Jasmine

Jasmine stopped her cultivation and looked outside a window to realise that it was already morning. She got up from her bed and took a morning bath.

'I wonder what the master is doing right now?' She wondered about Raymond while washing herself.

Her master seemed to have changed ever since he had found out about his lack of talent for cultivation. She couldn't blame him for that though, she too would have been devastated if that happened to her.

But what confused her the most was the actions he took after that. He locked himself in his room barely coming out. She waited for a month for him to come to terms with his predicament but she couldn't take it anymore after that and went to check up on him.

She never expected to be met with a broken door and a clueless master about what had happened. Although she doubted he didn't know what caused the door to break down, she was in the end a good maid. And a good maid didn't question her master, so she went to get someone to fix the door. By the time she returned though Raymond was nowhere to be found.

It was not until much later she found out his whereabouts. She chanced upon him running around the mountain when she went there to collect wild fruits that she liked to eat.

She hid herself from his view and watched him train, but the more she watched the more puzzled she became. Why Raymond was training like that she didn't know. Calling it torturing himself rather than training would not be an exaggeration.

She saw him fall down time and time again due to exhaustion, everytime she wanted to rush to his aid, her curiosity got the better of her and she waited to see what he was doing.

She saw him vomiting and sighing in content after that. She felt strange when she looked at Raymond's expression. After all she was no green horn, she had read all kinds of books and art magazines to know when men made that kind of expression.

'Is he having a wet dream? Does it turn him on to train like a madman?'

She scratched her head in confusion and left soon after she found him getting up and running again.

If Raymond ever heard her thoughts he would definitely cough up blood and die of embarrassment.

That was not the last time she saw him, she came to the mountain from time to time and watched him train. She had no idea what he was trying to accomplish from doing this torturous training, but she was a good maid and a good maid didn't question her master.

She could feel his determination and resolve to train and seeing him like that caused her heart to stir. Ever since she became Raymond's personal maid she knew that she was his property such was the fate of someone like her.

She was glad that Raymond wasn't like other masters she had heard about who would only see their servants as nothing more than expendables. The fact that he treated her as family only endeared him to her.

But that wasn't enough to make her heart flutter, no it was when she saw him training relentlessly without stopping to take a rest.

More she watched, the more she felt drawn to him. His resolution to not give up no matter how many times he fell, no matter how much he suffered caused a strange feeling to well up in her heart. She knew not what that feeling was but she welcomed such a feeling.

When she heard that he was betrothed to the seventh princess, it was with a certain amount of envy and reluctance that she went to inform him. But she found a strange delight in her heart when he completely ignored her news and went on with his training.

Anyone else would have stopped what they were doing and rushed to sway the princess's heart towards them had they been given this chance. But her master didn't. He continued on with his training as if it was the most important thing in the world.

'Would he come to your aid if something were to happen to you?' A strange voice said to her from the corner of her mind.

She shook her head to get rid of such a thought as she remembered what Thomas had said to her long ago when she was first brought to the Clover family.

'Even if I were to fall one day, my son will protect you in my stead, of that you can be sure of.'

But over the course of the year she saw him train and train without caring about the outside world. She had almost thought that he had become an emotionless puppet who only cared about training if she hadn't seen him kneeling in front of his father's grave for days. It reassured her that he was still the same Raymond who always cared about his family.

But all of that came crashing down when she was forced to make a choice by a certain someone named Allen Clover.

He rose to fame a year ago as a genius of the Clover family from the younger generation. Jasmine was clear of his intentions though, when he took Raymond's old room for himself, that he wanted to become the young lord of the House Clover.

She wanted to rush up to him and tell him to screw off from her master's room, but she was powerless to do so both in strength and status.

Past few days have been a nightmare to say the least. Soon after taking over Raymond's room she never expected him to come after her too. First he tried to convince her to become his woman by giving her one enticing offer after another but when he realised he couldn't sway her no matter what he had shown his true face.

"Hehe, you have a week's time to come to me willingly or else I know how to get rid of some reclusive trash discreetly." Allen had told her with a wicked grin on his face which sent a chill down her spine.

She didn't want her master to be harmed or worse killed on her behalf. She would do anything to ensure the safety of the man she loved.

So it was with a heavy heart that she went to the mountain where Raymond trained to see him for one last time before she took that bastard Allen down with her.

She was horrified when she found the mountain had collapsed and people had gathered around it.

She prayed to gods to keep her master unharmed when she started to search for him anxiously.

"Oy, Jasmine. Who are you searching for so anxiously?" She heard Raymond's voice behind her.

She heaved a sigh of relief and turned around to tell him off for worrying her. But as soon as she turned around her breath hitched in her throat. He had changed. He didn't look like how he used to be a month ago. He looked more manly and sharper than ever? She couldn't quite word it how he looked, but she was sure he was different from how he had been the last time she saw him.

"Ah! Master. Thank god, you are alright. I was worried you were on the mountain when it collapsed." She said locking her eyes with him. Those black orbs drew her green ones in, she lost herself in his eyes for a moment but shook herself awake before he noticed.

"Oh, that. I was training back in the forest when it collapsed." He said averting his eyes.

"Hmm, I cannot train here anymore. I need to find another place to train without any intruders." She heard him mumble.

"Let's go back to my room, Jasmine. I need to take a shower before doing anything else."

"Master, uhm, that. Your room has been reassigned to someone else since you were not using it." She hurriedly informed him.

"Tch, I wanted to take a bath." She heard him groan.

"Master, you can take one in my room. Your belongings are also in my room, I have kept them safe." She said with a sad smile as she could get to spend some more time with him before she went to her doom.

"Alright. I will do that." With that they walked towards her room. She showed him where the bathroom was and handed him the towel and a bathrobe.

Just as he was about to enter she grabbed his hand. When he turned around she hugged him tightly before letting go.

"What was that for?" He asked, feeling strange.

"Nothing master. I felt like doing it." She heard him snort and this time he was the one who hugged her.

"Take care Master. I will be going now." She said, freeing herself from his arms.

"Ok" he said with a smile.