Sylvia swatted away the man's hand that was patting her head. "Please stop, your highness."

"Since we are both clearly helping each other out, I would like to be treated as your partner."

"Partner?" Mikel raised his eyebrows and smirked.

Sylvia rolled her eyes, correcting him. "I meant as your equal, not in status may be but at least as another human being. I am not your slave anymore, your highness."

"Heh. Alright. Alright." Mikel raised his hands and leaned back, giving her some space.

"Now if the bargaining part of the evening is over, shall we get started kitten?"

Sigh. Sylvia shook her head helplessly. "Yes, your highness. Tell me what I am supposed to do and please stop it with the terms of endearment. As I said, I am not your slave anymore."

"Cats are nice? What do you have against them?" The man innocently retorted back, as if Sylvia had insulted him.

She bit her lips, "They are nice. I am just not one of them. Now, can we please get this over with? Your highness?"

Mikel shrugged his shoulders and stood up. "Get up and stand in the middle of the circle. It all but takes ten minutes to finish the entire process. Nothing complicated." He explained without going into the details.

"Is this going to hurt?" Sylvia tip-toed and placed her feet hesitantly at the center of the circle.

"You won't even feel a prick!" Mikel said, flashing his usual warm and gentlemanly smile which only made her more nervous.

"Are you sure that no one is going to come up? What if someone caught us in the act?"

"Eh! Relax already. We are not stealing the royal treasury and we are not committing treason."

"This is a simple spell enhancement circle which amplifies whatever spell is cast. That's about it."

"Just one of the defense mechanisms in the castle in case the Kingdom or the castle is ever under attack."

"People do come here often but that's for other reasons. It's actually quite a well known make-out spot."

"Alright. I am ready." Sylvia didn't let him continue talking anymore and quickly nodded.

Her heart thrummed wildly as she gazed at the devil in front of her, waiting for him to start the spell.

His disheveled hair danced around in the howling winds, his golden locks glimmering, and he as well met her gaze, his lips starting to mumble something.

Sylvia gulped. She still hadn't believed everything he had said, but tonight would be proof enough.

She was tired of being the helpless little girl who always had to look for someone else to come and rescue her.

Without affinity to mana and without the ability to cast spells, commoners like her were at the very bottom of the food chain, even beneath the wild animals.

But now… everything was going to change…

She gazed down to see the flickering glow on the circle engraved on the cemented stone floor.

A couple of seconds later, the weird symbols carved inside the circle started glowing as well.

And just like that, the entire circle was soon filled with a strange bright glow and Sylvia could no longer move as stood frozen at the center.

She could think, she could see, she could feel but she couldn't move. She saw the faint silver glow now becoming golden and then it turned into a deep red.

Sylvia felt a wave of energy pass through her body after which she felt weak and drained.

She threw Michael one last look and saw that his handsome face was drenched in sweat as well and then as a slight gasp escaped her lips, she fell down.

"Got you, my dear." The devil's voice whispered in her ears and Sylvia lost her consciousness, wondering if she had made a terrible mistake.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself staring at the same face she had last seen.

"What happened?" Sylvia rubbed her eyes and sat up, still feeling pretty weak and drained.

"Nothing. You just fainted after the spell. It is probably your body getting used to the normal mana flow after having been without it for so long."

"How are you feeling now?" Mikel asked, standing up from a chair nearby and sitting beside Sylvia on the bed.

This made her immediately shriek back, not wanting to fall into the same patterns.

"Your highness." She looked at him icily to remind him of their conversation.

"Ah? My bad?" Mikel chuckled and stood up. "Now that you are alright, I guess I will take my leave."

"For the next couple of days, take it easy and take some rest. We can talk about the other things later." He muttered while starting to leave, when Sylvia hurriedly caught the end of his shirt, tugging at it to make him stop.

"Hmmm?" Mikel gazed at her, his lips thin and straight.

"I don't want to wait. Let's get this done now itself." She swallowed her nervousness and voiced her words, even though she was dreading the next steps.

"You mean you want me to take your blood now?" The man hummed with amusement, making Sylvia bite her lips.

"You know what I am talking about."

She looked down, unable to meet his eyes when the man's finger touched her chin to lift it back up.

"As much as I am tempted to do that right now and here, things are not that simple."

"What we are doing here is not very common. There is no established spells or a protocol."

"It is all trial and error. So I would rather not rush into things without thorough preparations."

"Do you understand?" He asked to which Sylvia lightly nodded.

Mikel then gently removed her hand that was holding his shirt and then walked out of the room, leaving behind the wide-eyed woman sitting on the bed.

"Just like I promised, you are no longer a slave in this castle. You are a guest. Enjoy your stay." His voice rang as the man disappeared.