บท 33: Ellia

Four months passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Davis had managed to break through to the Energy Condensation Stage; the Second Stage in Essence Gathering Cultivation. Furthermore, he had started training in some Battle Techniques as well.

He had eaten the Mystic Tyrant Fruit and managed to attain the Tyrant Physique, making him invulnerable to people who were still in the Bronze Stage. He had to thank the foolish Emperor Ross for that, and thank his parents for giving this Mystic Tyrant Fruit.

His battle aura at least became two times stronger on consuming it!

But he somewhat didn't feel happy about that as he missed playing with Clara a little bit. He would go see her sometimes, but she would quickly send him back, making him return to study.

He was feeling regret for playing that prank on her on that day and thought that she had started to hate him, so he stopped bothering her for some time. He never had a little sister before, so he didn't know how he should treat her in this kind of situation. Other than that, today was a special day because it is his eighth birthday.

He was feeling fidgety for some reason because he knew that today was the day he was going to get his 'personal' maid.

They brought her a month ago into the Imperial Castle, but he didn't get a single chance to meet her either but knew that the castle maids likely trained her during this month.

Apparently, the Loret Family assigns a maid to their princes after they reached eight years old. He only knew this when he heard about the so-called custom assigned to the Loret Empire's Princes.

In short, the so-called personal maids were none other than women who takes 'care' of them in all ways.

As an Earthling who had no choice but to keep himself entertained with anime, novels, and stuff, he sure had a lot of fantasies about maids. But when he knew that he was truly going to experience that, he was not sure of what to feel of it anymore.

He heard that she was bought from an auction, and her story was that she was an orphan abandoned on the streets, picked up by people who train personal servants. She was brought up in life only to serve the people who bought her, so it didn't actually matter if the customer was a degenerate or not.

Was he feeling happy? Sad? Even he didn't know that.

He couldn't help feel pity for their fates, but at the least, he got to break free from that prison of slavery and torture.

"Prince?"

There was a knock on the door, immediately followed by a young, but a naive voice.

Davis remained in the Study, sitting on his bed. At that moment, he suddenly turned stiff for some reason. Feeling a little stupid, he calmed himself down before he answered.

"Come in..."

The door opened, and a girl at the age of eight appeared in his view.

She appeared around a hundred and twenty-seven centimeters tall, around the same height as Davis. Her neck-length hair remained pure black without a single speck of dust, and she was dressed in a royal maid outfit that did not possess frills. She looked beautiful with her almond-shaped raven black eyes.

She nervously walked in and bowed in front of Davis.

"Master, from now on, I am your personal maid. You can ask me about anything and command me to do your bidding!" She muttered softly and shouted and the end.

"Ha... ha..." Davis hollowly laughed. He forgot his nervousness after seeing her being this nervous.

"For starters, you could have told me your name..." He replied.

"Sor… I deeply apologize, master. I am called Ellia." She stuttered, but it sounded adorable.

"Right, Miss Ellia, could you please stop saying 'master'. Call me Davis, at least when we are alone." Davis wryly smiled.

He felt uncomfortable being placed on a high pedestal by someone his own age. Besides, he had other thoughts for this personal maid of his rather than letting her toil around him like a robot. He didn't want such people by his side.

Since she was fated to him by the so-called customs, he had his own plan for her.

"Mi... Miss Ellia? Your lowly servant doesn't require that much of an honorific, your highness." She blushed as she stuttered.

Davis glared at her in scrutiny.

"Prince Davis" She corrected herself.

Davis sighed as he looked at her subservient attitude, 'Looks like I should get used to my status too...'

Once he thought of how the castle maids would have trained her, he realized that he could not change her mentality so soon.

'One step at a time...' He sighed and said to himself.

Ellia looked a bit troubled, but she also looked as if she was going to try her best to please him.

Davis smirked at her face and asked, "Alright, you said that I could order you around?"

Ellia acknowledged with a nod, "Yes, Prince Davis."

"Mhm~" Davis moved his gaze elsewhere before casting his gaze on her again, "Let's play a game then."

"A game? What kind of game?" Ellia blinked as her face became blank. It looked as if she didn't expect to receive this kind of command at all.

