As the carriage pulled through town, the two young ladies that rode in it, one of them 23 and the other 26 of age, eagerly looked out the windows to see the townsfolk.

Both women were red headed, though one was a darker shade and the other lighter with purple highlights. The younger with dark red hair had green eyes while the older had purple eyes and they were both wide with wonder at how busy and bustling the town was. Where they were from was in the countryside right beside Subcon's neighboring town, Mafia Town. And back there… wasn't a whole lot of excitement except for the danger factor of predatory animals in the woods and the occasional Mafia member lurking around town. So this was all new to the women.

As the carriage pulled into the forest and past the town's square, they were breath-taken by the beauty of the sun streaming through the bright green forest.

The younger one of the women looked to her cousin in excitement.

"Isn't this grand Wren?! I can't believe we get to work for the young Lord that runs this town! I mean sure the work will no doubt be tedious but it'll be worth it to see and experience the beauty and culture of this town like our parents told us!" She said with excitement in her green eyes. The same green that matched the glowing trees.

 “Yeah! I’m excited! And nervous… but mostly excited.” Wren replied with a small smile. 

As the carriage pulled up to the mansion, the women were astonished at the mere SIZE of the place. Memorizing all the details and intricacies of the artwork on the house would take forever. It was like a palace instead of a mansion.

The carriage pulled to a gentle stop in front of the mansion's entrance. There waiting was a middle aged man in a black suit and an older looking woman in a fancy maids outfit.

The women stepped out of the carriage with the help of the head coachmen and walked up to the two people while the coachmen unloaded their luggage from on top and the back.

"Hello. You must be the Twin Duke's daughters? Miss Wren and Lydia Starlight? It is an honor for you to lend your assistance and aid to our staff. I am Leroy Cardwell, the head Butler of the Ironheart estate and this is Melissa Wright, headmistress of the maids and servants." The Butler bowed while the headmistress curtsied.

The two cousins curtsied back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Yes we are the Starlight cousins. I am here for the position as the head nurse while my cousin here will be our new Lord's secretary. And of course we'll help all we can with assisting the other servants with our… "gifts"."

The women weren't just ordinary nobles, no. They were of two different kinds of magical creature descent. Wren being part vampire and Lydia being part white witch. They were called in because of not only their prowess in their powers but also to form good relations with their families since the other deal for familial relations went…. south. 

"Now the only thing that we ask of you is of a few separate rules. The first one is to follow strictly to the T on the master's orders when given to. The second is not to go into any of the master's private rooms unless given permission to. And the last one is to NEVER mention the previous wife of the master. Do not even utter her name in his presence. Or in general, he'll know." The Butler informed.

“Y-yes sir..” Wren stuttered, suddenly nervous. 

The servants nodded and began to move forward towards the inside of the mansion. And as soon as they weren't looking, Lydia had a mischievous idea. She looked around to see if anyone was watching. No one was except Wren. To which she was confused about until… Lydia raised her hand in the air and saluted off with her middle finger. Blatantly flipping the very existence of the mansion off.

She then quickly put her arm down in time to see the servants turn around and for Wren to catch her dropping jaw.

"Are you coming?" The Butler asked with curiosity.

"We are~~~!!!" Lydia sang out. While Wren scurried to her side. As they went inside a shadowy figure that was overlooking them the entire time made a mischievous smile.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s finally here~” the figure mused. “This will prove most interesting..” He chuckled darkly.

As the Butler was showing them around, Wren whispered harshly to Lydia's ear.

“What was that for?! What if someone else saw?!” she whispered yelled.

Lydia signed for her to be quiet. But then replied with a cheeky smile, "Don't worry about it, even if anyone DID see, it's not like they have any proof that I did it." She whispered back trying to stifle a giggle as the cousins tried to LOOK like they were listening. To which they were. They just multitasked.

“I- guess that’s true..” Wren replied sheepishly. “Just try to refrain from any more or that, would you?”

"No promises~~~" Lydia quietly sang out with a shit eating grin.

Wren sighed in defeat. “You’ll be the death of me..”

"But aren't you technically half dead already~?" She joked quietly.

Wren paused. “Huh.” That was a good point, but… “vampires can die too.”

"Then you'll be double dead~" Lydia tried to contain her snort.

“I don’t know if I should laugh or groan.” She stifled a giggle anyways.

"And here we have the ballroom. Our pride and joy." And it should be. The place could rival the ballroom from the Beauty and the Beast. Only the grand chandelier was pure crystalline white. It shone like diamonds. In fact, it was! 

"Our chandelier is entirely made up of over 15,000 finely cut white diamonds. The architecture of the ballroom is framed with the strongest of iron ores and beautifully carved in Renaissance floral style, painted gold and the walls are decorated with the finest floral wallpaper in all of the country. The furniture is highly decorated with the finest fabrics, stuffings, and the best hard carved wood from Subcon Forest. This room is where we hold our yearly gatherings of the nobles from around the country."

Lydia and Wren gawked at the mere SIZE of the room and decor. 

'Holy bloody Hell!!! You can fit a small colony in here!' Lydia ranted in her mind. While Wren just paled at how much this would cost to upkeep or insure.

After that show and tell, the servants ended the tour by showing the women to each of their rooms.

Lydia saw that her luggage was already set up in her room. The room was fairly large and moderately decorated. It suited her tastes with a spring green paint color. The canopy bed was a nice touch as well as the walk in bathroom.

"Now Miss Starlight. We're serving dinner in about two hours. I suggest you take that time to unpack and get situated." Leroy said.

"Thank you Mr. Cardwell. I'll take your advice to heart."

