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Tilla bit her dry lips and contemplated her options, ‘Argh! What should I do? If I bathe first then I might get dirty or wet again after carrying the water. But if I carry the water first, I might encounter Lord Vincent again. And I don’t want to go in front of him again while giving off this smell!’

She knitted her brows together in confusion. While she was confused, without even realizing it, she had already fetched a pail of water from the well.

Tilla subconsciously looked down at the bucket full of water. She looked at her own faint reflection in the water and tucked the stray hair strands behind her ears. She gently touched her cold cheeks and ran her fingertips along her dry lips.

‘Aah! They’ve become so dry.’ She smacked her lips to moisten them. And she wished she had taken better care of herself. ‘I should have rubbed some coconut oil before going to sleep. I can’t believe Lord Vincent saw me in this condition.’

She realized how she had a deep frown in between her brows and quickly massaged her forehead as if she was trying to wipe the line that was still visible.

She carefully looked at her reflection and kept on worrying about her face, ‘I should start frowning less. I don’t want any wrinkles so soon.’

Crack!

Tilla breathed in sharply and almost dropped the bucket in the well when she heard someone opening the door a bit loudly in a distance. She looked back to see a couple of vampire maids speeding in the direction of the common bathhouse and sighed.

.....

She furrowed her brows again and thought to herself, ‘Maybe I should take a proper bath today. Martha said that she would boil the water for me.’

Since it was the winter season, Tilla used to take a proper bath once every few days. The other days, she used to wipe her whole body with clean water and a towel instead of waiting for her turn to use the common bathhouse.

As the vampire maids didn’t really care if they had hot water or not, they used to go and use the bathhouse as soon as they woke up. And until Tilla waited for her water to boil, all the stalls in the bathhouse would be packed.

So as not to be late in serving the Queen, Tilla did what most nobles back in Orsenia did – wiping her body with wet towels.

However, since she happened to meet Martha early in the morning today, she was in luck.

Tilla turned her head towards the garden to check if she could see Lord Vincent around. It was quite brighter already. And she didn’t see Vincent in the vicinity.

‘I guess he already headed somewhere.’ Her lips turned downward and her longing eyes kept on looking around for a while.

She suddenly slapped her cheek with her palm and pinched herself to wake up from the daydream.

And she resolutely mumbled, “It’s good that he already went back. Now I can fill the water container before I go and take a bath. That way, my fresh clothes won’t get wet.”

She was about to dunk the bucket that she was grabbing with one of her hands when she realized that it was already filled with water.

“Huh!” She raised her brows thinking when she fetched it. But she shrugged and carried the bucket to the garden again.

After going back and forth several times, she finally managed to fill the container to the brim.

“Ah! Finally done!” Tilla exclaimed while huffing and puffing. She rested her hand on her waist and stretched her back. “Even I feel like my back is going to break after carrying so many buckets of water. I don’t know how Martha does this every day!”

She frowned when she recalled that it was actually someone else’s duty. And she cursed at the slacker in her head, ‘I wonder who that lazy-arse is? Whoever it is, they shouldn’t have any problem completing this task, right? They are far stronger and faster than us humans. Argh!”

While walking back to her room with the empty bucket, she grimaced in pain.

She entered her room and mumbled after curling the corner of her upper lip in disdain, “Ugh! Just thinking about it is making me mad. I think I will go and complain to Mr. Percy. Martha is too scared to speak for herself.”

Tilla decided to put forth the complaint when she met Percy and took out a fresh gown and apron to wear after the bath.

She gathered her clothes and picked up her bucket again before heading toward the kitchen.

“Martha! Is the water ready?” Tilla shouted before she even entered the kitchen.

“Oh, yes. It’s ready,” Martha replied from inside.

As soon as Tilla entered the kitchen, Martha grabbed the bucket from her hand and poured the boiling water into the bucket.

“Aren’t you coming along?” Tilla asked when she saw Martha emptying the water in her bucket.

Martha smiled and said while pouring icy-cold water into the pot again. “I will go after you. The warmth from fire is soothing my back pain.”

Tilla knitted her brows and blurted out her plan after seeing Martha still struggling to sit down, “I am going to meet Mr. Percy and complain that somebody is not doing their job properly.”

Martha instantly widened her eyes in horror and ran towards Tilla to hush her. She clasped Tilla’s mouth with her palm and whispered near her ear, “Don’t go around saying such stupid things. And you don’t have to complain because of me. You might get into unnecessary troubles.”

Tilla pushed Martha’s hand away from her mouth and bravely spoke up, “Martha… They will always keep on suppressing you if you don’t retaliate. But if you are scared, I can speak on your behalf. And don’t worry, I won’t drag you in if you are scared.”

Martha, however, looked very tense and scared. “No, Tilla. You don’t understand… You should be extra careful since…” She heaved a sigh instead of clearly saying what she wanted to say.

And Tilla tried guessing why Martha wanted to warn her. “Since I am a human? Since I work for the Queen?”

Martha simply shook her head and warned her again, “Just don’t do anything that will attract others’ attention toward you. No matter what everybody is saying these days, we are still the prey living amidst the predators.”

Tilla smiled and calmly replied, “But they all do have a heart. You don’t have to worry. They won’t kill me just because I pointed out that they weren’t doing their duty properly.”

“But–”

“I will be fine…” Tilla cut Martha in the middle and said, “Alright, I will head for the bathhouse now. If I am late in taking her morning tea then Queen Anastasia will say that her stomach is upset because she didn’t get to drink her tea in time.”

Tilla giggled and ran out of the kitchen, leaving Martha worried about her.

“I don’t know why but… I have a bad feeling about this,” she mumbled.

Martha then crossed her palms in front of her chest and closed her eyes. And she prayed for Tilla, ‘Dear lords, please look after that foolish child. She doesn’t listen to anything I say. Please don’t let anything happen to her because of me.’