"Why in the world would you ever want to know more about the void master?! You know it's a place of evil creatures and dark magic." Not concerning at all.

"I was just wondering what all you knew about it Selena. I didn't expect you to be so against talking about it, I'm sorry for bringing it up." The look on her face told me all I needed to know, she was not happy that I had brought up the topic in the first place. It hurt, the look of utter worry on her face and the way she was trying to obviously keep me away from the topic.

"I promise Selena I won't bring it up again, so just, please stop looking at me like that." I could feel my heart beating in my chest as her eyes transitioned into that kind and happy look I had grown so used to seeing.

"I'm so glad to hear it master! Now I have so much to tell you about my day! Did you know inns actually have inbuilt magical cleaning so they can save costs on staff. I didn't!" Usually her constant chattering would be an annoyance but as the weeks have passed with her company alone at my side its almost a comfort to hear her talk.

I watched the way her lips moved, they looked so soft, so warm and inviting. Her eyes too, they shined like diamonds and the longer he looked the further under her enchanting spell he seemed to fall. I know I shouldn't be feeling this way, I know this is just the rules of the world making me feel this way and yet… and yet I can't help but want to hold her in my arms. To keep her safe no matter the obstacle in our path.

"Master, are you even listening to me!" Breaking out of the trance her beauty had trapped me in I turned my attention away from her eyes and to her in all her fullness. Her cheeks were bright red and her eyes I had just now noticed were locked onto mine, and if it wasn't my imagination we were far closer than when she had started talking.

"Of course I'm listening to you Selena, I'm sorry I just got distracted." I tried my best to pull away from her but her iron grip on my lapel was enough to arrest any type of movement I had been thinking of making.

"Distracted with what master?" She was looking at me, and her face was so close, I… I couldn't breathe. "You're really bad at hiding what you're thinking, you know that right master?" Her giggle was enough to make my heart pump at a thousand miles per hour and that damned smile set my face on fire.

"Selena-"

"Master."

I could feel the blood in my body rushing up and down, apparently having no idea where exactly it wanted to go.

'No, I refuse, I refuse to be ensnared in the romantic drivel of this world.' Even as I refused to be caught in this world's web of Romance I could feel the heat of her breath and see just how close her lips were to mine. The way her eyes were closed and her face was consumed with a blush told me all I needed to know. 'I'm sorry Selena but I am not the man you need or want to be with, I wish I was but I am not.'

"Selena stop." I put my hands on her shoulders and mustered what little strength I had regained during our weeks on the road to push her away from me. It wasn't far but it was far enough to stop what was sure to have happened if I had stayed still. "We can't do this."

"What are you talking about Master?" I could see the confusion and hurt in her eyes, the way she was trying to wrap her head around the fact that I had just ruined what she likely felt was a perfect moment.

"I can't do this to you Selena, I can't tell you why but please trust me when I tell you that I can't think of you that way or use you like that." This pain in my heart, is it what all those stupid ass male leads felt when they went through their whole 'I do this because I love you schtick'? Wait, am I the stupid ass male lead in this situation? I totally am ain't I?

"Master, please shut up."

"What-"

The shock of being told to shut up by Selena of all people was bad enough, but it was even worse when she literally jumped on top of me and kissed me. The feeling of her lips on mine, it was… indescribable. 'She tastes like pineapple and vanilla.'

The kiss lasted for a full minute as she refused to let go of me, and it only ended when she ran out of breath, not me. "Selena huff what huff are you doing huff?"

"Shutting you up Master, now lay back and enjoy it. For Alariks sake you're so dense." Whatever else I was about to say was cut short when she went right back to kissing me, stealing my breath away once more and causing me no shortage of rapid fire conflicting feelings. Sure I was Really enjoying this right now and as she kissed me I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her soft small body, but I also knew this was wrong.

I was not Vahid, this was not my body or my world, and I wasn't even sure if the feelings we were feeling for one another were real and not simply destiny at work trying to create some kind of illicit affair that would be used as a drama point later on. Who said the author wasn't creating a side story based around the main characters making different choices and all of this was simply words on a page to be read by others?

No I couldn't do this, I had to stop her. "Mmmm Master, what are you doing?"

'I really am sorry for this Selena.' With lithe fingers I reached into her uniform, up to her chest, and tickled her armpits.

