Soon after my little display, Caravan Master Jeeves called everyone to order and we all broke camp. It didn’t take long for everyone to pack up, and within the hour we were back on the road.
The weather was much better today. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze kept everything cool. It was perfect traveling weather, and I intended to enjoy it as much as possible.
The entire time, Corie avoided looking at me. She worked while wearing a grim look on her face. Lorelei did the opposite. She kept glancing at me, her expression complex. It was difficult to read her thoughts based on this alone, but I could take a guess.
I understood their concern. There were plenty of men, young and old, who would take advantage of the situation were they in my shoes. Corie was a beautiful young woman, the kind that men would do almost anything to bed. I wasn’t one of them.
I had no interest in forcing anyone to be my nighttime companion. I mean, with my looks, I didn’t need to. Not to mention I was the young master of an old House. Finding someone to warm my bed at night was not difficult for me. Not that I ever indulged myself like that, but I had options.
It didn’t help that Corie’s attitude towards me offset any attraction I might have felt for her. She clearly had some kind of grudge against House wizards, but her prejudice didn’t justify her attitude towards me.
Besides, even if Corie hadn’t been so hostile towards me, I wouldn’t have tried anything with her. My heart belonged to another. Not my former betrothed, who abandoned me soon after my duel with the Otherworlder. No. I pined for the woman I loved on Earth, back when I was Brandon Norwood.
I tried my best not to think about her. There was no point. Every time I did, pain and guilt and shame overwhelmed me. It was better to avoid all that. Whenever I did think about her, I avoided thinking of her by her name. I told myself that this made it easier for me to bear the guilt of how I had treated her before I regained my memories. It was a lie, but one I couldn’t let go of.
Was this healthy? No. In fact, if I wasn’t careful, this might become an inner demon of mine. That would be a hassle to deal with. I had better things to do with my time.
Yet, I couldn’t let go of my feelings for her.
Basically, I was too hung up on my ex from my previous life to have any interest in other women. Still, it was a good idea to let Corie know that I intended to treat her like I would any other retainer of House Sturm. That way, she wouldn’t worry about me trying something.
I would give her some time and space to cool off first. I doubted she wanted to see me right now.
As her new lord, I was responsible for Corie. Both for her wellbeing, and her actions. I took those responsibilities seriously, even though it was a pain in the ass.
Ugh. I shouldn’t have upped the wager. I let my temper get the better of me, and now I was paying for it.
Corie didn’t join Lorelei inside the carriage like she did yesterday. Instead, she traveled a little ahead of our group, to avoid me no doubt. After we had been on the road for about an hour, Lorelei opened the carriage’s window.
“Lord Gabriel?” she asked, peeking through the window. “Can we talk in private for a moment?”
“Very well,” I said.
I opened the carriage door while it was still in motion, and jumped inside the carriage, shutting the door behind me. I sat opposite of Lorelei, who stared down. She had her hands balled into a single fist. Since she was the one who wanted to talk, I waited for her to speak up first.
“Lord Gabriel,” she began. “I have no right to ask you this, but would you please release Corie from the wager? I know she said all those mean things to you, but Corie is a good person. She just…”
Lorelei paused, unsure of how to continue.
“She just has a personal grudge against House wizards,” I stated, finishing her sentence.
Lorelei started at this, and looked up at me.
“How did you know?” she asked.
I shrugged.
“It was just a guess, but it made the most sense,” I said. “The other adventurers in Icefall City don’t like me, but they keep it to themselves. Other than Corie, the only ones who gave me any trouble were Loudmouth and his friends. The rest just glared at me.”
Lorelei studied me for a few moments, before nodding.
“Yes, Corie has a grudge against the Houses,” she said. “A lot of the adventurers in Icefall City do. It’s why many of them moved up here.” She paused, her expression turning sad. “But Corie has more reason than most to hate the Houses, young masters in particular.”
Hmm, that narrowed it down to a few possibilities.
“What reason is that?” I asked.
Lorelei shook her head.
“I can’t tell you,” she said. “It isn’t my story to tell. If you want to know, you’ll have to ask Corie yourself. Just know that she has a good reason for acting the way she did with you. That doesn’t mean I approve of her actions, only that I understand where she is coming from.”
I nodded at that.
“Fair enough. I understand.”