As soon as he left she took a moment to listen to when he was gone. After that she grinned widely and ran to the bed and grandly "FLOPPED" onto it. 

"Just like home… but better!" She squealed. But as much as she wanted to sleep the rest of the day away, she had to do as Leroy suggested. 

So for the next two hours, she put her clothes and such away in their respective places and then got ready for dinner. She wore a semi casual long purple and white dress. It wasn't a ballroom dress but it was fancy enough for dinner. She moderately did her makeup and let her ruby red hair run down in ringlets.

A knock was heard and one of the servants came in and told her that dinner was made. As she and her cousin, who wore an off the shoulder long yellow and white gown, walked to the dining room. They couldn't help but feel watched.

It wasn't till they entered and saw the grand display of delicious food that the thought was forgotten… for now.

As they sat at their designated seats at the long table, the first main chair remained vacant. 

"Hey, where's our "master"? I thought he was supposed to greet and have dinner with us or something?" Lydia whispered to Wren.

Wren gave a small shrug. “I have no idea.” She whispered back, equally confused. 

All of that changed as soon as the Butler called out that, "His Lordship has arrived." He opened the doors, bowed, and moved away.

Right there was a handsome man that looked to be late twenties or early thirties. His features were sharp but still filling. He had luxurious and flowing dark purple hair and his eyes looked golden. And his outfit was fitting for a Lord as it had a long flowing white shirt, dark purple vest, black pressed pants, and a dark purple fluffy ascot that had a golden rimmed jeweled brooch. The royal purple jewel looked mystifying. It was as though something was moving inside.

He smirked at the ladies' gawked faces. 

“I apologize for not being here to greet you earlier, I had my hands full. I’m Lord Lukas Ironheart, I’m glad you ladies have come.” Lord Lukas greeted formally, though his smirk seemed rather cocky. 

Lydia seemed a little perturbed but got up from her seat and curtsied regardless. Her cousin did the same although she had no idea what was going on.

The lord crossed the room and settled into his seat. As the women sat back down and began to dig into the food, the young Lord spoke up.

“That was quite the display earlier, should women such as you use such actions towards my home?”

Lydia almost choked on her wine. But fortunately it didn't show.

"Lord Ironheart. I do not know what you mean." Lydia said cooley as she dabbed her mouth a smidge with her napkin. 

“So you are saying you did not give the middle finger to the mansion while you thought nobody was watching?” He mused while he rested his head on his folded hands.

Wren paled fifty shades whiter than she already was but kept eating like it was nothing. Or at least tried.

Lydia on the other smirked cutely. But still showed grace in her movements and had a cunning shine in her eyes. She wasn't backing down yet. 

"I have absolutely no idea on what you mean by, "the middle finger". Is it a new thing amongst the nobles? I do remember hearing that there was a new way of dismissing people in a rather rude way nowadays. Is that what it is? And your Lordship, if I may say. How do YOU know of it?" She feigned innocence but if you looked closely you can see the devious intent in her eyes and smile. 

His smirk fell for a moment before he started chuckling. Soon the chuckle became a full blown laugh, as if it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Though soon enough he’d calmed himself. “Well played, Lady Starlight. I was discussing matters not terribly far from you, and apparently out of your range of sight, when I happened to witness your little gesture.” 

She looked a bit shocked by his outburst. But kept her smile plastered on her face. "Again my Lord. Why would I do such a horrid thing? And even if I did, would you have any proof? If I recall correctly I do not believe that there is advanced photography without practically blinding the other party. So again I ask, do you have any proof and if you do… show it to me."

Wren nearly did a spit take. To challenge and question a Lord was very risky and dangerous. Especially if the other party was also a magic wielder. And if the rumors are true about Lukas, then she's basically challenging him to a duel!

This little stunt caught Lukas by surprise and a pleasant shiver crawled up his spine as he saw her cocky and challenging face. It looked downright evil but exotic.

“Hahaha! I suppose my word is not proof enough, hm? Don’t worry, I’ll get it out of you eventually. Why DID you do it?” He was clearly very amused with Lady Starlight’s challenge. 

"Well that's a question that will simply be unanswered since I didn't do something so "uncivilized". Unless you have any other methods as to you can claim your accusations~?" She further prodded as she ate her dinner. Mischievous smile being slowly evident on her face.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” He shot back simply, finally starting to eat his own dinner. 

"Well until you can prove it, it will be just that. An accusation." She simply stated as she sipped her wine. But Lord Lukas wasn't giving up so easily.

“A true accusation. I will get your proof, Lady Starlight.” He promised lowly. How? Only time would tell. 

She raised her brow in curiosity and had a playful smirk as she ate while looking at the young lord.

Soon the atmosphere seemed to settle down and Wren seemed to breathe easier again. As they finished dinner, Wren had excused herself to go back to her room to retire for the night. Lydia was going back to her room as well when the young Lord caught up to her and slightly grabbed her wrist.

"Lord Lukas?" She asked in confusion.

“Have a good night, Lady Lydia. I look forward to whatever sass you have in store tomorrow.” 

"Hmmm~ it might come soon then~ according to the new schedule, all of the house's occupants are supposed to come to my new office and have their monthly checkup. That includes you~" she sang out with not a hint of remorse in her tone. The thought of the checkup made him cringe.

“Oh… that’s tomorrow..” ‘WHY MUST THAT BE A THING?!’ He internally groaned, letting go of her wrist as he realized he was, in fact, still gripping it. 

She chuckled. "Don't worry~ it won't hurt~." As she walked away and was about to close her bedroom door she peaked out. "Much~". She teased as she shut her door. Though to him he wasn't sure if she was serious or not.

The next early morning….