Chapter 96 - Off To Brawl Again (1)

Slap!

A loud reverberation was felt across the room. The mistress and Ashton had just gotten back to his room from the trial room, and without wasting a second, the mistress expressed her displeasure over the situation. All the while, Ashton just stood there like a statue.

The mistress had slapped him hard, but he didn't even flinch, despite knowing the attack was coming. However, one slap was not enough to quell the Mistress's anger. She kept slapping him until his cheeks turned black and started to bleed a bit.

All the while, not a single squeal came out of Ashton's mouth. He was expecting something even worse to happen to him, but the mistress stopped punishing him.

Even though she defended Ashton in public, she knew Ashton well enough to realise he would not have called for her help had he been truly innocent. Either he had attacked that Grunta bastard himself or made someone else do it. She was sure he had some kind of involvement in that matter and she was not happy about it.

While Ashton stood there in the middle of the room, the mistress went to wash her hand with the bowl of water Daniella had brought in. She still looked pissed but was composed enough to converse with Ashton without beating the shit out of him.

"I don't care how and why you did what you did. But you will never do anything like that again." She ordered Ashton in a stern tone, "I will not have my plans get derailed just because of some stupid farce between two brats. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ashton responded while his nails dug deeper and deeper into his palm.

Just because he know this would happen and was concealing his emotions, didn't mean he wasn't raging inside. The blood oozing out of his palms were evidence of how enraged he was. But he had to remain calm as usual. He had to act like a docile pet for now, so that he could bite that bitch's head off later.

Hearing his voice made the mistress sigh heavily. She had been treating him like a grown-up, but at the end of the day, he was just a 16-year-old brat. Dumping too many responsibilities on him would not solve anything, and would make him act out even more. Also... she might have accidentally taken out a lot of pent up frustration on him, even though he did nothing to deserve it.

"Come sit here." The mistress gestured him to sit beside her on the bed, "Daniella, get me a first-aid kit. Listen, Ashton, I lost control for a bit... because too many things seem to be happening around me, all of a sudden. Things that can even overwhelm someone like me."

"I understand," Ashton replied without looking in her direction.

"No, you don't. You don't understand how bad things are in Maddencreek." She mumbled before laying down on the bed, "A lot of people, have betrayed my trust recently. People whom I would have trusted my life to, like Donovan."

Ashton turned to face her, the news was too shocking for him not to react. Donovan, the mistress's most loyal servant or mate or whatever, had betrayed her? This news was something Ashton could not ignore.

"You're shocked too huh?" The mistress smiled wanly, "But yes. He had betrayed me and joined my father's side. Even though he hated him just as much as I did. But he wasn't alone, Disha went along with him and to be honest, I'm not surprised. After all, whenever she saw him, her eyes got all lovey-dovey. Infatuation is a bitch."

"But when did all of this happen? They were on your side just a few days ago, right?" Ashton tried to pry out some more information out of her, "Also, since you were their alpha, couldn't you stop them using your abilities?"

"Let's just say, I trusted them too much and paid the price for it. Thankfully, I had a habit of not giving anyone a complete plan of my next move. So they can't harm me from a strategic point of view." The mistress sighed again before sitting up, "That being said, I don't trust anyone now. Especially not you. Considering you have been meeting a lot of professors these days."

Ashton looked at Duncan as mistress said that. It was just an act to show that he didn't know about it beforehand.

"I was just trying to get them on my side," Ashton said while his eyes were still fixated on Duncan, "after all, you saw what happened today. Something much worse would have happened if I didn't have some other professors on my side."

The mistress nodded. At the same time, Daniella returned with the first-aid kit. The Mistress took it from her and poured some iodine tincture on a piece of cotton before gently rubbing it on Ashton's bloodied cheeks.

"I'm sure you had no ill intentions, unlike Donovan. Still, I will recommend you to do what I have told you to and nothing more."

She continued, "There's no need for you to get involved with anyone, let it be a professor or a student. As long as you keep focusing on the tasks I give you, you will have no problems through my side."

"Yes, Ma'am. I will try my best not to get involved in anything that I should not be concerned about." Ashton nodded along, but his gaze was still on Duncan, who slowly started to get a bit uncomfortable.

"Very well then. As long as you keep that in mind, I won't have any reason not to trust you." She mumbled while applying the tincture on the other cheek, "It would be a shame to waste all that potential you have, wouldn't it?"

After that, the mistress stayed there for an hour or so to talk some things out, and left after warning Ashton to not do anything stupid ever again. Little did she know, he was going to do something stupid as soon as she walked out of there.

"Duncan, I'm feeling like my movements have rusted a bit after sitting all day." Ashton said with a sinister smile on his face, "Would you mind if we spar for a bit?"