“Does that mean you’ll release Corie?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. Lorelei opened her mouth to protest, but I held up a hand to forestall her. “Just hear me out first, before you say anything.”
Lorelei frowned, but nodded.
“If you recall, for my original wager, I just wanted Corie to treat me with the courtesy and respect my status demanded. That hasn’t changed. I know you scolded her for her behavior, but I doubt that would have changed her attitude towards me. Do you disagree?”
Lorelei didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. I knew she thought the same.
“Keeping her on as my servant for the rest of this trip would accomplish the same thing,” I said. “As long as she leaves me alone and does her part, I’ll treat her the same way I would treat any other retainer for House Sturm. I promise you, I won’t mistreat her or abuse her in any way.” I held up a finger. “And, when this job is over and we’re back in Icefall City, I’ll release her from the wager.”
Lorelei’s eyes brightened at this.
“Thank you, Lord Gabriel,” she said. “Honestly, I feared you would want to get revenge on Corie, given the way she acted towards you.”
“Oh, make no mistake,” I said, grinning at her. “I intend to get my revenge, but it will be just me bossing her around for the next month or so. It won’t go beyond that, however.”
Lorelei sighed at this.
“I suppose it could have been worse,” she said. “Still, thank you for your kindness, Lord Gabriel. Other nobles in your shoes wouldn’t have been so lenient.”
I snorted at that. If Corie had acted like that with any other House noble, she would have been killed on the spot. I was surprised it hadn’t happened already. Then again, the Icefall Region was the ass end of nowhere, and few Houses had any interest in it. I doubted that Icefall City saw more than one or two House wizards a year, and that was being generous.
After my conversation with Lorelei, I sought out Leroy. I wanted to get his take on the situation. Corie remained where I last saw her, walking ahead of our group.
“What do you think?” I asked Leroy, walking beside him as we kept pace with the carriage.
“What do I think of what, young master?” Leroy asked, keeping an eye out on our surroundings.
I did the same with my divine sense.
“Don’t be obtuse,” I said. “I’m talking about Corie. Do you think I handled the situation the right way?”
It never hurt to ask for a second opinion when it came to these sorts of things. I was a reincarnated Immortal, but that didn’t make me infallible. I could still make mistakes, and have.
“It is not my place to question your decisions, young master,” Leroy said.
I snorted at this.
“That hasn’t stopped you before,” I said. “Why should it be different this time? Besides, I’m just asking for your opinion.”
At this, Leroy let out a sigh.
“If I’m being honest young master, I’m upset with the way things turned out. Not for the reasons you might think, however.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Leroy grimaced.
“Serving House Sturm is an honor and a privilege many would kill for. When your father made me a retainer, it was one of the best days of my life.” He nodded towards Corie. “Using it as a punishment for an insolent and disrespectful girl like her leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
I stared at Leroy, unable to come up with a response right away.
“I see,” I said after a while. “I hadn’t realized you felt that way. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me, young master,” Leroy said. “Remember, I am just a mere retainer.”
“As if you are just a ‘mere’ retainer at this point,” I said with a scoff. “Don’t disparage yourself like that. I value your advice and opinions. You help keep me grounded.”
A quick smile touched Leroy’s lips.
“Thank you, young master,” he said. “That means a lot. Don’t worry about me. I’ll get over it soon.”
“Good, because I expect you to teach Corie about what it means to be a retainer for House Sturm.”
Leroy started and turned to stare at me.
“What?”
“Thank you,” I said, as if he had given me an affirmative. I gave Leroy a thumbs up. “I knew I could count on you.”
I walked away from Leroy.
“Wait! Young master, what did you mean by that?”
I pretended to not hear him as I hurried off.
----------------------------------------
The rest of the second day of travel went by much like the first. We headed down the main road leading south, with the Icefall River on our left. On occasion, we saw a boat going down the river, heading deeper into the Solarian Empire.
The weather continued to be pleasant, putting me in a good mood. It helped that several adventurers, and a few of the merchants, approached me to ask about the Protective Talismans. I reminded them that I would speak with them about it when we made camp tonight.
They weren’t happy about this, but none of them pushed me further. Good. If any of them had, I would have refused to sell any talismans to them.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Corie continued to walk ahead of our group the entire time, refusing to look back. A few of the other adventurers from Icefall City approached her with concerned looks on their faces, but she rebuffed them.
