Eugene offered her a bow,
“Thank you, milady. I shall drink it later.” The vampiress obviously meant no harm and was only trying to be appreciative and he didn’t see a reason to be mean towards her by refusing it.
“Of course!” Rosetta was glad about anything Eugene said, and then she realised the milk wouldn’t be warm. But maybe, he preferred it that way? She observed the room and said, “These rooms don’t have windows or balconies.”
“It seems it was once used as a storage room, which is why there was no need for a window. But in time, it was changed to rooms for the guests to be used. By vampires who prefer their quiet isolation,” Eugene explained to her, and Rosetta nodded. She also realised the only light that came into the room was from the candle that Eugene held in his hand, the other from the room’s door, through which she had entered.
Rosetta picked up the cloth and started cleaning the table the way she thought it was to be cleaned. After two minutes, she turned to Eugene and asked him, “What is your last name?”
“Eggs.”
“Eugene Eggs,” Rosetta murmured his full name and she nodded. Maybe if everything goes well, she would be Rosetta Eggs? Eggs was odd, compared to her family name, but she would keep Eggs just because of her love for Eugene.
When the vampiress smiled, Eugene wondered what the woman was thinking, which made her almost giggle before she went back to cleaning the table.
“How has your day been so far,” Rosetta asked him, wanting to make more conversations with him and know him closely as she realised she didn’t know much about him, apart from him working for Dawson’s family for a few years now.
“It has been the same, milady,” Eugene answered. Much better than he had expected because he knew being involved with a high-society woman was dangerous. Noticing her stare at him, he asked, “How about you?”
“It has been the best day. The bestest after the time when my father threw this b–” Rosetta stopped, and she nervously smiled, realising the mistake she would be making and then cleared her throat. “I have had a very good day. It is thanks to you, Eugene.”
There weren’t many people who enjoyed cleaning, not in the lower class, and rare as one moved up the social class in society, Eugene thought to himself. He wondered what she saw in him, something she didn’t find in the men of her own kind or class.
“Eugene, I am done with the table. What do I clean next?” Rosetta asked, ready to turn the next object spotless.
“You need to change the bedspread. We can do it together when it comes to changing it to a new one. For now–” Did Eugene say together? “–you can remove the bedcover.”
Rosetta walked towards the bed, happy to be helping Eugene, and she pulled the cover. But as the room was dusty and old, which had been left unused for quite some time now, the vampiress caught something fly from the corner of her eyes when she forcefully pulled the bedcover.
She went to drop it on the side when her eyes fell on what had flown earlier. The vampiress’s eyes fell on a large hairy spider that appeared to be the size of her palm.
“S–ssspider.”
Her lips trembled, and she had trouble breathing. She started to sweat on seeing it, and in a panic to shoo it away, she used the bed cover to push it out of the room.
When she pushed the spider out of the room, she pushed the door, so it wouldn’t enter again. On hearing the rustling sound, Eugene turned in time to notice the door closing, and he panicked,
“Lady Rosetta, no! Don’t close the door–“
But Rosetta, who turned to look at Eugene, her eyes fell on another spider hanging from the ceiling, and when the door completely closed, a click was heard from the door. The vampiress wanting to move away in panic ended up tripping and hitting her head against the wall so hard that she dropped unconscious on the room’s floor.
“…” To warn her, Eugene had moved too quickly for the candle flame to exhaust itself, leaving the room completely dark.
Eugene couldn’t see a thing in the dark, and having only heard the loud sound of something hitting something, he called for the vampiress, “Lady Rosetta, are you alright? Lady Rosetta?”
But the vampiress, who was earlier freaking out because of a spider, had gone quiet. He became worried. The door of this room was not fixed, and it could be opened only from the outside. Right now, if he called for help in this isolated wing of the mansion, if one were to open the door and find a servant and a high lady alone in the room, the Marchioness would suck him dry.
Maybe Miss Eve or that arrogant cat would find him missing and look for him. He would need to patiently wait for them to find him missing.
A few minutes passed, and while Eugene sat down on the ground, he heard the vampiress finally awake.
“P-please, please don’t…” came the small sobs, and it confused Eugene before he realised she was dreaming. “D-don’t leave me here! I promise to be good! No no!” her voice got louder. It was as if she was having a nightmare.
Eugene quickly came to Rosetta’s side by following her voice and knelt on the ground, “Lady Rosetta, please wake up,” he shook the vampiress.
“I promise to be good!” Rosetta cried, and Eugene shook her with more strength, finally waking the vampiress out of her nightmare, and he heard her softly gasp.
Eugene quickly let her know, “The door to the room is locked from outside, and it can’t be opened from inside. There’s nothing to worry… I am here.”
“I am sorry for closing the door…” Rosetta whispered.
“It is fine. You didn’t know. Let us wait for someone to come and find us,” Eugene said, and it was probably the first time he had felt the vampiress turn this quiet.
