Hearing the person on the other side of the door a scurry away, Scarlett pushed the man away. Her face flushed with embarrassment. "Master, how could you say that?"
"Say what?" Demetri asked with a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
"That we are busy. Someone may misunderstand." Scarlett said with a pout.
"It is true. We are busy." Demetri said with a smirk. But seeing that her pout had deepened with his response, he decided to stop teasing the girl. Demetri grabbed her hand and continued with his previous task, "Now turn around, let me finish tightening your dress." He said, spinning her around so her back was facing him.
"Do you do this with all your maid servants?" Scarlett said softly. He could hear the nervousness in her voice as she spoke.
Hearing the tone of her voice, Demetri knew his little bunny was upset. Demetri tightened the knot on her dress and wrapped his arms around her slim waist. Pulling the girl closer to him, Demetri dropped soft pecks on her neck in a soothing manner. He felt the girl tremble in his arms due to his kisses. "Do you see any other maid servants wearing silk dresses and sleeping in my bed?"
"No." Scarlett replied, her voice barely a whisper as she shook her head.
"Then no, I am not. I only have these intentions toward you." Demetri whispered seductively in her ear as he relaxed his hold on her waist.
Turning around to look at the man once more, she looked deep into his eyes. Seeing that the man was speaking the truth, she grew confused. "But why me? I am just an ordinary human girl. I do not have anything to offer you."
"I do not need anything from you, Scarlett." Demetri cupped her cheek with one hand, rubbing circles against her delicate skin. "Just you is enough. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are very special to me." Demetri says, placing a soft kiss on her forehead before holding her in his warm embrace as he strokes the back of her head as if he were straightening out her hair.
Feeling his lips on her skin, she closed her eyes allowing her body to relax under his touch. She does not understand how she could possibly be special to him. However, here in this moment, in his arms, she felt the most at peace and safe she had ever felt. And that was enough for her to grow a little more greedy for the comfort of this man.
—
In a quiet room in the manor, Marion had sheets of paper and a set of pen and ink on the table. After Demetri and Scarlett went down for breakfast, Demetri left to run errands, leaving Scarlett in Marion's care. As she had promised Demetri, Marion brought Scarlett into her study where she began to teach Scarlett how to write and read. She first started off by teaching the girl how to read basic words and taught the girl how to sound out letters. She then went on to teach her how to write words. In order for Scarlett to become more comfortable with the motions of writing, Marion had the girl copy a paragraph of words from a book. While the girl was occupied with copying paragraphs from the book, Marion was busy reading her own book.
"Marion." Scarlett said, in an attempt to capture the older woman's attention.
Turning to look at the girl who had called out to her, Marion lifted her reading glasses and asked, "All done?"
"Not yet, but I was hoping you could show me how to write my name?" Scarlett replied, enthusiastically.
Marion's eyes grew with surprise at the girl's request, wondering why this thought had not crossed her mind earlier. Of course it would have made sense to teach the girl her name first. Walking over to the girl, Marion picked up the pen and a clean sheet of paper, where she began to write.
"S-C-A-R-L-E-T-T. Scarlett." Marion said, enunciating each letter and syllable as she handed the sheet to the girl.
With a beaming smile, the girl asked, "Can I practice writing this instead?" She said, referring to her name that Marion had just taught her how to write.
Nodding, Marion agreed to her request. "You can practice this until you are bored. Then you can go back and copy the paragraphs I gave you earlier. Remember to read the words as you write them. It will help you with remembering and recognizing the words when you see it again." Marion said before turning her back towards the girl and returning to her seat. However, only after taking a few steps, the girl spoke again.
"Marion. Can you also show me how to write master's name?" The girl asked, her eyes blinking innocently.
With a small smile, Marion took the same sheet of paper she had used to write Scarlett's name and began moving her pen.
"D-E-M-E-T-R-I. Demetri." Marion said, again she enunciated every letter and syllable.
With the example Marion had just written on the sheet, Scarlett began to copy the name on her own sheet of paper. "Demetri." Scarlett said, softly. A small smile unconsciously creeped on her face as she looked at the crooked letters she had written.
—
In the study room of the Crawford mansion, Demetri sat on the couch, looking through the missing persons files one more time.
"What are your thoughts?" The jet-black haired man asked.
"I will have to do some investigating. These files offer no other leads, other than where these victims live." Demetri replied. The lack of information from these reports meant that he would have to venture into the human realm to find these answers for himself.
At that moment, a knock on the door was heard by the two men in the room.
"Marcel." A soft voice spoke on the other side of the door.
"Come in, Willow." Marcel spoke.
The blonde-haired girl approached the table. Setting one teacup in front of Demetri, Willow went around to Marcel and set his cup in front of him and handed him a letter. "Here are your blood brews, and the invitation letter." She said to Marcel, before making her way towards the door and leaving.
Seeing the petite girl leave his study with flushed cheeks, Marcel let out a satisfied smirk. Standing up from his seat, Marcel approached Demetri and handed him a gold envelope which was sealed with a red hot stamp. "I am having my fall ball in 10 day's time. Here is your invitation. I was going to deliver it to you, but you have magically made your way to my manor, so I will save myself the trip." Marcel said with a shrug, before walking back to sit on his desk. "Also, I heard you have finally got yourself a little play thing. Do bring her along. I would love to see how appealing the girl who has caught your fancy is." Marcel continued to say with a smug look on his face before grabbing the sheet of paper on his desk and continued reading.
—
The day went by and night quickly fell. Looking out the window from Marion's study, Scarlett realized that the moon was already out, shining brightly in the night sky. Had she really been so immersed with copying the letters in the book that she did not even realize the day had already gone by? She had not even had her fill of dinner yet, and even more, she had not seen her master the entire day. Did he really have no tasks for her today?
It was at that moment that a knock was heard on the door.
"Scarlett." Emelia's voice was heard on the other side of the door. "Dinner is ready. Please come down to the dining room."
"I will be right there." Scarlett responded.
Looking at the sheets of paper sprawled out before her, she saw that although she had only been practicing for one day, each time she copied the letters, her writing had improved. Comparing the curves of the letters she drew, she could see that they grew less crooked each time she rewrote the letters. Scarlett knew she still had much more to improve on, but being able to write this many letters on her first day was more than enough for her to feel a sense of pride. With a proud smile, she shuffled together the sheets of paper she had written into a stack and went down to the dining room for dinner.