Music Recommendation: RV: 315 "L'estate": I. - Antonio Vivaldi

Marceline's lips trembled in shock, and she didn't know how this could happen. She saw the bird peck on the witch's body, and the vampiress couldn't believe that her luck had run out.

The pain in her foot didn't reduce, and it only increased with every passing second.

She pulled the front of her dress. Unbuckling the shoe strap, she removed her cursed foot and felt like she could finally breathe from the tightness as her foot had swollen. She then carefully started to roll down the stocking, an inch at a time, and when she came right above her foot, she screamed in agony.

"AHH!" Marceline grit her teeth, her soul ready to escape from her body.

Not because of the pain alone but also the sight of one of her limbs. Pieces of her skin had stuck to her stocking and came off when she rolled the stocking and removed it.

"Who is there?" Marceline heard a male's voice from behind her, and she quickly covered her foot. "Raise your hands!" She heard a creaking sound.

When the young vampiress turned around, she noticed it was a human who worked for the Council. The man was in his late thirties. She knew it because he had been invited to the soirees that were held in the Moriartys mansion.

"Lady Marceline?" The man asked in surprise. "I don't think you remember me, I am Uric Osborne. I worked under your father," he placed his free hand on his chest and dropped the gun away that had been pointing at her.

Marceline mustered a smile while she was still in pain and shock.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know that this is the place where the witches usually take shelter?" Uric informed her.

The vampiress innocently batted her lash as if she had no clue, and she lied, "I was taking a walk and didn't realise how far I came."

The man nodded, "That's fine. I am just glad to see that you are safe. This thing here must have scared you," he jerked his head in the direction of the dead witch. The councilman continued, "You don't have to worry about her. We have been hunting her for more than two weeks because she has been kidnapping young women and killing them. But we finally tracked her down and killed her," he appeared proud as he said this.

Marceline's eyes shifted from the dead witch and looked at the councilman. Her hands clenched in frustration, and she was ready to snap his head here for what he had indirectly done to her. She could blame it on the witch. It wasn't as if anyone would know she was there. Or maybe she could convince everyone that the witch cursed her while they were fighting, and she somehow, single-handedly, killed the witch.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Where is your carriage parked? Let me walk you till there as it isn't safe here," the councilman offered, and Marceline started to walk with him.

Marceline tried hard not to wobble. She had hidden her shoe and stocking behind her dress and walked unevenly, where one of her feet felt the snow under her feet. She felt nothing less than a wobbling duck, which frustrated her more.

Having lost the ability to think straight because of her condition, when the human looked the other way, she raised her hands and was ready to choke him to death.

"Osborne!" Someone yelled from a little distance from where Marceline and the councilman were. The vampiress quickly dropped her hands to her side. Another councilman walked to where they were and informed the man, "There are no other witches anywhere around here. It appears like the dead one was the only queen bee witch in here."

"That's good to hear, let us wrap up the witch hunting mission here for the time being. Have the others get the witch's body and have her things back to Darthmore," said Mr. Osborne, and he added, "I will see the lady to her carriage."

The other councilman's eyes fell on the vampiress, whose face was warped in concentration. He then asked, "Was she a victim of the witch you found in hiding?"

Marceline was ready to say yes to the victim part, but before that Mr. Osborne replied, "No. Lady Marceline was taking a stroll when she wandered too far here and appeared after I killed the witch." When the other councilman turned a little suspicious of what the lady was doing here, Mr. Osborne introduced, "Lady Marceline is Viscount Eduard Moriarty's eldest daughter."

The councilman's eyes widened on hearing the Moriarty family name, and he quickly offered her a bow, "Ezekiel Scroggs at your service, milady."

Marceline didn't care to know about the councilman, but old habits die hard, especially when it was mastered and ingrained into her since she had grown up. She offered a kind smile to the man. She said, "Mr. Osborne, thank you for accompanying me until here, but I think I can walk from here myself."

"Please, I insist that I come see you till your carriage," Mr. Osborne didn't find it safe for a woman like Lady Marceline to be walking alone. Not to mention, something seemed off about the way she walked.

Mr. Scroggs's eyes fell on the young lady's hands, where she held her shoe. He saw they weren't two but just one shoe. He said, "I think you should wear your shoe, milady, lest you want to enjoy the snow..." with one leg, the man thought to himself.

Mr. Osborne's attention fell beneath the lady's dress and on the ground. Marceline clenched her jaws and said, "Unfortunately, I broke the buckle of my shoe and thought it would be better to walk without it. Please, don't mind me. I will have it fixed by my coachman."

"Let us see you to your carriage then," Mr. Osborne stretched his hand forward, and the three of them started walking.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Marceline's coachman noticed his mistress look angry. He could tell she was mad about something because of the years he had come to work for her. He quickly ran towards his Miss and caught the shoe that she threw at him. She had stuffed her stockings inside the shoe.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Please be wary of places like these, milady. They are unsafe and can be harmful. Please convey my regards to the Viscount," Mr. Osborne said to Marceline.

