Escape PART 1

Instead of receiving a hard hit or something close to that, Vanessa felt his long fingers swat her hand away from her cheek.

Lady Claudette's finger had left an imprint on Vanessa's left cheek. Theodore scowled at the sight, and when he placed a finger on her cheek, Vanessa flinched; now staring at him.

Wondering if this was some kind of trick.

On the other hand, Lady Claudette watched with her jaw dropped, silently seething with anger towards the human.

Wanting to clear the strong air that was slowly turning against her, Claudette opened her mouth to speak, but Theodore stopped her words just by raising his hand in the air.

"For someone who was burnt with hot tea, it must not have hurt. Seeing how you use the same hand to slap someone". Pointing out the obvious.

She stared at her hand as if she missed some point and let out a titter.

''Are you not going to punish her?'' Claudette asked in disbelief.

"I see no damage done. Go home." Theodore ordered.

"S-she--"

"Leave!" Sensing the danger, Claudette didn't wait any longer, but not without giving the human a hard stare.

"Did I miss out on some fun thing?" Dermot stood by the door. He had seen the lady hurrying outside with teary eyes. "Hurt someone's feelings again?"

Theodore did not answer him immediately, he turned to Vanessa, who hung her head low.

"Place some ice on your cheek before going to bed." Vanessa bowed her head and left the drawing room.

Dermot watched the human scurry out before walking into the drawing room. "Never pegged you to be soft-hearted to a maid. Finally found your fancy?" He teased with a childish grin, revealing part of his fangs.

One would have thought that Dermot's words would offend the king, but they didn't Instead Theodore answered,

"You will be surprised." He picked up his tea to taste it and hummed. 'Someone trying to get your attention when you are already there can be hectic.'

Unlike Vanessa, Theodore saw the vampiress tip the teacup faintly when it was being handed to her, making some of its content spill.

When Vanessa reached her small room which was lit by one lamp, she shut the door behind her and went to sit at the edge of her bed.

Sniffling as she placed the ice that she got from the kitchen, on the places that hurt.

She lay on her bed to sleep. 'I will have to find a way out of here without being caught.' were her thoughts before she drifted into her now usual nightmare.

Just before sunrise, Vanessa and every servant of the castle awoken to do their jobs. This was a routine the servants followed, so they could finish cleaning the castle on time.

Before stepping out of her room, she tied her head with a scarf, to hide her changing hair color.

Now, Vanessa dried the clean plates with a cloth. She continued with this until she was done. When she left the kitchen, on her way out she met Rosetta.

"Va—what happened to your face?" Rosetta asked with concern.

Vanessa brought her left hand to cover her slightly swollen cheek and shook her head to tell it was nothing.

"Is it the king?" Rosetta whispered. "I told you to avoid coming in contact with him. You must have angered him, but it is a good thing that he didn't kill you." She sighed.

Vanessa wanted to tell her she was mistaken, but at the same time, she caught sight of Theodore entering one of the hallways, and her thoughts shifted.

He had shocked her with his action, where she was expecting him to side with the lady, he didn't but instead scolded and ordered her to leave.

'What could be running in his mind? Was it because of the stone? How powerful is it? Or is every maid treated like this?'

So many questions with no answer to them. The only person that can answer her questions was that vampire.

She turned to Rosetta and saw her ranting about something.

"…it is the reason you should follow my rules—"

"Do you know any other exit other than the castle's main entrance?"

Rosetta looked at her, and didn't utter a word, as if trying to decipher something. Vanessa sensed that she must have come out all rushed and desperate with the question.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you? I just wanted to know since I thought I heard one of the maids talk about something similar to that." Vanessa lied.

With a desperate situation came desperate measures.

"Um, I think there is one in the garden area," Rosetta answered with a smile.

"The castle is so big, I would be surprised if it had only one exit." She let out a laugh. "I will go complete my work now." Vanessa excused herself.

When she had placed some distance between them, with her back facing Rosetta, she closed her eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief.

Vanessa had only stepped outside the castle so she could go check the exit at the garden when she heard Ralph order one of the servants to prepare the king's horse and another one for the guest.

"King Theodore will be going hunting with Duke Dermot," Ralph said.

A thoughtful expression came to settle on Vanessa's face. At first, she just wanted to check the exit that Rosetta talked about, but now there will be a change of plan.

'This is the best time to leave, there could be no better chance than this.' She thought and hurried back inside the castle, so she could wait for him to leave before making any move.

Her hurried steps almost led Vanessa to crash into Dermot.

And she quickly bowed her head in apology.

Dermot, who recognized her to be the maid from the other day, stared at her intently.

Somewhere in Dermot's thoughts, he wondered why Theodore even bothered to advise her on placing a cube of ice on her cheek.

Knowing the king for so long, he knew that Theodore never shared his unholy advice with people that are not useful to him.

'Apart from the usual blood and sex that the ladies who flock around Theodore offered, what was it that she had with her average look?'

Meanwhile, Vanessa bowed her head again and passed him to continue walking. He watched her as she did this.

She had taken a few steps away, when Dermot turn to walk away also, but stopped and looked at Vanessa again.

"Stop!" he ordered.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly took a deep breath and exhaled.

So far, she hadn't made any suspicious move. 'Why was he stopping her?' She thought as she adjusted the scarf on her head before turning back to look at Dermot.