Music Recommendation: Flat Assault- John Powell
Lady Camille couldn't believe that her niece had been lying to her, saying she was attending soirees, only to spend time in the company of the worthless humans. Not just any humans, but ones that came from the lower side of the society, from the town of Meadow.
She glared at Rosetta's letter that was addressed to the lowly governess, Genevieve Barlow. The letter read--
'My dear friend Eve,
Thanks to you, I have made wonderful memories in Skellington and didn't feel alone during my stay here. It seems that we were meant to meet each other, which is how I have come to learn what my heart wants. I also understand what a friend means.
I don't know when I will be visiting Skellington again, but not anytime soon. I hope we can keep in touch, and I would like your approval that concerns my heart.'
Heart? Lady Camille stared at the word and asked what this was about. Did the human know something Rosetta's own family didn't?! The letter continued with Rosetta's outrageous ideas of staying in touch with the human, and how she felt about the place.
"Prepare the carriage to go to Moriarty mansion," Lady Camille sternly ordered her butler, who wondered what happened. He quickly obliged and left from there.
Lady Camille murmured, "It seems like simple warnings don't work on humans and they think they can outdo the warnings."
Soon the carriage was prepared, and the woman rode towards the Moriarty mansion, which by carriage was only two minutes away from her own mansion. When the carriage did reach right outside the pureblooded vampire's mansion's gates, where the governess was teaching, the carriage stopped.
"What's the matter? Go inside," came the vampiress's impatient voice to her coachman.
The coachman politely replied, "Milady, it looks like the guards at the gates aren't there. Let me go pull the gates."
Lady Camille was too hot-headed to wait for the coachman to get down, open the gates and then get back on the carriage. She huffed,
"It is fine. I will go myself."
In time, the coachman quickly got down from his seat and pulled open the carriage door for the impatient lady to get down. The vampiress walked straight inside the little passage next to the gates. Her posture was proud, and her face held an arrogance that matched most of the vampiress who belonged to high society.
Lady Camille reached the mansion's entrance and saw the butler, who was getting the front stand cleaned by the servant. Noticing the familiar woman, who had come to have supper along with the Marquee's family, he bowed and greeted her.
"Good evening, milady. How can I help you?"
Alfie wondered if the woman was here to discuss matters concerning Vincent's marriage to her niece. At the moment, his master wasn't here in the mansion, and in the family, only Lady Annalise and Senior Mr. Moriarty were in the mansion, while Lady Marceline had gone to her friend's house.
"I am here to meet the governess," came the crisp words from Lady Camille. She raised her eyebrows and questioned, "Is she in here?"
The governess? Alfie asked in his mind. He nodded, "Ms. Barlow is in the piano room teaching Miss Allie. Would you like to sit in the parlour room, milady, while I fetch Ms. Barlow for you?"
Lady Camille gave it a thought before replying, "Yes." It was better for the lowly human to come to her instead of a woman like herself looking for the governess.
Alfie bowed again and led the woman to the parlour room of the mansion. Making her sit in one of the cushioned chairs, he asked politely,
"Would you like to drink something?"
"No, my visit here is short and I don't intend to stay here too long," Lady Camille stated without looking at the butler, and she sat still, waiting for him to leave.
Alfie noticed the parchment the vampiress held in her hand and wondered if someone had mentioned something was happening between his master and Ms. Barlow. He stepped out of the room and started to walk towards the piano room. But midway, he was approached by a maid, who looked tense.
"What happened, Tabitha?" Alfie inquired with the maid.
"The new servant, Erin. She dropped the jar of flour in the pot without realising it and Lady Annalise wants the dish prepared in less than twenty minutes and Cook is not happy about it," the maid nervously informed him.
Alfie looked back and forth before nodding, "Let me check it." He went along with the maid to the kitchen.
In the piano room, the young vampiress and Eve continued knitting, where they had made quite a progress. Eve looked at Allie, whose ball of wool had turned into a threaded mess as the little girl had unwinded all of it by creating a messy pile.