"No! HAHAHA Master stop! HAHAHAHA I'm ticklish master! Stop! HAHAHA!" I was in no way prepared to stop my assault, instead I picked it up causing her to finally get off me and go to the other side of the carriage in an attempt to escape me.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Her face was flushed, she was out of breath from the make out session and tickling both, and her uniform was all kinds of fucked up. She looked like she had just had sex and I had no doubt I looked pretty similar. "That's no fair Master! You can't end a kiss like that! Not when we were just starting to get intimate…"

The way her hands brushed across her lips told me all I needed to know what she meant by intimate. 'Nope nope nope NOPE. I refuse to have sex in a fucking carriage for one, and secondly this was not happening. I was blinded by her beauty but this needs to be stopped now before I do something I regret.'

"Selena, I order you to never touch me like that again."

"But master-!"

"Silence!" I could feel my heart beating in my chest, this time it wasn't some sense of infatuation but instead pure rage. No means no, even if she was the most beautiful woman I had ever met and every time she looked at me I wanted to hold her close. This was going too far. I am not the man she has feelings for and I never will be, it's better this way.

"Selena I have let you get away with a lot, but when I tell you I do not wish to be intimate with you that is final, if you can't be professional then I will find someone else to assist me."

"I.. I understand Master."

No words were spoken between us for the rest of the day, she redid her hair and fixed her uniform while I made sure my clothes were in order. I didn't need the soldiers to think I was getting laid while they were trying their best to stay alert and professional at all times. Eventually the silence became too much for me and I opened up a book and tried my best to read it until nightfall, Selena on the other hand continued to look as if she was a kicked puppy.

It was hard to stay quiet, hard to not pull her close and give her a hug, tell her that everything would be alright and I hadn't meant what I had said. It wasn't just her looks that had drawn me to her, but over the weeks it had become clear that she was an intelligent, willful woman that was more than willing to go after what she wanted. Which she had more than proven with her little stunt.

"It's getting late master, it's time for your meal." I looked up from my book, a chronicle of the early Empire and its founding. Interesting stuff I gotta say, the author seems to have created a pretty interesting world to set her story in.

"I do not need you to feed me Selena, I've recovered more than enough to do it myself."

"Understood master, I will simply sit here and make sure nothing falls or lands on you."

I didn't bother to respond to her as I ate my meal, no longer simply soup to help me recover but also various cuts of venison and wild hog thrown into a stew of wild carrots and pre-chopped onions. It was delicious and combined with the wine that I had been provided it made a positively delightful meal.

The only problem was the way Selena kept her head down and said nothing throughout. "Selena, where are you from?"

The way her head snapped towards me was honestly pretty adorable. "Jealorin Master, my mother was from Estin itself and my father was from Colmon."

"If I remember correctly Jealorin is part of the core territory and Colmon was one of the last places the old kingdom conquered before it was turned into the Empire by Alarik, correct? It's the northernmost province in the Empire."

"That's correct Master, my mother was a merchant's daughter and my father was a soldier in the Soldati, from what she told me he was where I got my hair color from."

"Did he leave your mother sometime during your birth or did he…"

"He died defending far Amosia from a group of pirates and raiders attacking a small village. My mother was given five years of his pay as compensation which she used to move us to Ellacuria. I think she just wanted to be as far from where my father died as she could be."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"No your fine Master!" Her smile caused my heart to ache even as I saw the long buried grief in her eyes. "I was only ten when my father died, a lot of the time its hard to even remember what he looked like. Can you believe that? I can barely remember what my father even looked like." I could see she was trying her best not to cry, and despite my wish to never lead her to thinking I had feelings for her, I simply couldn't sit by and do nothing. Even I wasn't that much of a bastard.

"Open your mouth Selena."

"Master-?"

Before she could say anything I put the spoon in her mouth and forced her to eat it, causing her eyes to go wide momentarily before an expression of pure bliss overtook her face. "I know the stews good, Selena but it isn't that good, hahah."

"No Master, it's perfect. You didn't have to do that."

"Well I wasn't about to sit here and watch you cry without at least trying to make you feel better. I don't hate you Selena." She didn't respond to me, she simply nodded and sat next to me, eating whatever food I would give her as we ate my dinner together. Her smile told me right away that I had made a mistake.

'I Should have just given her a pat on the back and told her I understood or some shit like that.'