Dante Vladwick pulled his door open. It had been quite a while since he'd slept on a comfortable bed.
His eyes caught on to the woman who he'd chased out of his bedroom the night before. She'd actually slept on the floor?
In her slumber, she turned her head a bit.
Still not getting a good look at her face, he decided Chadwick would be able to answer all his questions during breakfast. He yawned before slamming the door behind him.
Vanessa half startled out of sleep managed to catch a glimpse of the back of the Lord of the house. "Good morning, my lord!", she hurriedly bowed although she was still on her knees.
He paused for a few seconds without turning to face her. "Did I give you permission to speak?"
Her lips parted but she ended up not uttering a single word.
Taking his leave, he began heading to the dining area.
Vanessa sat silently on the floor not knowing whether she should also go down for breakfast or wait for the lord of the house to finish.
She couldn't catch a glimpse of his face because he never looked her way, but his voice was thick and his hair was a beautiful shade of silver.
"I should do some work", she concluded deciding to head outside for the first time since she'd gotten here.
Dante had taken his seat at the other end of the table, adjacent to the door. "Chadwick!". He'd caught a glimpse of the woman hurry past the dining door without looking in, she was blonde and her skin seemed flawless.
"Yes, my lord", Chadwick bowed beside Lord Dante, it was like he'd just appeared out of nowhere. "I have been awaiting your return"
"Cut the crap, who is that woman?", he used the butter knife to slice the meat on his plate into bits. "And why did you put her in my room?"
"Ahh yes!", he smiled mischievously. "Her family owed an un-payable debt to the late Randalls, so they gave their daughter to work as a slave for the debt".
"Hmm"
Chadwick continued. "It'll take her about a lifetime years to work off the debt".
"I wonder why a poor person would borrow such an outrageous amount". He took another cut of meat. "You didn't answer my other question"
"I assumed you would be in the mood to play with a young lady after your trip"
Dante arched a brow at him. "Do you expect me to be tired or horny after I just arrived?"
Chadwick was silent.
"Do not be a fool"
After a while, he was done with his meal.
"She's respectful and hardworking my lord. I advise you to leave her to clean till you decide to make use of her"
He pounded a fist on the table as he got up. "I am NOT interested in little humans". His voice was calm as he finally left for the stairway. "She'll be in danger if she interacts with the forces in this house"
Chadwick smiled behind him. "Glad you care about her safety, my lord". He teased.
Dante stormed up to his room cursing Chadwick all the way up the stairs. "Damn him! That idiot!"
He wanted to take a little afternoon nap as he'd planned on heading back into the doorway in a few days.
There was a woman's voice from outside his window humming. Although he was on the second floor his hearing was so good it could hear an arrow coming from behind him.
The humming went on for a few minutes before he cursed under his breath. "Damn that woman and her noise!", he frowned although he'd been enjoying the tune all the while.
Within the next few seconds, sleep had found him.
It was a while before he woke up, although he caught a glimpse of the sun setting as he stared out the window. He'd come to check if the woman was still there.
For some reason, her voice had been replaying in his mind and he didn't like it.
There was a knock on the door as if someone had waited for him to wake up. "Good evening my lord". It was the voice of the woman.
"Speak of the devil", he mumbled to himself.
"I wanted to get my dress I'd left here last night"
"Your dress?", his eyes roamed about the room for whatever didn't belong to him. "I see no dress that is yours".
Had someone taken it away?
She frowned at the thought.
"Fetch me a brush from the shelf in the kitchen, I'm about to take a bath"
"Okay". She hurried to get it knowing that she'd get a chance to check the room herself.
Dante had begun to take off his trousers to get in the bathtub. As usual, the bath was always already prepared. "Always working, aren't you?".
There was a cracked voice that came after that like that of a tiny monster. It didn't speak English and was invisible to the eyes.
He lowered himself into the tub, it had been days since he'd had a proper bath.
Shutting his eyes, he took a deep breath.
Vanessa tried to knock but the door was already open. After taking a peek inside..... her eyes searched for the white dress which was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, she noticed her master's clothes lying on the bed.
"My lord", she wanted to speak up now after taking a few steps in. "I have brought it"
"Come in"
"I'm already inside my lord", she gulped.
"Not inside the bathroom?", his voice questioned.
Her heart was beating fast for some reason, "I...I can't come in there....".
"Give me my brush woman!", he commanded and for some reason, she felt as though something bad would befall her if she was to disobey.
The bathroom door opened before he spoke again. "As you come in, do not look at my face". His words were direct.
Coming to a halt some distance behind him, he stretched out a hand for her to place the brush in.
After doing so, she hurriedly turned to take her to leave.
"Woman!", she paused at his words. "You haven't taken a bath today, have you?"
She shook her head behind him. "No sir"
"Sir?", he frowned. "Take off your clothes, I have decided to bath with you"
Her senses stopped for a second. "Huh?". The words had come out on their own.
