It was early morning when a knock on the door woke Victor up.
“Come in,” he said.
The door opened and Lily stepped in gracefully.
“Young master, It is 6.00 Am. You need to get ready,” she said.
Victor slowly got up and stretched his limbs.
“Oh OK. Help me find something suitable for today’s hike, I’ll go take a shower.” He said as he took a towel and entered the bathroom.
His shower took a few minutes, and when he returned to the room, Lily quickly helped get dressed, with a little blush on her face, then they went downstairs.
Hilda was in the dining room waiting with the twins, they bowed in salute when they saw Victor coming. they seemed fine after a night’s sleep.
“Good morning young master,” Hilda said with the twins.
“How are you feeling today,” Victor asked her as he sat down to begin his breakfast.
“I am much better now thanks to the young master’s pill yesterday,” she said then she tapped the girls on the back as a signal.
Mina and Mana moved forward and bowed to Victor,
“Young master, we wish to thank you for your help and saving us Yesterday, we were very occupied with aunt Hilda that we forgot to thank you property,” Mina said.
“Oh, and how do you intend to thank me?” Victor asked as he opened his mouth for Lily to put a peeled egg in it.
They didn’t expect such a question, how does he want them to thank him? Isn’t saying thank you enough? Should they do other things?
“How would the girls be able to thank the young master” Hilda said helping the girls.
“Ah, how about this,” Said victor as he swallowed another egg. “Today on the trip you will serve me in front of your friends.” He said, making the girls look at him with pleading eyes, they did not want to be embarrassed in front of their friends.
“Don’t worry, we would just say that we bet on something and I won the bet, how about that?” he asked.
They looked at each other and nodded, he sound reasonable, and they are his maids anyway.
“Good, now join me for the meal, I don’t like the feeling of eating alone,” He said the truth for once.
“Yes, young master,” they said and sat down to eat.
Five minutes later Mina suddenly looked at her young master who seemed to be texting on his phone and spoke,
“Young master, I want to ask you something,” she said while hesitating then looking at Hilda who was sending her a signal not to ask.
“Ask,” said Victor as he pressed the send button and put his phone away.
“Yesterday, how could Nick use that weird ring to inflict pain on Hilda, and then he tried something on us, but it didn’t seem to work, what is that ring? And does it have anything to do with the tattoos?” she said while keeping her head down, Hilda rebuked them yesterday night when Mina asked her, and warned them not to ask such questions.
But the twins really needed to know, so they chose to ask Victor, who despite his unreasonable young master facade, they felt that he was good to them.
“Ah about that,” Victor pondered a little then answered.
“Well, this is a secret, but I can tell you some of it,” he said making the twins very curious.
“The tattoo on your back’s are created with something called an Artifact. Think of it as a magical device,” he said while looking at the girls' unbelieving eyes.
“I am not kidding, didn’t you notice that after I did something to your tattoo the day before yesterday it changed its shape?” He asked, making the twins look at each other tattoos quickly, they didn’t notice that as they were busy most of yesterday.
“This tattoo allows the master to control the life or death of his slave.” He continued, “Hilda is my father’s servant, and he control’s her tattoo, and the ring that was with Nick is called an administrator ring, Think of it as a delegation of power. It grants its holder the ability to punish servants as if he was the original owner. Father probably gave it to Nick when he sent him here to manage the estate.”
The girls gasped, wanting to ask something but Victor did not allow them and continued to explain,
“It didn’t work on you because I marked you the night before. You are considered mine, and not my father’s so only I can punish you.” He said to the girls who looked a little terrified.
“Don’t worry, If you didn’t do something that would hurt or betray me, I would never use such cowardly means, I have better punishing methods.” He said as he looked at Lily, who shrank her little butt.
The twins looked at each other with a little fear in their eyes. They didn’t think that things were this serious. But they were lucky they fell into the hands of such an understanding young master, not someone like Nick.
“Young master, why didn’t you mark aunt Hilda too? she would have probably been able to stop Nick if you did,” Mana said, as she saw Hilda a long time ago beat that loan shark who was after them with one punch.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to, but she is already owned, and my father would need to dispel his mark before I can mark her,” He said as he wiped his mouth and stood up.
“That’s all I can tell you, for now, you will know more sooner or later. Now go get ready. Wear some durable clothes since we will have to hike through some woods. Ah, and I have already prepared two bags with things you might need. You can find them in my room, the pink ones.” He said as he knew the girls wanted to understand more about such magical means.
The twins nodded then went back to their room to change their clothes. Knowing that those are all the answers they would get for now.
“Young master, what should I do with that trash near the door?” Hilda asked as she pointed to the scattered pile of clothes.
“Leave it be, and If someone came to collect it let them take it. Did you call my father?” He asked.
“Yes, yesterday night, and he said that you don’t need to worry, he will deal with Nick.” She said with a smile.
“That’s good.” Victor said before turning to Lily, “Go fetch the two black backpacks from my room. You will carry the big one, while I will carry the small one,” he said.
“Yes, young master,” Said Lily as she went upstairs.
Looking at his phone, Victor found it was about 6:30 So Aria should be here any moment now.
…
It was 7:00, Victor was sitting on a leather chair and drinking a cup of freshly brewed coffee, while the girls were sitting around him checking their backpacks and wondering why did Victor pack all those things in there. Aren’t they going to spend just an afternoon there ?. When they asked Victor, he completely dodged their question, telling them that this is the way that this young master does things.
Soon they heard the sound of a few cars parking in front of the mansion, then Hilda guided Aria into the living room where Victor was sitting.
“Good morning young master,” Aria said while giving Victor a cold stare. She didn’t like how he forced her to come.
“Good morning, you look very good. An interesting choice though.” He said as he inspected the camo hunting suit she was wearing. It suited her well. maybe a little tight around the chest?
“What?, I didn’t have any other clothes suited for such a trip. You should have told me earlier. This one I wore when father took me hunting once.” she said with annoyance.
“That does not matter, Is everything ready?” He asked her.
“Yes, I got two vans, and we are all ready to go,” she answered.
“Did you have breakfast?” He asked her.
“Yes, on the road coming here,” she spat back.
“Good. Let’s go then, follow me,” Victor said as he carried his backpack out of the mansion where the vans were parked.