68 Unpleasant Encounter
At this point, Anna really felt like squeezing her blood out of his system. She quickly stood up from him after realizing she unintentionally straddled the young man. The thought of her own act made her face go red in embarrassment and she subconsciously adjusted the hem of her gown.
Seduce him??
Her face scrunched into a look of annoyance and her glaring eyes landed on him, she looked like a mother who was about to scold a child for being naughty and it frightened Roshan to the point he immediately composed himself. For the first time, he felt weirdly threatened by the stare of someone and remained quiet.
Anna really couldn’t understand the thoughts of this man no matter how many times she tried. How ungrateful! He’s supposed to thank her for this but instead he’s blaming her for seduction, did her blood really heal him that fast? Because it seemed like it.
“I was expecting a thank you.” Her tone came out straight and clear, a complete contrast to her unappealing mood, but Roshan just relaxed his back on the tree and closed his eyes.
“Sit here first.” He patted the empty space beside him, beckoning her to sit there and as reluctant as Anna felt, she did as he told her but didn’t allow herself to get too close, she couldn’t risk it and what if he bit her again?
But what she didn’t expect was for the arrogant being to rest his head on her shoulder, leaving her baffled and she thought of many ways in which this little act of his could lead to something dangerous but the demon was already drowsing off. She looked at him, his eyes were closed shut and she pinned her lip, not entirely sure of what to say.
“Roshan?”
“Shhhh.” He shushed her up and Anna had to keep her lips sealed, his long dark lashes fluttered and tiredness lingered in his brows, he was still terribly weak but his temperature had reduced fortunately.
.....
“Sometimes I wonder if we’ve met before and if we did.. it makes me curious to know if you were always like this.” She uttered after seeing he was fast asleep. The cool morning weather was comforting and Anna watched as the light wind swayed a bunch of leaves to and fro, the trees rustled their leaves and Anna forced herself to stay awake and not fall asleep.
No sooner after Roshan fell asleep, the guards arrived with their fancy-looking carriages and Anna gladly let them get him into the carriage.
“Is he alright?” She asked after seeing he didn’t wake up and the main guard nodded, although he wore a helmet, his deep green eyes carried a look of concern as he uttered, “he’ll be fine, get into the carriage so we can leave.”
Anna politely nodded and got into the carriage with Roshan, being his personal maid, it was her duty to take care of him, whether she liked it or not.
Once the carriage had made it out of Emsdar lake, Anna stole a peek through the cottons and to her surprise, Demons that looked no different from humans bustled the street. Some were at the stalls buying artifacts and magical equipment that glowed, little children chased one another with a happy laughter echoing through the busy street, as well as whispers as most eyes turned to look at the carriage.
“Everything looks.... Really normal.” She whispered surprisingly to herself before closing the cottons, this really wasn’t what she had pictured and the demons looked comfortable amongst themselves.
Roshan said something about not believing what she saw on the outside, this people couldn’t really be pretending to be comfortable right?
Her gaze shifted to Roshan who was still asleep and she quickly averted her gaze.
They arrived at the palace once it was almost sunset and the guards took Roshan to his room.
After taking a quick refreshing bath and having some food to eat, Anna was busy arranging her bed when she felt a little sting at the nape of her neck and she winced softly. She massaged it lightly with her hand and a tired look crossed her face, she was hoping the burning sting would stop within a few hours but strangely, it hasn’t.
Or does it take a few days?
She nodded at her own question, maybe it does and she’s probably overthinking all of this.
“I wonder if he’s woken up or not?” Unable to get his condition out of her head, she left her room and headed for Roshan’s chamber, she wanted to know exactly how he was doing but to her surprise, a young lady suddenly stood in front of his door, blocking Anna’s path so she wouldn’t enter and based on her outfit and majestic appearance, she knew the young lady was someone important.
“Greetings!”
“Spare me the greetings, It’s not needed!” Gretta rudely rejected her polite greetings but Anna didn’t take it to heart and kept her head lowered.
“So you’re Annalise, Roshan’s new personal maid? Am I correct?” She asked, eyeing the young lady from head to toe and Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“I see...” Gretta cautiously studied her and she felt no sort of aura that gave the hint that she must be Aveline. She might look like Aveline but their personality was quite different. Aveline was a demon and this human isn’t.
“So you’re the one responsible for my cousin’s predicament.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I heard everyone considers you cursed, even your own people and looking at Roshan’s state at the moment, it’s difficult not to believe.” She smiled, “anyway I’m Gretta, daughter of Mr Hampshire, a relative of the royal family so I must be treated with equal respect, do you understand?”
“As you wish, Miss Gretta.”
“His highness is asleep, so it wouldn’t be best to disturb him don’t you think?” She suddenly chuckled as though she uttered something funny.
“Who am I kidding, you must be one of those after his life aren’t you? Coming from an Euphrasia....” Her tone was laced with sarcasm despite the sweet smile she carried.
Anna smiled regardless, “don’t I have enough right to be?”
“That is what you think, but of course, I wouldn’t explain myself to a ‘maid’.” Anna noticed the way she stared at her, as though she was someone who got picked from the mud and Anna tried not to show how offensive her gestures made her feel.
“Then I shall take my leave since his highness is resting.”
“You’re quite smart for a maid.” She continued, giving Anna no chance to flee from the toxic conversation.
“You’re from Draekharm village, I heard not everyone was able to receive good education from that village. I wonder how you learnt so much since you lost both parents due to your curse and at a young age too, how sad, it must have been pretty tough for you.” She feigned pity and tsked, but Anna chose to remain quiet and politely kept her head dipped in a bow.
“And...”
“How surprising...” Azazel’s calm voice interrupted Gretta’s moment, a repulsive expression crossed her face but when he finally approached them both, Gretta smiled his way.
“And what is?”
“If I’m correct you’ve always found maids quite off-putting to talk to, is Roshan’s new maid rubbing off on you?”
“Wouldn’t she find that worthy?”
Azazel turned his gaze to Anna, “you may leave.”
Anna quickly walked away without turning back, afraid they might sight her tears. She wouldn’t want to hear more of the new lady’s ‘I heard’ stories anymore and she just wanted to get away. She silently thanked the strange young man for interrupting.
As she hurried down the stairs, Gemma who hid in a corner and saw everything felt sad for Anna. If only Gretta wasn’t so mean to everyone.
Gretta frowned at Azazel, “You...”
“Your attitude this days is uncalled for, Gretta. Next time you act, try to do it with a little bit of sense attached, rich people without wisdom or learning are but sheep with golden fleeces, and you’re no different.”
His venomous words sent Gretta’s sentimental heart spranging like sparks of an anvil and she looked around to make sure no one heard him. She glared at him and it satisfied Azazel to see her get angry.
Good, that was his motive.
Without saying a word to him, Gretta walked out and after confirming she wasn’t going to vent her anger on another innocent maid, Azazel left.
Seeing the path had cleared out, Gemma stepped out of the place she was hiding, surveying the area to make sure no one else would pass by. Feeling assured that no one would take this particular corridor anytime soon, she quietly tiptoed to Roshan’s chamber and halted after reaching the threshold.
She recalled the maids had warned her simultaneously not to step inside this particular chamber of all places, but she wanted to know why his room was restricted.
Being a curious little girl, Gemma pushed the door open with her two hands. The moment she successfully opened it, she stepped in, only to be welcomed by the darkness in his room.
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