"Sir Damian will see you now," said the butler and opened the door. I was led in. One of the maids helped me sit on a chair and poured me a cup of tea.
I tried one sip and let it down without making any particular face.
"Ah, David," said the young man. A pristine white shirt with an oddly twirly collar, one button undone. His hair flowed freely, as if mocking the laws of physics. He looked even more dashing than usual. No, it was probably because he was smiling.
Seriously, will I ever look like that? I wasn't bad looking but I kind of had my doubts.
"Brother," I said.
His office was down the hallway of the same floor, the second floor. Furnished with four almirahs and two desks. He also had his own sofa and chairs for guests. I'd expected more for some reason.
"What brings you here today? You rarely visit," he wondered.
"I want one of your maids," I said.
"Hmm… why?"
"I… I like how she makes your bed," I mumbled.
He stared and then laughed. "Sure, sure, which one?"
"Her," I said, pointing at the corner. A maid with fox ears and bits of a fox nose, otherwise human. Molly was friends with most of the maids, so I'd asked her about Damian's maids. Molly of course didn't want to answer. Apparently telling me was betraying her friends or something? But I wasn't asking intimate shit, I just wanted to know who made Damian's bed. I'd only been in his room once but it had indeed looked really nice.
The fox eared lady blinked a couple of times before looking down. "If my lord will command me then I shall go to him," she said.
"Well then," Damian said. "A promise is a promise. But, what will I get out of this exchange?"
I gulped, and stared at him with pleading eyes. "Exchange? You want something…?"
"Well of course, you can't expect to get everything in life for free, don't you agree?"
I sniffled once. "Okie…"
He laughed. "Don't be so down. How about it, why don't you give me one of your toys? You know, those embroidered doll things."
Why do I feel like he couldn't care less about those…
"You can pick one…"
"Excellent!" He motioned for the maid. "Fetch some biscuits, what are you doing? Don't you see he hasn't touched the tea?"
"Right away sir!"
"No need," I said. "I… I don't like tea."
His eyes twitched. And everyone, every single one of them just stared. For a second there was pin drop silence. The birds outside ruined it though. Actually, kind of made the situation even more exaggerated. Just how much did this guy like tea? Are his kidneys and teeth okay?
"You, what?" Damian said. "This tea is so bad that even David doesn't like it…" he mumbled.
"No, I don't like tea anymore… I want something different you know. It's so…."
"It's so?"
"Bland. I want something… new."
"New?" he motioned for the butler. "Fetch me the deputy chef."
"Right away, sir!"
A couple of minutes later, the chef arrived.
"What other kinds of hot beverage can you make?"
He spoke about a bunch of things: Mostly just tea. "We can try a bean drink, but exporting como beans is expensive…" Como beans were cocoa- probably- which were kind of shit in this world since they didn't ferment the beans first. He also spoke about smoked tea but I didn't want that.
The two of them went back and forth between what to do.
The chef proposed a lot of things and Damian kept on asking questions and making a list of things to order. I was obviously eating up his time but this was part of the plan.
"I read in a book," I mumbled.
"Yes, David, did you say something?" Damian turned my way.
But I said nothing.
I stayed like that while he repeatedly asked and eventually picked me up and sat me down on this lap and ruffled through my hair, assuring me that everything was okay.
Is he just pretending…no… he's not. Gulping, I showed him the scrambled paper I was carrying in my pocket. I'd torn it out of the book to play my character with a bit more lore. "This."
"Oh god… he's going to kill me…" Damian mumbled, gulped and chuckled. "Well, I suppose we can order some." He was sweating a lot though.
Wait… wasn't tearing pages a-
Oh…. Damn. I left the page with him and quickly ran out of the room. "Thanks!"
Yeah, that was his problem now.
***
While I was going to back to my room, someone picked me up and took me to a different room. A room that I'd hardly ever been in. A room that… I didn't want to be in either.
"You have changed of late," she said.
Her voice, so sweet.
Her gaze, so tender.
Yet… so hollow.
Mother.
I never pegged the lady to be caring or someone who'd pay attention to me. But apparently, she had. Well, she 'is' his mother.
"Have I?" I spoke, innocently.
"Did something happen? Did someone say something to you?"
"No…"
"Really? Come closer," she said.
She sat on a chair, by the dressing table while I was on the bed, my feet dangling around. I hadn't been looking around much but this room was sort of cozy. Books, clothes, a dressing table and some odd ornamental stuff I hadn't seen before. It wasn't a big room. Even my room was bigger.
I stood and obliged, standing just a step away.
She finished applying whatever she was applying to her lips and stared at me with a smile.
I stared at her but… "Mom," I said, but then almost bit my gums hard and cleared my throat. "Mother… why do you use makeup when you're already so beautiful?"
Which was true. I'd seen her without makeup. Not many imperfections, barely any redness in her eyes, naturally long lashes, a symmetrical oval face with full lips. She didn't look like the most beautiful woman in the world but she was fairly gorgeous and adding makeup on top of that made her look more pleasing but considering she was already beautiful I didn't see any point in that. But I suppose that was my lack of awareness.
"Because I need to look good at all times," she said, picking me up and setting me down on her lap.
She was warm.
"But you already look good," I said.
"I know," she hugged me. No, she just leaned on me a tad with her arms around me. "But the world expects some things from me. I'm so glad you know… I'm so glad."
"Of what?"
"That you weren't born a woman," she spoke in a whisper. Before I could turn or say something, she smooched me on the back of my head and let me down on the ground. "I'm glad you're changing for the better. It's already time for your snacks, so off you go." She politely kicked me out of the room.
Huh… hhmm… wow.