The Head Court Lady

It was already late in the morning when Ashley woke up from her sleep. She slowly sat up and rubbed her swollen eyes. She realized that she woke up in her bed. Ramier must've carried her back to her room.

She blushed at the thought. That was quite shameful. It was embarrassing to remember how she dirtied his shirt with her tears and snot. She wasn't sure if he noticed but she was too angry with him to care about what he would think. She considered it as a small price to pay for throwing her off that tower though it wasn't intentional. 

She combed her hair with her fingers and touched her swollen eyes. She cried a bucket last night and this was the aftermath. Her stomach growled and a gurgling sound could be heard. She realized that she was very late for breakfast.

 She was about to reach for the bell when there was a sudden knock on the door. 

"My Lady, may we enter your quarters? " the head court lady, standing on the other side of the door, asked.

She cleared her throat. "Y-Yes..You may come in please."

Hearing her reply the head court lady opened the door and entered along with the maids that had her food and clothes.

Seeing the food and clothes, Ashley immediately opened her mouth to speak. She didn't want them to pamper her too much. She had arms and legs of her own. 

"Please, just place those down the bed. I'll be fine on my own." she said.

The maids didn't seem to hear her while the head court lady narrowed her eyes.

She didn't have a good impression on Ashley. The girl smelled like trouble. She was the legacy... Yes but it didn't mean that she should inconvenience the emperor. Especially, that she was taking the emperor's precious time. The emperor had a lot of matters to attend to, he was always busy working on the Kingdom's matters. He didn't have the time to trouble himself with this girl.

But. He personally commanded her to attend to the girl's needs. When she learned about the incident during last night's dinner, she couldn't help but be angry with her. She clearly didn't have any manners.

She even tried to sneak out late at night. Truly troublesome. The girl wasn't even aware that she woke up the entire palace. She was infuriated. The girl was clearly presumptuous.

The Emperor even carried her back to her room. The head Court lady scoffed. She was clearly seducing his Highness. Even though she looked unique due to her healthy complexion and black hair, she was still undeserving of his Majesty's attention. She wasn't even that pretty.

She had to report this to her grace. She had to know that there was a newfound pest in the castle.

Ashley was sweating bullets at the head court lady's hateful stare. It appears that her existence wasn't favorable to the woman. She was shooting daggers at her while the other maids attended to her.

She was starting to feel uncomfortable and didn't know if she should say something or call her attention. She looked like she would bite her head off.

Seconds later, the head court lady finally directed her stare elsewhere. She must've realized that Ashley was staring back at her with a confused expression.

'What's her problem?' she asked herself.

She didn't remember any private encounter with the head court lady nor did anything to offend her. The way she stared at her made her feel that she only saw her as an irritating fly.

The maids also couldn't look her straight in the eye. Are vampires not really friendly? Do they have a grudge against her or... Maybe, they wanted to eat her? Seriously her vampire paranoia was getting worse.

She realized that she needed to ask Ramier where she could find other humans like her. She hasn't seen one so far. It was quite confusing.

After she finished dressing up, the maids arranged her food on the table in her room. They poured her tea and placed the utensils carefully in front of her.

When they were done, the maids stood behind the head court lady. The head court lady spoke and pointed to her bell.

"My lady if you have anything you need. Please ring the bell and we'll quickly attend to it. If her lady wishes to be alone then we will take our leave." she said nonchalantly and turned around towards the door. The maids bowed before her and followed the head court lady.

Ashley looked at them as they departed. The head court lady was one scary woman. Her glare could send her straight to hell, her red eyes were like infernos blazing. She resembled her strict teacher during middle school. They both gave the same look when they looked displeased.

She shrugged her shoulders. Well, this was normal. If there are some people who'll like you, there are always people who won't . Better not get on her bad side or it'll turn for the worse. 

She threw her worries to the back of her mind and proceeded with her late breakfast.

She checked the pitcher placed on her table. She wanted to know if it was blood. Good thing, it wasn't. It was just water. She decided to enjoy the food to relieve her hunger.

Ashley spent the whole afternoon inside her room. She didn't attempt to go out since she wasn't sure if it was appropriate for her to do that. Ramier also didn't appear the whole day.

So she grew very bored. She tried reading a book that was on the shelf inside her room but sadly, they had a different alphabet. That wasn't good but it was expected. This was a different world after all. 

Hours passed...

The boredom almost killed her. She didn't know how she survived without doing anything. She just sat or lied down when she felt like it and she would also stare down the window from time to time.

It was already time for dinner. Ashley waited patiently for Ramier but he didn't come. She was slightly disappointed by this. She knew that he was a busy person and relieved her doubts. 

She decided to wait more. 

Late in the evening, a servant came to her quarters. She opened her door and let the servant enter. Without any delay the servant immediately said his purpose. 

"Good evening my lady, this servant would like to inform you that his highness will visit your quarters an hour later." he said. "He would like you to wait and not fall asleep before he arrives."

"Oh. Okay." She said.

"If there's nothing else. I will take my leave." he said and scurried off. When he was finally far away, he wiped the sweat in his forehead and exhaled in relief.

She sighed. She noticed that servants always acted that way towards her. They seemed to be afraid of her. Creasing her forehead, she wondered how could that be? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Wasn't she the one who was supposed to be peeing her pants from fear, not them?

Ashley had no idea that it wasn't because of their fear. It was actually because of something else...

She closed the door and sat down on her bed. At least she could talk to Ramier tonight. She wanted to ask him what would happen to her now and what she was supposed to do.

But, she was still upset about what happened last night. She would never ever forget that.

Ashley waited patiently while sitting near the window watching the scenery below. Since it was night time, the town was filled with lights. The scene was majestic. It reminded her of the world she used to live in. Where lights from buildings and billboards illuminated the city. How the city life was still bustling even in the night.

She remembered how bright and colorful those lights were. Especially during Christmas. But that was before. She didn't even know if they celebrated Christmas here.

She was so absorbed with her reminiscing that she didn't realize how an hour had passed.

Ashley was interrupted in her thoughts. She turned her head to look at the door when she heard it open. Ramier came inside her room with a calm expression.