"Young master, may I request something of you?" Melody asked.
"What do you want?" Jon said, "As long as it doesn't go against my conscience and is within my capability, I will give you anything you want."
'This is my chance,' Melody thought upon hearing what he was willing to do for her.
"Please recommend me for the battle spirit awakening trial," she requested.
In this world, certain individuals had the potential to awaken Battle Spirits.
It's said that the battle spirit sealed within one's magic sea is the physical manifestation of their innate powers.
These Battle Spirits, once awakened, granted unique powers to their wielders.
But awakening a Battle Spirit wasn't something that could be done freely.
It required an uncommon resource known as the Awakening Stone.
Naturally, something so precious wasn't handed out to just anyone.
To obtain even a single Awakening Stone, one had to prove themselves. That was the reason the Battle Spirit Awakening Trial was created.
It was a carefully designed test meant to filter out the unworthy, ensuring the Awakening Stones were reserved for those with the talent to become true battle masters.
In small, conservative places, ordinary people had no real chance of participating in the Awakening Trial, meaning whether it was the influence of a noble family, backing from a powerful faction, or a personal recommendation from someone with authority, without such ties, the gates to the Awakening Trial remained forever closed to the powerless.
To even get a chance to awaken one's Battle Spirit, one had to either be born into privilege or fight and scheme their way into the favor of someone with authority who could recommend them for the Awakening Trial. Otherwise, no matter how great the potential buried within them, it would remain forever dormant!
Now, Jon was a descendant of the Mountain Clan, one of the three greatest clans in the Stone Village. Thus, he didn't lack the authority to recommend a person or two for the awakening trial!
"I can agree to your request, but only on one condition," Jon said, gently tucking a few strands of loose hair behind her ear.
"What condition?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to express her dissatisfaction.
She had done so much for him since she began serving him. She had given him her body and her heart, and if it were possible, she would have given him her soul too. That's how much she loved him. She was crazy for him. So the fact that he was putting forward a condition to fulfill her request didn't sit well with her. But he was the master, and she was just his maidservant. She didn't dare argue or accuse him of not loving her as much as she loved and desired him.
Noticing her dissatisfaction, Jon grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in until their faces were just an inch apart.
Seeing his face up close, Melody's heart sped up. He was really handsome.
With his eyes boring intensely and possessively into hers, he calmly stated, "Never betray me."
Melody blinked in suprise, "That's it?"
His condition was surprisingly easy to fullfill.
"Yes." Jon said in a voice that had always managed to send shivers down her spine.
"Is that something to ask for? I love you so much. I would never betray you," Melody said.
These words, even if they come out of a woman with average looks but a clean lifestyle, they would be pleasant to hear, but Melody possessed a radiant and hypnotizing beauty.
Hearing her say that with a look of utter conviction, Jon's heart was swayed.
However, one thought held him back from blindly believing her.
'Human heart is unfathomable. One moment it can be warm like jade and the very next moment it can turn cold and cruel.'
Right now, Melody needed him.
But in the future, if their positions were reversed…
Would her heart remain the same?
Or would she turn her back on him the moment she found him no longer useful?
It was hard to tell.
That was precisely why he was giving her the chance to participate in the Battle Spirit Awakening Trial.
If she turned out to be talented, her status would rise. From the maidservant of the unlucky star of the Mountain Clan, she would become the darling of Stone Village. She would be desired by all three clans with each trying to poach her for themselves.
He truly wanted to see what she would do then.
Would she be swayed?
Or would she remain by his side… and serve him until death do them apart?
If it was the latter, he would cherish her like a treasure in his grasp.
But if it was the latter...
Jon's eyes narrowed into thin slit, gleaming gloomily.
The price of betrayal would be heavy!
****
The young couple, so different in status it seemed they belonged to separate worlds, walked along the stone path, toward the clan's inner courtyard, where the awakening trial would soon take place.
When they arrived there, they saw that it was filled with people, mostly their age, though some were older. Most of them were here to participate in the trial like them, while the rest were here to spectate.
The moment Jon stepped into the inner courtyard, the tense but cheerful environment dimmed rapidly as many faces turned unpleasant.
The onlookers began murmuring while pointing at Jon.
"Look who showed up... The unlucky star of our clan."
Jon's mother died giving birth to him, so he was termed an unlucky star. After that a bunch of odd things happened that only fortified this obnoxious belief.
"I haven't seen him in years. Honestly, I thought his curse had turned on him, cutting his life short. But it looks like I was wrong. He's alive and well, like a cockroach refusing to die."
"Hahaha! Comparing a man to a cockroach? Elder Brother, you really know how to make a crowd laugh!"
"Is it even safe to be around him? The last time I helped him out of pity, bad things started happening to me and the people around me. First, my dog got sick and died. Then my brother broke his leg falling off a horse. My mother developed a strange fever that wouldn't go away no matter what we did. Worst of all, our family granary caught first. After that, my mother made me promise I wouldn't see him anymore. I agreed and cut all ties with him. Only after that did things start getting better again."
Malilah wasn't lying.
All of those things had actually happened.
But what no one besides Jon knew was that all these events had all been orchestrated by his psychopathic stepmother in order to cast him in a bad light and force him to lose his only friend at the time.
Unfortunately, he had no proof nor the power to fight back so he could only take it lying down.
But he was hopeful that starting today, things would begin to change.
Hearing Malilah's words, the onlookers felt goosebumps rise on their skin, and they started gossiping about him even more like green tea bitches.
Just then, a sharp voice cut through the murmurs.
"Jon, you dare show your face today of all days? Are you not afraid your misfortune will rub off on us and ruin the clan's good fortune?"
Jon turned towards the source of the voice and saw his younger cousin Wesley. He never liked that guy and today he found him even more unpleasant.
He walked up to him with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Seeing his expression, Melody knew he was up to no good, but she didn't stop him, wanting him to get justice for himself.
Wesley, who didn't know Jon as good as Melody, watched him approach with a confident smirk on his face, totally unaware he was in immense danger.
Reaching up to him, Jon widened his smile before raising his hand and bringing it down in the blink of an eye.
Pah!
Wesley's smirk faded real quick as he was slapped across the face.
"You dare hit me?!"
He looked at Jon with such anger it felt like he would pounce on him at any moment and rip him to shreds like a beast.
"I don't like the look in your eyes," Jon said, slapping Wesley again.
Pah!
The sound of his palm striking Wesley's face echoed through the inner courtyard like thunder, stunning the onlookers into silence
This wasn't the first time Jon had been humiliated like this.
In the past, he would treat their insults like the barking of stray dogs, nothing worth responding to. He would endure their taunts in silence and move on.
But today… today he actually retaliated.
This was a first for everyone watching!
"You! I'm going to kill you!" Wesley roared, balling his hand into a fist before throwing a vicious punch aimed squarely at Jon's nose. He wanted to break it, to humiliate Jon just as he had been humiliated before this vast crowd.
"Too slow."
Jon tilted his head slightly, dodging the punch with ease, before reintroducing Wesley's face to his palm.
Smack!
Wesley was struck so hard he collapsed to the ground like a damsel in distress, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Even after falling into that pitiful state, Jon didn't stop showing him his brand of brotherly love.
A loud slap landed on the back of Wesley's head, slamming his face into the ground. Then, a boot pressed against the back of his head, forcing that kiss he was sharing with the dirt to deepen.