"I.."
"Will do as I say", Dante helped finish her sentence.
The words of her mother had come racing through her mind. The high class used slaves in any way they wanted.....
Whether it was as sex tools, labor workers, or test subjects. Once you became a slave, you'd lost all forms of human rights.
"Yes..... my lord", she bit her lip before taking off her clothes in the bathroom.
"Remember, you shall not look at my face"
He seemed to be a bit personal about his facial looks, or so she presumed.
With her eyes up, she walked forward till she could get into the bathtub without ever turning back.
She found herself in between his thigh muscles but couldn't bring herself to move back further... In fear of coming in contact with something else...
"Good girl", his voice came out raspy and pleased.
He noticed how stiff her body was as she just wrapped herself in a spot.
With a mocking grin, he reached out to touch her hair.
She jumped a bit but relaxed after a while.
"Are you... Afraid?", he queried.
She nodded slowly.
He frowned behind her raising some water in his palm to her hair. "I assure you, we're merely taking a bath. Do not fear women"
Those words didn't mean much to her, but she still nodded.
He took a sniff of her hair. "It's soft...", was the only compliment he could give her.
"Thank you, my lord"
He gradually reached for the bar soap to bathe her back. "How old are you, woman?"
"Nineteen soon", she gulped.
"Hmm...", he pulled her to rest on his chest. "Quite young to be this voluptuous".
She jumped forward in the bathe defensively wrapping her arms around her breast.
"Calm down", he frowned.
He noticed that her body had been quivering although they were in warm water.
"If you don't want to bathe, feel free to get out"
Those words hurt her more than she'd expected. One minute he was gentle, the next he was saying cruel things.
She got up with the last bit of pride she had before taking her leave. There was a towel and a fresh set of clothes laid out for both genders.
Quickly changing into hers, she rushed out of his bedroom and to the dining room. "Chadwick?"
The whole house had been getting dark. "Chadwick!", she called out again.
"Yes?", he stepped out from the darkness behind her.
"Please is there any free room in the house? Or even a bath?"
"You didn't enjoy your bath with the master?"
Her eyes widened. "H-how did you-"
"It's my job to know everything that happens in this house". He took some steps past her. "You may use the bath in any other room on the right wing"
"Thank you", she bowed but couldn't help wondering what exactly went on at the left wing.
"I advice you to wait till tomorrow as darkness is already before us".
She really couldn't wait! Her back was covered with dried soap!
"I'll take a lamp and hurry". She rushed off.
Chadwick gulped knowing his master won't be happy about it...
Nor will the owners of that room.
Vanessa literally flew up the stairs in anticipation of a warm bath. There was a lamp hanging at the end of the stairway she took with her.
Unsure why she found herself knocking at the room before stepping in. It was smaller than master Dante's own but still very sizable.
It also lacked furniture.
The bathroom door was half open so she knocked again, it was dark but she managed to find her way through after taking off her clothing.
This time, the bath wasn't set.
She struggled for a while trying to turn the tap on before finally deciding to use the shower. The water was cold and no matter how hard she turned the knob... It was never hot.
"What a strange castle", she began to hum a song her mother had taught her about a castle on a hill cursed by the sky witch.
She was almost done when the tap came on by itself. She bent to turn it off but felt something slap her butt.
A slap.....
Not a pat.....
And it felt too real!
She slowly turned around to see nothing but darkness. Then came a sound like the cracked laughter of a chipmunk.
No one told her to leave when she found herself running towards the bathroom door.
The door slammed shut and she felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest.
Luckily, it wasn't locked but she'd forgotten her clothes inside until after escaping to the corridor. The cold air that blew past her reminded her that she was naked... And wet!
"Ohh Lord!", she pulled frustrated fingers through her face confused about what to do.
There were three options before her. "Go downstairs to ask Chadwick for help, although I'm naked", she shook her head. "Go back inside to get my towel and clothing... Or...", she trailed off. "Ask lord Dante-"
"Ask me what?"
She looked up to see a male figure in a white mask looking down on her. The voice and body were quite familiar. "My lord?"
"What is it?", his voice was cold and he'd been shirtless!
Just recalling her naked state, she covered her breast and lower area with a hand each. Her legs buckled in embarrassment.
He looked quite tall now that they stood facing each other, both hands were dug into his pockets.
In her state, she bowed respectfully. "I beseech you, Lord Dante, could you please spare a robe or anything I could use to cover myself? I wasn't allowed to bring clothes while coming here".
"Tchh", he knew that bastard Chadwick had probably misled her for the fun of it. "Leave me out of it". He pushed past her to walk to the left wing.
She wanted to cry. Within twenty-four hours, she'd suffered enough embarrassment.
Vanessa took a deep breath before going back into the scary room she'd left her clothes in.
No one noticed, but she never returned as the hours went by...