The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Music Recommendation: Unbroken by Max Herman

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Even though she was a vampiress, Lucy felt the burn on the skin of her cheek where she had been struck by her mother's hand. She didn't cry over the action as she had cried enough before coming to the castle with Calhoun. The emptiness that she felt in her heart was creating a deeper void she couldn't explain.

Lucy didn't know if she should feel hurt over the slap that she felt or if she was supposed to feel hurt that her mother didn't care about her. Feeling more than one drop of blood appear on her cheek and start to slide down while her clothes were wet, she stood there in the big room that was lonely.

The water didn't seep down from her clothes but it hadn't dry, leaving Lucy's body colder than usual. Lucy looked at the locked door that her mother had ordered for the other servants to not open as if she was an animal that needed to be trained, but she wasn't one. Going to the door, she didn't knock on it and instead locked it from inside as she didn't want to speak to anyone.

How strange, thought Lucy to herself, that her mother didn't realize her patio was open and she could always step out from there.

The blood dripped down from her cheek and fell on the ground.

When she turned around, Lucy was planning to go to her bed and lay down in her wet clothes as she didn't care about it. But then she saw him standing there at the entrance of the patio, his glasses on his face and his eyes on hers.

"It's too early for you to be here," said Lucy, her heart softly beating.

Until now, Theodore had entered her room only when it was midnight, a time where most of the servants were asleep and it was only the guards who roamed outside the castle's vicinity.

"Would you prefer me to come back later?" questioned Theodore, his eyes calmly looking at the red line that had formed on one side of her cheek.

Theodore had been busy with work, not realizing Lucy's absence nor Calhoun's until his ears had come to pick up the little comotion when Lady Samara had gone to King Laurence. He had seen Lucy being dragged by the woman who disliked Calhoun as much as Queen Morganna did.

Lucy didn't know what to say and she could feel something bubble up her throat but she tried to push it back down, something she was used to doing.

"If a servant finds you climbing in and out of my patio, they won't stay quiet and they would instead go and inform the King or the Queen about it. It would put you and brother Calhoun both in trouble."

"They never found out about it until now, I don't think they would find out now. Everyone is busy and the sky has already turned dark enough for no people to not notice," stated Theodore. "Your cheek, it's bleeding."

Lucy lowered her gaze, looking at the floor near Theodore's legs and a smile coming to form on her lips that didn't quite reach her lips. She didn't understand why it was often the stranger, people who weren't her family who noticed things like this, while her very own family turned a blind eye over it.

"I know," whispered Lucy. She could feel the sting on her cheek as she moved her lips to speak and smile. It was like the wound was there to restrict her from showing emotions and to behave docile like a doll. "I know there's a mark on my face and if I touch it," she raised her hands up to cheek and when she pulled the lower skin, more blood appeared to seep out to show that the line was deeper than it actually looked.

Seeing this Theodore frowned and he came to stand in front of her to catch hold of her hand to stop her from pulling her skin.

"Don't. It's going to leave a mark," Theodore could feel Lucy's slender wrist that he caught in his hand.

Lucy couldn't help but stare into Theodore's eyes. They were back to standing next to each other, and she could feel her heart tugging.

"I believe you have a first aid box in here?" asked Theodore and Lucy turned her eyes in the direction of the cupboard where the first aid box was in. "Please take a seat on the chair. It would be uncomfortable for you to sleep later if the bed is wet."

Lucy was too tired to ask him to leave and somewhere she craved for company. Not arguing about it, she went to the chair and sat down, turning the wooden chair wet as it tried to absorb water.

Theodore took hold of the first aid box and he brought it to where she was seated. He placed the box down, while kneeling down as he tried to pull out the cotton and a bottle that held the antiseptic lotion. Lucy didn't stay on the chair and she slid to sit in front of Theodore, on the floor.

"A vampire has the ability to heal quickly, but with what I noticed, when you get hurt, your wounds take time to heal," said Theodore as he dabbed the cotton with the antiseptic liquid.

Lucy watched Theodore's hands that moved elegantly around the first aid box. "I was born with a weaker immune system compared to the other vampires or my family members. My body is similar to a human's body...I catch fever, I fall sick and I take time to recover back to my health. My wounds, they take their time unlike our kind."

"And your mother doesn't know it, does she?" questioned Theodore, bringing his hand forward and near Lucy's face. Lucy only shook her head.

Theodore then placed the bud of cotton on Lucy's cheek for her to close her eyes as if the liquid in the cotton stung her skin.