Meridian's Devil

"You will call me Master." She parts her lips in astonishment to his last demand. 'Call him Master? That's absolutely nonsensical. That's so cringe. Why would he want that? Wasn't being his servant good enough for him? Does he hold some sort of grudge against me? Does he enjoy seeing me flustered?' Her mind was drowned with trying to come up with a valid reason for his absurd desire. She had worked under other higher authorities in her life formerly, every one has, but this was totally out of question.

But in the moment, she decided on conceding to all his demands, ignoring the intensity of their outrageousness. It's just a title after all, if he desires to be called so, what's the biggy? Yue didn't analyse and examine much into the obnoxious demand put forth. All she knew and hankered after was to be within the safe boundry of the secure castle and being along him was just another perk of ensuring her own safety.

"Alright, Master." she avoided his gaze and uttered at last the degrading title he coveted for. She bit the insides of her cheek as he chuckled huskily and his six-foot frame shook with mirth. She struggled to hold back her immense urge to bury herself out of the pile of embarrassment. Her eyes watch the veins emerge into appearance in his arm beside her small round head, as he pushes himself into a straight posture.

"So well, we leave tomorrow then." He announced the timings of their departure for the castle and she finally turned to face him. That's what you call instant planning. Her mind envisioned how the Palace would be in appearance, would it be too grand that she can't look at the entire picture of it in one go? Would the castle grounds be spread far and wide? Would there be all that shimmer and glimmer of luxury that is inherent part of every known Palace?

"Though, if it weren't for you, I would have left by tonight." He sighed in an utter disappointment and that made Yue feel all the more like a burden again. Time and time again, she was reminded of how she was only an anchor dragging another person down along herself.

"Sorry about that." she experienced a dismayed emotion on being aware of the fact that she was simply delaying his leave-taking and that all because of her, he had now, a deviation in his hitherto travel plans.

But it striked her then, how would he have left by tonight otherwise? There was no vehicle nearby to hire given the fact that he resided in midst of nowhere reaching where was nearly impossible excluding rolling down a hill and discovering it merely by chance, and it was also highly likely that he didn't own any, given the remote location of his home-stay, somewhere deep in the middle of the monstrous forest. So that didn't add up to his vacating plans anyhow.

"How would you have gone by tonight though?" Yue's eyes stare directly at him, glimmering with a glow of definite curiosity replacing the bygone diffidence. She ought to know a lot more about him and the likes but this was a good start at least.

"I am quite a runner." He shrugged in his relaxed response. So he was insinuating that he would have engaged in a journey to the Palace on foot, reaching which even the carriage requires over an hour? Yue let out a short giggle to his ridiculous assertion.

"That wasn't a joke." He begins walking towards where he was formerly headed after his irksome clarification. 'Wasn't a joke? Well, might as well be another addition among his other uncanny qualities.' His keen sense of smell, his resistance to cold, him availing healing abilities and now him being an athlete. What more's left for him to surpass being a non-human. She shook her head at his non-corroborative peculiarity and taking cue of him leaving her unattended in the long empty hallway, she walked back in the opposite direction, from where she once came.

Upon setting foot into the living room, where she was supposedly staying, her hands instinctively wrapped around herself as a gust of freezing wind flew past the open door. Her feet hastened in their tracks as she impulsively rushed towards the glass panel and slid it shut.

"Phew" On successfully conquering the battle against the waves of wind, she walked towards her delightful bedding set beside the homely warm fire. She then knelt on the mushy mattress laid upon the carpeted floor. The sheets upon it were smooth to touch, satiny black.. She moved like a quadruped, on her all four limbs, towards the side of the mattress facing the fire and lied straight on unearthing the most comfortable and warm spot.