Opening
Edrick found his way back home through snow and squalls, the whiteness really was starting to get out of control, pilling up incessantly atop roofs, atop the ground, people that did not have the luxury of living inside one of the richest city of the kingdom might just end up have their home totally, and utterly submerged under the snow.
But according to what he had heard, this dire weather was actually a normal occurrence during the middle or so of winter, and would soon stop, returning to a more casual state, how that worked really was dubious, but Anoteros felt like trying to apply the logic and science he knew from his previous world simply wouldn't cut it there.
He first went to the library and waited some time until Hui's shift was over and picked her up, as she definitely needed assistance, she pretty much was only resilient when it came to enduring him after all.
Once back, it was already time for dinner, and his wives were all here to greet him.
He spoke with them for a bit about their day, and then turned to Linmin, who was making his usual expression that meant that there was something that Edrick needed to know, said expression had more to do with the way Linmin looked at him more than anything else, and anyone else would be hard pressed to see the difference with his usual self.
"What is it?"
"Lord Edrick, she showed up, the girl called Jingyi"
"Oh, so she really came on her own, huh? And through that weather at that, must be determined" he smiled, he didn't know what sort of reasoning she had used to convince herself that taking him up on his offer was the better alternative amongst what she had available, as although Anoteros had not been bluffing when he said that he could get her out of the sect, she still had Yi and Li to help if needed, but even then, Jingyi was still unwilling to ask for help.
'Idiotic girl… You'll never leave now, even with the door wide open, you'll never even think about the possibility' although the white haired girl had originally been intended to be used and thrown away, he had made new plans since learning that she actually was part of a script, some might believe that it was a fate worse than originally intended, but Edrick sincerely believed that she had lucked out.
Jingyi could have easily ended up the same as many other female outer disciple, mere holes for him to use a few times and then forget about, toys to play with, and simple means to complete quests.
"What do you think of her?" he asked, and his second wife smiled.
"She is very good, actually! She picked up on everything I tried to teach her very easily, I can't tell for sure until I get to see her work for a while, but I think she'll make a very good headmaid, and perhaps even do good work as your personal servant!" he explained, Linmin already had a very clear idea of how the maids of the residence should be organised, as there were many different tasks and rooms to take care of, and since the residence would keep expanding to match the patriarch's grandeur, there would naturally be a need for many more workers.
But there was also the matter of personal maids, people of high class needed to have subordinates that followed them around and acted as bodyguards, even if the one being guarded was the strongest around, it was simply customary for someone of greater status to be accompanied by servants.
Linmin felt that Jingyi could actually be a good fit to do that for Edrick.
Anoteros wasn't certain what his second wife was seeing in the feeble and pitiful girl that could warrant such high praise, but he trusted that Linmin was a good judge when it came to such things.
"Where is she right now?"
"I told her to go and lie down in her room, I'll go get her right now"
"Alright then, let's see if she can handle the pressure…"
Jingyi was supervised whilst bringing in the dishes and such, but it was still upon her that fell the responsibility to do the work, and perhaps expectedly, she did very good, Jingyi was indeed very good at applying instructions without fail, which was something Edrick already knew from their previous interactions.
She was clearly unnerved by him however, which completely overshadowed any stress that there could have been for having to meet and interact with his wives, they just acted as usual and had no intentions of making things hard for the new hire.
'Very nice clothing choice…' he purposefully ogled and stared right at her the entire time she was working, up until she was done and went to stand behind him to his right, a position she held the entire dinner as no one made any demand from her at all.
Which allowed her to take a better look at what was actually inside of the plates, she recognised the vegetables at glance, but now that it was cooked, she actually realised that she had no idea what sort of meat this was, it somewhat looked like beef, but it smelled more like pork, it did not look bad at all, everyone was eating like it was a delicacy.
Though soon enough, her attention shifted to the conversations occurring at the table, Edrick mostly stayed silent and simply listened to his wives speaking amongst themselves, and talk they did, from subjects Jingyi didn't have the slightest of grasp upon, to uncomfortable ones involving their husband's phallic proportions, and something she quickly came to realise, was that Linmin was not the exception, all four of them simply seemed to be having the best time of their lives being married to Anoteros.
What could this possibly mean? It seemed impossible that he had 'trained' them to be positive, so did it imply that the treatment Jingyi had received was unique? That he actually treated people other than her well?
Somehow, that thought felt deeply upsetting.
The dinner ended without anything of note happening, Fanqia, Hui and Luxuli dispersed whilst Edrick and Linmin went together to one of the training rooms, and Jingyi was left with the order to wait and prepare to clean said room afterward, so she just stood there.
Inside, Anoteros helped Linmin with his basic swordsmanship, they trained for about an entire hour without stop, and then, the exercising taking place within the room changed in nature, and how Jingyi knew was because there was no attempt whatsoever at concealing it, just from the sound, she could nearly tell exactly what was happening, and right now, it seemed like Edrick had pinned his second wife on the ground, and was mounting Linmin with a strong tempo, the sound of hips slamming against butt was nearly constant, but not as loud as the moans.
'I… Does it really feel that good? He has always been so brutal and inconsiderate with me… But Lord Linmin sounds like he is experiencing heaven right now…'
The maid couldn't help but try to peek, and coincidentally, the door had not been completely shut, and a small opening allowed her to see exactly what was going on…
And she watched without pause, like mesmerised by the scene, Jingyi did not know why she did, or realise that the pang in chest was actually jealousy.
Why was it that she deserved to be treated like a piece of trash, when he could have done something like this instead?
'Wait… What am I thinking about?'
The girl wanted to back off, but her legs did not wish to move, her eyes did not wish to stop looking, so she just remained there, head full of thoughts that Jingyi did not want to admit were her own.