Done Something

    "Gerber!"  

    Gerber halted upon hearing Atlas yell her name on the hallway. She turned to us, eyes bloodshot as if fire had caused them to fume into red. 

    "Don't stop me, Atlas."

    "I have all the rights to stop you. I am the mayodorma of this mansion. All servants are under my supervision. If I say you stop, you will stop, Gerber Anderson..."

    "That bitch almost killed Lord Minir's blood slave, Atlas. What do you want me to do? Calm down?!"

    "It is impulsive to attack the Countess. You must stay sane to protect Sol. Do you think what you're about to do will help in this matter?!"

    Gerber looked away, tilting her head in defeat. 

    "It won't! It will only going to make it worse."

    I pulled Atlas' arm to calm her down. She brushed my hand off her elbow and began walking away from the two of us. 

    "I will take care of this matter. Take the blood slave back to her chamber, Gerber." 

    As Atlas' footsteps disappeared in the hallways, Gerber grabbed me back to my chamber. She cleaned up the food tray. The silence between us was defeaning. It felt like an eternity of watching her do all the chores while I sit on my own bed in hunger, my stomach rumbling badly. 

    "I'm sorry, Gerber..." I tried to apologize becasue I thought that maybe she's feeling uncomfortable towards me after I witnessed how Atlas used her superiority against the two of us. 

    "It's not your fault, Sol. My emotions got the most of me. And...Atlas was right. I will only make it worse if I have ever did it." 

    "But she was too hard on you back there..."

    "That's life, Sol. If you're superior than anyone else, you can always be hard on them."

    "About the poison...what should I do now?"

    The door slammed open, revealing Atlas with a tray of food. It took ehr about an hour to get back . Did she cook again?

    "I will take care of this matter. I sent Lord Minir a letter about what has happened. He will be back in no time." She glanced at Gerber who silently continued her chores. She added, "For now, you will continue to do everything and act like nothing has happened. "

    Gerber scoffed. Atlas looked at her, "This is the only for us to stay safe. "

    "Oh,yeah, right. I feel a lot safer with a criminal Cathy being here. "

    "Gerber."

    "What?"

    "Don't you want to protect Sol? "

    "Do you even have to ask?"

    "Yes. I know you will protect her. That's why, you must remain calm. Also, don't make her eat food from any of the other servants except for us. It will be me and Gerber who will serve your meals . Eat nothing from the servants."

    Atlas looked at me after stating the last sentence from her. I nodded, feeling a lot more safer when they assured me of my security. 

    "Then there is nothing to worry about...right?" I chuckled wryly. 

    The two flinched at me in annoyance. What did I said? Did I just said something wrong? 

   “See? That’s the reason why she can easily die, Atlas.” 

Atlas shook her head, “She isn’t as gullible like what you thought, Gerber.”

“Whatever, you always…” 

They bickered and bickered until they decided to dress me up and sent me to the library since Count Vlad was already waiting for my presence in there. I walked up to Count Vlad in my usual black dress that fell until my knees, ruffled sleeves and black boots with white lacy socks. But I do think that I really look way more different than before. My skin was paler, almost looking like the white laces on the curtains. 

I also noticed that my hair has been growing longer than before. Maybe, being a blood slave isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s actually a lot more comfortable. I bet my hair began to get healthy because of the shampoo and all the oils that Gerber put in my head. 

“You look healthier today,” Count Vlad smiled at me as he went to the shelves to pick a few books for our topic today. 

“I...almost ate poison and — “ 

“You almost what?!” 

“ — Atlas cooked me some breakfast…” 

“Wait. Hold it right there, young lady. How — care to tell me how you end up almost digesting a poison?” 

I touched my lips while thinking about what had actually happened a few hours ago just this morning. 

“Oh, I don’t know…” 

Should I tell him about it? 

“I almost accidentally ate something I’m allergic with…” 

He nodded at me, understood my sudden choice of words. That was a good excuse, I think. I shouldn’t tell him about it. Atlas decided to keep it so I should keep it to myself too. 

He let the topic go and we started to do our lessons. But as I continued to listen to him teaching me a lot of things that I needed to know, my mind wandered back to the book of spells. Count Vlad must have noticed me space out a lot of times that he just decided to give me a quick test. 

After I finished my test and scored it perfect, he dropped the book on the desk and stared at me. My eyebrows furrowed at his curiosity of what I was thinking this whole time. 

“What’s on your mind, Lady Sol?” 

I shook my head, “N–Nothing.”

“Nothing? Hm…” 

“I was actually thinking…D-Do you h-have books about the helsings?” 

There was a long silence around us, almost weighing our thoughts as if it’s going to answer my question. After a long chain of thoughts, Count Vlad gave me an okay sign. My eyes lit up to his answer. 

“I can borrow a few books in the palace’s library and bring them here for you, Lady Sol.”

I stood up, “Really?!”

He nodded and smiled at me, “Anything for you, muffin.”

I escorted Count Vlad out of the library after our teaching sessions. He promised to bring them to me tomorrow. 

“Don’t forget about it, please?” I looked up at him when he got on the seat of his carriage. 

He leaned his head on the window, stretched his hand out to me and patted me on my head. 

“I won’t, muffin. Goodbye.” 

“Goodbye, Count Vlad!” 

I waved my hand at the leaving carriage and watched it until it disappeared into the trees. When I turned to the mansion of the door, I thought I saw Gerber waiting for me. Yet my sight disappointed me when I got closer. It wasn’t Gerber but Lady Catherine, wearing her black gown as if she was a fine painting, staring at me lifelessly. 

“Looks like you found another man for your collection…” she smiled at me. Not a kind one, but a smile that actually seemed sarcastic. 

“Well…” 

“Well? Now that Lord Minir is not here, are you becoming someone else’s blood slave? I bet you are. Looking at how clingy you are with the Count.” 

“Lady Catherine…you misunderstood–”

“Of course. Forget it. Did you had breakfast? Or lunch? Come on. Let me cook for you–”

“Ah, actually, Atlas cooks for me…” 

She stared at me, her jaw tightened. 

“Then since you are not going to come for lunch. Can you do something for me?” 

I nodded, “W-What is it, Lady Catherine?” 

“Will you clean up my chamber?”