Conquering His Cold Heart

330 Nightmares

“NOOO!” Tilla screamed at the top of her lungs and abruptly woke up from her nightmare.

She was holding out her trembling palm in front of her face as if she was trying to hide from someone’s attack. Her whole body was drenched in cold sweat even in that cold weather. And she was panting and gasping for air.

Tilla heaved a deep sigh of relief when she found out that she was only dreaming. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her cold palms as she took some time to recover from her nightmare.

‘Why do I keep on dreaming about that dreadful night? Please, no more…’

She was already sick and tired of still being haunted by the night which she thought was going to be her last.

Tilla lifted her head and pushed the hairs that were sticking to her forehead and her cheeks. She clutched the blanket with both of her hands and thought back to the same night.

She recalled how terrified she was when she kept on hearing the gunshots, and screaming and shouting of all those people. She recalled how petrified she was when she heard someone approaching the room that she was in.

“Thank god it was Lord Vincent who came to find me that night… I would have died of fear if he wasn’t there for me,” she whispered as her eyes got filled with tears. That night had a horrible impact on her mind. And even though quite a few days had passed already, she hadn’t gotten out of the trauma.

Even the slightest noise would startle her to the core. And she was still having recurring nightmares where monstrous people came and tried to kill her.

.....

Waking up all scared in the middle of the night had been her routine now.

She took a deep breath again and mumbled to calm herself, “I should sleep now. I don’t want to be late to serve Her Majesty tomorrow.”

Tilla gulped and tried to go back to sleep. But her dry throat was making her feel really uncomfortable. So, she slowly stepped out of the bed to drink some water. She looked at the table to find that the glass was empty.

“Ugh!” she rolled her eyes at herself for not remembering to refill the water in her room.

“I guess I will drink in the morning,” she mumbled and was ready to go back to sleep when her eyes fell on the small pocket watch that was lying on the table.

She widened her eyes and exclaimed, “What? It’s already five?”

Tilla ran towards the window and slightly lifted the curtain to see that it was still pitch blank outside. “I hate when you can’t tell if it’s morning or not by looking outside…” she whispered with a frown on her forehead.

“There’s no time to sleep.” She was somewhat happy knowing that it was already morning. She didn’t have to go back to sleep and risk seeing the nightmare again.

She hopped back to her bed and started to fold the blanket. After making her bed and cleaning the room, she grabbed a pail from the corner of her room and got ready to fetch a pail of water so that she could wipe her body.

Tilla ran out of her room while shivering on that cold morning.

Upon reaching the well that was used by all the maids and servants to fetch water for themselves, she saw Martha who was sitting down beside the well while pressing her back.

“Martha? Are you okay?” Tilla ran to her side in a hurry.

Martha smiled and answered while grunting, “No. This winter is not that good for me. I was trying to get some water to water the plants but my back is jammed now. I couldn’t move, so I was sitting here.”

“Oh, you poor thing… Let me help you.” Tilla quickly helped Martha to get up on her feet. She even gave a quick back massage to Martha on the spot so that she could at least walk slowly.

“Ah, it feels much better now.” Martha appreciatively smiled at Tilla and grabbed her pail again.

Tilla furrowed her brows and asked, “What do you think you are doing? You should go to the kitchen and sit in front of the fireplace. Or go back to your bedroom and warm yourself up.”

Martha sighed and said while looking towards the garden in the distance, “I should fill the container over there. I don’t know why nobody fills it these days.”

“It’s the task of other maids, right?” Tilla asked while still furrowing her brows.

“It is. But when I go and try to water the plants, there is never a drop of water there.” Martha looked a little defeated when she said that. “And I don’t want Mr. Percy to come and say that I haven’t watered the plants even when it’s been hours. So, I wake up early these days and fill the container myself before watering the plants.”

Martha tried to fetch the water from the well again even though her back pain hadn’t completely vanished yet.

Tilla didn’t want Martha to hurt herself. So, she took the bucket from Martha’s hand and offered to help. “I will fill the container. You should at least change into warm clothes. Your cloth is all wet at the back.”

Martha felt a little guilty accepting Tilla’s help. But nonetheless, she was glad that she didn’t have to work until she felt like she broke her bones. She smiled at Tilla and patted her cheek lightly. “Thank you, Tilla. I will go and boil some water for your bath.”

“Oh, no! I can do that myself.” Tilla exclaimed.

But Martha smiled and said, “I had already taken some water to the kitchen earlier. It will be more than enough for the two of us.”

“Then thank you, I guess,” Tilla gave an awkward smile and began fetching the water from the well.

After fetching a bucket of water, Tilla headed towards the garden where they kept the large container.

By now, the surrounding was starting to get a little brighter so she had no problem walking and staying on her track. The fog hadn’t completely cleared yet though, so it was difficult to see too far.

She poured the whole bucket of water into the container and turned around to head toward the well again.

She was in her own world when suddenly, a dark figure appeared right in front of her.

“Oh my god!” She got startled and exclaimed while tightly closing her eyes.

“Good morning.”

She looked up only when she heard that overly familiar voice.

“Lord Vincent!” She sighed and smiled. And she immediately questioned him, “What are you doing here? It’s quite early, isn’t it?”

Vincent gave a bright smile and replied sweetly, “I like taking a stroll in the morning. The air is really fresh. And so are the… people.”

“Er…” Tilla scratched her neck and looked down in embarrassment. “I haven’t even taken a bath yet.” And she even tried to sneakily smell herself to check if she was giving off an awful smell.

Vincent smirked when he witnessed Tilla trying to smell her clothes. And he teasingly said, “Don’t worry. I like the smell of your sweat.”

Tilla’s ears and cheeks turned red when Vincent acknowledged that he could indeed smell her sweat.

“Um… I n-need to t-take a bath,” she stuttered and ran away from there.

Vincent turned on his heels and watched Tilla running away in embarrassment. He smiled while following Tilla with her eyes and mumbled, “I guess… I will take a few rounds of the castle then.”