Chapter 7 The Duke II

Stan kept his eyes on the girl as they walked towards one of the doors in the Duke's quarter. He had lived with the Duke since he was a boy, now he's one of those oldest people to have lived and had seen many things as life kept revolving .

All through the years, he had also learned a lot from his master and also know what his master is capable of doing. He kept wondering why his master bought a slave girl after what happened decades ago.

"I'm Stanley, this is your room." He said and showed her a dusty and dark room with cobwebs all over the place.

Aurelia shook her head in understanding and thanked him. After the man left, she shut the door and tried looking for the window. The room was extremely dusty with broken objects on the floor.

Aurelia sighed heavily as she would be the one to clean up the mess.

***

"Duke Elathan came to the soiree. He must be having a hard time after returning from Greenland." Roxanne said and poured a red liquid into the glass cup.

"I heard he bought a slave gurl. It must be really hard." She sighed pitifully and shook her head.

"We should head downstairs, I want to speak with him." Cassius said and stood up from his seat.

Roxanne pouted and followed him. Sometimes she wonders if Cassius was hiding things from her. Anytime she was going to say something, he would give a lame excuse to dodge the incoming question.

After going down to join the guests at the palace, Roxanne stood far from the King but her strong presence could not be overlooked. Men gushed over her and ladies sneered at her.

One of the ladies in the crowd walked to meet the royal advisor. On her hand was a fancy fan made with silk and golden linen. Her off shoulder dress revealed her well defined collarbones and her hair cascading down her shoulder.

She is a noble lady too from one of the early families of Devontae.

"Lady Roxanne, such a coincidence to find you here." The lady said with a trace of bile at the tip of her tongue.

"I'm sorry for not living up to your expectations," Roxanne mocked the lady.

"I know what you're doing here in this castle Roxanne...." The lady chuckled and leaned closer to Roxanne. "....and I'm going to expose you if you don't leave the King." She threatened.

Roxanne was confused as she couldn't understand what the noble lady just said. For some reasons, she became terrified. 'What does this lady knows about her?'

Raising her head, she saw the lady in the crowd who gave her dreadful smile from her glossy painted lips.

"It has been a while Louis." Cassius said when he got to the large table filled with different delicacies. Louis was having a blood drink when he heard the King's comment.

"I'm leaving." Louis said and gulped down the blood before wiping his lips with his tongue. "See you soon."

.

.

Louis had just came out of the large hallway when he saw Roxanne standing few meters away.

"What are you doing here Roxanne?" He asked on reaching where she was standing.

"Just reminiscing our times together." she replied and embraced him, don't tell me you still hate me, will you?" She said and tightened her hands around him.

"Go and accompany your King, I have no connection with you anymore. As for that, its already in the past and wouldn' t change. Louis made it clear with her and left almost immediately.

.❤️ you all for reading.

Louis got to his mansion when everyone had fallen asleep except Stanley who was eagerly waiting for his master.

The moment he saw Louis, he calmed down and rushed towards him. "You said you would return earlier but it's already the next day." Stanley said pointing at the large clock that was chimning. 1 am.

Louis shook his head and went upstairs, "how's she?" He asked about Aurelia.

"Sleeping in her room." replied Stanley.

"Good. You can go and rest, it would be dawn shortly.

"Her scent is different from others, not vampire, not human." Stanley said the moment he remembered what he noticed when he was taking Aurelia to her room.

Louis gazed at him with a small frown on his face. "What do you mean? That she's neither a vampire nor a human?"

"Yes." Stanley being a different creature from the vampires, he was able to identify people with their scents.

"Alright. Thank you." Louis said and walked towards Aurelia's room.

He opened the door and went inside before shutting it.

The moonlight gave the room a good perspective of its beauty. The cool air coming through the window was enough to make Louis smile.

This room used to be dusty and the furnitures were old. Louis was amazed by the sudden turn around of the room.

He came to stand beside her bed before going on his heels so he could have a good view of her. It has been a long time yet he still couldn't take her off his mind.

She was still timid and tender as always. "I hope you would remember me fully." He said and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

***

The next morning:

"Good morning grandpa good morning grandma." Carl greeted his new family.

"Oh...This must be the kid Aldophus brought home. So adorable." Grandma Vincent exclaimed and picked up the little boy.

"Grandma, where is big brother Aldophus?" Carl asked because he haven' t seen him for sometime.

"Ah...He must be in his room." Grandma Vincent replied and Carl jumped down from her hand.

"Okay." He said and sped away.

Aldophus was trying to catch a good sleep which wasn't forthcoming. He had laid there for the past four hours and could grasp a minute of sleep.

The sudden bang of his door being opened made him jolt up thinking it was Xander. He frowned when he saw Carl standing beside the door.

"Get in." He drawled and laid flat on his bed again. "What's the matter?" He asked and hissed.

"Where is Aurelia?"

Aldophus who was wiping his eyes halted all of a sudden. "She had been sold as a slave okay? Stop bothering me." He yelled and closed his eyes in anger.

Carl felt small entirely and lazily climbed down the bed. Hot tears pooled in his always bright eyes as he walk out of the room.

'Aurelia was now a slave.' He thought inwardly.

"Don't cry. You'll learn to grow up without anyone by your side. Stop being a girl who cries at every little thing." Said Xander who saw what happened.

Carl nodded his head and suddenly wished to grow up quickly so he could find Aurelia himself.

The Vincent family were good to him. Especially Grandma Vincent and Aldophus.

Meanwhile, Aldophus felt like a bad brother to the little Carl. It didn't stop there, Xander came into his room with his ever stoic expression and scolded him.

"You won't be able to shout at your enemy like that. I wonder how you became my brother with that attitude of yours." Xander had said to him before leaving.

Lilac was at the sitting room when she saw Carl rushed towards the kitchen. Though she was older than Carl, he was way smarter than her.

The nanny at the kitchen was surprised to see the new young master inside the kitchen.

"Carl, what are you doing?" She asked when she saw him close to the ice cooler used in cooling the blood tea.

I'm making a blood tea for big brother Aldophus." He replied and kept doing his work.

"That's good..." the nanny replied and smiled.

Lilac was standing beside the door heard what Carl said and felt sad. She wasn't able to do what Carl was doing because she was trained to act as a lady.

Aldophus was dressing up for the day's work when Carl entered with a glass of blood tea in his hand.

"This is for you." He said while handing it to him.

"Me? Why me?" He asked and took the glass from him before downing it in one go.

"Big brother Xander asked me to grow up.

"And why do you want to grow up?" Aldopus asked while putting on his jacket.

"So I can find Aurelia in future." Carl said with hope in his eyes.

Aldophus was amazed by the little boy just said. Though he said that to his own viewpoint, no one could really tell what the future holds. Slaves lives counts for nothing. 'Aurelia might be dead or alive after you've grown up.' He said inwardly.

"Brother Aldophus, I made you blood tea." Lilac's tender voice said from the door.

Aldophus felt like laughing. He couldn't get a bit of sleep the whole morning after returning from the soiree, now, two kids were offering him blood tea.

'I believe I won't get poisoned by you two.'