After 15 minutes of admiring the beauty of my mental void, I finally calmed my agitated heartbeat. Jasmine took advantage and placed my head on her lap while I was gone inside my thoughts. When I returned to my senses I sat like a normal person, but that got me into a situation where her glaring hurt as much as the pinches on my arm.
"Would you stop that?..."
"... Hmph... I should be allowed to do at least this much, you certainly get comfy with that girl, I don´t see why not with me too"
Arms crossed and frowned brows, Jasmine didn´t hesitate to show her jealousy. Which somehow, made me feel a bit happy.
"You know it´s different"
"Even so, I am master´s first woman, I should have some extra benefits for that"
"Phrasing woman! Phrasing!"
Ignoring my words, my maid swapped positions and rested her head on my lap, her hand signaling me to stroke her hair.
"... You are surprisingly childish for a political assassin..."
"... You know it´s different..."
"Touche"
I sighed and did as she wanted. Her expression softened as her eyes were closed.
"About that, did you come up with the idea? Or it was someone else´s?"
"I was hired to do the job, I never met my contractor, but he gave me the date, place, routes, and people to make it work"
"The work of a professional indeed..."
I already had my suspicions, and after hearing this, I am now sure that the main villain of the original story is also behind that incident. But how?
There was not a chapter in the original story about Jasmine attacking the prince´s cart...
Jumping deeper into these questions, my brain released as many memories as it could to help me find an answer.
"An event out of the main plot... Plot... Like Verónica?..."
An event not told in the original story that has relevance over the character´s behavior...
"That would be... Yes..."
The character´s background!
If I compare this with the event of Verónica, then it makes all the sense since it´s the same situation. Nicholas is described as a prince followed by a heavy reminder of his position, a reminder made out of innocent blood.
Those would have been the citizens of the capital, Jasmine was supposed to turn Nicholas into the cold and sad prince of the original story. But now that I stopped that from happening, he should at least be a little softer...
"Wait... If he´s not the Nicholas of the original story anymore... Then what will happen with the heroine?"
The core of their relationship was the need of the heroine to turn Nicholas into a gentle and kind man, if that core is removed, then what will it be the reason for them to get together?
Oh fuck... What in the world did I do?...
A feeling of panic crawled down my spine as cold sweat began to slide down my cheek. I accidentally changed the story once again. Now in ways that I´m not sure what the consequences will be.
"I guess there´s no turning back from this either..."
Forced to accept this fact, I leaned deeper into my seat with the sole hope of not have done a terrible mistake.
Jasmine was peacefully sleeping on my legs at this point. I honestly felt envious of her.
"Yhea... You better enjoy this, ´cause it won´t happen very often from now on..."
I moved her hair out of the way to see her face, but when I did, my palm was abducted by her firm grip.
"Sorry... I´m sorry..."
She was sleeptalking. Not in a very nice way.
"..."
I took off my jacket and placed it over her body, then I grabbed again her hand and stroked her head with all the delicacy I could use.
"You´ll tell me your story at its due time... For now, sleep tight... You are safe with me now..."
I don´t know if she woke up or not. But her breathing returned to a normal pace, and silence ruled over the inside of this cart once again. It was brief, but I think I saw a smile on her.
Whatever.
I´ll just rest for a bit too while we arrive at the Yatra´s house.
*
After a ride of 2 hours, we arrived at our destination, my legs were hurting a little since Jasmine had woken up just a couple of minutes earlier.
"At least we arrived safely"
"Yhea... I guess that´s true..."
Looking out of the window, I saw a house of surprisingly common size. In front of it was a family of 3 surrounded by a team of butlers and maids. I assumed that the adult in the center was the man that accepted to adopt me into his house.
"I need you to behave in your finest manner. If you don´t know how to answer something just stay silent, I´ll think of something"
"Understood, master Dominique"
"Good girl"
The rider opened the door, and I stepped out of the cart with Jasmine following with our luggage close by.
"Welcome, young one, I am the head of the noble Yatra house and your new guardian. Astolf Vea Yatra"
He was around his 30´s or late 20´s. A combed brown hair with an elegant mustache was part of a face that had a warm grin. Even though he was not as big as Herion or his elite knights, it was easy to notice that he didn´t lack the body of a trained soldier.
I bowed to the man the same way I did with Herion and greeted him with the most respectful of my voice.
"Sir Astolf, as you may already know, I am Dominique, you have my most humble thanks for allowing me to be part of your noble house"
"I must admit it. When I received the petition from the main branch to adopt you, I never imagined that you would be from a stray origin. I was going to refuse at first, but my wife made me change my mind, and now that you are here I can see that it was the right choice"
When he mentioned that, my eyes naturally followed the feminine figure right behind him.
"As you have already guessed, she is my wife. Crista Vea Yatra"
The woman did an elegant yet short bow. Her hair was long and bright, just like the beautiful dress covering her slim body. The features of her face were somehow plain but gentle.
"I hope you can feel at ease in our house, Dominique"
"I´ll do my best to not cause you trouble, lady Crista"
"My, what a polite child. Maybe you could teach some of that behavior to my daughter, right?"
"Tch..."
Following her eyes, I saw a young girl with clothes more comfortable to move around than her mother. It was a bit awkward to endure her obvious exasperation towards my arrival, but now that we were going to be family, it would be better to get on good terms with her.
"I´m sure miss Carin is more than capable to teach me something, lady Crista. After all, she is my superior"
The girl was taken aback by my words, and her expression changed from pissed to annoyed.
"... Looks like you did your homework..."
"It was the least I could do, I didn´t want to be a total stranger to you"
Yhea, I would eventually get curious about who are the people willing to adopt me, so I made a little research on them before coming. I already know their names and positions along with other general stuff, just the necessary things to not be taken by surprise.
I felt like looking deeper into their lives would have been disgraceful and rude.
"Hmph, then let me give you some advice"
She got closer to me, a little too much to be honest. Her hand grabbed my tie with a fierce grip, forcing me to place my eyes into hers.
"Just because lord Herion is the leader of the main branch doesn´t mean you are as important. If you want our respect, then you must earn it"
Carin Vea Yatra. First and oldest daughter of the Yatra lineage and 2nd year in the royal academy. She wasn´t by any means, a weak person.
She was not as powerful as other students in the academy, but she was still part of the Fotiadis branches, so she was far from being an unknown student.
With her hand still on my tie, I nodded with a serious face.
"I promise you, I will show results"
"... You better..."
She let go of me with a huff and gave me her back shortly after. Seemingly done with what she wanted to do, she opened the door and went inside the house.
"Forgive my daughter, Dominique, she may have the temper of a bull but I assure you she is not doing this out of bad need"
"Don´t worry, lord Astolf, I´m sure she has her reasons"
"My! Look at you, acting already like a brother! Hm? But that reminds me, how old are you, Dominique?"
"I´m 18, lady Crista"
"So you are younger than Carin, but only by a year, so I´m sure there´s a lot you can share"
"I will do my best to get along with her"
After giving a pleasant answer to these people, the maids grabbed our luggage and drakes to where they should be. I quickly introduced Jasmine as my maid and they agreed to let her serve me as she always had.
When they asked where would she be staying I told them that she wouldn´t have problems living with the other servants. I earned a discrete kick on the leg for that, but it was a price I was willing to pay in order to keep my privacy intact.
"Very well, without further ado, I welcome you to the Yatra house, Dominique. Follow the maids, they will lead you to your room"
"Once again, you have my most sincere gratitude, lord Astolf, lady Crista"
I took the first step into the house without hesitation and went to my new bedroom.