After several weeks of travel, the cloaked figure stopped in front of a huge estate. She placed the luggage which she was clutching with both hands on the ground and removed her black cloak, revealing her short black hair. Her skin is so white that it looks as if it were carved from marble. Her slightly bluish full lips trembled slightly under the chill of the wind as it blew. Eyes like midnight fixed on the door in front of her, she adjusted herself using the small piece of mirror she carries in the pocket of her cloak.
The storm raging over the manor made her shiver slightly with cold. Her short dark dress, slightly above the knee, quilted with white thread, did not warm her directly. On the contrary, she is incredibly cold. If she had known she would be hit by such weather on the way, she would have dressed warmer. As a ghost, she shouldn't feel the cold. Most of her race possess a wooden or porcelain doll after death and use it as a shell. She's different. Unlike the others, she uses a human body.
She turns her gaze to the watch adorning her pale wrist. She's due here in exactly one minute, which means she's too early, so she decides to wait for the watch hand to move.
After a moment, there is a tick with which the hand moves. The woman takes the huge knocker in her hands and slams it against the door three times. Even though her visit is expected, the door remains closed. So she tries again and again to find herself without an answer. Determined to leave, she grabs her luggage annoyed..
Just as she takes a step away from the mansion, the door opens. Standing there is an older man whose neck is adorned with a necklace with a blue crystal inside. A werewolf. The woman pierces the man with a look at which he immediately realizes she demands an apology.
"I am very sorry for the delay..." He stares at her necklace, which unlike his is colored gray - a ghost. "You must be Mrs. Maria if I'm not mistaken," the woman before him merely nods her head and the man steps slightly away from the door, motioning with his hand for her to come inside.
Maria walks in and the old man waves his hand to one of the servants nearby to come over to them. "You can leave your luggage here, our servant will take it to your room," he gestures to the young man heading towards them.
Skin white as snow and golden hair that looked like blazing fire under the lamplight, she didn't even have to see his necklace to realize he was an elf. The boy took the suitcases from her.
"Follow me." Without so much as a glance at Maria, the old man dispersed into the dark hallway, lit only by a few candles. "Please don't touch anything," he warns her in advance. Not that she planned to touch anything...
The walls are decorated with beautiful paintings of all kinds. From painted landscapes by famous artists to the estate's former owners. There are bunches of flowers under each of the portraits, if someone had taken care of them, the place would certainly look more lively. Unfortunately, the half-dead flowers gave the place a rather dark atmosphere. The dark colored walls are decorated with golden ornaments that, although magic exists in this world, are painted by hand. Maria immediately recognized that these were not just random lines, but the ancient language of witches that had ceased to be used long before she was even born and... died. The entire estate looks dead, except for her footsteps accompanied by raindrops from outside, it's quiet. They haven't met a single servant in the entire journey.
After a few minutes in the dark corridor, the old man decided to break the silence. "I'm very glad you accepted this offer... It was not easy to find a servant to hand over the young master." He said with a little joy in his voice, without turning to Maria who pierced him with her eyes.
She still hadn't forgiven him for keeping her waiting, not to mention the letter he'd sent asking her to visit. It took her almost three days to decipher who was writing and where she was supposed to go. She'd never seen such a scrawl in her life.
"I have not yet accepted the offer, I have only agreed to meet your young master." Maria replied coldly.
I hope he doesn't think I would serve someone I know nothing more than a name. The only reason I'm here is because I don't exactly have many offers. Which is kind of surprising with who I served a few years ago.Now that I think about it.… It also makes sense, after all, there's not a single sentence about the past life I led before I died. No one knows who I was.
The man finally stopped in front of a huge black door. "Could I ask you something?" He asks, turning to Maria, who doesn't seem to want to hear his question.
Even though he has figured it out, the old man doesn't wait for her to answer and asks directly, "If you don't like him the first time..." He pauses before continuing, wondering if he should continue when the woman before him pierces him with her gaze. "Please give him a chance..." He finishes in a pleading voice.
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Is he really trying to soften me up? I came here to serve a man where it will make sense, I'm not going to waste decades screwing around with someone who has no future.
Maria lifted her chin and folded her arms across her chest. "If I don't like him, I'm leaving." She replied in a sharp voice, tilting her head slightly to the side.
