A MAZE OF GREED

"Excuse me, may I ask where you are going?" Ruth asked a young maid who looked overexcited carrying a glass of juice.

The woman hesitated, even got annoyed for Ruth's disturbance. "I am taking the juice for My Lord." She told, thrusting her chin up in the air.

Ruth tried her best to maintain her smile. "Which Lord you are talking abouut?"

"Excuse me!"

"I mean... is it for Lord Lester?" Ruth calmed down herself before the maid got suspicious of her intentions.

"No. This is for my lead- I mean Lord Edwin." The maid immediately covers up her slip of the tongue.

Ruth narrowed her eyes at her. That was not because she was about to spill beans. Ruth was too distracted by the fact that she was going to Edwin to notice her mistake.

"Oh! You can give it to me and I will take it to Lord Edwin." Ruth tried taking the tray from her hand.

But the young woman scowled at her pulling the tray out of her reach. "Why?" She asked, rather shrieked.

"Because... because Lord Lester is calling you!" Ruth replied spontaneously with the first excuse that came to her mind.

"What?"

"Yes, he is in the garden and was looking for you." Ruth tried her best to sound convincing.

The woman tilted her head a little. "But he is coming this way."

Ruth tensed. Now, what was she going to do?

"Good evening My Lord!" The maid greeted Lester as soon as he came near them.

Ruth also bowed but did not say anything.

"My Lord how may I serve you?" The woman asked with a smile.

Lester looked at her dumbfoundedly. "What do you mean? Did I ask you to do anything?"

The woman's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she glared at Ruth.

Ruth smiled uneasily. "Lord Lester... weren't you in the garden some time ago?"

Lester's brows knitted in confusion. "Whe-"

"And you asked for her because you needed her help with something... especially her." Ruth tried passing a secret message with her eyes.

"Ruth what nonsense you are-"

"Oh, yes... yes! Lester how can you forget what you were doing ten minutes ago?" Elsie came out of nowhere at Ruth's aid.

"You both women are not making any sen- awww!" Lester's eyeballs popped out of their sockets when Elsie twisted the heel of her sandals on his foot.

"Now do you rememeber?" Elsie asked through a forced smile.

Lester gulped down the string of curses that had to return back from the tip of his tongue. He nodded his head.

"Yes... yes. Ruth is right. I... I was looking for you because... because..."

Both Ruth and Elsie looked at him expectantly while the maid held back herself from making weird faces at his weird behaviour.

"Because I... I want you to make a chicken for me. Yes!"

Both Ruth and Elsie felt like smacking their foreheads and then Lester's too. The maid looked at him incredulously. "But My Lord, I am not appointed in the kitchen department-"

"How dare you defy my order. You are going to make chicken for me and... you are going to catch the one from our farm."

"But My Lord-"

"It is my command!" Lester faked anger.

The woman looked on the verge of crying. She wordlessly passed the tray in her hand to Ruth, and after bowing again, she ran to catch a hen for Lester's chicken dish.

"Chicken? Seriously Lester?" Elsie gave him a disappointed look and marched away from there.

"Elsie, listen." But she did not stop.

Ruth stifled a laugh and cast her eyes down.

"I will deal with you later!" Lester warned before running behind Elsie.

Ruth giggled at the adorable couple. She prayed that their love would grow every day before she walked towards the room where Edwin was staying.

She knocked on the door before checking for any person around. When she did not hear any response from him, she opened the door into a slit and peeked inside to find the room empty.

She knew for sure that Edwin came to his room about half an hour before. Ruth opened the door wider and stepped inside slowly. She closed the door behind her and walked to the centre table to keep the tray on it.

She thought he might be on the balcony, so she went to check for him there. But it was also empty, just like his room.

Ruth saw his shirt sprawled on the bed. She bit the insides of her cheek before an idea popped into her head. With a blushing smile, she took his shirt in her hands. She smiled looking at it before she held it close to her chest, imagining it was him hugging her tightly.

