María followed the fire spirit through the mansion's labyrinthine hallways, clutching the cookie jar tightly against her chest.

Her steps were quick, but the fear of getting lost forced her to keep a constant eye on the warm, floating figure guiding her.

Finally, they reached the door of the room where Hugo and Aria were still studying.

The spirit stopped in front of the door, waiting patiently for María to open it.

Upon entering, Hugo immediately looked at her with an expression of evident impatience.

“How hard can it be to bring some simple cookies? You took forever,” Hugo scolded her, his voice as sharp as a knife.

María, her eyes red and on the verge of tears, tried to explain herself.

“I’m sorry… I was delayed because Elizabeth was in the kitchen,” María replied, her voice trembling, her eyes shining with held-back tears.

The fear and tension from her encounter with the vampire still weighed heavily inside her.

But Hugo didn’t give a damn about that.

“That’s not my problem,” he replied, crossing his arms and looking at her with disapproval. “Aria is waiting. Hand over the cookies already.”

María nodded weakly and approached Aria, carefully opening the jar.

Aria took it with her small but steady hands and, without wasting time, began eating the cookies one after another with the same calm demeanor that had characterized her all along.

Meanwhile, Hugo turned to María again, not even giving her a moment’s respite.

“Now I need you to bring me volumes four and five of human anatomy,” Hugo ordered, gesturing impatiently toward a bookshelf crammed with books. “They’re over there, don’t take long.”

María let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumped under the weight of the constant work and endless orders.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

‘Why don’t you get them yourself?’ María thought in frustration.

From her perspective, Hugo wasn’t doing anything to justify his bossy tone and impatience.

Her eyes scanned the room, seeing how Hugo just sat there, watching Aria eat with a calm expression.

It seemed like all the important tasks fell on her shoulders, while he barely lifted a finger for anything other than giving orders.

With one last resigned sigh, María headed toward the bookshelf, reaching out to look for the volumes Hugo had mentioned.

As her fingers traced the spines of the books, her mind wandered between thoughts.

‘Why did Hugo propose that I become his apprentice?’ María wondered, her mind drifting back to that day when he, with that smug smile and laughter that echoed in her ears, had made an offer she immediately turned down.

‘He’s unbearable!’ María told herself as her fingers slid over the book titles, searching for the other volume Hugo had asked for.

‘I can’t imagine learning from an old man like him…’

The idea of spending more time with Hugo, enduring his authoritative attitude and bossy ways, was simply unthinkable.

But then, María wondered:

‘What would he have taught me if I had accepted?’

Hugo’s proposal wasn’t something common, and María knew it well.

Being an apprentice to a mage of his caliber wasn’t something just anyone could achieve, let alone a simple servant like her.

‘Would I have learned to manipulate spirits like the one that guided me here? Or maybe to master complex spells I can’t even imagine?’

But, of course, Hugo didn’t seem like the kind of person who would offer his knowledge without expecting something in return.

There was always a price.

Having grown up in a family of merchants, she knew that very well.

Finally, María found one of the volumes. She pulled it from its place with a decisive tug, but the other was still hidden among the rows of books.

As she searched, she bitterly remembered Hugo’s response when she turned him down.

‘I’ll wait for you to change your mind,’ he had said, with that annoying laugh that still echoed in her mind.

‘If this is his way of making me change my mind, you’re very wrong!’ María thought firmly, her frustration growing with every second that passed without finding the damned book.

It wasn’t just Hugo’s attitude that irritated her, but the constant pressure and suffocating atmosphere of the mansion.

‘As if being surrounded by vampires wasn’t enough, I also have to deal with a stubborn, bossy old man!’

Finally, her fingers brushed the spine of the second volume, and she pulled it out with a huff of relief and pent-up anger.

As she returned to the table with the books in her arms, her gaze met Hugo’s, who barely raised an eyebrow in acknowledgment.

What?

That indifferent look seemed to say.

María pressed her lips together, holding back the urge to say something that would surely only complicate her situation.

María handed over the books with a quick motion and stepped back a few paces, waiting for the next order while her thoughts continued to burn with the same intensity as the fire spirit that had lit her way.