I shall be making it official as of today. Henceforth you two shall be in direct service to my daughter, Adrianna Marie Sandervile. On top of your duties as my daughter’s personal servant, Muriel, you shall be making up for Kaladin and his shortcomings. As the veteran servant between the two of you, I expect that you will keep Kaladin in line if it ever comes down to such things.”

“Yes, my lord. I shall do as you command,” Muriel responded with a bow.

“Good, you two shall go and swear your loyalty to Adrianna today. However, let it be known that I am still the Lord of this house. Although you will be in direct service to my daughter, it goes without saying whose word is absolute. Have I made myself clear?” Mayor Sandervile said with a thinly veiled threat.

“Yes, my lord,” we both responded in unison and with a deep bow.

“Sylros, Bril, be my witnesses and see to it that these two swear their loyalty.”

“Yes, as you command, my lord,” Sylros bowed.

“Sir,” Bril responded quickly and with a salute. I’ve never heard the man speak before, but his voice was much higher pitched than I expected.

The four of us would leave, and Muriel and I would end up swearing our loyalty to Adria in the presence of Sylros and Bril. Adria had been expecting just me to do it, so she was surprised that Muriel had ended up swearing her loyalty as well.

It was hard to tell if she was happy or not as she seemed conflicted about the whole idea of us swearing our loyalty to her. I feel she might actually see Muriel and me as friends and not servants. Adria doesn’t even give me actual orders half the time. Instead, I just do what is expected of me as a servant.

But if that was what Adria wanted, then I was more than okay with that. By becoming her personal servant, I would be able to shrink away from my duties as a slave which will allow me to have more free time and fewer expectations—all good things in the end.

Was this arrangement going to work out until I escaped this place? I have no idea. But I hope Adria doesn’t suddenly grow tired of me. If she were to release me from servitude, I would probably be sold back into slavery, considering I’m below average in physical abilities right now.

Sorry, little Adria, you are just going to be another stepping stone for my eventual escape.