Chapter 228: Chapter 228
A slim and slender girl around the age of sixteen walked down the cobbled path that led to a cottage right next to a beautiful lake.
She was wearing her favourite green today, and her heart was a little restless for she was about to see the very man, whom the Sect Master had spoken so great of last night.
Her beautiful wavy brown hair was ruffled back when a gust of wind passed by her, and she subconsciously wrapped her arms around her bosom as if trying to keep herself warm. She did not need to do it, of course. She was a Cultivator who had recently stepped into the Peak stage of the Nascent Profound Realm, only a few days after turning sixteen.
In the entire sect, and even amongst all the Ancient Families and Sects in the Hawkstone Valleys, there was no other youngster who could be considered as talented as her, and her grandfather had been trying to keep her true strength a secret from everyone.
To everyone else, she had recently stepped into the Nascent Profound Realm, and it was enough to earn her the title of a young genius at the Sect, and just about enough to keep envious and greedy at bay. It also enabled her to enjoy the best treatment from the Family and the Sect.
She understood why her grandfather was doing it. He loved her dearly and wanted to keep her safe from the eyes of the greedy and the envious.
Greed and Envy could corrupt even the thickest of blood bonds, and she was wise enough to understand that coming out as someone very exceptional was akin to putting your life and the life of your loved ones in danger.
She sighed in her heart as she recalled the talk she had with her grandfather a couple of nights ago.
Sect Master Gerald had asked for her hand for his youngest son, Kylian Dusk. And she had been very restless about it.
Even though she had not seen the man or met him even once, she had heard from the maids and the Elders who came to visit their house about how lascivious Kylian was. She was well aware of everything that transpired in the city of Arkton with him. And even though she too admitted that he was exceptionally talented in Cultivation, she had no favourable impression of him.
Luckily, her grandfather was adamant about not throwing her into the firepit and promised her that he would not give her to someone unworthy of her. And it was her grandfather who had woken her up and 4 am today and asked her to go and see the man the Sect Master came to talk about yesterday.
She was not comfortable with the idea of being used as a bargaining chip by the Sect, and she had openly spoken about it with her Grandfather. However, he did not console her and just asked her to meet the man first before worrying about these things.
Gina trusted her grandfather more than she trusted her parents. And she knew very well that he would never make her do anything she did not want to do. It was her trust in her Grandfather that she was outside their Family Compound today, walking alone in the Sect.
She had spent almost all her life in her family Compound, protected from the eyes of relatives and the Sect, which was the reason why she had received a lot of curious gazes from the passerby on her way today.
It was all thanks to the badge she was wearing on her gown that she was not stopped by anyone for questioning or asked to take off her veil. The subjects of the Sect were forbidden from covering their faces, but no one dared to point it out to her because she was wearing her grandfather's badge.
She stopped and stared at the beautiful cottage, which she had only visited once before in her life, and it was years ago when she was only five.
It was probably the most beautiful property in the Sect, and it belonged to Elder Bal, the strongest and most respected force of their Sect.
Gina understood that for someone to stay here and make Elder Bal vacate this place for him meant that the person was very special and special enough to even make Elder Bal respect him.
The nervousness she had been keeping at bay suddenly crashed into her heart, and she took a few deep breaths before she stepped forward and knocked on the wooden door twice.
"Yes?"
Gina's heart skipped a beat when the door opened, and an enchantingly beautiful girl with black eyes indifferently looked at her.
She had never before seen someone so beautiful in her life, and for the first time in her life, she felt a little envious of someone's beauty.
"I.."
"Yes?" The girl with the black eyes asked again, this time, scrutinising her as she seemed to see right through her veil.
"I am Elder Zola's Granddaughter..." She closed her eyes and opened them again, speaking those words, and hoping that she would not have to say anything more.
"And?"
However, the indifference in the girl's voice made her vulnerable once again.
"I was asked by my Grandfather to come and serve Master Demiliore as his maid for the duration of his stay at the Sect." She lowered her head and spoke those words, feeling a little suffocated at the thought of it actually happening.
"My Master has me. He does not need another Maid." The girl's beautiful, yet indifferent voice sounded out again, and Gina's mind went blank at her words.
"Your Master?" She asked in disbelief at how someone who looked and dressed just like a princess could be a maid. Not to mention, she was breathtakingly beautiful that even people of the same sex were not immune to her charm.
"Yes." She smiled. "Come in. Your grandfather had come here last night to see my Master. He has been expecting you."
"Oh..."
Gina stopped trying to gain control over her emotions and simply stepped inside the cottage, shaking as she followed behind the girl who oozed a presence that weighed heavily on her heart.
She had just mustered up the courage to ask the girl's name when they entered the lounge and came face to face with a young man, who seemed to have just come out of the shower, wearing only a trouser, and the innocent Gina swayed on her feet as her heart suddenly stopped beating.
"What's wrong with her?" Minami asked as she caught the fainting girl in her arms, and heard her Master chuckle.
"Don't blame her. I am the most handsome man there is, and she's just an innocent little girl." Keith smiled as he stepped forward and took off the veil Gina had been wearing, taking a good look at her face.
"Do you want her?" He asked lightly, and his Maid curiously looked up at him.
"Is she beautiful enough for you?" She asked, wearing a light blush on her cheeks, and lowered her head when their eyes briefly met.
"She is fine." He assured her before he lifted the unconscious girl in his arms and walked over to place her on the table.
Keith inspected her body, not searching for faults in it, but out of curiosity and amusement at the Destiny's play.
Gina was quite a normal girl, by all his standards, but she was a little special too.
He had read the Plan of Destiny, and he knew what the future held for this poor girl. She was meant to be the first great setback for Kylian Dusk. The first person who truly affected him and the first person he wanted and lost.
According to the Plan of Destiny, Kylian was meant to return to the Sect a couple of months later and was meant to fall in love with Gina after seeing the beautiful face she hid under her veil.
But this poor girl would be battling for her life at that time, and she would become Kylian's first loss in his life, something that would hone his heart. He would fail to save her, and she would die of the mysterious ailment that Kylian would not know how to treat.
Keith sighed in his heart as he understood that his beauty had shaken her mind and body enough to aggravate the ailment, whose symptoms she had only recently started surfacing.
No doctor in this world could save her. No one, but him. And it was because what she suffered from was an ailment that was a birth defect in her Aura Nodes.
Instead of 81 Aura Nodes that a normal person, a normal human, would have, Gina had two more, right on her heart, both of which were deformed.
It did not hinder her Cultivation so far and even made it possible for her to advance faster than anyone else, but unlike the 81 perfect Aura Nodes in her body, these two were now failing to grow as much as them, which would eventually cost her her life.
Yingying and Minami curiously watched their Master as he lifted the girl up in the air and started undressing her with his telekinetic powers.
If they did not know him better, they would have thought that he was a lascivious man who was taking advantage of the poor girl, but they knew that Keith had something else on his mind as he started drawing strange patterns on the girl's body, which Yingying could not see, but Minami did.
And her curious eyes were enchanted by the beauty of her Master's work.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone