Though Eve had already heard from Timotei about Marceline's foot, nothing could beat the sight that was in front of her. Which was even after Alfie had explained it to her and Vincent. Even though the foot had been severed, one could still see the sliminess and the pus from the skin fall on the clean ground.
The detached foot was not only decayed from the outer side, but it had decayed until the bone as if reflecting Marceline's true nature. There was also blood on the floor.
Marceline felt cornered, as she was on the floor, while the lowly beings were standing. The butler and the maid stood outside her room, watching the pitiful state she had been reduced to. She then cried to Lady Annalise,
"Mother! Look what the witch did to me! She cursed my foot even though I was only taking a stroll!"
After the many conflicts, Eve could see how Marceline liked to twist and change details so that people could look at her as if she was the victim of this brutal world.
Lady Annalise recovered from the shock and asked, "How and when did this happen, Marcie?"
Marceline looked up at her mother, "It happened yesterday at noon. I thought it was a little itchy in the beginning, but now--"she hiccuped, unable to complete her sentence.
Lady Annalise snapped her head to look at the butler and ordered, "What are you doing standing there? Go fetch Mr. Pepper now!"
Marceline's tears quickly dried up when she heard the physician's name, whom she had visited. She shook her head, "This is a curse, mother! The physician cannot help fix it back, but only a witch can help."
Vincent sat down on his heels and took a closer look at Marceline's footless leg, which was still attached to her body. He innocently asked her, "What are you talking about, sister?" and asked, "Where did you hear it from?"
Marceline was a mess, and her lips moved, but no sound came. Lady Annalise glared at Alfie, "Go now!"
"Yes, milady!" Alfie bowed and quickly left to fetch Mr. Pepper, the physician.
Lady Annalise asked Marceline, "Why didn't you tell anyone about it yesterday or this morning? Where is that witch?"
Marceline shook her head and said, "I don't know. How would I know where to find that witch, mother?"
Marceline felt Eve's stare. She turned to look away from her mother and demanded, "What is she doing here? Send her out of this room!"
"Calm down, Marceline. Eve isn't here to cause you any harm," Vincent calmly said.
Mr. Pepper arrived at the same time when Viscount Eduard entered the room after being informed by the servants about the uproar that was taking place in one of his daughter's rooms.
"What happened to your leg, Marcie?" Viscount Eduard asked in disbelief, when he noticed Marceline missing a foot.
Seeing her father, Marceline cried more and she said, "Father, please help me! Please fix my foot!" The vampiress couldn't step out of the mansion to search another witch, not with one leg. She was desperate for help.
A deep frown came to settle on the Viscount's face, and he shared a brief look with his son, who looked least bothered by his sister's condition.
"Oh, dear!" Mr. Pepper exclaimed on seeing Marceline's separated foot. "Why haven't you cut it like I told you?" He asked with concern.
"Cut?" Marceline repeated as if she hadn't heard it. "You cannot expect me to cut my foot!"
"Hm? Mr. Pepper, you already gave her the suggestion?" Vincent asked in a slightly surprised voice.
Before the physician could reply, Marceline shouted at him, "Go back! I don't need your help!"
Mr. Pepper nervously looked at the people gathered in the room. When the room turned quiet, Viscount Eduard scolded the physician, "Why haven't you prescribed the medicines like you usually do?"
"Oh, I did, Viscount Eduard," Mr. Pepper bowed, and he continued, "But I also told her that the infection she got from insects in the garden shou--"
"From the garden?" Lady Annalise asked, shifting her gaze from Marceline to the physician and then back at Marceline, whose face turned redder than it had already. "You lied to the physician who could help you?"
"Ah! I was wondering why it looked like that. It looks like one of the witch's skin or wounds," Mr. Pepper nodded in realisation. "She told me that it was from the garden, which is why I gave her the medicine three or four days ago."
The frown on Lady Annalise's head deepened, and she questioned Marceline, "What are you hiding, Marceline?"
Marceline asked innocently with her glistening eyes, "About what? I did get cursed by a witch and need my leg to be fixed!"
Vincent clicked his tongue, receiving everyone's attention in the room, and he commented, "One shouldn't tell lies one cannot keep up, sister."
"You are the one making up things!" Marceline feigned ignorance and said, "I have lost my foot and instead of consoling and looking for ways to help me, you are accusing me."
Mr. Pepper remarked in the corner, "Lady Marceline, you should have told Mr. Moriarty sooner. You wouldn't have lost so much." He quickly went quiet when Marceline glared at him.
As if she didn't suffer enough, this physician was adding salt to her open wounds, and time was ticking. With every passing minute, more tissue in her leg was getting infected by the curse.
Viscount Eduard sighed in frustration. He turned and asked Mr. Pepper, "Is there a way to heal her leg?"
Mr. Pepper shook his head, "No medicine will help the lady, Sire. The only remedy is to amputate the leg before the curse catches the rest of her body."
Marceline yelled, "NO! I am not cutting my leg!" She then looked at her brother with pleading eyes, "Please help me! Bring me back my leg!"
"Alfie, take Mr. Pepper to the drawing room. We'll call him if we need his help," Viscount Eduard stated, and saw the physician leave. He then asked his son, "Vincent, do you know what happened to your sister?"
Vincent offered a smile to his father and said, "It is true that Marceline is in this situation because a witch cursed her. But it isn't because she got there by mistake, but because she went looking for a witch to fix her fangs. Isn't that right, Marcie?"
"Once a vampire gets defanged, I know that it cannot come back. Why would I go to a witch?!" Marceline questioned him back.
Vincent chuckled and replied, "Two councilmen found you in Palavista who killed one of the witches. They would be happy to agree that they were kind enough to see you in the carriage. Safely," Vincent explained, his red eyes focussed on Marceline. He said to his parents, "She did something she was not supposed to do. And somehow, the curse backfired and she took the short end of the stick."
Lady Annalise, who had always been on Marceline's side until now, asked her in a disappointed voice, "Did you try to curse someone with the witch's help?"
"Why would I do something like that at all? I am not so vile as to do something so low," Marceline sobbed, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Vincent knew that whatever Marceline was trying was turning back at her, and he knew one way to fix this.
Wondering if his sister had tried to reverse the curse, he said, "Marceline, there's only one way to get the curse reversed. It has five points. Cut the branch of an unbroken tree, kill a person, kill an animal and repeat the curse that you first gave out with the right witch or witcher."
So the witcher had indeed skipped it! Marceline cursed in her mind.
Lady Annalise once again asked Marceline patiently, "Did you curse someone, Marcie? We need to reverse the curse and you need to tell us the truth."
Marceline couldn't tell the truth. But at the same time, she couldn't sit quietly when she knew all the doors had closed for her and the only door left open was family. Only they could help her.
"Marceline, if you have cursed someone it is time to come clean, so that we can figure out what to do," Eduard pushed his daughter for a reply.
