"If you have any queries, I'm happy to answer them if I'm able," Ophelia said as she lit a long tobacco cigarette and began smoking. She made herself comfortable in the chair behind the wooden table as she stared at the outside through the window.
"Only places like this, where the vampires are not allowed to set foot in during the day, have windows in them. Offices like mine or rooms like yours."
Eve's eyes quickly scanned the rules as she nodded in acknowledgment.
"The rules seemed to emphasize that cheating is not forbidden yet punishment shall be given when caught," Eve said.
"A vampire prince's wife shall not only be beautiful but smart. Cheating… requires some serious consideration. Especially when punishment is actually given when caught."
Eve nodded.
Vampires were very sly creatures.
"I want to know something."
"I only have another five minutes left," Ophelia answered, impatience flashing in her green eyes.
"I was supposed to come here to join the Night Courtship for the Duke." Not a prince. She thought it would be Duke Lucius, one of the traitors who watched her die.
It would have been better if that was the case.
Revenge was certainly a dish best served cold, and she wanted to start with that undead. She wanted to stake everything but his heart. Then she would slowly watch him burn just as he watched her die.
It would have been a very satisfying sight.
"Does it matter?" Ophelia asked.
"I—" she frowned. She could not answer that question.
"You are in the abode of Prince Maximilian Knight. You are to stop thinking about any other vampires aside from him. You may not be aware, but vampires are very… very jealous creatures."
She knew.
Oh, she knew most of the things about them. Vampires were not only jealous, but they were possessive and extremely manipulative.
Something about that seemed to attract many human women.
Perhaps it was their pale skin and extremely handsome countenance. Or the fact that they knew how to entice anyone with just their ensnaring, yet treacherous, eyes.
"Since you have no other questions, let me guide you back to the room to make yourself presentable. Another thing to know is that vampires love beauty. Although you are a natural one, they tend to be very picky and could easily kill someone who they deemed an eyesore. That included women who joined the competition."
Eve said nothing. She handed the parchment back to Ophelia and followed her out of the room.
When they went back to where the other women were staying, Eve discovered that the maids that Ophelia spoke of earlier were already there.
Each of the women had their own two maids that were helping them wear some extravagantly designed clothes.
"I will be back in an hour to lead everyone out so we can have lunch. Each of you needs to be graceful and elegant. Those who are not may or may not be eliminated." Mistress Ophelia pursed her lips as she stared at each and every one of the women including Eve.
Then she left.
"You were so quick," Willow spoke when Eve sat on her own bed.
There were already two maids waiting for Eve. One was a tall and lanky woman wearing the same black dress that covered her neck to her toe. The other was a shorter, more plump, woman with a small smile on her face.
"I heard that you were a noble?" Willow asked.
"Fallen," another woman chimed in. "She would not be here if she was still the daughter of a lustrous noble."
Hearing this, Eve said nothing. The maids did not say a word to her as they started fixing her hair.
"Not many fallen nobles would dare come here, Trinity," Willow shot the woman a look. "Coming here would be the last resort of many people."
"You mean, we only came here because we were desperate?"
Willow shrugged but did not answer.
"So not many fallen nobles are here?" Eve could not help but ask.
"No. Most women volunteered to come here. At least, we would have a chance to fight for what we wanted."
"Shut your mouth, Willow," Trinity glared at her. "You cannot speak for everyone else."
"Am I wrong?" Willow responded. "The soldiers are taking as many women as they want. None of them came back the same. At least the ones who came back were never the same. In this place, we are given the chance to have a fair fight. Here is more humane than the Human Empire."
"What are you talking about?" Eve frowned. What soldiers? She could not recall soldiers receiving orders to take women.
"The victor takes it all, Eve. You should know that by now," Willow said. Then she stopped speaking.
Eve was tempted to ask more questions but the suffocating silence that followed Willow's words struck her as unusual. What soldiers were they talking about?
"The Human Empire is a safe haven for the Humans," Eve spoke after a few minutes of silence. As someone who fought to gain freedom from the demonic race and other races who once enslaved humanity, she considered Valtara— the Human Empire to be a haven for all humans. It was a safe place.
A place where humans thrive.
"What a clueless fool," the woman with red hair spoke. She snorted and turned her attention to Willow. "Stop speaking to the noblewoman. She knows nothing."
"I would not have asked you if I knew something," Eve spoke. She understood that everyone here had their own circumstances, but how could they just treat her like this?
She—
Eve's expression turned ugly.
She was currently nothing.
She was no one.
She was a mere woman sold by her stepmother to pay off debts.
How incredibly infuriating!
"Don't you really see it? Or were you pretending not to know anything?" Trinity asked, her voice sounding as if she was about to cry.
"The soldiers take women and bring them to the Dukes and other nobles who now own the lands. You can guess what they do to them, but I can assure you, none of them have come back the same."
Untrue.
Eve wanted to say.
The nobles are…
She blinked.
Why was she trying to protect those who fed her body to the dogs?
"I apologize," Eve muttered. The previous Eve and Evelynn had no idea about the transgression that the humans did to other humans.
"This was the Evil Mistress's fault. There is no need to apologize," Trinity spoke before she wiped her eyes.
Now… how did it become Evelynn Rosetta's fault?
....
A/N: Please add the novel to your library and add some lovely reviews. Thank you very much!