Marceline smiled and offered a slight bow to the councilman, "Thank you for being kind and seeing me here. I will surely pass your message to my father."

The coachman opened the carriage door, waiting for Marceline to get in. Biting her lower lip as her foot prickled, she climbed inside the carriage and quickly the coachman closed the door.

As the carriage left the area of the forest and got on the road, Marceline's coachman sat straight as he rode the vehicle. It was after a minute that he heard the vampiress scream in frustration--

"AHHHHHHHH!"

The coachman pulled the horses' reins to stop it. When the carriage paused, he nervously turned to look at the window and asked, "Milady, are you alright?"

For many seconds, he received no response from her. He then turned from his seat when Marceline closed the curtain to the front and barked, "Who told you to stop the carriage? Take me to Mr. Pepper, the physician's house."

Before he would get more scolding from her again, the coachman quickly patted the horses and started the carriage, while wondering what had made the vampiress this angry. Surely he didn't want to stand in her path when she was breathing fire and decided to steer clear of it.

After several minutes, they finally arrived at physician Mr. Pepper's house. The physician specialised in treating vampire and werewolf patients.

Marceline got down from the carriage with difficulty. When she walked towards the front of the house, Mr. Pepper's assistant appeared and offered a bow. The vampiress stated, "I am here to see, Mr. Pepper. Is he here?"

"He is, milady. Let me take you to the office room," the assistant informed, and they walked through the corridor and reached the office inside the house. The servant opened the door to the room, and Marceline stepped inside the room, and the door was closed.

"Lady Marceline, have a seat. How can I help you today?" Mr. Pepper sat behind his desk. His blonde, greasy hair was combed to the side.

Marceline had trouble saying this or even showing her foot. But she had to get this treated before someone would notice what was happening to her foot. She tightly clenched her hands before she said,

"I was walking in the garden this morning, and suddenly my foot started to swell up and there have been blisters since then."

lghtnvlubm fr th bt nvl rdng rn

"Let me take a look at it," Mr. Pepper got up from his seat and walked around the desk to come and kneel. "Place your foot forward, please."

Marceline hesitantly put her right foot forward, raising her dress and Mr. Pepper's red eyes widened on seeing this. He remarked, "This... doesn't look good. It looks like an infection that is rapidly spreading from your foot."

"What can be done? It hurts!" Marceline cried in pain and her eyebrows furrowed.

Mr. Pepper took a closer look at the slime and the blisters on her foot that were caused by Marceline when she removed her stocking. He said, "Let me apply the medicine on it and bandage it up so that it doesn't continue the infection and can heal. If it hasn't changed, you can come here tomorrow."

"But you can make it better, right, Mr. Pepper?" Marceline confirmed.

Mr. Pepper nodded, "Of course, an infection from the garden, it must be able to heal right away.

Marceline hoped the medicine would work.

But the vampiress forgot that this wasn't a common illness but was caused because of a curse. A curse she had wished upon someone that had come right back at her.

Not too far away from the physician's house, in the Moriarty mansion, Blythe finished the work that the butler had given her. The butler had given her work that amounted to two people and had left her all by herself to finish it. But she was an expert, and she had sneaked around, looking for the governess in that time. She now wiped her hands and looked around when she came upon a window facing the carriage shed and noticed Vincent Moriarty's carriage parked there.

The maid quickly sneaked towards the piano room, and took a quick peek. She noted the governess was nowhere near the room. She wondered where the human could be.

Blythe wondered if perhaps her initial suspicion was wrong! Maybe the two of them weren't in the mansion, and they had gone outside. She gritted her teeth and without a word, made her way towards the mansion's entrance to visit the Marchioness.

Alfie stepped in the way, and questioned, "Where are you going? Did you finish the work that was assigned to you in the East wing?"

"I have. Everything has been completed as you asked. I remembered something and need to visit Lady Aurora urgently," saying this, Blythe left the mansion, while Alfie turned worried. Did the maid discover that his master and Ms. Barlow weren't in the mansion?

Blythe's footsteps were quick, and once she reached the Wright's mansion, she knocked on the door. When the door opened, she entered, went straight to Lady Aurora, who was having her afternoon tea in her room. The maid offered her a bow.

lghtnvlubm fr th bt nvl rdng rn

"What is it, Blythe?" Lady Aurora questioned, raising one of her eyebrows.

"Milady. The governess has been missing from the mansion since noon and didn't appear for lunch in the dining room. She is nowhere in the mansion and I believe she is out with Mr. Vincent Moriarty," Blythe informed before pursing her lips.

Hearing this, Lady Aurora's eyes narrowed, and she uncrossed her legs, "They wouldn't dare."