After Adele finished her bath, she called for Molly to help dry her hair. The young lady couldn't manage it alone and always needed Molly. As usual, Molly sat on the chair by the bed, while Adele lay down. Molly wrapped a towel around Adele's hair, making sure she was comfortable, and then took another towel to carefully dry each strand.
Adele wrinkled her nose, inhaling the scent of Molly and the shampoo she'd just used. No longer surrounded by the stench of blood, Adele finally relaxed, closing her eyes as Molly attended to her.
Halfway through, Adele seemed to remember something and suddenly spoke up: "Molly, you absolutely must not go out of curiosity to watch the execution."
"Why not?"
Adele responded with a righteous tone: "Because it's far too brutal. Oakham will beg and curse before he dies, and if you see it, you might have nightmares. So, stay away." In Adele's mind, Molly was the epitome of weakness and vulnerability.
For vampires, witnessing a sun-execution was a harrowing experience. Adele herself had been brought by her parents to watch one when she was twelve. Because the execution took place during the day, her mother had wrapped her in layers of black clothing, including gloves and a hat with a lace veil, and they had to watch from a distance through a window, quickly drawing the curtains as soon as the vampire turned to ashes.
Even then, Adele's eyes had hurt terribly just from watching from afar.
When Adele sentenced Oakham, she felt no particular emotion. As the one issuing the order, she was expected to oversee the execution. But the stench of the estate had made her head spin, and she couldn't act during the day, so she had to miss it.
She remembered how horrifying vampires looked during a sun-execution, and she was certain Molly would be scared out of her wits if she saw it, probably trembling and unable to sleep, or even falling ill. Humans were fragile creatures; some were so weak that a fright could make them feverish, and Adele didn't want that for Molly.
Molly nodded in agreement, but inwardly, she was unconcerned.
She had not only witnessed such executions before but had also tied several vampires to stakes herself, watching as they burned to ashes in the sunlight. She had already decided that once Adele was asleep, she would sneak out to watch Oakham's death.
After Molly finished drying Adele's hair, Adele, now drowsy, began to drift off to sleep. Molly, estimating the time, figured the sun was about to rise. Different regions had varying sunrise and sunset times, but vampires preferred places where the nights were long and the days were short. At Oakham's farm, the days were longer, which was partly why it was considered remote.
Once Adele was asleep, Molly quietly slipped out of the room. She moved like a cat, making no noise, even as she opened and closed the door, ensuring she wouldn't wake Adele. Once she was far enough from Adele's room, she resumed her normal pace.
The estate was eerily quiet, with only the faintest of noises in the distance. Molly's ears twitched, trying to catch the sounds, but they were too faint to make out. Reluctantly, she allowed her sense of smell to return, and immediately, a myriad of odors, especially the overwhelming scent of blood, assaulted her senses. She fought off the urge to faint, pinpointed the direction of the humans, and then shut off her sense of smell again.
No wonder Adele had been so irritable and uncomfortable in this estate—the smell was unbearable.
Molly headed toward where the humans were gathered, sensing their collective presence. When she arrived, she found them in the same hall they had passed through the previous day. She stood on the stairs on the second floor, looking down to see Oakham, tied up like a dead pig, lying in the center of the hall.
Bella was trying to drag the "dead pig" outside, but the other servants only watched from a distance, whispering among themselves, without anyone offering to help. Molly sighed; she had expected this. But at least no one was helping Oakham or telling Bella to let him go.
If it had been the previous head maid, she might have intervened on Oakham's behalf, even though she was human, her mind had been completely shaped by the vampires.
Of course, it might also have been because the order came from a stronger vampire.
Molly watched for a moment. Bella was struggling, and her efforts looked quite pitiful. Molly finally spoke up: "Are you all just going to stand there and watch?" Her voice made everyone look up at her. They had all taken note of Molly as Adele's maid. She descended the stairs slowly, with a grace that seemed out of place for a mere human.
As she reached the floor, the crowd parted to let her through. She approached the "dead pig" Oakham, who, after a night of howling, was now weakened from blood loss. Molly nudged him with her foot, making him twitch. She then looked around at the others, her gaze making them take a step back.
"Are you really going to let Bella drag him out alone?" Molly's question made them all lower their heads. She didn't say anything more, just dropped two words: "Cowards."
The man who had been the first to confront Molly earlier now stood up again, shouting, "What did you say?!"
"I said, you're cowards," Molly repeated without hesitation. The two men were furious, clenching their fists and grinding their teeth, but they didn't take any drastic actions. The others also looked angry, but Molly wasn't upset; instead, she thought, At least they aren't too numb to feel anger.
She continued to provoke them: "If you're not cowards, then what are you? The chance for revenge is right in front of you, but you're still hesitating, too scared to act." Molly's current persona wasn't meant to be talkative, but she wasn't Molly now—she was the Lady of Dawn. She kept stirring their emotions, fanning the flames of their discontent.
Finally, someone spoke up: "Enough! We know it's cowardly to let him get away with this!" The man who had shouted at Molly earlier spoke again, his fists clenched tightly as he retorted, "But... what's the difference between your master and him?! Even if your master is different, a good master who treats us well, we all know she's just here for practice. Once she leaves, if a worse vampire comes, what then?!"
Ah... so this was what they were really thinking.
Molly wasn't angry; in fact, she thought the man had a point. She looked around and saw that many others shared his sentiments. They had grown accustomed to Oakham's oppression, and now they feared change. If a worse manager replaced Oakham, how would they endure?
Their thoughts were always about endurance.
Facing their righteous indignation, Molly responded calmly: "Then kill him too."
Her cold words silenced everyone, even the weakened Oakham, who stared wide-eyed at this woman making such audacious statements. But Molly was unfazed, continuing, "Is a low-level vampire really that hard to deal with?" She pointed to Oakham: "Haven't you noticed how easy he is to handle? He's not much different from a human, is he? Unlike the high-ranking vampires, he doesn't have powerful regenerative abilities. After losing his hands, he's already as helpless as a dying pig."
"And you? Can't you do the same?" Her voice grew more passionate: "If one person can't do it, then all of you together can. If your bare hands aren't enough, use knives. If you can't fight him head-on, use poison. As long as they dare to oppress you, you should retaliate."
Molly's words stirred something in the crowd. They began to realize that, as she said, dealing with a low-level vampire... didn't seem that difficult. They had feared Oakham for so long, seeing him as an immortal monster who drank their blood, oppressing them so thoroughly they never dared to resist.
But in reality, if they really wanted to fight back, maybe... just maybe... it wasn't impossible?
Yet some remained worried, one of them asking anxiously, "But what if we kill the low-level vampire, and they send someone stronger, like your master? What then?"
Molly felt a headache coming on from this persistent line of questioning. These people were like sheep who had been caged for too long; even when the gate was open, they didn't know to run. But no matter—it was Molly's job to light the fire of hope in them. She gave the questioner a look of exasperation:
"Are you stupid? Run! After you take down the low-level vampire, just run. This place is remote; no vampire is going to bother looking for you."
"What?" The questioner was dumbfounded. "But... if we run, how will we survive?"
Molly laughed, a bitter, mocking laugh: "You talk as if under their rule, you're actually living."
As she finished speaking, she saw the realization dawn on their faces, their expressions turning pale. That's right—they weren't really living at all.