"Don't mind Maggie," hitting at the nail which made her look at him doubtfully, "She is slightly upset that I wasn't scaring Grace but really did what I had to do to set the girl. I pulled her fangs out of her mouth," his voice was calm as he said it, "Don't show or feel pity for someone who would show none of it to you. People like that are foolish."

With the atmosphere that had been heavy, it appeared that the matter of him plucking out her fangs was of grave importance. Taking in a deep breath, she let it out softly through her lips and said,

"I am not happy about what happened and I definitely don't want to go through it. What happened yesterday..." she didn't know how to continue it, "It happened and I would hate her for what she did but the matter could have been resolved by talking," with the way Grace looked bleak and expressionless, staring into s.p.a.ce, there was a stark difference from how she behaved usually. Full of pride, arrogance, her eyes taunting everyone to show that they were beneath her. 

But today the vampiress looked lost. 

Damien's expression flipped like the light that was coming from the candle had been blown out suddenly. His eyes narrowed to slits, the color of his iris bright where she came to see the freckles of black in them. The infected heart was showing up in his eyes, "See from my eyes and you will see how your wounds look. Do you understand that you have been hurt first by a rusted pitchfork to only have the wound open again? Wounds take time to heal but if you keep playing with it over and over again, and if she had kicked and done something more. A pinch of bad luck would be enough to have you dead and throw somewhere where you would never be found. My younger sister has done it before," this caught her attention, "Grace has killed two servants before out of sheer arrogance for the bodies to be thrown into the sea or in the lake of bones. To say she wouldn't do it again out of pure spite, it is hard for me to believe." 

"It is not that I didn't speak to her but the girl had no ounce of regret. People can call me cruel and names as they did with my mother. I care less about what people have to say. I did what I had to do and I somewhere understand why mother did what she did."

How was she supposed to react? What was she supposed to say to it? Penny didn't know and therefore she said,

"Do you want the bread?" she asked him this time, s.h.i.+fting the conversation to a lighter topic. 

But instead of replying to her question, Damien asked, "Do you need to take a bath?"

"I will take one at noon," she took the apple that he had cut and handed it over to her.

"These are special apples. Make sure you relish the taste with every bite," after the breakfast, she stood up along with him. Standing and waiting for him, when she heard him say, "You are free from the slave life. You are a free soul but," he said when a delighted expression appeared on her face, "You will continue to sleep and share my bed. I need to go meet the Lord on what happened to Falcon and the switchers. Will you be alright?" he asked her. 

Would she be alright? With Grace who had been defanged and the others who didn't want to talk to her, she should be fine right? asked Penny to herself, "I should be okay. I will stay in the room."

"Better," he pulled his pocket watch from his coat. Flipping and reading the time, "Let me see you back to the room. I will have the new butler to get your food to the room. You should be fine," saying that Damien saw her to his room as spoken before having a small talk with the butler and leaving the mansion to see Lord Rune. 

During the time of noon, the butler was done providing the meals to all the family members in the mansion where everyone wanted to have their lunch at the room. How strange, thought the butler who went by the name Durik. 

It had been Durik's dream to work in such a large mansion that felt like the ceilings reached the sky. The windows felt like doors as they were large and the decorative items were oh so-maybe beautiful was not the word but what was wrong this morning? Was this how the greetings went by? He couldn't imagine how many plates were destroyed if that were so. 

Wanting to familiarize himself with the mansion, he walked around the halls and the corridors where the endless carpet was laid down. Taking his time right now as he had a.s.signed the work to the servants. The clouds were dark here, for someone who came from Wovile in the hope of making more money, he was not used to the dull atmosphere the land of Bonelake provided them. There was barely any light but gloominess in the air which made one tired and lazy. But it was not the time to be lazy! said Durek to himself. With that thought, he just stared outside the window when he heard footsteps approaching from the other corner of the corridor.

He wondered if it was Lady Fleurance until the sound of the footsteps disappeared. Small drops of water pitter-pattering on the window panes of the mansion softly. 

Remembering he had to check on the next meal which would be in four to five hours, he turned around. He was about to walk when he heard the footsteps again but this time they were so much clearer. So clear that...

Durik's eyes widened like never before while looking down where the carpet stopped to allow the marble to be bare. He could see glistening footsteps on the floor that continued in the lonely corridor making his heart slip. 

His head snapped back and forth. He was the only one who had been standing there for more than ten minutes now. Was the mansion perhaps haunted?