If she hadn’t had the goal of winning the vampire’s favor in order to survive, the moment he sank his teeth into her arm, she would have lost her mind and screamed or frantically struggled, which would have incurred the vampire’s wrath. If that had happened, she wouldn’t be walking around as a so-called maid with all her limbs intact. And for that, Areum was sincerely grateful to Logan Lamont. Though the situation of being tied up in a carriage wasn’t necessarily pleasant in itself, she had reasons for thinking that he was a kind person. It would be difficult to view someone who let you in on how to survive as being bad.

Though he had clearly heard what Areum had said, Logan Lamont did not respond in any way. There was no way for Areum to know whether he didn’t find it worth responding to, or whether he just couldn’t figure out the right response.

Logan gave Areum an exhaustive tour of the manor, just as the vampire had asked him to. The office was here, the guest rooms were there, the sitting room is on this side, and over there is the banquet hall, et cetera. They passed through the 1st floor dining room and Logan showed her the kitchen, then they left out a side door and he showed her the caretaker’s house, but by the time he showed her the servants’ huts and the stables, they had walked quite far and Areum was thinking that her heel was about to fall off. It was sore and stung. It wasn’t the regular pain of being skinned. But Areum had no choice but to grin and bear it.

What else could she do? It wasn’t as if she could badger him to tend to her wound.

Once they finished the seemingly unending tour of the manor and Logan and Areum entered the maid’s sleeping quarters through the side door of the main building, they ran into Solenn. Areum thought about what to do next as she watched Logan and Solenn bow to each other from where she was behind Logan. Would she have to go back to the vampire’s bedroom on the 3rd floor and take the rest of the 10 or so books to the study? Or would she have to follow Solenn, who was looking at her like she had something to say?

Predictably, her worries resolved themselves without any regard for her own will.

“Lord Lamont, do you have something for the maid behind you to do?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll take her for a bit.”

“Go ahead.”

Logan lightly nodded his head and then walked down the hall without so much as a glance at Areum, who he had left behind. He walked with a bounce, as if he had just taken a load off. Where was he off to so quickly? As Areum watched him walking towards the main hall rather than the backstairs, she felt the gap in status between Logan Lamont and herself.

Only Solenn and Areum remained in the desolate wooden hallway. Solenn gestured at Areum to follow her, then entered the room they shared. Solenn propped open the door so that it wouldn’t shut, then stepped aside. Areum followed her into the room. The first thing that she noticed was a white cap on top of her bed.

“You must wear that at all times.”

Solenn instructed while pointing to the cap. Areum picked it up. It was made with rough fabric. It looked just like the caps that nurses used to wear, or the sanitary caps worn by ladies who gave out samples at the grocery store. Areum awkwardly pulled it onto her head. The broad thing covered her entire head. The era she was in meant she couldn’t hope for something useful like Velcro, and instead, she had to fasten it by tying a knot at the base of her head. When Areum’s hands missed their mark a few times and she was unable to tie the ribbon, Solenn got fed up and tied it for her.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Areum responded evasively. She touched the cap with her hands. She wasn’t generally the type to wear hats—they felt tight and awkward. But if it was meant as a barrier to hide her black hair, there was no reason for her not to wear it if it meant fitting in with those around her.

Suddenly, she heard a sigh. Startled by the sound, Areum looked up to see Solenn looking at her like an insolent child.

“What on earth did you do?”

Solenn asked, her voice a mix of annoyance and frustration, with just a touch of pity. She had held the question in as long as she could, but she couldn’t stand it any longer.

This foreign woman had been chosen to be his personal maid the night before. In the stupor that follows sucking blood, he had summoned Logan Lamont and Solenn and told them that he would use the girl in the chamber as his personal maid. Solenn and Logan received his order without a word. They had no choice but to swallow how they truly felt—that they couldn’t hire a person of such indeterminate status, that there were countless conditions and skills necessary for becoming the personal maid in direct attendance to the duke, or that they needed to consult Philip Laurent.

The little chit looked at her with dumb eyes that knew nothing. This only irritated Solenn more.

“What on earth made His Grace say that he’ll keep you in his direct service, huh? Don’t you want to live? If you did, then why…”

Her agitated words ended in a sigh.

Inside, Areum griped that she had done what she did because she wanted to stay alive. Couldn’t anyone understand that it was safest to stay close to the vampire when you looked around outside? But in any case, everyone in this house called the duke something different. Logan Lamont had called him Lord, and Solenn called him His Grace. And she called him master. The house was quite unsystematic.

“There is so much that I need to teach you, but His Grace has requested I bring you right away, so I have no choice. Just do as you’re told and nothing else. Don’t say anything unnecessary. If you rub him even slightly the wrong way, you’ll leave as a mummy. So, if you want to live, you’ll have to be extremely careful. I refuse to have to deal with any more living corpses.”

Only then did Areum understand the vampire’s method of killing. If he found them undesirable, he would sink his teeth in and suck their blood until they were no more than skin and bones. The thought that what she had considered his “vaguely soft personality” could, in fact, have just been him not wanting to exert himself with her. Because if he wanted to kill Areum whose blood tasted foul, he would need to do so using his sheer physical power.

That’s not it, Areum thought to herself. Even if the vampire had felt at all hostile to the idea of strangling her or slitting her throat, there had to be a more fundamental reason for him not to have killed her. That was the feeling she got.