Still, the man doesn't give up and continues to urge, "Please, give him a chance!" As Maria takes a breath to cut him off he quickly holds up three fingers in front of her. "Three days, that's all I ask!" He continues desperately.
"One."
"Two!" He shouted, clasping his hands together in a pleading gesture.
Maria, who would have preferred to refuse again, merely sighs and rolls her eyes. "One and a half." She relents. The man's face lights up and he quickly grabs both her hands to show his thanks. "Thank you very much, you won't regret it!"
The old man jumps up from happiness, while Maria, who lacks energy from the long journey to argue, merely exhales in annoyance. I hope I won't regret the wasted time.
The man knocks on the door and even though he doesn't get an answer he doesn't bother to repeat the gesture and opens the door. With his hand, he motions for Maria to come in and closes it again right behind her. He snaps his fingers and the candles in the room - of which there are not many - are lit. She looks around the room which smells musty, just from this alone she can tell that no one cares much for the room. She looks around it and immediately regrets her decision. The huge bed with its dark blue sheets is unmade, a few pillows even lying at the foot of the bed. Dust glistens on the shelves adorning the walls under the light. Scrolls are scattered on the table and under it, and a chair is propped up with a book. When she looks down she notices several broken toys lying on the floor. Despite all this mess, the owner of the room is nowhere to be found.
When Maria realizes what is all this about, she immediately turns around with a firm," I'm leaving” without even giving a look at the old man. He quickly grabs her by the arm, preventing her from leaving.
"But you promised..." Without letting him finish his sentence she turns to him with a deep breath. Before she can say anything, however, the door behind her swings wide open with a mighty bang and they both look to see who is it.
Standing in the doorway is a small child, Maria could have sworn he was no older than seven. His black hair sticks out in all directions, the kid sure hasn't seen a comb in a good few days. His dark shirt is wrinkled and his pants have ripped legs. If the boy hadn't been missing a necklace, she would have mistaken him for one of the werewolf pups. His lapis eyes glowed in the candlelight even though they were hidden under a disheveled hair.
"Oi Shmidtz! You're late!" The boy exclaims as if he wasn't the one who was late...
Maria immediately turns to the old man, mouth agape, "You can't be serious!" She screamed at him in his head and pulled away from the man, but he immediately grabbed her again, realizing the situation she was in, Maria turned to the boy in front of him.
"Young sir, you are the one-" without finishing he was interrupted.
"SILENCE!" The kid barks at him and walks past them as if this situation was normal.
I want to leave so badly, I really do! What did I sign up for? The room isn't even clean, it looks like some kind of dump. The so-called 'young master' is just a rude little brat! I knew he wasn't the oldest, but I was expecting someone around seventeen at least, was I just called here to babysit?
She turns her gaze to the old man who is giving her a pleading look. You can do this... Inhale, exhale. She repeats in her head and then turns to the child sitting on the bed. He merely smiles at her and tilts his head slightly - looking down at her, not respecting her at all. This is a normal attitude towards servants and maids, but something was boiling inside her when such a brat did this. When she calms down at least a little internally, she gives the boy in front of her a small bow.
"My name is Maria De Glaze, a ghost spirit. My master used to be Kristoph La Rence Michaels." Straightening up, she adds with a slight arrogance in her voice, "I'm sure you've heard of his actions and achievements even at your young age."
"So you're quite a hot shot, huh?" Said the child in front of her arrogantly.
The old man rolled his eyes at his master, and Maria turned to him in incomprehension.
"Huh?!" That sound was the only reaction she could muster after all that.
Schmidtz waved his hands in panic. "You-YOUNG MASTER!" He shouted at the boy in front of him, who merely chuckled. "Do you know how hard it was to get her here!" He said, the anger in his voice was not audible, rather you could tell he was embarrassed.
"I guess I should introduce myself too." The kid says in a serious voice. The eyes that sparkled a moment ago are now cold and serious. He jumps off the bed and folds his hands behind his back as he slowly approaches the woman in front of him.
Maria turns to the boy in front of her, only now realizing he hasn't even introduced himself. She had completely forgotten about it in this crazy situation.
"My name is Alfonse Geonal Mai Millelia and I am the seventh heir to this estate." He gives her a small, not very deep bow, his eyes still fixed on her. "It is an honor to meet you, Miss Maria de Glaze." Alfonse says with such a cold voice and expression on his face that Maria almost froze.