Lorelei poked her head outside of the carriage window more than once to call after her, but Corie ignored her. It marred an otherwise pleasant day.
The caravan made camp in a little hollow. Like before, we set up the vehicles to form a barricade. After everyone set up their tents and had dinner, I walked to the center of the camp and began selling my Protective Talismans.
For the sake of fairness, I decided to sell them at the same rate that the Adventurers Guild sold low-grade health potions. While I could have jacked the prices up, since I was the only one who could make these talismans in the entirety of Lumina, I decided not to.
Even then, people I tried to haggle. I refused to budge. Some asshole complained about it. He said that if they had to pay the same price for the talismans as they had to for health potions, why both with the talismans? I pointed out that health potions healed wounds, while my Protective Talismans prevented those wounds in the first place, which was much less painful.
He shut up after that.
In the end, I made a nice little profit as I sold all but five of my Protective Talismans. To my disappointment, while adventurers could exchange merits, they couldn’t do so with just their guild IDs. We needed to be at a guildhall for that. I had to settle for coin.
Poor me.
By the time I arrived back at our part of the camp, it was late. The others had already gone to bed, and Leroy was the only one still awake since the first watch was his.
Corie was nowhere to be seen. She had helped earlier with setting up camp and making dinner, but she ignored all attempts at conversation. Even Lorelei could only get terse, one-word replies from her. I guessed she needed more time and space to work things through.
I got ready for the night, and crawled into my tent to sleep for the night. However, before even a minute passed, another person opened the flap to my tent. With my divine sense, I noticed it was Corie.
I tensed. Had she come in to kill me and get out serving me that way? From the way she acted before, that made the most sense to me.
Before she even made it all the way inside, I exploded into action. She let out a yelp as I suddenly sat up, but I cut it off when I grabbed her by the throat. I then dragged her into my tent.
I took care not to squeeze too hard, however. Corie had the body of a fragile mortal, and I didn’t want to hurt her. Not yet at least. If my suspicions proved correct, that would change.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice as cold and hard as iron.
Corie stared at me, her eyes wide with fear. That was when I noticed that she didn’t have any weapons. Instead, she just wore her traveling clothes. That was it.
It then occurred to me that if Corie had tried to enter my tent with her weapons, Leroy would have stopped her.
When it became clear that I wasn’t going to hurt her right away, Corie’s fear morphed into her usual disdain.
“I see,” she said, her voice filled with contempt. “So this is the sort of thing you’re into, Lord Gabriel. I mean, young master. I pity all the serving girls that have crossed your path.”
I stared at her, baffled.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Corie didn’t respond. Instead, she looked down and started to undo her clothing.
“Woah!” I said. “What are you doing?”
Corie ignored me and continued to try and take off her clothes. I let go of her throat, and grabbed her wrists.
“Stop,” I commanded. “Why are you taking off your clothes?”
Corie looked back up at me, with both derision and confusion in her eyes.
“Isn’t this what you wanted from me?” she demanded.
Once again, I gave her a baffled stare.
“No!” I said. “Why would you think that?”
Corie stared at me as if she couldn’t understand my words.
“Then…” she started to say. “Then why did you use the wager to make me your servant?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“If you recall,” I said. “At first, I just wanted you to treat me with the courtesy and respect my station demanded. I only escalated things after you did.”
“So you don’t want me to be your bed warmer?”
“No! I just wanted you to stop being a bitch to me for the rest of this trip.” I snorted. “I don’t know where you got that idea from. I’m not that sort of guy. Look at me, do I look like I need to force women to spend the night with me?”
Corie just stared at me for several long seconds.
“Oh.” Her expression fell, and her entire face turned bright red. “Oh!”
She turned away from me and started to pull out of my grip.
“I need to go,” she babbled. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have come here. What have I done?”
I tightened my grip on her wrists.
“Corie.”
She pulled harder, but to no avail.
“Let go of me! Please, I need to go. Oh god, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Corie!” I said in a sharp voice.
That stopped her, though she remained facing away from me. She started shaking.
“Corie,” I said in a gentle voice. “If you go out there right now, looking the way you do, anyone who sees you will think the worse. Neither of us needs that right now. Do you understand?”
Corie, still facing away from me, nodded.
