Serving Dinner

When Elara walked out of the room, she could feel the darkness around her. A feeling of doom which had nothing to do with her fear of getting exposed. It was coming from the staff. They were not looking at her directly as if they were busy tending to their tasks, but she could feel their eyes following her everywhere.

Their eyes were dark, sinister and full of hatred. She would have been afraid of it if she had been a simple nanny but they did not know she had grown up with these kinds of gazes. She had bore them as her crown all her life.

All the maids were supposed to have their meal in the hall attached to the kitchen after their master had their meal either in the dining room or in their private chambers.

Since Killian had finished his meal, she went straight to the kitchen for hers when the chef smiled at her.

"Miss Brentwood." he waved her to come closer, "i have a favor to ask you." 

The words rang like an alarm bell and she paused in her tracks, waiting for him to speak further when he took a deep sigh.

"As you know half of the staff and the housekeeper had already left the job."  she knew that before coming here and now she understood all the working staff with morals and compassion had left to find a better job. Only thugs and ruffians had stayed to steal the scrapes of the duke's treasure.

The man frowned when she did not nod or reply. He cleared his throat and continued, "since all three maids had left for the market to buy supplies, I am short of hands. I heard from the butler that you are working as a nanny instead?" Elara rolled her eyes.

He only wanted her to work extra since one of the maids wanted to slack off. She could have said no, but she was not habitual of sitting in the room alone and doing nothing. 

The child was exhausted with his kidnapping, so he fell asleep as soon as he had his meals. And he was not going to wake up anytime soon. So, it did not matter if she helped a bit.

"What do you want me to do?" The man smiled brightly and passed a tray to her.

"This is lord's dinner. He wanted to have his meal in the room tonight and asked me to send it with a maid only and as you can see I only have servants available at this moment." he man looked like he would faint any moment by the blood pressure.

"You only need to serve him his meal and I promise I will give you the same set of food as him when you return. Here, you can have the complementary juice in advance.'' The man passed her a glass filled with red liquid. It had a faint scent of pomegranate and cherries.

Just by looking at it, she knew that it was an expensive drink that could never be offered to maids.

"There are no guests coming anymore." the chef shrugged as if he could understand her concerns when she sighed.

"Fine!" She took the drink and sipped it first. To her delight, it was delicious. It was not too sweet as she had thought but a mix of tang of berries and sweetness of pomegranate with something bitter in it giving it a perfect balance of taste.

"Thank you!" the chef added when she gulped all the drink and passed her the tray again.

She nodded slightly, surprised that she had drunk all of it without embarrassment. She held the tray and went to the room again. In the afternoon, she had decided that she was never going to knock at his door with the way he had looked at her. 

But here she was, standing here again just after half a day. She knocked the door slowly but no reply came,

"My lord, I have brought dinner." she called again when no one replied. If she waited, the food would go cold and she knew nobles did not like food when it was cold.

"My lord.."

"... come in." she paused when the voice came strange as if someone was panting. The images from the noon flashed past her eyes and she finally realized why he did not want a man to come into his room.

It was none of her concern. He could die with exerting herself in ecstasy for all she cared. The young lord could save the palace for himself then and she could live here for as long as she wanted.

She scowled at her thoughts. She did not want to pray for the death of everyone. Death only brings pain for the one leaving and to the one he left behind.

She entered the room and without raising her head, found the table and put the meal on it. She could hear the noises from the other side but she did not raise her head.

"Your meal is here, my lord. Please ring the bell if you need anything." She bowed her head and without lifting her head, she turned to leave for her room when the man scoffed.

"Are you telling me that I have to serve my own meal because you want to rest early by leaving your job?" Elara's brows furrowed. He could ask the girl in his arms if he wanted his meal to be served. What did it have to do with her? But she did not want Killian to fall in trouble.

"I apologize.'' She went back and placed the cutleries and served the meal when she heard footsteps. 

He walked and sat on the seat only wrapped in a bathrobe. He was wearing it at noon too. Did he not dress up at all or he was bust fucking women?

"There is only one cutlery?" he raised a brow amused.. When she picked up another cutlery and placed it beside him.

"I will serve the lady too, of course." with a smile she filled another place when another man came forward and sat on the seat.

"Look at your reputation, my lord. I am called a lady by a pretty woman."