Sovieshu entered the palace with graceful steps and a serious expression on his face. He had just returned from hunting where he had found a beautiful maiden caught in a trap, a poor innocent and fragile soul that he could not help but rescue. He had taken her with him to the palace, determined to protect her and keep her by his side.

The next day, he met you at breakfast, one of the rare occasions you shared a meal together. Both of you had been quite busy with your duties in the empire, the distance between you growing with each passing week.

Everything seemed relatively calm as you ate in silence until a frown appeared on Sovieshu's face at your simple question about whether it was true that he had brought a slave to the palace.

"Enough. There must be better topics of conversation, is it important to talk about this now?" he asked in a warning tone, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched your reaction. It was not his intention to make your relationship more tense, but if something threatened the young woman he had found, he would not hesitate to defend her.