But as if the words did not fall into their ears. They moved and held her like she was captive.
Before she could shout, they reached for her clothes and took them off her body.
Her head felt light and Her hands instinctively moved to her chest when the dress slipped off her body earning her a tsk! But they did not dare to be insulting toward her.
They helped her slip in the water and then rubbed her hands, legs, and back with different kinds of oils, soaps, and fragrances. They have mixed something in the water too. It smelt like honey. One of them held her hair and started rubbing it with lather.
Abi had never known that a bath could be this relaxing, this refreshing and pleasant. She wanted to moan at the way her body felt. Their hands felt like magic. To the limit that she was reluctant to leave the bath when the time came. She even forgot about the pain she had suffered before coming here and that… she was in the lair of the devil. A devil she had sold herself to.
The maids rubbed her skin for her and for the first time, she felt her skin was soft like noble ladies and shining. It bounced back when she pulled her skin. The maid brought a fresh lavender dress for her and helped her in wearing a corset first. But she had only come here fifteen minutes ago. Even a god could not prepare clothes for that faster. Truth dawned on her when she found the dress was a bit short. It belongs to another woman. He had another woman in his life since the silk dress could not belong to maids.
She touched the fabric again and wondered if the woman would punish her for taking such an expensive dress from her closet. What if she asked for compensation?
But her thoughts were cut short when the maid behind her pulled the threads of the corset further. Abi winced. She felt like she had been tied with ropes after adjusting herself in it and the dress was too stiff too. She finally realized the biggest difference in the dresses worn by nobles and commoners. It was not the quality or frill, or the expensive designs or the soft feathery touch. Neither were gems that hung their dress but the stiffness of it.
Now she understood why noble ladies behave like they could not do any work. The pair of heels was no better. She felt like she was a child who had just learned to walk when she walked in them.
But when she looked at herself in the mirror, she was having trouble recognizing her. She looked beautiful. So different than she had always looked. As if it was not her, but someone else. She touched her cheeks with a look of amazement in her eyes. Have they ever been this luscious?
She never knew her curled red hair could be tamed. The bun they made looks so elegant. That she really looked like one of those noble women she had heard about. Her lips were so full and red and her skin was so fair and clean. As if she was looking at her skin for the first time. All this made her dizzy and scared.
She was not a fool to believe that he was really going to marry her because he had fallen in love with her when she was acting as a thief, hiding in his carriage or a harlot in a cheap bar.
This man was rich and probably held a title while she was a guttersnipe.
"My lady, your grace is waiting for you in the dining room. Would you like to go now?" if only she could refuse. She did not want to see the face of that man. Not when she was feeling so conflicted. She needs to sort out her thoughts. But at the same time, she was famished. And perhaps, he wanted to tell her about the funeral of her mother.
Abi bit her lips as she failed like a traitor to forget about that and enjoy the bath. She nodded and the maid guided her again.
They crossed through large passages with a lot of statues and paintings on both sides. Abi had an illusion that everyone in the painting was looking at her with scorn. As if they could not understand what a woman like her was doing in their manor?
The statues were so expensive. Pure silver, gold, marbles. If she could see any of them, she could run away and start a new life somewhere else.
Her heart thudded again and she closed her eyes. They crossed another long staircase and five large doors.
Entering the sixth door, she saw another room full of expensive things spread around but what caught her eyes was a massive table. It had almost thirty chairs. And the rich bloke was sitting on the seat of the head.
He was wearing a new set of clothes and his hair was combed back perfectly. His eyes were cold and calculating. He raised his head when she entered and suddenly it felt hard to meet them.
The maids curtsied and left the room, leaving her alone. Suddenly her feet felt like they were made of lead.
"Come here, Abigail." he tapped the seat beside him and she gulped. She had never been to this fancy house but she knew commoners were not offered a seat at these kinds of parties.
She dragged her body with wariness building in. she sat stiffly on the chair offered to her.
"What would you like to eat?"
"Are you a noble?"
They asked at once, surprising the other. He had really called her to eat?
She looked at the fancy dishes on the table and then at him. She was not sure if she could digest any of that.
"Yes, I am a noble. How forgetful of me to not introduce myself first. I am the one and only heir of the dukedom."