Luckily for her, she did not have to wait for long, Master Swanson would escort hal out of the store just ten minutes later, she would apologize for her brother's misconduct and master Swanson would accept her apologies and retreat back into his store.

Throughout the conversation, Alexander was upset at the gaze the 'apprentice' was giving the girl he had set his eyes on, so the instant master Swanson was back in his store he decided to give him a piece of his mind but alas...

"Hi, my name is Hal"

...the pervert would introduce himself first. The fact that hal had not mentioned his last name, should have calmed him down because that would have meant he either was a commoner and did not have one (which was unlikely, judging by his clothes ) or it was not important enough to be mentioned, but his instinct were screaming at him to be careful of this skinny, handsome youth. To make matters worse...

"I'm Amelia Horst"

...she introduced herself with a smile.

"And I'm Alexander Edgar, Amelia's boyfriend" so he decided to mark his territory. Amelia glared at him but said nothing, But how could Hal possibly miss it.

"That's too long, I'll just call you Alex instead" Hal said and turned towards Amelia "You're very beautiful by the way, is he really your boyfriend"

Amelia smiled "Thank you and no, he is not"

"And are you by any chance already with someone?" Hal asked, glancing furtively at Alex

"No, not at the moment" she replied, she found Hal uncharacteristically charming

"Oh, that's good" Hal sighed

"Why is that good?" Alex snarled

"'Cause, that makes you and me kindred spirits, both equal admirers of Lady Horst's beauty" Hal said honestly

"And what if I reject you both?" Amelia was intrigued

"We're still allowed to try, aren't we?"

"You are" Amelia said with emphasis on the 'you'

Hal winked at her and drew a blush from her for the first time.

Alexander was fuming 'who the hell does he think he is?' The truth was that being a member of a great family, he had intimidated a lot of Amelia's admirers, it was the fist time someone disregarded him this much.

What he did not know was that Amelia knew what he did to those poor young men behind her back and while she did not condone bullying, she had no interest in standing up for people who didn't give themselves a chance due to intimidation. That was what intrigued her the most about Hal, even after hearing Alexander's family name and receiving multiple glares, he still spoke his mind and was even so carefree, he was either a fool or he genuinely did not care.

How could she have known hal was trying to provoke Alexander

'All those novels I read were so wrong, I expected this guy to punch the moment I shortened his name, *sigh* who would have thought cultivators were such cowards' Hal lamented to grimoire

If Alexander could hear Hal's thoughts, he would have completely lost it 'who would possibly be so insane to attack Master Swanson's apprentice right outside his store'

"Where do you live Hal?" Amelia asked

"I live in Melinda Dane's mansion"

"Oh, are you two related?" Alexander did not like the curiosity in Amelia's voice

"Kind of" Hal smiled and Amelia decided not to pry, Alexander however was smiling like Christmas just came early

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Horst but I have to be on my way" Hal took Amelia's hand and kissed it like the gentleman he was not. However knowing Alexander was more likely to punch him than shake his hand, Hal patted him on the shoulder, smiled at him like an old friend, and then left with castor.

As soon as he was gone Alex turned towards Amelia grinning triumphantly

"What is it?" Amelia asked

"I know who he is. He is a slave that Melinda Dane purchased just yesterday" Alex said grinning from ear to ear

"And why does that make you smile you sicko, he must have suffered a lot in that slave house but you couldn't care less" Amelia was livid

"You do know what the rumors about Melinda are, don't you?" Alex asked, his smile unchanged

"Does he look unwell to you" Amelia asked before returning to her carriage. Alex followed soon after believing there was no way this slave could compete with him.

If only he knew how wrong he was and how the reverse was the case.

...

Melinda's mansion

Hal had told Melinda all about his day after she had told him about hers. He noticed she acted weird when he mentioned the encounter with Amelia but it passed so quickly that he later believed he had imagined it.

That night when he decided to go to sleep, someone knocked on the door

"Hal it's me, can I come in?" Melinda's voice sounded from the other side

He was about to tell her to come inside when he noticed that she had not called him master. His Instincts kicked to high gear.