"P-please. Don't." The young girl softly spoke, her tiny fingers wrapped around the man's big ones, as she continued to struggle for air. Her doe-like eyes stared into the depths of the man's cold and empty sapphire blue eyes. A small drop of tear rolled down her cheeks as the man's grip slightly loosened around her neck.
"Demetri!" The young girl could hear Marion shouting and pounding on the door behind her.
Marion bursts through the door, as the young girl felt the last bit of her remaining strength drain from her body. The woman's frail body fell to the floor as darkness enveloped her vision.
—
In the same gloomy room, Marion stood with a serious demeanor. After taking the unconscious girl back to the servant's quarters, Marion returned to the master's room to clean up the bucket of soapy water which had now stained the wooden floors.
"Would you like to tell me what that was about? Where did your injury come from? I thought you were attending a gathering at the Crawfords?" Marion said in a stern tone as she picked up the fallen bucket and proceeded to mop the floors.
Silence filled the air as the man was in deep thought, not seeming to even hear what Marion had said.
The man had now changed out of his blood drenched dress shirt and dress pants into a pair of black silk pajamas. After a few more moments of silence, Marion stood up, growing impatient with the man, she looked strictly at him as she continued, "Demetrius Delmonte! I am talking to you."
"Where did she come from?" The man asked in a low husky whisper with confusion written on his face.
"Does that matter? Demetri, you almost killed the girl just now. Do you think you should be asking questions right now?" Marion said, frustratingly as she got closer to him. "We just lost Cinthia not long ago. If you kill this girl, I am not going to find you a new cleaner!" Speaking what was on her mind, with a heavy sigh, Marion returned her attention to mopping the soapy water off the ground.
In an instant, the room suddenly turned cold, a dark aura filling the room. "Don't think I won't kill you with that mouth of yours." Demetri said coldly, his gaze piercing through the woman before him.
"What games are you trying to play now? Kill me?" Marion let out a chuckle. "I dare you to." She continued to say with a scoff. "Get some rest. Your wound will heal by tomorrow. We can talk then."
Ignoring the man, Marion focused her attention on her task and continued to mop up the spill on the floor.
With a soft sigh, the man slowly crawled to his bed. His mind drifted off to the petite woman earlier. Her emerald green eyes and scarlet red hair was so familiar yet felt so distant. Recalling the tiny drop of tear that slipped down her face and her beautiful doe-like eyes, the man was reminded of a woman he had met many lifetimes ago. A woman who had tortured him in living and even after her death.
Scarlett. The name rang over and over in his mind as he struggled to untangle the feelings of hate and guilt that had long intertwined in his lonely heart for thousands of years. Trying his best to shake off the exhausting thoughts, the man closed his eyes in hopes of getting some rest.
Seeing the man lying on his bed with shut eyes, Marion gathered the cleaning supplies. Before shutting the room lights, she turned towards the man and spoke, "Ah, one more thing. The girl does not have a name yet. I hope you can fix that problem tomorrow." Darkness filled the room as she closed the door behind her. At that moment, the man's eyes shot open. For the remainder of the night, the man tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.
—
Morning arrived as the young girl felt her body naturally waking up. As her mind became more and more awake, recollections of last night's events ran through her mind, causing the girl's eyes to widen as she sprang up from her sleeping position. To her utter surprise, she saw the man from last night, sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of her cramped up room, just staring at her.
"Ah!" Throwing the pillow she slept on at the man, she jumped out of the bed trying to make her way to the door.
As she ran past the man, he grabbed her by the arm, "Not so fast, bunny." He said as he effortlessly swung her back onto her bed – all the while, he was still sitting in his chair.
"You… last night… cut…" The woman's brows furrowed as she struggled with her words to form a full sentence. She was thoroughly confused. The man had a slash across his abdomen last night, how is he sitting here like nothing happened at all. He even tried to choke her to death last night. What was going on?
"Oh. That?" The man said with an amused look on his face. "That's not for you to worry about, pretty, but if you would like to inspect, I can take my shirt off for you to see." The man said as he got up from his chair. He began to unbutton the first few buttons of his shirt as he made his way to the girl.
"No!" The girl exclaimed, raising her hand signaling for the man to stop.
"No?" The man said, leaning forward towards the girl as he continued to close the distance between the two. "I thought you were curious?" The man continued with a teasing smile. The young girl shook her head and held in her breath as the man began to inch closer and closer.
"What happened? I heard a scream." Emelia burst into the room after hearing the girl's cry. Seeing the situation in the room, she herself was confused. "Master?" The girl's head cocked to the side with curious eyes as she spoke. Since she had begun working at the manor, the master has shown little to no interest in the happenings of the servant's quarters. Thus, Marion had always been in charge of all things related to the servants. This was the first time she had ever seen the master in the servant's quarters. What was he doing here?
"What's with the ruckus?" Marion's voice could be heard shouting from the halls. Stepping into the room and seeing what the commotion was all about, the elder woman sighed in annoyance. "Well, I see, you two have met. Great!" Marion said, sarcastically.
"Demetrius Delmonte." The man said monotonously as he began to close the few buttons of his shirt which he had loosened earlier. "You will call me Master Demetri from here on." The man continued. "Also, I heard you have not a name yet. From now on, you will be Scarlett." Demetri said to the young girl.
"Scarlett?" The girl questioned, completely forgetting about the previous events that had occurred.
"Yes. Scarlett. Any rejections?" The man asked.
"No." The girl spoke softly as she shook her head. "I like it." A shadow of a smile graced her face. A warm feeling grew within her heart. It was subtle, but she truly felt happier than her appearance could show.
A few years ago, she was abandoned by her family in Blue Moon Village. One of the villagers, Milton, had found her by the side of the road, unconscious, when he was out getting firewood. She had awoken with no memory of who she was or who her family was. Her body was extremely weak at that time, as if she had been in a deep slumber for a very long time and had suddenly woken up. It took many moons for her to be able to gain enough strength to talk, eat, and walk properly again. The villagers had told her that her family had abandoned her because of her dementia. She was too much of a burden to bear and they did not want to care for her.
Fortunately, Milton was nice enough to be willing to give her a home. However, his wife did not feel the same way. After all, she was just another mouth to feed, and if her family did not want to take care of her, why should two complete strangers who have absolutely no relation to her help her? After staying with the couple for a few days, she was told to leave.
A few months later, the herb gatherer and his wife decided to move to Silver Lake for mining work, as it was a more promising pay than herb gathering.
In all the seasons she had lived in Blue Moon Village, she truly had nothing to call her own, not even a name. Therefore, she could not complain about the name that was given to her. At least now she had a name. For the first time since she had woken up, she felt like she finally had a real identity, finally had a place where she could belong in this world. To many, it may just simply be a name, but for her, it meant everything.