His Little Kitten.

Rowan sat in his coach while impatiently checking his golden pocket watch every five minutes. If not less.

His personal bodyguard and head of guards, Mateo turned his head to his master to see him check the time on his pocket watch again.

He shook his head lightly at his ever impatient master. Was that habit not supposed to have left him since? Unbeknownst to him, Rowan had seen him shake his head though the action was small and inconspicuous.

Knock!

Rowan knocked on the door of the coach and the door was immediately opened by one of the footmen standing by the door before he could even start the second knock.

There were 4 footmen on each side of the red palanquin behind his coach. The palanquin was known to carry wealthy people which were mostly female.

Girls from brothels carried palanquin sometimes but it was mostly the most popular girl in the brothel.

Rowan stepped out of the coach pocketing his watch and looked to the palanquin before he sighed. Hopefully, she agreed to board the palanquin he had brought for her.

His eyes moved away from the palanquin to the footmen standing beside it. He looked away and then around his surrounding as an habit he had learned since he was a kid.

He was about to look away when he saw a familiar figure look to the left and then the right before carefully but hurriedly crossing the road.

In her right hand was a brown bag that looked like it contained everything she owned in her life. Indeed it was.

She tugged at the hood of her brown cape revealing the side of her familiar brown corset. But, that wasn't what caught his interest.

Her ember eyes that seemed to glow under the ray of sun before the glow died down again when she passed underneath a roofed place shielding the sun away. It was like her eyes and the sun was on a war of which one glowed more.

His lips moved slightly to form a smirk. Looks like his little kitten was running away. How amusing.

"Mateo." Rowan called in a monotone voice and immediately, his right hand man was right beside him like he had been waiting for that call.

"Go after her. I did not say to bring her cause you seem to take my orders another way these days..." Mateo frowned at this but he understood what Rowan was referring to and didn't say one word in protest. 

Rowan had asked him to check on Letitia the day before and he ended up going after the maid that followed after her like a gum instead.

But that was the least of his problem right now. His master was still giving him orders.

"Just follow her like her shadow and let me know where she is going."

Mateo raised a brow at his words. Her? Who was the 'her' when they were standing in front of his to-be wife's house.

Nonetheless, he couldn't question him and could only confusedly call on one of his best men to go and carry out the order of their master.

The latter bowed his head before scurrying off in the direction of the lady. Who knows? Him trailing after the unknown woman and finding out her destination to perfection might give him a raise in his salary! Or even a bonus!

"Come on then. Let's go and throw a certain woman in a sticky turmoil."

Rowan, still amused, strode into the house with large strides while Mateo, baffled, followed after him closely his eyes sharp as always as it swept the surrounding for any sign or form of threat even though no one there knew the true identity of the man before him.

Rowan stepped into the living room where he had sat earlier and took the seat that he was formerly occupying.

A maid that was passing by immediately greeted him in a haste before she ran into the inner room to call on Doris that she had a guest.

Pulling out his golden watch again, he clicked his tongue when he saw he was five minutes earlier than the planned time.

Eh, it was just to cause a bit of a stir of trouble and this woman didn't dare ask why he was early.

He heard a slight gasp that was quite inaudible yet his ears picked it up clearly like the person had gasped right beside his ear. He turned his head to his right to see a girl whose face has paled and was now white as a sheet of paper and her lips slightly apart.

He recognized her. She was the one that accompanied his little kitten so he took a guess that she must be his little kitten's personal maid.

He then tilted his head slightly in amusement. The maid has stayed while her lady was gone? Or she perhaps didn't know her lady had ran away?

No, by the look on her face, she looked like she did. She was obviously shocked to see him sitting there. He was further amused as he lifted his lips into a smirk.

"What was that your name, again?" He asked and Constance blinked fixing her face.

Constance heart skipped a beat when she looked into his cold yet calm black eyes. She gulped and bowed her head slowly to answer his question.

"It's–" She paused once she noticed her voice came out squeaky like a rat. She took a deep breath turning her head to the side as exhaled shakily the same way she had taken it in all while ignoring her heart rate speed.

Then she closed her eyes giving herself a little pep talk before she turned to him again. She was ready to talk. Hopefully.

"It's Constance, My Lord." She replied her voice clear like a crystal and high like a soprano.

