Jasmine continued to walk quietly behind the first prince with her thoughts running at the back of her mind. He had covered up for her in the dining room, why?
Her eyes looked up to stare at his proud back, his hair had been neatly combed before being tied with a loose band in a low ponytail. They arrived in a room, and Nikolai pushed the door to step inside and she followed. It was a study room, she watched him sit on his chair and draw the files, not bothering to spare her a glance.
Was she supposed to thank him? Jasmine asked herself, looking out of the window. She wanted to get out of this palace as fast as she could.
"Thank you for helping out, Prince Nikolai," She said and when he didn't reply, she continued.
"I was already leaving to go back to the slave market when the maid came to fetch me, they must be waiting for me. Can I leave already?" She held her breath as she asked, wondering what his reply would be. He wouldn't disagree, would he? There wasn't a reason for him to do so. Nikolai picked up a quill with his left hand, dipped it into a black ink, and started to write on a parchment.
"No," His answer came as short as he intended it to be and she frowned slightly, intertwining her fingers together.
"Today is the last day of my work here, Prince Nikolai-" She started to say again when he turned in his seat to look at her.
"I mentioned I'll be keeping you as my maid earlier, what part of it didn't you understand?" His tone was slightly raised as he was getting annoyed, but Jasmine didn't seem to notice this.
"B-but why?" She questioned, her heart sinking further in her chest at his words, she didn't want to stay here, no, she can't stay here.
"You learned of a secret which was supposed to stay hidden, I didn't kill you for discovering this but it didn't mean I'll let you go away from the palace."
"I won't tell anyone, I promise," Jasmine pleaded, her freedom was being seized because she had learned about some secret of his which was unclear to her. It wasn't fair but nothing was fair in the outside world.
"I don't trust my family members, what made you think I'll trust a mere stranger?" He asked, watching the fear heighten in the girl's face.
"You can't keep me here because of-" Jasmine's voice had started to rise out of frustration and his eye narrowed at her.
"Silence," He snapped, "You're speaking too much for a maid," Jasmine's lips slammed shut immediately, her blue eyes glittering with unshed tears.
Humans have no pity, they could ruin someone for their own selfishness. They act so unruly, with the Prince that had covered up for her in the dining room, she thought he would be different but then she reminded herself that he was likely not to be a human in the first place.
"Please, Prince Nikolai. No one would ever know about you," She tried to plead with him but he had turned back to his work and started writing on his parchment. A lone tear cascaded down her cheek in defeat, she walked to the window to see the cart already moving out of the gates. She would have been among them, she had missed escaping by sheer chance.
Going to stand in a corner of the room, Jasmine tried not to cry. She had never known peace, right from when she woke up in the slave market without the slightest idea of how she got there. Just when she started to enjoy her solitude and finding peace with being bound in chains and cast away from the outside, it was being snatched from her. Now, she was being bound by secret to this man.
Realizing one last way to get herself out of here, she pulled away from the wall to the man.
"You can't keep me here just by your words, Prince Nikolai. You'll have to buy a maid before claiming ownership, for that I am still very free to return to the slave market," Jasmine said, this time unfazed by him as she had found a way to get herself out of here.
A glint of amusement crossed Nikolai's grey eye hearing her speak and he was forced to smile a little, before he could reply, a knock came on the door and he asked the person to come in and the door was pushed open.
It was Peter that stepped in and he bowed really low to the Prince before handing him the scroll in his hands.
"The maid was sold for two thousand and five hundred gold coins. That's the document stating you as her sole owner," He conveyed and Jasmine's eyes went round. She didn't have to ask to know who this maid Peter was talking about was.
How did- how was he able to send the man out so fast, she looked at him to see the faint smirk on his lips which only made her more annoyed.
"From now on, you're my personal maid, you're to answer to only my calls, hm?" Nikolai taunted the girl with his words. It took her two seconds till she nodded and bowed her head deep and he dismissed her and the man.
His frown returned to his gaze as they stepped out of the room, he raised his hand to his hair and removed his eye patch. He snapped his left eye open to reveal his black eye, the people who knew him thought he had lost his eye during one of his wars.
He had kept the girl close not because she was going to find out about him but because unlike the rest he had killed, this one hadn't weakened and bled from his stare. A simple glance from his left eye was enough to kill some humans.