BLOODY VENGEANCE

Gudmund's talk with his female servant.

Three days later, a female servant passed the guards and maneuvered her way around the palace hallway until she arrived in front of the Crown Prince's chambers. She halted for a moment and looked down to the tray she was carrying with an uneasy expression but she quickly composed herself quickly with the guards in sight. She cleared her throat and spoke up with a soft voice. "My prince, your food is here. May I come in?"

She received no response so she parted her lips to repeat her words when a voice came from behind the curtains covering the door. "Come in."

She inhaled a deep breath at the sound of his deep baritone voice and took a step into the room as the guards parted the curtains for her. Her eyes glanced all over the sparsely decorated room that was instead filled with fur pelts all over the place adorned with weapons until it met the prince sitting on a chair with a cold straight face that made her tremble a little. She immediately placed the tray on the table beside him and started serving him. 

When she was done, she turned to leave when the Crown Prince stopped her with tightly furrowed eyes. "Wait, I don't remember asking for wine. Is it you who brought it here?"

The young servant took a step back after seeing his unexpected reaction to her little gift. She had asked around the palace and found out that he fancied such wine before bringing it here but it seemed like he did not want it. She instantly fell to her knees and replied frighteningly. "Forgive me, my prince! I-I just wanted t-to....thank you for saving me the other day."

Gudmund looked down on the girl who was kneeling near his feet with emotionless eyes but his heart was pounding fiercely at the sight of her and he just couldn't understand the reason why she had managed to make his still heart beat again. He sighed to himself deeply, she might be just a young girl now like him but all he could see was the woman she was in the past when she let a Yottera sword slice her throat so that he could run away from the palace. "What is your name, girl?"

"Yrsa, daughter of Ingouf." Yrsa felt a little ashamed to mention her identity but she knew that she could not lie. Everyone already knew that although her father was one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, she was still nothing but a concubine's daughter.

Gudmund felt his eyes sting a little and he could no longer handle the overwhelming emotions that flooded his heart. They were feelings that he had not seen for a long time since he reincarnated, they were very intense. He stood up abruptly and went to pull her up so she could stand. "Alright, you can go now."

Yrsa was taken aback by his cold and brisk attitude yet she did not let it taunt her. She looked at his huge broad back facing her and swallowed her fear to speak to him. "My prince!"

Gudmund halted his tracks on his way to his chair and turned back to face her. Seeing her so frail and thin aroused his protective instincts over her but he restrained himself. He was not in the right condition to take care of himself, much less another person who was more weaker than him. He sat down and started eating, glancing at her coldly. "What is it?"

"You told everyone that I am your personal servant..." Yrsa looked up at his hard deep eyes that was filled with a dark lurking emotion behind them and almost swallowed her remaining words. "....but you have not summoned me at all to serve you. Should I come and fulfill my duties?"

Gudmund nearly choked on the cup of wine he drank when he heard her words. He stared at her red blushing cheeks and immediately decided to turn her down. Back then, he had only taken a personal servant in order to prove to his peers that he was a real man but he was no longer that innocent, impulsive child anymore. Because of his reckless decision, he had ruined a person's life so he would not make that same mistake again. "I do not need a maiden to warm my bed. Leave and do not come back here unless I summon you."

Yrsa bit her trembling lower lip in order to stop herself from crying in front of him but she could not control her eyes from reddening slightly. The reason she had come here was not only to thank him for saving her but also to convince him to fulfill his words of making her his personal servant. Unlike the rest maidens here who only wanted the position to elevate their status, she knew she needed this title in order to protect herself from her father and her evil half-brothers. 

Who would have thought she would be rejected so harshly? As a girl, how was she supposed to face her fellow peers if they heard about it?

"Alright, my prince. I shall take my leave then." Yrsa picked up the empty tray and started walking out of the room. She could not bear to hate him since he was the first person to ever stand up for her but she also couldn't hide her disappointment and bitterness she felt. 

Gudmund felt his heart waver when he saw her dejected back leaving, curling his fists on the table as his lips moved faster than his brain to say to her. "I will summon you often, Yrsa. Be prepared to attend to me properly when that time comes and do not try anything out of line."

It took some time for Yrsa to comprehend his words but soon, her eyes beamed happily as she smiled in gratitude and bowed. Gudmund's tensed body slowly relaxed when he saw her change of mood. He could hardly hear her words among the loud pounding that reverberated across his chest. "Yes, my prince!"