Solenn stared down the hall. She spoke as she looked out the window, estimating the light.

“Let’s go. We should at least get you something to tide you over. After that you’ll take the duke his meal.”

The two of them walked down the hallway into the kitchen. Just as they entered, a woman who Areum guessed was the cook was pulling a freshly baked pie out of the oven. A delicious smell wafted throughout the kitchen.

“Stay here for a second.”

After leaving Areum to stand at the door into the kitchen, Solenn entered alone. She and the chef bowed to one another briefly. They glanced over at Areum a few times as well. When they did, Solenn did so with an extremely blank face, and the other woman would look with a somewhat amused expression, before turning back and continuing their conversation.

To Areum, this conversation amounted to no less than torture. Her stomach lurched at the smell of food. Even the sound of water boiling excited her. If only she could eat just a single slice of that pie, Areum thought. She gawked at the glossy surface of the pie, baked golden brown, as if under its spell.

“Alright then. Can you scrounge up something for our newcomer to eat?”

“Of course. Come here. Oh goodness, Philip has been grumbling about who the new recruit was, but I had no idea she’d be a kid.”

“Shoot, I forgot about that old man. I was supposed to introduce her to him. But that monster’s having a fit now, so I can’t right now anyway.”

While Solenn was rubbing her forehead as though she were tired, Areum had started to eat a piece of bread that the other woman had handed her. A nice warm slice of pie would have been better, but she was in no position to be picky. This was the first food-like food she had eaten in a long while, so she didn’t have the time to nitpick over her likes and dislikes. The chef, who had been watching her eat so ravenously, laughed.

“Haha. You must have been pretty hungry.”

The woman handed Areum a glass of water and another piece of bread. Areum devoured that as well.

While cramming the second piece into her mouth, Areum observed the woman. She was a virtuous middle-aged woman. Her slightly greying brown hair was pulled back, and her yellow apron covered the entire front of her body. Her apron had none of the frills that adorned Solenn’s apron; it looked specialized for her work. For no reason, Areum glanced down at her own apron. Though it had certainly been white when she first received it, it was now soiled and covered in dust.

“This is the newcomer, Areum. And this is the head cook, Ronia.”

“Areum? That’s an interesting name.”

“She’ll miss the mealtime, so take care of her when she comes down.”

“Leave it to me. So then, is this how you’ll be bringing His Grace his lunch?"

"Yes. Thank you.”

Ronia set into motion. She took out a broad dish, placed the pie on it, then covered it with a dome. The platter and dishes, even the fork and knife were all made of shiny silver. Solenn prepared the tea. Areum, who stood around mindlessly and watched as the two women diligently went about their work, was bewildered by the sudden change in the atmosphere.

Earlier this morning Solenn had been stern, making sure Areum called her Lady Solenn or ma’am when addressing her. She had slapped Areum for grabbing her uniform. Yet now she was directly telling the head cook to take care of Areum, and Ronia had even given her two pieces of bread. Areum shrewdly picked up on the fact that their looks held unwitting pity for her. This was the first time she was treated warmly since coming to this place. It was a far cry from the attitudes of the maids she had run into in the hallway earlier.

Areum had a feeling that these two women might even come to be on her side. It didn’t seem like they would hate her without any reason. Should she try to make a connection with them, she wondered to herself, but the moment she did she grew terribly sad. She was sad because of how she was weighing even the meagerest kindness shown to her by others in order to survive.

Two silver trays were filled with food to be sent up to the duke. Solenn took the tray with the teapot on it first. Naturally, Areum took the tray with the pie on it. The two of them were alone on the staircase, and Areum cautiously called out to Solenn.

“Ma’am?”

“What?”

“Does master, I mean, His Grace eat things besides blood?”

Areum switched the words she was saying. She thought nothing of calling the duke himself “master,” but it wasn’t the time to announce that to others. Thinking of how she alone called the man everyone else called His Grace or Lord her “master” hurt her pride and made her feel embarrassed.

“Eat? Ah…”

Solenn chuckled as if to say she understood.

“I don’t have a clue. Nor am I interested. Still, seeing as less is returned than when we give him, he most likely is eating it. Though who knows if that is just a ploy to look like a human?”

Areum’s curiosity swelled even more upon hearing this vague response. Could he eat food besides blood, or couldn’t he? Even if he could, Areum hoped he wouldn’t take any pleasure in eating human food. That way she could eat whatever he left of the pie. The bread she had just eaten in the kitchen were survival rations—something she ate out of hunger, but not something that suited her tastes. If only she could get a single bite of this delicious smelling food. Her mouth was watering. She swallowed with a gulp.

“We’re headed to the office now.”

“The office?”

Areum asked back. Embarrassed about gulping, she cleared her throat a few times.

“Yes. Inside there will be a table with dishes on it. All we have to do is place the food on the table, then take the empty dishes and leave.”

“Uhm… We don’t wait until he finishes eating?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

Solenn glanced back out of the corner of her eye before turning her gaze forward again.

“And what if he sucks your blood because the food isn’t to his liking, huh? All you need to do is catch the timing right and get out of there. Don’t you want to live, anyway?”

Solenn muttered her last few words like a sigh. It had even seemed like something she was asking herself. Feeling the weight of the silver tray, Areum worried to herself, “Will we be able to make it out of there okay?”