Chapter 11 - Astrid(3)

Still smiling mischievously, he answered her question with another question, "Oh? I am too mature for my age? But I could say the same thing about you. Children can mature surprisingly quickly when they go through hardships. You lost your memories and spent a year in the slave market, learning how to be a maid. I would be more surprised if you were less mature."

Hearing his words, Astrid remembered everything she had gone through in the past year and realised she probably really was more mature than most 8-year-olds. But then, what hardships did Hati go through? Wanting to know more, she asked, "I guess that's probably true, but then what is your reason for being more mature? What hardships did you go through?"

Finally making the first move on the board, Hati smiled and said, "No hardships for me. I have lived a blessed five years, being constantly coddled by my loving mother and pranked by my somewhat loving uncle." 

Hearing his words, Astrid felt her face heating up as she thought of the last prank Leif had pulled on Hati while also feeling some stinging jealousy as she thought of how much better Hati's life had been than hers. 

But she quickly squashed that feeling, knowing it was useless to feel this way about something neither of them had any control over. Regardless, his words generated confusion in her head as she asked, "So then, how did you end up the way you are?"

Having seen the temporary jealousy on Astrid's face fade away just as quickly, Hati couldn't help but smile about her maturity. He then answered her. "I will get to that, but first, let me tell you that the very fact you asked that question means you passed my test."

This answer startled Astrid a little, but she recovered quickly and asked, "Test? What kind of test, Master?" Keeping the same expression, Hati answered, "I wanted to test your intelligence in noticing something wrong with me and your maturity in actually asking me what it was."

Hearing this, Astrid nodded thoughtfully before she asked with a smirk, "I see. So do I get a reward for passing, Master?" Hati chuckled at her question and said, "I see that my new maid is not only a pervert but also quite cheeky. 

But you are in luck, as I did intend to reward you for passing." Unfortunately for Astrid, Hati loved punishing cheekyness. Thus, he started smirking evilly and continued. "However, since you were cheeky enough to ask me for it, you'll now also have to impress me with this game."

Astrid immediately started pouting again and decided to be a little more careful in the future before she took a look at the board. To be honest, she had not been doing very well so far. 

She was distracted by her talk with Hati, something that he seemed to have no trouble with. Not to mention that she only had intuitive knowledge about how the game was played, but she had no actual experience to draw from. 

She had been playing as white, meaning she had to get her king to one of the four edges, but half of her soldiers were already gone, and Hati's black soldiers were all over the board. 

Still, even though she didn't know what that reward was, she felt that her Master was not the kind of person to go through all this only to give her a nonsense reward, so she decided to focus on winning for the rest of the game.

Unfortunately, the situation she found herself in turned out to be unsalvagable. After another 15 minutes of moves on both sides, her king was surrounded on all sides, and she lost. 

Astrid adorned a sad expression and hung her head low, believing she had lost her reward. She promised herself to be a little less cheeky in the future as she didn't want to lose any more rewards.

Smiling victoriously at her expression, Hati decided to lift the girls' spirits. "No need to look so down. You played very well in this last half of the game, and the goal here was to impress me, not win. Honestly, had you played this seriously from the start, I might not have won at all. You probably played this game a lot before you lost your memories." 

Hearing this, Astrid's face lit up as she asked, "Does that mean you'll give me a reward, Master?" 

Hati smiled and nodded, "Of course, but it might not be what you expect. In earning my respect with not only your maturity and intelligence but also your tenacity in getting out of the slave markets in relatively good condition, I want to give you something you probably haven't had in your past year of memories. A choice in how to live your life from here on out."

Astrid took on a sceptical expression and mumbled, "A choice, huh?" She then furrowed her brows and looked at her Master before saying, "To be honest, I haven't thought of that at all. My only memories are of a life without choice. I've simply known nothing else." Then she smiled and said, "But it sounds nice. What kind of choice will you give me, Master?"

Hati smiled and said, "Before I talk about that, you should remember that my power in this place is relatively limited. In fact, the only thing I can do is what I can convince my family to do for me. That being said, let me give you your choice." He then wiped all the fallen and standing pieces off the board and grabbed two of them.

He placed one of the pieces in front of Astrid and started speaking, "Option one, you decline the position as my maid, and I will do my best to convince my family to either release you of your slavery or place you with someone else within the clan, depending on your preference. I'm confident I can convince my family to do that much for me. 

But that is also where my power ends. I can ask my family to put you with someone they think will treat you well, but it is out of my hands after that. And if you decide you want your freedom, you still wouldn't be able to stay with the Fenrir clan. They won't allow a free, non-clan member to live here, so you'll basically become an eight-year-old without a home. 

My uncle would probably be willing to take you to the capital when he next goes there again. But, honestly, I'm not sure you wouldn't be better off going to the nearest village and ingratiating yourself with a farmer's family. I realise that neither option is ideal, but it is all I can do right now and at least it will have been your own choice."

He placed the second piece in front of her and continued, "Option two, you continue to be my maid. If you pick this option, I will expect you to be loyal and obedient, but I will never order you to do anything life-altering. I will give you a choice in situations like that, as I am doing now. 

This also means that it is entirely up to you whether or not you want to give yourself to me fully when our bodies reach maturity." Hati always considered it essential to give people the illusion of choice. He was confident that, by the time they grew up, there would be very few things that Astrid would refuse doing, life-altering or otherwise. "That being said, I don't share people's loyalty. 

So if you stay as my maid, I expect to be the only person of importance in your life, even though you'll find I don't let my subordinates go easily or at all." As he said this, he started smirking before he continued, "You'll also have to get used to my bullying. I like to think of myself as, well, at least not the worst individual, but I still love to embarrass people." 

He chuckled as he said that last part, then added, "Decide on your own to serve me faithfully, and I promise I will not only not mistreat you, I will also protect you if needed. Myself and the people loyal to me are always more important than anyone else."

Astrid gawked at her Master as her mind went a mile a minute. What kind of choice was that? Either she walks into an unknown and likely dangerous future, or she accepts the life of what is essentially a slightly freer slave. Still, she couldn't deny that the allure of total freedom was attractive, even if it were likely to end in disaster. 

She didn't even consider going for another family in the Fenrir clan. Why would she? Hati was already offering her conditions that most slave owners wouldn't even consider. And aside from his intentions to continue bullying her, he didn't seem so bad. 

Forcing herself to calm down, she realised that there was only one option she really wanted. There was a lot of uncertainty in either choice, but in the end, only one option had something that she was genuinely interested in. And so, her hand moved to one of the two pieces.