“Good. I’m going to let go now.” I did. Corie remained where she was. “Here, put this on.” I draped a blanket over her shoulders. After a moment, she tightened it around her. “Now, I’m going to get you a drink. I’ll be right back.”
I exited the tent. While it was late, and there weren’t many people still awake, there were a few, including the sentries. Leroy and I exchanged nods, but he otherwise maintained a vigilant watch.
I walked over to our supplies and pulled out a bottle of wine I had brought for the trip. We didn’t bring any wine glasses, so I had to settle for a tin mug. I filled the mug with wine, and put the bottle back. Afterwards, I returned to my tent.
Corie was where I left her, though she was hunched over now.
“Here,” I said, handing her the mug of wine.
“Thank you,” she said in a small voice.
I sat down a little ways from her. Silence filled the tent as Corie sipped her wine.
“Feel better?” I asked after a few minutes.
Corie nodded.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked, staring into the mug. “Especially with the way I treated you.”
“I’m your lord now, however temporary that may be. I don’t know about any other House nobles you’ve encountered, but I take that sort of thing seriously.”
“I see,” she said, her voice breaking towards the end.
Corie’s face crumpled and tears started streaming down her cheeks.
Oh fuck. This wasn’t good. I was never any good at dealing with crying women. This had always been true. Immortal Celestial Thunder, Brandon Norwood, Gabriel Sturm. It didn’t matter which lifetime I talked about. A woman’s tears always threw me off my game.
So far, I had only found one solution that seemed to help.
After a brief panic, I scooted over and put my arm around her shoulders. Corie leaned over and pressed her face against my chest. I pulled the mug of wine out of her hands before she could spill it. Corie cried as I held her, her tears staining my shirt. I let out a sigh. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and I doubted it would be the last.
With my divine sense, I noticed Lorelei approach my tent but then stop right outside. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like she was debating with herself on whether or not to enter.
After several minutes, Corie’s tears subsided and she pulled away from me. I let go of her. She looked embarrassed, and her face was red and splotchy.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “God, you must think I’m an idiot.”
“Eh,” I said, shrugging. “I’m somewhat at fault here too. We could have avoided all this if I had just explained things to you. I should have known better, especially after my conversation with Lorelei.”
Corie’s head snapped towards me.
“What did Lorrie tell you?” she asked in a sharp voice.
With my divine sense, I noticed Lorelei flinch at Corie’s tone.
“Nothing much, if that’s what you’re worried about. She just told me that you had a grudge against the Houses, and that you had more reason than most to hate them.” I paused. “That seems to be common in the Icefall Region.”
Corie deflated at this.
“Oh. That makes sense. Lorrie isn’t the kind of person to gossip about other people’s business. I just jumped to conclusions. Again.”
She buried her face in her hands.
“So, why do you hate the Houses?” I asked. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, but I’d rather avoid any more misunderstandings in the future.”
Corie froze for a brief moment, before lifting her head and looking at me.
“I suppose that’s fair,” she said, giving me a weak smile. “My mother used to be a maid for House Corwin.”
House Corwin? Well, damn. My former betrothed was from House Corwin. Was this a coincidence, or fate at work?
Corie’s heritage also explained her aptitude, something I noticed when Corie and I first met, as well as her elemental affinities. House Corwin was an old House that specialized in Air and Wood magic.
“My mother caught my father’s eye, and it wasn’t long before the two of them started a secret affair,” Corie continued. “They ended up falling in love with each other, or so my mother thought. Things were good for a while, but then my mother became pregnant with me, and my father revealed his true colors. My mother had been nothing more than a distraction, a plaything for my father’s amusement. When she became pregnant, she became a liability.”
That didn’t surprise me. The Houses took excessive pride in their lineage and pedigree. A bastard born from a maid was a stain upon a House’s honor. Plus, Corie’s father would have likely either been married or at least engaged by that point. The Houses arranged marriages for their children at an early age. A pregnancy out of wedlock would have endangered that. I was surprised Corie’s father didn’t kill her mother.
“Rather than kill my mother,” Corie said, her words mirroring my thoughts. “My father cut out my mother’s tongue and sent her north, to the Icefall Region, where she spent the rest of her life.” Corie hugged her knees. “I didn’t know about any of this until my mother died, and Guildmaster Sinclair gave me a letter my mother had left to her for safekeeping. In that letter, my mother told me everything.”