"I'll say something, and you'll have to repeat that fast enough. If you can keep up with me, then I'll reward you fairly."

Ellia possessed no expression on her face, but her body expression said that she was quite nervous, "As you command..."

"Alright, let's start then." Davis glared at her again.

She quickly grasped the meaning of his glare and responded, "… Alright, let's start then."

Davis nodded, "Excellent, you're very smart. Just like that, keep up with me!"

"Excellent, you're very smart. Just like that, keep up with me!"

"Easy, right?" Davis became impressed with her. She was quick on the uptake, "Now, let's play this seriously!"

"…. Easy, right? Now, let's play this seriously!"

Ellia grasped the game quickly and naively played with him like a child. She started to display a smile on her face, which at least told Davis that she wasn't broken like he was once.

Their childish amusement went on for five minutes straight. By this time, Ellia had a wide smile etched on her face. She forgot her status and competed with him to the best of her ability.

"Heavens! I wish these idiots would stop ordering me around."

"... Heavens! I wish these idiots would stop ordering me around."

She replied almost as fast as him.

He could see that she was getting into it, and he secretly licked his lips in anticipation.

"They're nothing but idiots who are placed on a high pedestal, deserving to die!"

"... They're nothing but idiots who are placed on a high pedestal, deserving to die!"

"Especially that Emperor Loret, he is a fucking pig!"

"... Especially that Emperor Loret, he is a… fucking pig?"

Ellia became really confused in that fast exchange but chose to end the sentence with a doubt. Then she realized to her horror that the words she muttered were really... blasphemous!

She dropped to the ground with a blank expression on her face.

"You! You dare to say that my imperial father, Emperor Loret, is a fucking pig?" Davis asked with disbelief written all over his face.

Ellia tried to explain herself, but no words came out as her mouth moved. She had tears forming in her eyes before she finally gritted her teeth, "No! But, your highness, you were the one who asked me to repeat what you said..."

Her senses came back to her, and she remembered that the prince was the one who made her say this, so feeling wronged, she retorted back subconsciously.

"When did I ever say that? Look at this!" He took out a crystal from his side.

"Eh? An Imagery Crystal?" Ellia recognized the crystal right away. It seemed like she had seen it before.

Davis injected his energy into the crystal, and the crystal then projected numerous images flashing into thin air. It was playing like a video.

Davis and Ellia could be seen playing, and the audio could be heard as well.

Just when Davis had said, 'Okay, let's stop the game', she could also be seen to say the same sentence.

After that, it was just her continuously speaking.

The crystal was behind Davis, so only his back and her front could be seen.

"But… no… no way..." Ellia shook her head and cried in disbelief. She started to think that she had hallucinated mid-way during the game.

"This... I have to immediately report this to my Imperial Father..." Davis scrambled to get out of the Study.

"No! Prince Davis, please don't, please forgive this lowly servant!" Ellia cried out loud. She knew that she would lose her life if word of this gets out.

"Anything but that! I'll accept any punishments. Please punish this lowly one!"

She bit her lips and wasn't sure of her fate anymore. She even believed that her life was going to be miserable, starting from now.

"Hmm… Will you listen to my words then?" Davis looked hesitant as he asked.

"Of course, my Prince!" Ellia replied as fast as she can, still tear faced.

"Then call me Davis." Davis instantly replied with a smile on his face.

"..."

"Prince?"

Ellia became dumbfounded at this point because she thought that she would receive some humiliating punishment from her master, but contrary to her expectations, she heard something else altogether.

"Alright, I'm going to report." Davis left towards the exit.

"Davis!" In a moment of haste, she shouted his name loudly and blanked out.

*Plop!~*

The next moment, she fainted after realizing what she had done.

Davis chuckled and shook his head wryly.

In reality, he only moved his lips and sent her a soul transmission during the end of the game. So it seemed like he was still talking, but he wasn't.

Poor Ellia, who had just experienced soul transmission for the first time, couldn't differentiate between the two communication methods while she was so absorbed in the game.

'A solid step indeed...'

Davis's face revealed the smile of a devil.