I think I've fallen for you again

I went to sit down close to the General so I could serve him properly.

I explained to him the dishes I'd prepared. "I made a vegetable stew, a beef stir-fry, pickled vegetables, rice, etc"

The General took a sniff of the aroma in the air of the food. "That smells lovely," he commented.

My heart lifted from the compliment. I finished dishing out the food and then sat down at my table. We then began to eat.

I watched him nervously as he took the first bite of the food. I just hoped he wouldn't spit it out or something. He seemed to be thinking of how he found it. "Is it to your liking?" I asked him.

His eyes widened in surprise and he continued to eat. "Your talents only continue to intrigue me." He said, "Who would have thought this entire time you knew how to cook?"

A small smile formed on my lips. It felt good knowing someone enjoyed something you'd taken so much time to prepare.

"What did you say this one was called again?" He asked.

"A beef stir-fry," I told him.

"A stir-fry, I should have the chefs prepare some time. It's really good."

"You've never had a stir-fry?"

"No." He answered. "You learned how to make this from your chefs at your family's home correct?"

"Yes, I did." I lied. Then I thought about it, even from Ayan's memories I saw a stir-fry wasn't a traditional Turk dish. Or was it perhaps that a stir-fry recipe didn't exist at this time yet? Was I messing with history or the timeline by bringing something from the future?

"I never realized how vast the empire's cooking styles were. It is a large empire after all." The General explained to himself.

The explanation actually made more sense than the former timeline theory I had considered. The Turk empire was enormous as a result of all the territories it had taken over, it meant there were many different cultures that had been assimilated into the empire including all the different cooking styles. It was possible that one of them had stir-fries amongst their cuisine.

We finished our meal and then I called Yema and Kaylee to take away all the used dishes. Kaylee was clearing the plates on the General's side whilst Yema was doing my side. I noticed Kaylee making weird faces at me as she worked away, probably hinting at the fact that I was alone with the general. I wanted to tell her to focus on what she doing or she'd mess up.

As she picked up the dishes and stood up from the floor she suddenly lost her balance. All the plates she had been holding fell to the floor with a loud clang. As Kaylee fell to the ground aswell she panicked as her arms looked for something to hold onto. Unfortunately, the closest person to her was the General. She grabbed onto the sleeve of his robe which ripped in the process.

The General, Yema and I all turned to look at the mess Kaylee had made on the floor.

It took Kaylee a moment to reorient herself as she brought herself into a kneeling position. She realized what she had done and turned to the General. Bowing her head low, "I apologize, your grace, I have committed a grave sin! Please punish me!" she begged. The General stared at her with an unreadable expression as Kaylee visibly trembled in fear.

I had to put a stop to this before the situation escalated. "Please, don't punish her I'll take it in her stead," I begged him.

The General looked surprised by my outburst.

" You would rather take her punishment? " He asked perplexed." Firstly, what kind of person do you think I am?" He appeared offended that we would even suggest something like that. "I was only going to reprimand her."

Oh really? That's all he was going to do? I stared at him dumbfounded, feeling embarrassed.

He then let out a tired sigh. "Pay more attention to what you're doing." He scolded Kaylee.

"Yes, my Lord," she responded.

"You may go." he then released her. Kaylee bowed her head once more before starting to clean up the mess she'd made. The General then observed the rip on his sleeve.

" I can fix your robe if you wish." I then offered.

"You can fix it now and here?"

"Yes, your grace."

"Alright, then," He agreed.

I ordered Yema to get me a needle and thread as Kaylee quickly cleaned up her mess. The two then left when they were done leaving the General and I alone again. I got closer to him as he removed his robe and was only left with the trousers he wore. His entire chest was exposed. Suddenly I regretted the offer I'd made.

Don't look at him. Don't look at him.

I took the robe from him and began to repair it. It wasn't such a big tear so it wouldn't take too long to fix.

I felt the General's eyes on me as I sew. I tried not to feel self-conscious as I worked away.

"I take it you're the one who made all the tapestries that hanging all around your house then?" He asked breaking the silence.

"Yes," I responded.

I soon finished repairing the robe and I handed it back to him.

"There I fixed it, it's as good as new now," I told him. He took it from me and inspected it for a moment. I expected him to put it back on so he wouldn't be exposed anymore.

"Mhmm," He started "I was about to say don't worry about fixing it, I'll just get new robes but thought about how fun it would be to have my wife do something for me." He then suddenly lowered his head before me.

"My Lord?" I questioned.

"Ayan I admit defeat." He said with a laugh like he'd been holding something back. "Call me a sadist if you want but I'm glad I punished you. If I hadn't I would have never got to see this side of you," he said his gaze on me was soft and passionate.

My eyes widened in surprise. "To think a day would come where I would see you defend a mere servant and offer to take punishment in their stead. And here I thought you didn't care about anyone else but yourself." He laughed to himself once more. "I think I've fallen in love with you again." He stated.

My heart began to beat rapidly as I continued to listen to him. However, I hadn't processed his last statement.

"If you had been this way from the beginning, there's no doubt in my mind you'd be pregnant with my child right now."

There was a moment of silence. It took a while to process everything he'd just said. My cheeks then reddened in embarrassment. What...what was this man saying? "Ah!" I cried out as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hand. I looked down and saw I had pricked my finger with the sewing needle I'd still been holding. Or perhaps more accurately instead of holding it, I was clutching tightly on to it for dear life as l listened to the General's shocking confession. It started to bleed.

"Let me have a look," he said as he took my hand in his.

"Don't worry about it." I tried to stop him.

He brought it up to his lips taking me by surprise as he suddenly put my finger in his mouth. I felt him suck it.

" Your grace, what are you doing!?" I shrieked as I tried to pull away. However, his grip on me was too strong.

He took it out of his mouth. "I'm just trying to stop the bleeding," he explained as if he was doing something completely innocent.

He inspected my hand for a moment. "You seem fine now." He commented referring to the blood that had stopped flowing. A satisfied grin then appeared on his face. He was playing with me. He then brought the hand to his mouth and kissed my palm, then moved it upwards as he proceeded to bite my wrist.

"Your grace!" I cried out again as I continued to try to pull away from him but his grip was firm on me. The grin on his face continued to grow wider.

"I noticed you've been having trouble looking at me ever since I removed my robe." He pointed out. My cheeks got redder. "What are you getting shy for all of a sudden? It's nothing you've never seen before." He teased.

He then brought my hand to his muscular chest making me touch it. He made me start from the top of his chest and moved my hand down making me feel every part of it.

My heart was racing, my mind was about to explode. I couldn't handle this any longer.

"Would you stop teasing me!" I begged him as I made to pull my hand away again. He finally let go of me, I then fell backward from the force landing on my back on the floor. I slowly began to crawl away from him.

No. This couldn't be happening. How was I going to get out of this? I thought to myself. I wouldn't be able to stop it. I couldn't.

He slowly came towards me. With each movement I made to move back away from him he moved closer to me.

"I know it's been a while since we've done this. A couple of months to be exact, but I never imagined you'd become so sensitive and shy like a virgin from the lack of attention."

I was most definitely not a virgin. In my previous life, I mean I'd had a one-night stand before I came to this world. Whilst I didn't have romantic feelings for the General, he had a sexy body which I would admit. That was why I was acting all shy, it was pure lust, but I wasn't going to give in to it.

He knelt right in front of me, his body towering over mine which still lay on the floor. He looked down at me for a moment. " We can make up for that lack of attention tonight." He whispered to me.

My eyes expanded in horror as the realization of my inescapable reality set in.