When the door to the bathroom was shut close leaving Vivian standing alone in the room with a small pool of water at her feet, her hand slowly reached her lips to touch it. Feeling the softness as it had been chewed and sucked on. Her tongue darted out of her mouth again this time to feel the taste of his lips that lingered on hers. He had kissed her not once but twice in less than a minute.
Blood rushed both up and down her body. Though many men had sought to pursue Vivian, the girl had been nothing but oblivious to their subtle advances. Leonard, on the other hand, didn’t wait, he believed in getting things done when it had to be done, on his terms.
With her clothes wet, stepping out of the room was not an option. Not because she would end up dragging the water droplets all over the marble floor but also because she didn’t want to risk herself from being caught in the state she was in. She stood there waiting for the housekeeper to send someone with her clothes so that she could change into them. Minutes passed by which felt like seconds as Vivian was lost in thoughts which were filled up with her master’s thoughts when a fellow maid arrived at the door, knocking and pushing the door open.
“Did you fall in the tub?” the maid whispered with a worried look after seeing her drenched clothes and passed on her clothes to her.
“I uh-slipped,” Vivian replied as she dried herself with the towel Leonard had wrapped around her, “Thank you for bringing in the clothes, Hana,” to receive a small nod from the maid.
“Let me wait outside for you,” the maid named Hana closed the door.
Once Vivian had finished drying herself completely and changing into her dry set of clothes, she came out to see the maid standing with her head bowed and not far across the room Leonard sat in front of his desk with his legs crossed one over the other, the tips and the ends of his blonde hair still in the process of drying as he looked down on the parchment while writing something on it with a face filled with seriousness.
She didn’t know he was still here in the room. Vivian had thought after completing his bath and changing his clothes he would be going out to the town but seemed like she had thought wrong. The blush on her face still evident, she bowed her head along with the other maid in the room. Leonard turned to look at her, his eyes holding delight and mischief while his hand still holding the quill in his hand as he hadn’t completed writing the new edict that was asked by the council.
Jan, the housekeeper who had only arrived at the door looked at the atmosphere that had come to change between two particular individuals. The housekeeper who had been moved from Lord Nicholas’ mansion to Duke Carmichael was a vampire who was as smart as he came to be known as one of the employees of the Rune mansion. He was sent here for more than one reason by the current lord of Bonelake. His role wasn’t only to fulfill the duty of the housekeeper but also to keep an eye on the suspicious servants as his Lord believed there was someone who lived in the mansion who was still trying to kill the Duke as he had grown to be a vital figure in the council.
It was apparent that something had happened with the brunette maid to have her blushing under the Duke’s eyes when he looked in her direction. Call it curiosity that he wanted to know what was up but it wasn’t in his position to have the privilege to ask what was brewing. Nonetheless, the housekeeper swept his thoughts aside and opened his mouth to speak,
“Master, lunch has been prepared and is waiting at the dining room,” the housekeeper informed his master.
Leonard continued to keep his gaze on Vivian before his eyes moved to the housekeeper. His eyes suddenly sharp to make Jan know as if he knew exactly what thoughts his mind had. The housekeeper bowed his head deeply to convey his apologies over his intrusive expression, waiting until the Duke walked past him outside the door, heading to have lunch.
As the days went by, the day came to wash the clothes in the week. It was the time when the maids and other servants took their dirty clothes to the bank of the river where the water didn’t rush but flowed gently down to wash them. It was the area where most of them took to clean and wash too. Vivian along with the rest of the party of the workers of the mansion went to clean the clothes.
“Did you hear what Mr. Sullivan said last night when he arrived to have a meal with the master?” asked one of the maids who was beating he dress with the washing paddle.
“What was it?” Another asked.
“I don’t think master would like you women discussing it if he heard it-” a blonde woman named Movari began to be interrupted by the curious maid who wanted to know what was it.
“But he isn’t there here now, is he, aye? Yes, you were saying Mary,” Vivian saw Movari roll her eyes before continuing to clean her clothes.
Mary looked a little distracted before realizing she was being asked to say, “About that,” she got closer to the maid, “Benny who was serving the main course of the meal heard Mr. Sullivan bring up the discussion of changing the entire staff again,” Mary was nowhere whispering in her ears that everyone nearby had their ears picking up the information.
“He did? Does that mean we will be freed from here?” another servant asked hopefully. Since the day of the master and slave bond, things had turned awkward and difficult for the servants to voice anything in the fear of being killed, especially not after the Lord of Bonelake had killed one of them without any remorse. Nobody wanted to die.
“No, master has been adamant on not wanting to do it. Wouldn’t it be better though? I feel like someone’s always hovering over my shoulders, like Jan!” said Mary with a sigh, “I wish Paul hadn’t done it. Aren’t the council being harsh?”
“Haven’t they always been,” came another voice from the crowd of servants.
“Don’t speak of it!” Hana exclaimed taking the clothes she had finished washing, “The man is being dealt the way things are to be. You reap what you sow.”
“But Mary speaks the truth. Don’t you think so too, Hana? Most of us are here because of the money not that we aren’t but we cannot deny that it’s been more than a prison,” hearing this Vivian’s eyes snapped up to meet the maid’s eyes.
“You should be careful with what you speak, Evalangine,” Vivian spoke up from where she sat, picking up the dress she had worn two days ago and soaking it in the river, “Paul was accused only after the facts were verified by the council and the lord. Or is it that you aren’t satisfied with their decision. As hard as it is…some things are out of our hands. We all miss Paul but that doesn’t mean it is right to defend him when he’s…” as she trailed, her words only sunk to realize what it meant.
The lord might have told her that he would look into it, but would he really? She was a common girl, not to forget a human girl who was of no value. Why would anyone think of defending someone without a motive when they had a business of their own to do.
“What about his family?” Movari was the one to ask this time.
“We can only hope the council doesn’t include them into it,” said Vivian looking down the clothes and starting to wash it. The servants of the mansion were agitated because in two days of time Paul would be executed in the middle of the town and in front of all the men, women and children. It wasn’t that Vivian wasn’t worried about the man, in her heart she still believed he was innocent and was falsely framed.
“Get back to work you all! Jan is coming,” said a maid who sat farther from the bank of the river. Vivian wished she could ask Leonard about it but she was nervous to do it. It wasn’t a simple question that he was say yes and smile at it. Though weeks and months had begin to pass since the unfortunate tragedy, the wound was still fresh and open. She was also nervous because it was him. Close to a week had passed since Leonard had kissed her on her mouth. It hadn’t repeated but the man had been extremely nice to her, not that he wasn’t before but this felt different. It felt as if things had gone back to the way they were when they were little children. He hadn’t asked her to wash him but that didn’t mean he didn’t keep her around during his time in the mansion. As the house keeper arrived at the bank of the river, Vivian and the others kept their head down busying themselves in washing the clothes. Jan wasn’t a scary looking man, he looked average as a vampire but it was the things he did and reported. Unlike Paul who had been lenient in taking up others responsibilities, the new housekeeper was far from that. Right after he was appointed in the mansion, two maids and one male servant had disappeared, not to forget they had been caught talking about the previous housekeeper. This was one of the reasons no worker of the Carmichael preferred to talk to Jan, not that he minded it. “Vivian,” she heard the housekeeper call her name, “Get back to the mansion immediately,” there was no time for questions of why as he turned in the same speed he had come and left. Receiving a few worried looks from the servants, she headed back to the mansion with the bucket of clothes she had brought along with her.
