章 3: Chapter 3 - The Palace
The palace was more luxurious. The garden was more beautiful than the one in my castle. Every inch of it was aesthetically pleasing.
After we entered the castle, Xavier proceeded to check on the wounded knights right away. He was kind, unlike the tales I had heard. He was not cold and unfeeling.
Only a few maids were appointed to attend to me. In my castle, I was always surrounded by dozens of maids. Though I was not upset by this, the problem was that they were afraid of me for some reason.
They were even throbbing in fear when I was asking them something. I could not even complain. There were so many rumors about the wolves in my castle. It was understandable if uncanny tales were going around about me.
Though Xavier said he would not take too long, there was no sign of him after quite a while. I decided to wait for him in the garden rather than swerving around in the castle cluelessly. Not to mention the maids were totally useless, and I did not want to stress them more than they already were.
When I was waiting impassively in the garden, Edrik appeared.
"Why is My Lady alone in the garden on her first day in the palace?" he asked sweetly. "Did the maids dare to leave the lady alone here in the garden?" his face darkened.
I was startled by his unexpected appearance. "Prince Edrik, I asked them to leave. Please, don't worry," I replied.
"Has my brother not returned yet?" he asked. "This is so insensitive of him to leave the beautiful princess alone," he said, wearing a gloomy expression.
"He had his reasons," I answered calmly.
"Princess is so kind. Ah- pardon, My Lady," he smiled at me and began chatting casually. Then discerned his mistake shortly.
"Don't get concerned about such things. You can converse openly with me," I said, smiling.
"Princess is so pretty both inside and outside," he said brightly.
We started having a conversation like old friends. The apprehension of earlier was fading from my mind. I was not feeling stressed anymore.
He was younger than me. It was like having a little brother.
"It's a good thing that my brother is not here yet," he said suddenly. "I got the opportunity to spend such a beautiful moment with the princess," saying he plucked a flower and placed it on my hair. ''Should I show you inside the castle?" he asked. "Seems like brother won't return tonight."
"Says who?" Xavier appeared in a glimpse and asked coldly. His eyes were fixed on my hair where Edrik had put the flower.
"Brother," Edrik was unprepared. "I was accompanying Luna so she would not be alone," he explained.
"Thank you, Edrik. It's late. You can go to your room. I will show my lady around," he said calmly, but there was a sharpness in his voice.
After Edrik left, he apologized for being late.
"My apologies, My lady. It took a while," he said tenderly. He gently pulled out the flower from my hair and continued, "You must be tired. Let me show you around."
When he got closer to remove the flower, the fragrance was back. I almost stiffened. It was intoxicating.
He showed me around the castle. Since it was past midnight, he only showed me around the places I might need to use. The maids asked him for permission to prepare me for the night.
"We need to take luna to the moon suite, My Lord," one of them said.
"But the elders will come tomorrow. Why does she need to go to the moon suite tonight?" he asked confusedly.
The maids were looking at each other. They were embarrassed. Surely the alpha lord was dense. I turned red like fresh tomatoes. The twisted feeling in my gut came back. I had almost forgotten that marriage was not only about conveying war peace. Consummating was the inevitable part of it. He was unprepared as well. He was blushing hard after realizing.
"My Lady," He called me softly when I was about to leave with the maids. I was wondering what he had to say. But the next thing he said made me want to call for a divorce right away.
"Please, don't eat the maids if you get hungry. I have prepared enough blood for you," he said. The maids started throbbing again hearing that.
It took a while for me to proceed with what he had said. I couldn't trust my ears. He was not serious, was he? Such humiliation! We, vampires, were the noblest among all the species. We did not need blood to survive. We could perfectly maintain our life like other species without having blood for centuries. He definitely wasn't comparing me with some lower-ranked rogues that would infect others for their evil purposes.
"My lord, is it the reason why only a few maids are attending me? Do you believe that I will harm your people?" I asked him flatly.
He was flustered by watching me boiling up inside.
"You have mistaken it. This is not what I intended to say. The maids were nervous since they are not familiar with your food habit and there are rumors that vampires use their maids as blood sources-" I did not let him finish. It was ridiculous.
"Pardon, My Lord," I said calmly. "I will go to the moon suite then," I stared at the maids and said, "please don't worry about such things. I don't drink blood unless any of you want to form a blood pact."
As I walked away, Xavier’s eyes kept trailing. He realized that he had offended my pride. I had left my home and came to a completely unknown place to live with foreign species. His joke went too far. He perhaps wanted to tease me just a bit. But it was not the right choice.
However, thinking about what would happen after coming out of the moon suite was already making me panic.
The moon suite was the most enticing place for me in the castle. The aroma of the bath was intoxicating. The maids were comfortable after spending quite a while in the moon suite with me.
The steam of the hot water, delicate orchids hanging from the roof, and the fragrance of the brewed tea with petals in the bath was making the atmosphere so surreal.
"We apologize, My lady," the daughter of the marquise said politely. The maids attending me were mostly nobles.
"Why are you apologizing?" I asked curiously. It was not like they were at fault for not trusting me. Even my husband thought that I would eat them.
"For showing the audacity to not wanting to attend the empress is already the largest crime and justifies punishment. The lord did not charge us because he left the sentence in your hands, My Lady. He wanted you to take steps for our disobedience," she said while gently rubbing my back. The maids were skilled at giving the perfect bath.
I paused for a moment. So, it was not the lord's fault. It was the maids who protested, and he believed that I would act like a tough empress and punish them. I felt bad thinking I showed him such an inelegant temper without even fathoming the situation.
"My Lady?" The maid called me. "Is it uncomfortable?" she asked concernedly. They thought I was not pleased with the bath.
"Ah- no, it is comfortable. Thank you," I replied lightly.
They could not believe my words. They were staring at me with such teary eyes that I was unprepared. I wondered if I had said something inappropriate.
"We all apologize, My Lady," all of them said and suddenly kneeled, bowing. I was startled by their act.
"What are you all doing? Please, get up. I am not offended or anything. Back in my castle, my maids were also frightened of the wolves. This is such a trivial matter. Don't overthink it," I said.
"Thank you for forgiving us, My lady. You are such a kind soul. If it was lady Evelyn, we would be severely punished till now," one of the noble maids said.
"Who is lady Evelyn?" I asked curiously.
"Lady Evelyn is the former mate of our alpha, My lady," the countess said.
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