"It's your Grace!" Mateo snapped before Constance could even start to cheer in her head for not stuttering and rather her voice was loud and clear.

Well, of course she was startled by the sudden snap that she flinched to the back before looking up at the man looking terrifying as the other man present in the room except the man that was sitting looked a bit more terrifying than the man that snapped.

But instead of feeling intimidated by his look, she rather glared at him. What? He was a maid– a guard of a sort– but so was she!

He seemed like the seated man's personal bodyguard but she was also a bodyguard! A maid, but still! They were on the same level!

Mateo was shocked and taken aback by her glare that his eyes roamed her clothes before he scoffed looking down at his. His own clothes was far better! Hers was faded out!

Did her mistress hate her that much? Was she an impudent maid?! If not, why was she wearing faded clothes? But, then he remembered her clothe was in the same condition as her mistress.

Still, he refused to even spare her another glance as she turned his head away from her. Constance huffed and looked away.

Impudent Bastard!

Before another word could be said, Doris strutted into the room, a practiced smile on her face, as she pushed Constance out of her way before she made an inclined bow at the seated man.

The poor pushed girl immediately tried to grip the wall beside her to steady herself to no avail as she landed on her butt with a thud.

Immediately, she flew up and ignored Doris glaring eyes on her. The woman huffed and turned her head to Rowan's face.

"You're early, my lord." Doris commented with a grin and Rowan raised a brow at her before looking to Constance who was sporting a scowl on her face due to the ache in her butt that she had landed on.

"Help her out."

Those three words were just words but to Doris and Constance, it was like the wind of Antarctica had just blown into the room.

Mateo, who was unfazed, from being used to his master's cold voice bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement of the order given.

"Not you. Her." Rowan corrected his eyes going back to Doris who was rubbing her upper arm at the moment. She didn't know why she was feeling chilly as it was in the late summer.

Maybe she was about to run a fever. Her eyes turned up when she noticed the room was awfully quiet to see Rowan's cold black eyes on her face.

She gulped harshly before she licked her lips that wasn't in any way dry or chapped.

"Is there a problem, my lord?"

"Where is the woman I bought?" He questioned instead.

Constance heaved a low sigh of relief when he asked another question getting the attention from her but soon paled when the question he asked registered itself in her brain.

She was dead!

"Didn't you hear him? Go get that Jinx!" Doris snapped and Constance flinched back a little yet again.

She easily got startled.

"Yes, my l– ma'am." She immediately corrected herself before the woman got angry and threw her out of the house.

Doris had once threatened to throw Constance out of the house if not for Letitia's intervention to move out of the house as well if Constance was going, she would have been out of the house since that day and be wandering the streets right now, or worse doing some hard labor or dirty works.

The thought of it made her cringe.

She turned her heels towards the kitchen intentionally even though she knew Letitia's room was in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?! Have you finally gone mad?! Her room is in the opposite direction!" Doris reprimanded yelling after her and Constance froze. Then she feigned ignorance and turned around with a smile.

"Oh! Silly me! I was in a daze over there. See, I was thinking of the combination of colours. What if we mixed––"

Doris closed her eyes with a sharp intake of air. God, this girl was testing her patience.

She had had enough shits to deal with that morning!

She opened her eyes to the still ranting girl.

"––would it give us purple or maybe––"

***Trigger Warning: Mention of Suicide.***

"I do not care what you were thinking! You could be thinking of how to jump over a bridge and end that wretched life of yours for all I care! Just go and get that mistress of yours before I do something to you!" Doris cut her off with a glare.

"Oh! I talk too much at times! I'll go and get her now. Pardon me." Constance said with a nervous chuckle and turned her body to the right direction.

Seeing her walking slowly, Doris almost snapped her head in half! She glared at her walking pace before she yelled out,

"Forget it! I'll just go and get her myself!"

Constance froze at her words. She mustn't go there! If she did, it was all over for her mistress! She could go and spend about 30 minutes there before coming back out. But, before she could even voice out a word of disagreement, Doris was on her way to Letitia's room.

Each step Doris took towards the room was like a hammer hitting on Constance's heart as it suddenly became difficult to breathe for she forgot how to breathe and her heart became heavier.

For the second time that day, she was dead... except this time around, she was very much sure she was dead.