Eve didn't try to fix it, as Allie seemed to like to unroll the entire ball of wool and looked happy.
As Eve continued to fiddle with her wooden needles and the wool, her thoughts returned to what happened last night with Vincent. This morning, after reaching the mansion, she had run towards the piano room, hoping to avoid him. She needed some more time to shake her thoughts away from her mind. But like the woollen thread she sewed to form a mesh, Vincent's actions had sewed into her mind.
Eve didn't know why Vincent was using her for his amusement by messing with her.
Looking at Allie, she gently advised, "You know, if you want, you can add another colour to it."
At first, the little girl shook her head but then changed her mind and said, "I will get another wool."
"Okay," Eve replied with a smile, watching the little girl get up from the piano bench and leave the room.
At the same time, Lady Camille, who was waiting for the lowly human, ran out of patience. She got up from her seat, and stepped out of the room. On seeing a servant, she demanded,
"Where is the piano room?"
The servant bowed and replied, "You have to go straight and then up the stairs, milady. Then take a right. It is the fourth room."
Lady Camille started to walk, making her way to where the human governess was, to teach her a lesson so that the human would never associate herself with any other high-class people. Crossing the corridors, she finally reached the front of the piano room. The door was open, and she caught sight of the lowly being sitting on one end of the piano bench.
"You have some nerve to not heed to my earlier words," said Lady Camille, and Eve raised her head to see who had spoken.
Eve stood up from the bench and asked the woman slightly confused, "Excuse me?"
Lady Camille stepped inside the room and said, "I told you to stay away from my niece, but it looks like you don't have the ability to understand it."
"Miss Rosetta isn't here anymore and I was never the one to seek her," Eve clarified to the vampiress, who scowled at her. She said, "Your niece has a mind of her own, and you should know it better than me, considering you are her family."
"Do you think I am a child, who will believe your words? Are you so eager to climb the social ladder that you decided to latch on to Rosetta and use her?" Lady Camille raised her eyebrows.
Eve frowned and replied, "I am in a better place, and don't need to climb anywhere, Lady Camille."
Lady Camille scoffed at Eve's words and mocked, "You are a mere governess, and Rosetta is the daughter of a Marquee. Someone who comes from a higher position."
"It is something I am already aware of. Is that what you came to tell me?" Eve already knew the difference and didn't know why the woman was even here when Rosetta had returned with her parents.
Lady Camille threw the letter at Eve, which didn't hit her, but it wavered and fell on the bench. Coming to fall on top of the messy pile of woollen thread that Allie had pulled open. The vampiress angrily questioned,
"What have you both been doing together? What is this heart that she mentioned?!"
Noticing the parchment of a letter lying near her, Eve bent to pick it up.
And while picking the letter up, something pricked her finger that she didn't realise with the angry woman in front of her. The prick was from the metal needles Allie had earlier stuffed inside the mess, drawing a drop of blood from Eve's finger to fall next to the wool.
The pain being negligible, Eve didn't take note of it, and she picked up the letter and started to read it. While Lady Camille didn't notice the scent as she was angry.
In the meantime, Alfie returned to the parlour room to apologise to the lady for the delay. But on noticing the room to be empty, he came to believe the woman had left the mansion.
Back in the piano room, Lady Camille continued to accuse Eve,
"Is she seeing someone behind our back? You better answer what Rosetta meant with those words. After all, the letter obviously was written to you!"
Eve shook her head in slight confusion, not knowing what or when anything regarding heart happened with Rosetta. She replied,
"I do not know what Rosetta means. I don't see any reason to hide it from you, especially if what you say about me climbing ladders is true."
Allie, who had stepped away from the piano room, returned with the ball of wool. Hearing the little footsteps, Lady Camille turned and smiled at the young vampiress, "I need to talk to your governess for a little while alone, why don't you go out and play?"
Eve noticed Allie looking at her with a blank yet guarded expression. She gave a nod of approval to the little one, who didn't spare a word to the older vampiress and left the piano room.
Still standing near the entrance of the room, Lady Camille pushed the door to close it, and Eve's eyes narrowed.
