The attendant's eyes widened with Elys' startling pleasantries. He expected her to be the same as she had been last night – a fallen noble with pride – but the woman in front of him seemed the complete opposite.
Elys smiled at Henry, and he quickly regained his composure in a matter of seconds, keeping his apprehension in check.
She was sharp enough to have noticed, but chose to let it slide. Even if Henry wasn't ever going to be loyal to her, she still must get into his better end.
That was a more sensible choice than showing him animosity.
"Your highness," he bowed down to greet her. "The table is set, follow me."
On her way down, a ten-feet tall portrait of a dashing man in his mid-thirties with a young boy sitting on his lap caught her attention. Elys stopped in her tracks for a while to absorb the painting in front of her.
She squinted her eyes, trying to connect the strokes where many slashes had destroyed the canvas. The natural skylight above the portrait made it a sight one couldn't miss even if they were half blind.
By the looks of it, the man who looked like he was decapitated with the slashed canvas was probably the crazy king of the West Kingdom. The very man that decided to wed a slave to his bastard son.
Elys cocked her head to the right, a soft hum coming out of her mouth. Her eyes trailed off towards the boy, the child's face intact and safe from the slashes.
Aleksander looked much lovelier when he smiled, a deep set of dimples digging on his left cheek. In the very least he looked adorable in his boyhood.
Too bad that the prince right now wasn't pleasant to be with at all.
"Henry," Elys said after a few seconds of pondering, "where is the prince right now?"
"In his bedchamber, I presume. He is usually not up at this early hour in the morning, your highness," Henry replied, "Prince Aleksander isn't the type that enjoys much of human food in most occasions, so I only prepared your highness' breakfast."
"He only wants blood, you mean," she added nonchalantly.
"Yes…" the old man sighed, as if reminded by the fact that he must find a blood servant as soon as possible.
They continued to walk towards the dining room, and Henry pulled out her chair. The attendant went to the adjacent kitchen, and then wheeled in a simple meal for Elys' breakfast.
"Then without a blood servant, how will he get his daily sustenance?" she asked as he poured her a glass of water.
"It is a bit difficult, but the young prince prefers to abstain until I find someone else to fill in the job. It is a must that he feeds on a daily basis, or else…" Henry trailed off, leaving Elys to speculate on her own regarding how abstinence on blood could affect a vampire.
She took a sniff of the meal, her nose crinkling for a second with apprehension. Perhaps they were poisoned, perhaps not. She wouldn't be able to tell with the cutleries not being silver.
Maybe she should just keep away from food prepared by people she didn't trust for now.
"Very well," Elys said as she gazed at the food in front of her – eggs and sausage, a bit of broccoli which she hated, "we will go out to get him the blood servant he needs before he awakes."
"!"
Henry was stunned with Elys' decision. She was willing to skip her meal and immediately go look for a blood servant for the prince? It wasn't her job to do.
Despite her being a former slave to the Western Kingdom, she was still the wife of the king's second son.
The princess stood up, the chair scraping the marble floors with her sudden movement.
"But your highness -" Henry objected, but was cut off with Elys' firmly raised hand.
"I don't believe you would want to, but trust me on this," she said. "Even the prince said it himself…"
The princess smiled cunningly at Henry with her open-ended comment.
Suddenly, he remembered what Prince Aleksander had said last night – a maidservant and a blood servant in one woman. It was an arrangement that hit two birds with one stone.
A bit unconventional, but with the limited budget that the king provided the prince, two servants were the maximum he could get.
"I have mentioned it last night as well that I needed a maidservant," she reiterated as she crossed her arms and began walking away with quick strides, "I am not doing this purely out of goodwill. I also have my own agenda to satisfy."
"You must not go out the manor, your highness," Henry insisted as he clambered to stop her, "let me find the woman you need. I will make haste and bring her here."
The princess raised her brows, a bit apprehensive whether the attendant was even willing to leave his master and Elys unattended in the manor.
Seeing Henry's serious expression, Elys gave him instructions where he would find Cordelia from the slave's encampment.
He raised a brow at the mention of the place he needed to go, but the old man took it upon himself to keep his opinions inside his head.
He was that much in need for a new blood servant as soon as possible.
He quickly ran off and took a horse to the outskirts of the kingdom, riding as fast as he could before the young master awoke.
Nearing the slave's encampment, Henry met a guard by the entrance and directly asked for the overseer.
There were a lot of slaves at work today, and he didn't have a clue who was who. Prince Aleksander's wife only gave him a name and a few distinct descriptions.
That wasn't much help at all, but he would have to make do.
A new blood servant was his priority now, and that was what he would get.
+++
A/N: Need help. What age should Cordelia be? I was thinking of having her and Henry being around the same age. Maybe late forties for Cordelia and early fifties for Henry? About less than 10yrs of age gap, around 6 maybe? Let me know what you think!