"Sir Asher would you like some tea?" Isabel took the opportunity to speak to him after seeing that her father had left, she was in love with this general ever since he had brought her home inside his carriage when her's had fault.
She had been looking for opportunities to get closer to him but what she didn't know was not to play with fire...
"No! I'll be taking my leave now" He replied curtly as he swiftly stood up to start leaving the gazebo.
"Sir, please wait! I have something to tell you" Isabel yelled as she rushed after him holding the front of her dress with her two hands so she wouldn't slip and fall flat on her face.
"And what is it?" He paused in his footsteps without turning to look at her, he asked harshly.
"Uhmm sir, I would like to give this to you, you see we just recently planted this flower in the garden and it bloomed miraculously so I was... uhmm.. thinking ..of giving it to you, you'll like it" She said with a smile plastered on her face as she presented him the rose flower.
"I don't like flowers" Replied Asher as he glared at the rosy flowers in her hands, ever since he was young, his life wasn't the same, instead of falling in love with what nature provided he found himself hating it. No flower was good enough in his eyes, the sky was just there he never gazed up at it, not even once. He hated pets at first but later bought one black cat that suits his dark soul. He found himself liking things that are dark in color and that was why he had never dressed in colorful clothes, his closet was full of dark clothes.
If his mother didn't leave him at that time, he was sure he was going to love all these things that he never liked before.
"Oh I never knew about that, you can start liking it sir Asher, just smell the scent of this one" she said as she brought the flower up to his nose.
she expected him to smile at the scent but he had told her beforehand that he didn't like flowers. In a blink of an eye, the flower had been thrown to the stream under the gazebo by Asher, as he had said before he detest things like this.
"Bye miss Isabel, hope to see you again" He said and then turned around to leave.
Isabel frowned as she watched his back leaving, just what kind of a man was he. She walked closer to the stream to get the flowers back because it hasn't gone too far. She knelt on the dock to get the flower but unfortunately for her, the wind blew as at that time and she fell into the stream.
"My lady My lady!! someone help!" The maids screamed for help once they saw that their lady was almost drowning in the water. They started running helterskelter to look for something to pull her towards them.
Asher's cat purred as it pulled Asher's cloth a bit, "What? you want me to go save her?" Asher asked mindlessly as he kept walking away. The cat nodded its head.
"Or would you like a swim too?" Asher asked as he turned his head towards his cat and grinned wickedly, he looked nothing less than a devil as he smiled like that making the cat cower in fear.
"That's a good boy, now don't mind others but mind yourself" Asher warned as he lifted his legs to enter the carriage.
***
The carriage stopped at the mansion around the evening because Asher went to visit the lieutenant general that was sick in bed, and also because the man was his only friend. Walking into the mansion, his gaze suddenly flew to his side to see that girl he told to wait for him, why was his dining table like that. It was covered with water and seeds from watermelon, oranges.
He walked over to the girl with disgust evident in his eyes, "You have never eaten at a table before?" he asked glaring at both the girl and the messed up table.
"I have and my table is far better than yours" The girl replied with her eyes closed as she savored the taste of the fruit in her hand, it was yet to register in her mind who she was talking to right now.
"Errhh, open your eyes and look at the person you are talking to girl' The butler said to himself as he stood closer to the girl, he himself was baffled with the way she ate, she ate like she had been starved for years.
Alicia jolted in fear and her brown eyes immediately jerked open when she felt someone hit something on the table, her eyes opened to see that monster who was standing before her with arms folded and forehead creased. She wondered if he ever smiled, he was always aloof or looking bored and he was always frowning.
She stood up from the chair and stood straight in front of him, honestly she doesn't even know what she looked like at that moment.
"Eating at my table with no manners, don't you deserve punishment?" Asher asked as he looked at her from top to bottom, he was far taller than her and he could tell that if they were to stand closer to each other, she'll be reaching his torso.
"Uhmm, I'm sorry sir I can get it cleaned" She replied ackwardly as she scratched her hair with that hand that she used in eating those fruits, Asher's eyebrow furrowed as he rolled his eyes to the side.
"What's your name?" He asked
"Alicia Quinn"
"starting from today, you would become my maid and would serve me and only me" He said to her that made her eyes widened, no she didn't want that. She wanted to repay him as soon as possible and leave this house, she couldn't bear to stay under the same roof with this man that wouldn't accept any small mistake.
Asher narrowed his eyes at her, he knew she was thinking of something as she was in a daze but what was that thing, he could read everyone's mind in the mansion except for her's. Was she that special?
"B-But I didn't agree to it, this is called kidnapping, you forcefully brought me here and told me to serve you, do you have any idea of what would happen to you if I go report to the station?" She asked him as she folded her arm across her chest, what she didn't know was that he was the general and he could have his way with her and nobody dared to interfere.
"Report me?" scoffed Asher, "You wouldn't dare to do that and besides you'll be punished for not listening to me, do you even know who I am?"
'Dont care' thought Alicia in her head but she dared not say it loud. "Amory go get me the maid's cloth" Asher spoke to his servant and the servant left to bring a short blue gown with a pink bow.
"Take that and go get changed, I'll be waiting here" He said as he threw the clothes on her face, the girl made a face at him when he turned his face away.
'Just you wait, I'll get out of here' Alicia thought to herself, Amory beckoned on her to follow him so he could show her the way to the maid's quarter.