“I see,” I said.
And I did. No wonder she hated the Houses. In her shoes, I would too. The way her father had treated her mother was monstrous. It wasn’t unheard of, but such behavior certainly wasn’t condoned.
I mean, if he hadn’t wanted any bastards, he should have kept it in his pants. Or at least he should have used contraceptives. Those existed here in Lumina. They weren’t even that hard to get! Dumbass.
“There you go,” Corie said. “That’s my story. The only other people who know it are Lorrie, and Guildmaster Sinclair.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I imagine it wasn’t easy telling me this.”
Corie shrugged.
“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” she muttered. “You aren’t as bad as I thought you were.”
I cupped my ear.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
Corie glared at me, before smacking me on the arm.
“Ass,” she said.
I grinned in response.
“Who is your father?” I asked. “If you don’t mind me asking. Chances are I know him.”
I mean, my former betrothed came from House Corwin. While it was bigger than House Sturm, it wasn’t that big. They had maybe seven or so members.
“Andrew Corwin,” Corie spat out, saying the name like a curse.
I just stared at her.
“The current Matriarch’s younger brother,” I said. “That Andrew Corwin?”
“I guess?” Corie said. “My mother didn’t write anything else about him. She just called him ‘Andrew Corwin’.” She paused. “Well, there were a lot of insults about his manhood and his stamina, but I don’t think you want to hear about that.”
I continued to stare at her for several seconds, before I broke out into laughter. It started out small, but it soon turned into a full on guffaw. I had to hand the mug of wine back to Corie to prevent it from spilling.
“I didn’t think the idea of my mother insulting my father’s dick size would be that funny to you,” Corie said in a dry voice.
“I’m sorry,” I said, when I managed to regain some control of myself. “It’s just that this is too big of a coincidence. You and I were destined to meet.”
“What do you mean?”
I wiped a tear from my eye.
“I used to be engaged to one Elizabeth Corwin, your half-sister,” I said. “If things had ended differently me and her, you and I might have become in-laws.”
Corie stared at me.
“You’re joking,” she said.
“I am not.” I chuckled. “Small world, huh?”
Corie continued to stare for several more seconds, before she let out her own chuckle.
“Small world indeed, young master,” she said, before taking a sip of her wine. “Just so you know, I plan on taking revenge on my father for what he did to my mother. Do you have a problem with that?”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “I have no love for House Corwin. I should warn you, however, that they aren’t a weak House. They’re not a Great House, but they’re more powerful than mine. It won’t be easy getting to Lord Andrew.”
Corie shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I have to try. That bastard needs to pay.”
A part of me wanted to point out that she was the bastard here, but I refrained. It seemed like a poor idea.
“In that case, serving House Sturm will be a boon for you in that regard,” I said. “We give our retainers access to some pretty powerful spells and resources. Assuming you decide to stay with us for long enough that is. Ask Leroy about it. He can tell you more.”
I started to grab my sleeping gear, minus the blanket draped around Corie’s shoulders.
“But save that for tomorrow,” I said. “Get some rest. You still have the last watch tonight.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m sleeping in your tent tonight. You stay here. I’ll send Lorelei in.”
Lorelei, who was still outside of my tent, started at that.
“She’s probably asleep,” Corie said. “Don’t wake her up. Not for this.”
Lorelei started to back away from the tent.
“No, she’s not,” I said. “She’s been listening in on our conversation this entire time.” I faced Lorelei’s direction. “Eavesdropping is a terrible habit.”
“I’m sorry, Lord Gabriel!” Lorelei said from outside the tent. “I was just worried about Corie.”
“Lorrie?!”
“Sorry!”
I opened the tent flap and crawled out. Lorelei stood there, looking chagrined.
“Go on ahead,” I said, gesturing behind me. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Lorelei nodded, avoiding my gaze, and crawled into my former tent. I hefted my gear, and headed towards Corie’s tent. I glanced at Leroy as I did so.
“You know,” I called out to him. “You could have said something.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, young master,” Leroy said. “I was busy keeping an eye out for bandits and magic beasts. Did something happen?”
“Smart ass,” I muttered under my breath as I crawled into Corie’s tent.
Leroy just let out a little laugh.
I didn’t get much sleep that night.