Bambi and the Duke

Vivian who stood outside at the Carmichael’s mansion saw the carriage leave as Leonard’s family members stood outside to see him go to the Rufus’ mansion.

All the time little Eleanor stood quietly without a word of protest. She was sad about his departure and the fight her brother and he had got into but at the same time, she was happy, happy that Leonard wouldn’t be seeing the girl anymore. The way he had patted the girl had made her jealous, jealous of the existence of the girl as it was Eleanor’s place and not some stranger who had only recently arrived at the mansion. Since she had heard and seen them speak, she hated the girl.

Vivian saw little Eleanor turn her head slowly whilst everyone was murmuring about what just happened. She turned to look at the blonde girl who had her hands clutched tightly at one of the servant’s dress.

The fragment of memory slowly began to dissolve to bring in colour and light of the room she was in. Voice of Eleanor who sat talking next to her drifted into her ear from what had previously been faded.

”....bridge is going to be rebuilt and I asked my father to send in the workers so that it could be fixed and built rightly this time so that there are no such mishaps in the future. Vivian?” Lady Eleanor leaned a little to look at Vivian who had a blank face all this while when the vampiress was speaking to her.

Vivian didn’t know how to respond right now. Though there was no blood and gore in the memory she had seen, the betrayal of trust was something hard to digest. Not to forget that she was the one who had inflicted the fight between Leonard and Christopher. For a young girl of that age to hold such contempt, she could hardly imagine what she would have stored for her in the future.

It was apparent that Lady Eleanor didn’t see Leonard as just her second cousin but that she held romantic interest in him. Right now, just like before, Lady Eleanor saw Vivian to be a threat in her way of gaining Leonard’s affection. It worried her to what extent the woman could go to complete her goal. Thankfully right now, all she knew was that she was a guest who was taking shelter at the Carmichael’s residence.

There could be a possibility that Lady Eleanor doubted the lie they told her and the rest of them, thought Vivian to herself but it was better to keep their relationship in darkness. At least until the council exam was done.

”Are you alright?” the woman asked concerned, making it hard for Vivian to believe what she had seen of the past and the present now.

”Uh-I think I need to lie down for some time. I lost a lot of blood today,” Vivian responded back as she placed her leg carefully on the bed. Lady Eleanor helped her with the blanket, pulling and tucking in.

”I am so sorry. I should probably go so that you can rest now. Let me go meet Leonard as he still seems angry. I am still sorry for not able to be quick in aiding you out of the water. I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship,” Lady Eleanor sounded apologetic, her eyes looking at Vivian anxiously as both of them held each other’s gazes.

Putting up a smile, she said, ”It wasn’t your fault, Lady Eleanor. Let’s not worry about it,” listening to this the vampiress let out a sigh of relief.

”Thank you, Vivian. I will come to see you soon,” she said squeezing Vivian’s arm gently with a smile on her thin lips, she walked out of the room.

When Lady Eleanor left the room, the smile that Vivian had put upon her face started to drag down as her thoughts drifted to think about what she saw. She had expected to see Eleanor’s emotions but never had she expected to see the vile side of the vampiress which was part of her childhood.

Lady Eleanor loved Leonard, and her parents approved of him, at least Mrs Henz did.

The fall from the bridge was an accident but she wasn’t sure if next time would be an accident when the lady would call her for another tea party, not that she was willing to go. She had gone to confirm her thoughts and now that it was, she didn’t see the need to associate herself with Lady Eleanor or anyone else which included the man named Jamien.

She stared at the ceiling of the room, her eyes blank as time passed by. After spending a few more minutes on the bed doing nothing but think, Vivian decided to take a bath.

Getting up from the bed, she dragged her feet around the room. There were times when she slightly flinched at the pull of her skin on her leg due to which she had to stop to take a deep breath. Picking the dress, she made way to the bathroom by pushing the door open and placing the fresh clothes on the hook stand. She took a look at her pale green dress that had turned pink in colour which was possibly due to the blood that had inked in the water.

As the bath ran with considerably warm water, Vivian began to undress, removing the hooks of the dress one by one, she pushed her sleeves such that just when the dress fell down around her feet, Leonard arrived calling for her.

”Vivi-” he stopped to see her naked body standing next to the tub, ”Are you taking a bath?”

”I smell...I thought it would be good to have a warm bath before I eat something,” she said wanting to hide. Though Leonard had seen and touched her before, she couldn’t stop being shy with her nakedness in front of him and this time there was nowhere she could hide.

”Let me help,” he said, not waiting for her reply, he bent down to touch the water so that he could check it’s temperature, ”It’s hot, Bambi. Did you plan to burn your skin? Let’s reduce the temperature of it,” he said not looking at her and unplugging the tub which started to drain the water slowly. Once he felt it was sufficient, he turned the tap for the cold water.

In the mean-time, he rolled up his sleeves up to his elbow, the first three buttons of his shirt open which made Vivian wonder if this was how Eleanor had seen him before leaving the mansion. Did she leave the mansion?

Leonard then asked for her hand so that she could step into the tub, helping her in and making her sit in a comfortable position.

As if going to fetch something from the cupboards, he came back with the lathering soap like bar and the scrub which was made of dried twigs. The wound was formed near her calf muscle which got wet again when she had stepped into the tub.

”Don’t worry about it,” she heard Leonard speak when she looked at the cloth that was wounded around her leg, ”It’s not safe to get into a bath when you’re weak and have lost a lot of blood. Your body will be tired and if you slip into sleep there’s no telling of one drowning in the tub.”

”That happens?” she asked a little baffled at the information. The servants and other maids didn’t have such a facility that she could have learnt something like this to happen.

”More often than you can count when it comes to humans. The information is ridiculous but it is true,” he stated, taking her hand in his, pouring water and using the dried twigs to scrub her skin gentler than the force she used. His movements on her were careful, making sure she wasn’t uncomfortable he didn’t stare at her but instead concentrated on her hand as he washed it until she heard him ask her, ”What did Eleanor speak to you? She stayed with you for quite some time.”

She wet her lips which had dried, seeing him continue to work on her shoulder, ”About that, I found something from her.”

He looked up to meet her eyes, ”Apart from her apology?” he cocked his head in question, ”You went through her memories?”

”She held my hands and I couldn’t stop what I saw. It was her memories with you,” at this information he narrowed his eyes.

”Why?” He wasn’t asking why she had seen the memories but why and what he was doing there in the memories. She could see the bad after taste like response forming on his face.

”I believe Eleanor is in love with you, Leo.”

”Is that so,” he went back to washing her with water while moving his hand in a circular motion along with the scrub, ”Lean a little forward for me, Bambi,” he asked coming to sit behind her and she did as asked to feel his hands on the back of her skin making her close her eyes at his touch.

Seeing him not enquire her further on it, she wondered if he was angry over something. Though his touch was gentle, it appeared that his mood had slightly shifted turning the atmosphere heavy in silence. Once he was done washing her body, his hands moved to her wet hair, massaging her scalp first and then pouring water to rinse it thoroughly. Thankfully his hands hadn’t dwelled long on her womanly parts, respecting that she was injured.

Before she could get up, she felt Leo press his lips on the side of her wet temple to leave a kiss there.