The two geniuses, if they could be called that, had quickly settled into a routine.

Aria read at an almost inhuman speed, devouring page after page, while Hugo quizzed her, challenging her to reason through each concept.

When they encountered an obstacle, something Aria couldn’t figure out, Hugo would turn to María with an impatient expression.

"María, I need the advanced alchemy tome, the one with the blue cover and gold edges. It's on the third shelf to the right," Hugo ordered in a demanding tone.

"On it," María replied, trying to keep her calm as she searched for the book.

But that wasn't enough for Hugo.

"Faster! We don't have all day."

María held back from rolling her eyes.

'I've already said I'm on it, what's the rush?' María thought, frustrated.

Still, she kept searching, trying to ignore the pressure.

It was a constant back and forth, obeying both Hugo and Aria, who had her own whims.

"María, could you get me some cookies?" Aria asked suddenly, without taking her eyes off the book she was reading.

Hugo quickly intervened.

"Aria, keep reading. We don’t have time for that."

"I already read it," Aria replied, her tone completely indifferent as she closed the book. "But I’m hungry. It’s annoying to work while hungry."

Hugo frowned.

"You’ll get fat if you keep eating like that. When we're done with this research, I'll make you exercise personally. I don't want a girl like you struggling in combat."

Aria looked at him, unfazed.

"I’m not interested in fighting."

Hugo, clearly irritated, turned to María.

"What are you doing standing there? Go get the cookies!"

María sighed.

"I’m not sure it’ll be so easy to find my way back to this room," María admitted, remembering that the path Hugo had taken to get here was a maze she hadn’t paid enough attention to.

"You’re a pain in the ass," Hugo said with exasperation. Then he pointed at María with his fingers, and with a gesture, a small spark appeared in the air in front of her.

Before she could react, the spark expanded and took the form of the fire spirit Hugo had used earlier.

"Guide this girl back and bring her back," Hugo ordered the spirit, which nodded with a warm glow and floated at María’s level.

Had that spirit been inside her all along!?

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'Damn… the number of spectators in my private life just keeps growing,' María thought with a sense of helplessness.

"What are you doing standing there, dumbfounded?" Hugo growled, his sharp tone snapping her out of her thoughts. "That spirit’s going to guide you. It’s not that hard to understand, is it?"

María blinked, startled.

"Yes, yes, sorry," María responded quickly, finally moving and following the spirit that floated patiently by her side.

As she walked through the mansion's corridors, she could feel the invisible eyes of Hugo and Aria on her, even from a distance.

The spirit moved unhurriedly, guiding her with a warm glow that faintly lit the path.

Eventually, they reached the kitchen, and María let out a sigh of relief.

Relief that disappeared when she opened the door.

Sitting in a chair on the other side of the table, Elizabeth watched her with her piercing, cold eyes, playing distractedly with a kitchen knife between her fingers.

The sight of the vampire put all of María’s senses on alert.

'Why does she have to be right here?' María thought, trying not to show her discomfort as she made her way to the shelves to look for the cookies.

"Why are you alone?" Elizabeth asked, without lifting her gaze from the knife that spun between her fingers. Elizabeth's voice, though soft, resonated like a warning in María’s mind.

María decided to ignore her, pretending she hadn’t heard.

If she could avoid a conversation with her, all the better.

María leaned towards the shelves, checking the rows of jars and cans with apparent concentration, though inside, her heart was pounding.

"I asked why you’re alone," Elizabeth repeated, this time in a louder, clearer tone.

The firmness of her words made María stop, pressing her lips together.

'Damn it… I can’t keep pretending.'

María slowly turned, keeping her expression calm.

"I’m just looking for some cookies," María explained, trying to sound casual.

'Why does she always have to be so intimidating with me? Is it so hard for her to talk to me normally like she did at first…?' María thought as a shiver ran down her spine.

Seeing Elizabeth still looking at her with that cold gaze, María added:

"Aria asked me for them."

Elizabeth tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with a curiosity María preferred not to interpret.

"Cookies?" the vampire repeated softly, as if she were weighing the word, savoring it like an inside joke only she understood.

"Yes," María nodded, searching for the cookies again.

'Come on, please… let them be here, please.'

"Where are Miss Aria and the mage?" Elizabeth continued, this time with a fixed stare that seemed to pierce through María. "I can’t sense their presence."

María blinked, confused.

'She can't sense their presence?'

María took a moment to process her words.

"They’re in one of the rooms in the mansion, studying," she said, trying to sound confident in what she was saying.

'That's what I saw, so why does she make it sound like I'm lying!?'

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing her with an intensity that made María’s skin crawl.

"Which room?" Elizabeth asked with a seriousness that made María feel as if she were being interrogated.

María swallowed hard, feeling the weight of Elizabeth’s gaze.

It was hard to get used to that look, knowing she was much more powerful than her, but at that moment, a memory flashed through María's mind—when she had been sleeping with Aria.

...

"Hey."

"What?" Aria responded after a few seconds.

Although there was a hint of tiredness in her tone, her answers were still quite direct.

"Why don’t you want me to leave your side?" María asked with a bit of embarrassment, as she seriously didn’t understand Aria's insistence on keeping that request most of the time.

"Because you’re my personal maid," Aria replied immediately.

"Is that the only reason?" María asked, confused.

"Yes," Aria responded.

And every time María tried to ask Aria that question in different situations, Aria always gave the same answer, so one thing was clear to her: if she currently had a rank, it was as Aria’s personal maid...

And if Elizabeth also served Aria as a maid...

Didn’t that mean María had a higher rank than her?

Gathering her courage, María straightened her gaze.

If she could at least convince this vampire to stop looking at her like that, it would be a great victory!

'I have to do it,' María told herself to muster her courage, but when she raised her gaze…

'Damn it, no! I doubt a monster like her gives a damn about my current status!' María thought as she noticed Elizabeth was looking at her the same way she had when she caught them during their escape attempt.

She was screwed!