Chapter 113 - Any Time

Samuel could see the benefits and problems with having Jeff joining their training session. Unlike when Leo had come and watched every now and again, he never took part in the practice except for the one point in time when had been a bit too noisy for Clarice with his comments on the side and she made him join in to give him a reason to learn how to be quiet. 

Jeff on the other hand was actually taking part in the training session and this proved to be a touch distracting for Samuel because he had to keep track of two people now. He had expected it to be both of them on the side against Clarice, but she had insisted that having it setup that way would take the fun out of things and that it would work better for it to be free-game instead. They were free to spare with whoever they wanted. 

Jeff wasn't as good as Clarice in terms of physical combat abilities, but he wasn't as simple or laid back as his personality let on. Samuel still had a hard time keeping up with him and watching his actions to know what move he would be making next. That was somethin that Clarice had really been working on him with. If he could learn how to read his opponents movements before they moved to attack, he would have a better chance blocking and countering before they moved again. It wasn't as easy as she made it sound though. 

Also because there was someone else joining them, training was going to take longer than it had before. At the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit like Lena was adding extra things to make his schedule more packed when she couldn't be around. Did she not want him to be bored or did she want his preoccupied because there were things that she didn't want him poking into or doing while she wasn't around? 

He had noticed her recent strange behavior, but didn't know how to approach her about. Leo even seemed worried about her which made him think that it was something that she had dealt with before, he just wasn't sure what it was. 

The addition of having Jeff with him though might give him a little bit of freedom if he was taking on the same role that Clive or Romeo did. He was sure the other would agree to taking him to go and picking up the promise ring when it was ready. Doing that would take care of the concern of figuring out how to do it without Lena finding out what he was up to. 

"Jeff do you have to report back to Lena everything that I'm doing if I go anywhere off the estate?" He asked once training was over and they were taking a break. 

"I believe not unless it's an emergency or there's something that you would like me to let her know about." Jeff replied as he sipped his water thoughtfully. 

"It may come up later, but no such restrictions have been mentioned to me. Is there something you had in mind?" He asked. 

"Kind of." Samuel admitted as he watched Clarice reorganizing everything. She had said that she needed to set up the room differently if there would be more people in their training consistently. They didn't have nearly enough floorspace. 

"I got a present for Lena with the help of her father back when we went to go and get the wedding rings properly fitted. I was hoping to be able to pick it up without her finding out what I got her but I wasn't sure how I would be able to do that without her finding out." He explained briefly. 

"How thoughtful of you to think about getting her a gift for the engagement." Jeff remarked with a smile. 

"For that kind of thing, I don't think that it is something that we would have to let her know ahead of time where we are going. If you are worried about it being a problem though, I'm sure that you could report it to the boss so that someone from the family knows." he suggested trying think of a way around not having the princess find out beforehand what Samuel had gotten for her. 

"That might work since he was the one who helped me pick it out. I'm sure he wouldn't mind us going to get it if he knew about it." Samuel replied as he considered this idea. 

"Just let me know the date and time and I'll be there for you." Jeff assured the other as he finished the bottle of water that he had. 

"Thanks." Samuel told the other as he stood up. As much as he wanted to rest still after being tired from practice there were other things that he still needed to do. 

"Clarice, are you staying for dinner tonight since it is already so late?" Samuel asked as she continued to rearrange things. 

"Why not? Lena will be back in time, won't she?" Clarice asked, not stopping what she was doing as she spoke. 

"I think so. She said that she wouldn't be staying at the office too late tonight and that Clive would be coming to pick her up." Samuel replied. He could text her just in case though to make sure that she really would be coming home on time for dinner. 

"Good, then that will give me a chance to catch up and talk with her about a few things." Clarice replied as she dusted her hands off on her pants. She really needed to get someone to clean up the place. 

"What about you, Jeff?" he then asked turning to look over at his new guard who held his hands up. 

"Goodness no. Not yet at least will I be moving into that estate until everything is made official that I will be your new guard. Until then I am still staying in the second estate that's for the other servants and staff that don't work in the main house." He replied. He wasn't sure that the princess would mind him being invited, but he wouldn't automatically assume himself that he had that right as it very much felt like he would be overstepping boundaries he ought not to by doing such a thing. 

"Fair enough. So I guess I won't be seeing you again tonight?" 

"Nope, not unless you need anything. Although we should exchange numbers just in case you need to message me about something." Jeff told the other as he pulled his phone out. 

"Night or day I will be at your beck and call if you need anything at all." He told Samuel after they exchanged numbers. It felt a little bit over the top to hear the other say this, but he knew why he did. The rest of the Scarlet family worked at any hour of the day or not and once the engagement was official, Samuel was fairly certain that his work schedule would be changing as well.