Music Recommendation: Elizabethan Masque- Fredrico Bayco
In one of the Moriarty mansion's guest rooms, Rosetta sat with a bowl behind the wooden divider. The sound of retching could be heard from where Eugene stood next to the trolley of food that was half eaten by the vampiress.
A small frown marred Eugene's face, and he asked in concern, "Milady, are you alright? Would you perhaps want me to bring in the physician who must be in the mansion?"
"No, no!" Rosetta quickly replied, while she scrunched her face because of the bitter taste in her throat and mouth. He had seen her like this once, and she didn't want him to see her like this again. As if to clear the possible doubt, she said, "I didn't sleep enough since the last two days and I have been feeling unwell since...many hou--" she was interrupted by the need to throw up again. "It has nothing to do with alcohol, but the food..."
"I understand... I am sorry to hear that, Lady Rosetta. Maybe you should drink some water and you will feel much better after that," Eugene advised her.
"Okay..." came the tired voice of Rosetta, and she placed the bowl on the ground before stepping away from the wooden divider, while wiping her lips with her handkerchief. She took the glass of water he offered her, drank it one sip at a time and handed it back. "Thank you," said the vampiress, who couldn't look Eugene in the eye.
"It would be best for you to rest and get better, and worry about other things later," Eugene advised her.
Without protesting, Rosetta removed her shoes and climbed into the bed in the same dress that she had been in for the last few hours. Once she slipped inside the blanket, Eugene informed her,
"I will bring you food later once your stomach settles in," ready to leave the room.
"I can eat the rest of the food," came the weak voice from Rosetta, who looked visibly tired. When she saw Eugene stare her way, she added, "I won't waste it."
Eugene stared back at her, and he gave her a nod, "Okay, but you don't need to force yourself if you don't feel like eating now." He pushed the trolley near the table.
"Eugene?"
"Yes, milady?"
Rosetta pursed her lips before requesting, "Will you stay with me? I mean now... just until I fall asleep."
"I can do that," Eugene surprised her with his answer, and a weak smile made to her lips.
"You can use the chair from the table and sit here. Next to the bed..." Rosetta's hopeful voice trailed.
"I don't think it would be right to do that. I am a servant, and you are the Marquee and Marchioness's daughter," Eugene reminded her.
"The door is closed. You can lock it so that no one enters and sees you. Besides... I think we are equal, or will be equal because I am going to be a very poor person," Rosetta responded to him. "Please?"
"You are a troublesome woman, Lady Rosetta," Eugene replied with a straight face, and Rosetta's already wilted self turned almost crumpled. She watched him leave, walking towards the door, but he didn't leave like she imagined he would. Instead, his hand reached for the doorknob, and he locked it.
And though he had agreed to accompany her, Rosetta was slightly bruised by his previous words, and she said, "It is okay if you don't want to sit next to me... I will understand," and she pulled the blanket closer to her face, while her eyes teared.
"Not only are you troublesome, but also a child," Eugene remarked, and this time Rosetta's eyes widened. The last thing she wanted to hear was that the person she loved thought her to be a spoiled little child.
Rosetta let go of the blanket she had been gripping and sat upright on the bed.
With Rosetta's body and mind weak, she complained, "I am not a spoiled child, Eugene. I have been a responsible woman. If you don't want to stay, you can le--"
"Please lay down again. Or it will be hard for me to stay here," Eugene's expression didn't change, but his guard had lowered around the young woman. When she listened to him, he said, "No one spoke about you being spoiled. It was about you being a child, when I have already decided to stay back. There's no need to behave as if you don't want me here."
Rosetta buried herself further in the blanket, covering up until her nose, letting her eyes free so that she could see Eugene. Seconds passed to minutes, and silence filled the room. She hoped her mother wouldn't come knocking in her room, and even if she did, she and Eugene would need to quickly spin a lie that he was here only to give her a meal.
At the same time, with how she had embarrassed her family and knowing her parents, Rosetta knew they wouldn't be paying a visit to her today.
The vampiress's eyes moistened, and she turned her back towards Eugene before tears slid down her eyes and soaked the pillow's surface. All these years, like many other vampiresses, she hadn't thought about what was going on. But now that she could see it clearly, she was hurt. Realising she had only been a doll.
Rosetta, who had been too eager to show off her family name, now couldn't help but be bitter about it. People knew her only as the Marquee and the Marchioness's daughter. She didn't have an identity of her own.
"Forgive me if my words have been harsh," Eugene apologised. Rosetta quickly shook her head.
"You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing at all," the young vampiress whispered. "I will be alright," the words were for her rather than for him to hear.
After a while, Rosetta felt like she had forced Eugene to stay with her, and she turned to look at him and said, "You might be needed in the kitchen tonight. You should go, I will be fine."
Eugene noticed the sadness in Rosetta's eyes and said, "If they needed me, one of them would have come to fetch me. You needn't hide things or put up a front, Lady Rosetta. I am sure even Miss Eve would appreciate it. I have been working since morning, I don't think Alfie would mind me taking a little break."
Rosetta's eyes lowered. Somewhere, her mind was more relaxed, knowing Eugene was sitting in the room willingly instead of bolting out of the room. She wondered how to escape the shadows of her parents that had followed her since her birth. She decided that one day, she would make an identity of her own.
"Lady Rosetta," Eugene addressed her, and Rosetta looked no less than a rabbit that had come out of its burrow. He said, "Things might be hard today, but it won't be that hard tomorrow."
"Can I... apply that with you too?" The young vampiress timidly asked for his permission, and Eugene stared at her. It seemed like love was the only thing that revolved in her mind, but he could only guess it because she had been starved of it. "I was just asking. I will--"
"You can. If that's what you want."
Rosetta's eyes widened.
Was that hope glimmering next to her? Even though the expression on Eugene's face didn't change, she couldn't help but smile. Her day was already bright without having to wait for the hours to pass.
