Behind the dark corridor

The maid bowed quickly, and Ralph watched her as she scurried away without once turning to look behind her.

His gaze shifted to look at the vampiress, who wore an angry face.

"Did she—"

"It's nothing you should be concerned about." The lady's shoe clicked on the floor with every step she took as she left there.

As the lady walked in the hallway back to the dining room, her footsteps slowed down as she listened to two maids gossiping.

She would have ignored them since gossiping was a common art amongst the servants, but the mention of a familiar name caught her attention.

"...is it not suspicious how she suddenly came into the castle when nobody even saw her?" Lady Claudette heard one of the maids questions.

"It is not only suspicious but weird. Have you forgotten the shocking sight of her hair?"

"Never. Who mysteriously changes their hair color overnight?" The two maids burst out laughing before it lowered to a snicker.

"Poor Rosetta had to pay a high price to expose that witch." The other maid nodded in agreement.

Having heard enough of the two maids' gossip, Claudette left the hallway.

A sweet smile graced her lips as she walked poisedly towards King Theodore, who had stepped out of the dining room.

But her smile slowly faltered when she noticed Vanessa standing behind him. 'If only the stupid maid did her job properly, then I won't have to see this annoying one in front of me,' she snorted silently.

She paused on her steps, her eyes narrowing at the maid, before her footsteps increased pace to reach the king.

She enthusiastically wrapped her arm around the king's. Turning to look at the maid behind her, she gave a spiteful gaze to the human who had her eyes facing the floor.

"What are you doing walking behind the king like his guard?" Claudette questioned with an interrogative tone before waving her hand dismissively. "Shoo!"

Vanessa opened her mouth to say something but closed it instinctively while still standing there unmoving. When the lady saw the maid make no attempt to obey her order, she said, "What are you waiting for? Go."

When Vanessa peered at the king from beneath her lashes and didn't see him say anything or spare her a glance, she took it as a sign that he was giving her permission to leave on the lady's words.

But when she offered a bow to both of them, ready to excuse herself, Theodore said, "And where do you think you are going?" with a serious tone.

"Leavin—"

"When did I permit you to leave?"

Vanessa's eyes quickly moved away from Theodore to look at the lady's flushed face, before she bowed in apology.

"And you," Claudette looked at Theodore and heard him continue, "stop clinging to me like an annoying parasite."

Her eyes moved down to see her hand, which held tightly to the king, and she quickly let go before offering a polite bow.

As they continued to walk again, Lady Claudette, trying to make conversation with the king, chimed, "The soiree is tomorrow."

"I know," he replied curtly.

"If you have decided to attend it, we can go together," she offered, her cheeks already scarlet colored

"You won't be needed for that."

Claudette's eyes opened wide to look at him, and she asked, "You already have someone to accompany you?"

Theodore stopped to look at the lady before his eyes shifted to the maid behind him, who still had her head downcast.

"Hm,"

For a moment, Claudette followed his line of sight and frowned deeply when her eyes fell on the maid.

On one hand, Theodore's lips threatened to pull into a smile as he watched the lady from the corner of his eyes. On the other hand, Vanessa felt uneasy having those two pairs of vampiric eyes stare down at her.

'It's already unusual for the king to take a human as his personal maid, and now was he also thinking about allowing her to accompany him?' She clenched her teeth as the thought came to mind.

"Your highness," Theodore turned to look at the direction of the voice, and Ralph, who stood there, bowed but didn't say another word.

Looking back at the vampiress, he said, "I hope you enjoyed your breakfast and have a safe trip back home." Theodore gave a small smile and continued, "I will have Ralph personally escort you to your carriage as I have important business to attend to."

His gaze shifted to Vanessa; he ordered, "You can leave from here," and she bowed before leaving but not without giving the lady a pointed look.

Early that morning, when Vanessa had heard the knock on her door during the early morning and had gone to check, she found a maid outside her door.

"Come with me." The maid said.

Vanessa's brows drew together in suspicion. "Why?"

"The lady has a work for you," stated the maid.

This early?

Sensing her reluctance, the maid slowly dug her hand into her dress pocket, but before she could pull anything from it, she caught sight of a guard and fled from there. Making Vanessa wonder what the maid had initially planned.

Claudette smiled at the king as he left, but once he was out of sight, the smile faltered.

Like every high-standing lady, she would have been proud if the king had personally seen her off, but instead he had to ask his servant to do that.

She sent a not-so-subtle glare to Ralph, and he feigned ignorance of it.

"Please, this way, milady." He stretched his hand forward to show her the way.

In one of the dark, unused corridors of the castle, a man bowed at the king to show his respect upon seeing him walk in.

The man's skin looked all cracked and dried, his nose flared in an unusual way anytime he took in air, and his eyes were a light violet color.

All of which are signs that a person is a sniffer. Because of their high sense of smell, most of the controlled sniffers put on the witch-bands around their wrists, which prevents them from sniffing things that might make them lose control.

"As you ordered, milord, we tried to track the boy, but there was no trace of him in Porkshire." The man informed. "And we did not sniff any other spell in the town of Mistleville other than the barrier one."

'Meaning her brother did not try to break the simple barrier spell.' Theodore recalled the frustrated and desperate look that sparked in the boy's eyes.

"For someone who seemed really desperate to get through the barrier, it's hard to believe that he didn't try to use any spells. Unless he doesn't know any." Theodore said to no one in particular.

The man added, "Although there was this strange yet familiar odor the person left behind, I can't recall when or where I smelled it before."

"How familiar is this smell you are talking about, Jack?"