Music Recommendation: Very Elegant- (k)NoW_NAME
Darkness prevailed in the mansion's corridors as the earlier lit candles had melted and touched the surface they had been standing on. Eve tip-toed from her room and reached Rosetta's room. Slipping inside the room, she saw the vampiress whose arms were stretched wide on the bed while she comfortably slept on her front.
"Rosetta, wake up," Eve nudged the vampiress, who moved her lips while murmuring something under her breath.
"... mm, I want a buttery marmalade bread, with a side of warm blood tea... Refine it..." Rosetta murmured as she dreamt.
Eve turned to look at the wall and saw there was still time before the clock struck five in the morning, but the vampiress had to wake up if she was planning to woo Eugene. She doubted Blythe would know that her mistress's daughter had woken up this early.
"Rosetta," Eve shook Rosetta's arm with much more force. "Rosetta!" She called the vampiress's name a little louder.
"Ugh?!" Rosetta woke up startled, and on seeing Eve, she said groggily, "It is you, Eve. What are you doing here? Come sleep," she scooted to the side and closed her eyes again.
Eve sighed and said, "Eugene is getting married to a mai--"
"WHAT?!" Rosetta's eyes snapped open and she sat upright on her bed. "To whom?!" She asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"He will if you don't wake up. Wear your coat and come with me. We need to finish this job before Blythe wakes up and finds you out of bed," Eve pulled the blanket from Rosetta.
Rosetta suddenly turned energetic and she got out of her bed. She then demanded, "Someone get my coat!" When Eve stared at her, she sheepishly smiled, "I can get it myself..."
Eve sighed internally and advised, "You need to show that you are self sufficient, and don't need maids or servants to do your work. That you will be able to do it yourself."
She knew Rosetta couldn't change her behaviour in a day or a week, but little progress would help tone down her arrogance and prideful nature because of the status she had grown up with. Seeing her friend looking for her coat as if she didn't notice it hanging on the back of the chair, Eve pointed, "The chair, Rosetta."
Rosetta laughed, "Of course, I remember placing it on the chair! I was looking for a scarf." She quickly padded towards the chair, picking up her coat and wearing it. She then tied the straps around her waist and when she was about to wear her shoes, Eve stopped her,
"You don't need that. You will walk barefoot."
"I will?" Rosetta asked Eve in doubt.
Eve nodded, "As this will be your first time to mop the floor, it would be best to avoid you from falling."
"But... if I were to fall and Eugene catches me, wouldn't it be wonderful? Can you imagine it?" Rosetta started to dream with a wide and creepy smile forming on her lips.
Eve pursed her lips and wondered if they should use that card, "How about for now we focus on mopping the floor and then think about him catching you in his arms?"
A hopeful Rosetta exclaimed, "I am ready!"
Eve and Rosetta made their way to the part of the mansion where Eugene had already started to work. Eugene wasn't aware of the fact that Eve was helping Rosetta.
Taking a quick peek, she leaned back and whispered to the vampiress,
"Don't forget what I told you, and be careful. If I see Blythe or anyone who causes problems, I will let you know, and you need to leave the corridor."
Rosetta nodded her face in full seriousness. Eve couldn't help but think that the vampiress looked like an earnest cute child, "I won't disappoint you, Eve! Today is the day I will make Eugene fall for me!"
Eve patted Rosetta's back and gave her thumbs up, and watched her friend make her way to where Eugene was.
In a hurry to leave the room, Rosetta hadn't found time to comb her hair and realising how her hair might look like a bird's nest, she turned around to go back to her room so that she could fix her hair.
But before that, Eugene caught sight of her and greeted her, "Good morning, Lady Rosetta."
Rosetta froze in her place and looked for her friend's help, but Eve seemed to have disappeared out of her sight. The vampiress gingerly turned around to meet Eugene's black eyes. How could she have forgotten to comb her hair?! It could be because, usually, it was her maids who helped her brush and tie her hair to look pretty. What would her Eugene think?! She hoped he wouldn't reject her for this reason. The horror and anxiety was getting to her! The vampiress thought in panic.
"G--good morning, Eugene. Did you have a good sleep?" Rosetta asked in a stiff voice.
"I did, milady. Thank you for asking me. How about you? I must say, I am surprised to see you wake up this early in the morning," Eugene didn't seem fazed by her untidy appearance and looked at her the way he usually did.
Eugene's lack of expression made Rosetta wonder if perhaps it was because he was a human and couldn't see that clearly in the dark, which was why he didn't react to her ghastly appearance now. She cleared her throat and said,
"How could I not after what we decided. If I cannot do the bare minimum, my love for you would be shamed. It was a sense of duty to wake up!" Rosetta could feel Eugene stare at her, and she stiffened. Did he catch her lie?
Eugene noticed that Rosetta wasn't walking strangely anymore and whatever back pain she had must have gotten better since the last time he saw her in the dining room.
"I see. How about we start with the work?" Eugene suggested, and Rosetta readily nodded. He offered the mop he held and said, "Take this. I will use the other mop I brought with me. You can start moping from here, and I will take the opposite end. So that we can meet in the middle. Let me teach you how to use the mop."
Rosetta was eager to spend time with Eugene, and internally she felt her heart was bursting with joy. Alone time with him, what else could she ask for? To spend time with him, she would wake up many more mornings.
She saw him pick another mop on the ground, and he returned to her, where she stood next to the bucket of water. He said,
"You hold it like this and move it across the floor," Eugene demonstrated how to mop. "Make sure to squeeze out the water from the cloth properly and also clean it well when you dip it in the bucket. You need to make sure there's no footprint of people and no dirt brought by the people walking."
Rosetta diligently nodded, keenly listening to him. Eugene made moping look so effortless that the vampiress believed she could do it single-handedly. She couldn't show him the shiny floors with her mopping skills, she nodded in confidence.
