Educated By Master

Meara has been very diligent in her morning duties of replenishing Donne's vitality. Since the kingdom is technically currently not at war, his vitality is not that depleted every morning and only needs about 30% from Meara. In the afternoon, Meara is already full again. If Donne demands another fill, she can give it to him.

It's midweek morning and Meara's wearing her usual plain cream-colored cotton dress. If the servants have no uniform, you would think she is one of them. The only difference is that she has clear and smooth skin and has the air of a pampered lady from a wealthy family. Her temperament is quite excellent.

The butler opened the door of Donne's bedroom. Upon entering, Meara inhaled Donne's scent which lingers in the room. The master of the house is already eating breakfast on the coffee table near the window. He seems to be in a bad mood with his eyebrows furrowed. There are a few documents on the table and one one in his hand.

He looked up from reviewing some documents and showed some disgust when he saw her. It disappeared in an instant when he noticed her plain dress.

"It suits you." He spat in a mocking tone.

Meara lowered her eyes. She approached cautiously and knelt in front of him. Then finally sat on her legs in a seiza position.

The process of transferring essence is simple. You have to hold both hands of the man, close your eyes, and focus on your mind while transferring the energy. A steady and undisturbed transfer will take about 15 minutes. But Donne doesn't want an easy way for her. He instead, requires her to kneel in front of him while she does the transfer.

Meara waited for Donne to offer his hand. She can never dare to reach out. This is what she's been doing in the past few days. Donne will simply give her his hand so she can perform the replenishment and once done, he will simply order her out. For some reason, she can sense if the transfer is enough so she can stop as soon as the transfer is blocked, indicating that the recipient is full already.

So as she waited, she slowly raised her head from bowing and looked around with the slightest head movement possible. The room is big but with a very simple arrangement. A large bed, which could be bigger than King's size, is placed in the corner of the room, with solid walls on the left side and the headboard. Windows are far from the bed and the chair where Donne is sitting right now is not directly visible in the windows. Probably for security purposes.

Donne made a heavy sigh and tapped his finger on the table. He continued reviewing the documents on the table. He asked the servant to remove the breakfast and pour another cup of coffee. Still not paying attention to Meara.

After almost an hour, Meara's legs are starting to feel numb. She has been doing little movements to relieve the discomfort since 20 minutes ago. As blood slowly started to flow in her legs, she felt like an army of ants started to march.

Her eyes started to redden on the sides. Her nose felt a sudden psychological pain. She wanted to cry but she held on. She felt wronged. But hey, who told her to like this cold person?

"Ahmm excuse me?" Meara tried to get his attention. Donne didn't seem to hear him.

"Hu–husband?..." She tried again.

"What did you say?!" Donne suddenly reacted and in a blink of an eye he dropped the papers into the table and his hand flew straight into her face.

Imagine the hand of the God of War with strength comparable to 10 men suddenly making the simplest act of violence towards you…

Meara's head flew sideways straight into the edge of the coffee table and immediately bounced back in the opposite direction after hitting the table. The action was too sudden. Some stars were twinkling even though she had her eyes closed. Two sides of her face were in pain. Warm blood trickled down her right temple while her left face felt thicker. She fell from her seiza position. Her blocked tears from earlier finally flowed like a broken dam, mixing with the blood flowing from the side of her face.

The butler flinched slightly but did not move.

"What did you just say?!" he repeated.

"Wait… I was wrong... I was wrong. I'm sorry." She apologized repeatedly with her right hand up in the air with her eyes closed. She acted like a blind man, unable to determine where to face to stop the attacker.

"You're not my wife. I will say it again in case you forgot. You were sold to me for forty thousand penns. You are a very expensive slave. Call me master!"

At this point, Meara struggles to kneel again and returns to the seiza position. She has her eyes closed trying to imagine her essence relieving the pain and calming her heart. When the temporary blindness was gone, she opened her moist eyes.

"Yes, master. Shall I transfer now?" She asked in a sad but steady voice.

He gave her his hand and ordered, "Do it quickly."

She held his hand in her hands and pulled it closer to her heart. She closed her eyes and concentrated. In 10 minutes, she was done as if the essence to be transferred rushed out in haste. She gently let go of his hand. The same hand that slapped her earlier.

She slowly got up and respectfully said, "I will be back tonight, Master."

He seemed to have calmed after the replenishment.

"Yes, clean yourself properly. Get out." He waved at her dismissively.

"Yes, Master."

Donne looked at her dejected back. He felt a slight confusion in his heart as she closed the door. He quickly returned to reviewing the documents on the table.

Meanwhile, when she reached the gate of her home...

"My Lady!" Calla gasped when she saw her mistress' face. She looked questioningly at the butler, forgetting that she was a servant at that very moment. She felt aggrieved for her mistress.

The butler looked at her with a flash of sadness in his eyes.

"Calla, please get medicine from the apothecary for a pain reliever and wound ointment. Assist Ms. Haelan until the day is over. She needs to return to the master's chambers tonight."

"Yes, sir…" Calla held Maera on the elbow and helped her walk back to the house.

Maera lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

"My Lady…" Calla's tears fell in an endless stream.

"Stop… Stop crying…" Maera stuttered and she cried pitifully as a dam of emotions broke.

Both of them continued crying for half an hour. When the dust settled, Maera told Calla what happened and calmly accepted the harsh reality of her life now.

Calla left and went to the apothecary to get some medicine. She also asked for another thing.

"Ahmm pardon me good sir, but do you have something for ah… First timers? My mistress, tonight, ah… She will sleep with the general so is there a medicine that can help her a little?"

"You are a very caring servant girl." The Apothecary smiled and did not make fun of her. Instead, he gave her a medicinal oil.

"Let the mistress read the label on this for instructions." Then he gave her the ointment for swelling and oral medicine for the pain.

Calla left blushing.