He was wearing that shirt during lunch. Ruth could not hold back from dragging a gustful of air through her nose. His masculine scent sent tingles throughout her body. If only she could collect his scent and preserve it in a bottle. She would have opened the bottle whenever she missed him.

How wonderful that would have been!

"Are you done sniffing my shirt, petit chien?"

Ruth literally jumped in fright when that deep rich voice fell on her ears. She threw the shirt back on the bed in hurry and whiled around only to shriek loudly.

She had not expected to come face to face with a solid bare chest when she turned around. Her wide eyes followed a drop of water trailing down from his chest to his hard stomach. Ruth instinctively gulped down.

A snap of fingers broke her from the trance, and she blinked a couple of times before stepping back from him.

She looked to the ground while calming her erratically beating heart. And then it hit her like a brick thrown at her face.

If Ruth had not stopped that maid, then she would have seen Edwin shirtless and...

She shook her head furiously. Edwin wished he could read her mind at such times. When she looked up, her gaze had an edge.

"What is this?" She demanded.

Edwin was confused at her strange behaviour. "I just came straight from the shower. Why?"

Ruth ground her jaw. Her eyes searched for something in urgency, and when she did not find it, she took the same shirt from the bed and thrust it at Edwin's bare chest.

"Cover yourself!"

It was not a statement, and definitely not a request. It was an order that left no room for argument. But Edwin was not easy to order around.

"That shirt is dirty. I do not want to wear it."

He crossed his veiny thick arms over his chest, which did not help Ruth's situation at all.

Ruth glared at him sharply before she stomped to his wardrobe. She yank its doors open and pulled out the first shirt she got. Without sparing it a glance, she said, "Wear this one then."

"I want to wear it tommorrow." Edwin told with a passive face while his eyes glowed in mischief.

Ruth stuffed it again in the wardrobe before pulling out the next one.

"That is tooo tight."

Next shirt.

"That does not flaunt my biceps."

Next shirt.

"That is too loose for me."

Next shirt.

"I do not like that colour."

Now Ruth was more than furious. She gathered all his clothes from the wardrobe and threw them on the floor, while her chest heaved up and down in anger.

"You know what, my majesty?! Just go to hell!!!" She screamed, oozing out her anger through her words.

At the same time, the glass of juice that was not far from Ruth cracked, and its pieces fell in the tray along with the liquid inside of it.

Both Ruth and Edwin were shocked at that. How did that glass break down like that?

Then Ruth realised something.

Was it because of her powers?

Ruth's eyes widened, and when she caught the confusion in Edwin's eyes, she decided to walk out of that room and away from him. The tears of frustration called for her permission, but she kept denying it.

She had taken only three steps in the direction of the door when she felt herself falling back into his hard chest.

Edwin gathered her in his arms while resting his chin on her shoulder. He could feel her frantically beating heart and her anger. But he did not understand why she was so upset.

The touch of his bare skin and the heat of him penetrated through her dress soothed her considerably. Edwin felt her relax in his touch, yet her anger was still at high.

"Why did you bring the juice? A maid could have get it for me."

At times like this, Augustus's words seemed right in a way. Edwin was like that moth who liked the adventure of getting near the flame and burning itself.

When she was about to relax, his words triggered another fight between them.

Ruth freed herself from him and turned around to face him.

"Why? Would it have tasted bitter because I brought it to you?"

Edwin only blinked at her, puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

"What? Cat got your tongue Edwin O'Dell- the handsome beast?"

Edwin cringed visibly. "I am sorry Ruth but I don't like that title. You can call me either handsome or beast. But please not that."

"EDWIN! Errrrghh....."

Ruth screeched loudly that made Edwin scrunch up his face. He wanted to tell her that she was too loud and someone might hear her weird sounds resulting in misunderstandings, but the look of extreme irritation on her face made him shut up.

Ruth was so frustrated that she felt like tying this stupid man and locking him up in the bathroom away from the lustful eyes of those bitches.. But she could not do that. Never!