章 3: Library

"Ah! Apply it more carefully, Delia." Luiza moaned in pain.

"I am Milady," she answered. Delia focused on the wounds before her. She gently applied the yellow antiseptic to the open wounds on Luzia's hands and her calf.

"Ouch!" She clicked her tongue, her eyes tightly shut, and her nose scrunched, wrinkling her forehead.

"Sighs," Delia exhaled, tired of the cries of her lady, who deliberately brought them upon herself. She gathered the medicines and stood up from her seat.

Delia carefully carried the bottles of medicine towards the tea table. She took out a few necessary items from the cluttered aid box and returned to the vanity table. She started to elongate the clean white cotton cloth and started wrapping it around Luzia's wounds.

"Why did you even wake up so late, despite knowing that you had Miss Ramona's classes first, especially during the weekends?" The maid complained while her coarse hands rubbed on her wounds.

"Ah!" Luiza whimpered. "It's the weekends, Delia. Who in their sane minds even came to work despite it being a holiday?" She sulked in pain.

Delia took a glance at the lady before her. The lady she had served since she was brought to the mansion, despite the unfavourable situations, had grown to be a fine young woman.

"I am sorry, Milady. My hands are rough, so they can hurt sometimes."

"It's okay, Delia. Your hands are the proof that you have worked hard." She gave a smile as bright as the moon.

"You may leave now," Luiza ordered her.

The maid left, and Luiza was alone in front of her makeup table. She gazed at her appearance. Her cheeks were full, her eyes were almond-shaped with brown irises, and her collarbones protruded.

Slowly, her eyes gazed towards her hands, which were bloodied a few minutes ago and were now neatly cleaned and wrapped in cloth.

She let out a sigh. Her situation was pitiful; despite being the daughter of the first wife of Joseph von Stein, she was treated like an outsider.

"Perhaps it's to be expected. I should just be happy that my stepmother doesn't treat me badly," she said to herself.

It was not the first time she was beaten up, but she was in much worse condition than she was before.

Grabbing hold of the table's top, she stood on her feet and limped, closing the door of her chambers. Luiza traipsed through the upstairs and reached the topmost story, which was the library of VonStein Masion.

On the way, some maids had their eyes lowered; some scanned her from head to toe, and some started to gossip about her hands.

It was a known fact that Miss Ramone loved to pound on Luiza. On any occasion, anytime, any day, she could come to the mansion, as she was a precious friend of the lady of the mansion, Lady Adelaide.

For the past six years, she continued to be the person Miss Ramone let her anger out on, while everyone in the mansion condoned it.

"Tsk," she said, clicking her tongue. "She must've enjoyed battering me."

She approached the library, and she closed the massive mahogany door from the inside with her seal.

She rested on the plush bench beside the window, breathing a sigh of relaxation. Her calves felt pricked, and her heart felt like it was being eaten away from the inside. The day was as exhausting as the day she entered this terrible home.

The books on magic covered the entire library.

"Oh, how lovely it'd be if books apart from magic were kept here," she muttered while standing up.

Books were the only pleasure she had. She strolled over to the magical area and peered in. She noticed a brand-new book featuring a dark black cover adorned with a beaded red gem in the middle of the spine. She removed it by pressing it on top of the spine. "Worship of Mephistopheles" was the title.

Before she could read what was inside, a minimal route appeared.

She gasped in surprise, meticulously looked from left to right, and inhaled deeply. She felt hesitation coursing through, for the passage appeared gloomy, but the peculiarity of the route enthralled her.