Married To The Mad Vampire Lord novel Chapter 287

Chapter 287: At ease

In Nightbrook, at the castle, Rav had been informed by Rohan earlier that morning that they were coming, and so he spent the entire day making sure everything in the castle was clean and arranged exactly the way the master liked it. Since no servants had been officially assigned to the place yet, he had no choice but to order the reluctant Lady Clifton and Gwen to get to work.

He made them dust and clean while he went into town with the carriage to purchase the castle’s monthly supplies and stock up the place ahead of their arrival.

By the time Rav returned, he used his vampire speed to unload the goods from both the carriage and the wagon attached behind it, which carried everything from baby attires to oils, shoes, and traveling trunks, just as Rohan had ordered. The little master, it was said, had only a very small number of clothes.

By the time Rav finished unloading everything and moved the carriage away from the front of the castle, the unpredictable Nightbrook weather had already turned. Rain began to fall gently from the darkened sky. He took off his leather cloak and was dusting it off as he made his way into the kitchen to grab a drink of blood to quench his thirst, but he hadn’t expected to walk right into the one person he’d been trying to avoid.

Even though he acted like the master whenever the true master wasn’t around, Rav did try to steer clear of her whenever possible.

The kitchen was spotless, and something was cooking on the stove. Through the open back door, he could see Gwen bent over the backyard vegetable garden in the light drizzle, an umbrella held over her head as she picked vegetables into a basket.

But the one he was avoiding sat right there on a chair at the table where the house’s servants normally took their meals. Her red head, with hair cascading down the sides of her face, was bowed over an open book, completely immersed, so much so that it seemed she didn’t even notice him enter, or perhaps she simply didn’t care.

She and Gwen had been working since morning, but Rav didn’t need to ask to know that Gwen had taken on the heavier share of the chores and likely assigned the lady only a few, knowing she wasn’t used to hard work.

To Rav, she was the meanest woman he’d ever had the misfortune of knowing. Her rudeness was the reason he always tried to assert that he was in charge of the castle in his master’s absence. She constantly reminded him that she was a lady, while he was merely a servant of low blood, nothing but low class, and that he had no right to breathe the same air as her, let alone order her around.

As much as Rav tried to act like her words meant nothing to him, the way she insulted his life and looked down on his birth, which he was not ashamed of, always made him angry, and left him with a tiny regret for ever being stupid enough to give her his blood and turn her into a vampire. Perhaps if she hadn’t lived that day...

He always made sure to stop his thoughts there. No one deserved to die when they didn’t want to, just like him. But then, he wished she could at least be grateful for being alive, so he wouldn’t have to feel as though he had done something terribly wrong whenever she opened her noble mouth to speak to him.

He had never felt ashamed of who or what he was before, but her eyes and her scorn made him feel like an ant. She made him feel less than a person, made him feel like being of low blood was something shameful, when he had never once felt that way before.

Her ladyship had been a noblewoman too, but she had treated him with kindness, as though he belonged in the house with them. But this red-haired woman... she was the complete opposite. He couldn’t understand how they had ever been friends.

He didn’t like her, and he certainly dreaded the time he would have to pretend to be her husband and be forced into being next to her. Sometimes, he even wondered if her attitude was the reason her real husband had turned away from her.

He pitied any man who would be tied down in marriage to such an uptight, rude woman.

Rav shook his head mentally. As much as he didn’t want to be anywhere near her, unless he had a reason to assign her work, he was too thirsty after working all day and needed the blood stored in the kitchen.

So, he walked in with silent footsteps, not to make her notice him, not because he feared her, but only to avoid hearing her insults or feeling the way she looked down on him with those cold, noble eyes.

Rav walked over to where the blood was stored, took a cup, and poured himself some of the refined blood, specially treated so it wouldn’t thicken or spoil, no matter how long it was kept. It was a vampire world, after all, and just as humans preserved their food, they preserved their blood.

He downed more than two cups before he felt his muscles begin to relax and his dry throat warm up. He was about to leave and avoid the woman entirely when she spoke, without even lifting her head.

"When are they arriving?" she asked, finally raising her eyes to meet his. Her expression was impassive, the kind worn by a noblewoman addressing a servant.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify