Quite the opposite actually.

"Hardly, Ms. Mevan." I sighed heavily, taking my face into my hands. "How, how did this all start?"

They exchanged a look with each other. "Which, Mr. McKay? Our Relationship or my Collar?" Ms. Mevan asked.

"Either? Both? I..." I sighed again and turned my palms skywards.

"Perhaps we'd better start at the beginning then," Samuel said, helping himself to a cup of tea. "I was born a year, maybe two, before Rebecca was, already into the Mevan's service as my parents were. My father was an overseer in the fields while my mother served as a house servant. And when Rebecca was born, my mother was also tasked to be her wetnurse. Ever since then, the two of us were inseperable." His smile vanished and he sighed. "But I never forgot our stations, Mr. McKay. As close as we were, it was always 'Yes, Ms. Rebecca', even though I was older than her."

"We grew, as one does, but so did my father's fortune," Ms. Mevan added, glumly. "By this time, Samuel and I had already developed feelings for one another, and I had overheard my father discussing with his solicitors and financiers what an appropriate sum would be for my bride price."

"I see," I nodded. "And at this time, were the two of you already..."

"No, no. Nothing more than chaste kisses in secret meetings by the well, Mr. Mckay. No matter how we felt towards each other, it would be impossible for a Mistress and her Servant to have that sort of Relationship." Samuel said, that small smile of his returning. "Fortunately however, it was also the time when the matter of Mr. Mevan's Public Image came to question. He was of the opinion that by employing his slaves, would cast him into a more pro-humanitarian light, and that he would be the forefront of the workforce, believing that he'd have more productivity and returns from people that wanted to work for him, instead of being **** to work for him. Thus, in a few weeks, I had been given my freedom and was gainfully employed, to replace my father in his later days. God rest his soul."

"Unfortunately, that did not change the fact that Samuel is what he is," Ms. Mevan sighed, taking Samuel's hand in hers. "No matter how hard we could have wished, there was no chance that my father would allow us to be together. And we had always known that we would be each other's First and Only, so one night, when my parents had been out to a gala or some such event, Samuel and I had crept out to... discover each other."

The room echoed with the sounds of clearing throats and light coughing.