44 Gag Order

With a gasp, Olivia opened her eyes.

Looking above, she came face to face with an unfamiliar ceiling. Rather than the usual and dull white, adorned in intricate little patterns, the ceiling she was looking at was a beautiful turquoise with a few beige fillings.

For a while, she absentmindedly blinked at the foreign ceiling before slowly sitting up.

Outside, the sun was high up in the sky, showing that it was well past noon. Unknowingly, she had severely overslept. Her hand inched over to the other side and felt the mattress.

Cold.

It seemed he woke up well before her, allowing her to indulge in her slumber.

"Miss Olivia."

Olivia looked up, surprised to see Reginald standing there. She thought he would still be over at the De Vere household, but here he was. Thinking about it, she should've realised Reginald wasn't just the De Vere household's butler but rather, Alexander's very own personal servant. That would explain why he was currently standing in front of her.

"Once you have washed up, please go downstairs to the dining room."

As always, there was no fawning or aloofness in his tone. Succinct and polite, no matter the occasion.

Olivia soon got up from under the covers once Reginald left her to her own devices. Just as she was told, she washed up thoroughly, tying her hair into its usual neat bun. On top of one of the cabinets, her usual attire was laying there with her boots on top. Albeit surprised, she quietly changed into her clothes and made her way downstairs to the dining room, just as she was instructed.

Oddly, nobody was there. Rather, a single hot plate of food was quietly sitting on the main table. Olivia felt perplexed. She looked around yet she couldn't find the smaller table that she was accustomed to sitting at.

Slowly and slightly hesitant, she walked over to the main table and pulled out a chair.

She then paused.

Why was she faltering in this seemingly simple act. What was there to be hesitant about?

She wasn't a servant, nor a Giver and she certainly wasn't a slave, so… why not just sit down normally?

Olivia didn't know whether the last few months at the De Vere household had somehow conditioned her to act lowly, but having a chance to think about it now to herself, why should she act in deference?

With more composure, she leisurely pulled out the chair and sat down.

'Anyway, there's clearly only one plate of food and Reginald had called me to the dining room so who else was to sit there?'

Having gone back to her own 'foundations', she picked up her utensils and began to heartily eat. The food in front of her was especially rich and plentiful. Eggs, warm soft bread, butter, cheese and a cold glass of milk.

This was the most she had ever eaten in the last few years. Thinking about it, she felt that it was a rather sad thing to be happy about something so pitiful. Alone, she gave a small and dry chuckle.

Unbeknownst to her, someone was watching from the door.

"Your eating habits are crass and unrefined."

Alexander languidly walked in, and sat in front of her.

Olivia didn't look up from her food, "Then don't look. I'm not forcing you."

"You're going to be by my side from now on. You need to act with more propriety."

Olivia scoffed, "I'm not a noble and neither will I ever be. If you want a person like that…"

She looked up and pointed her fork to the door, "Go and find someone else."

This was what had always intrigued Alexander. Over the decades, not once had a human spoken to him in such a way. That was, unless they were actively seeking for death. All humans whether commoner, noble or even royalty, knew exactly where to draw the line and not step over it. Of course, that was because both parties were aware of the consequences and what was to occur should they ever offend the other. And usually, it ended with the human taking their last breath.

Yet, such was not the case with the woman in front of him. She neither spoke to him cautiously out of fear nor did she fawn over him. Olivia could say whatever she wanted without reservations, purely because the threat of imminent death was no longer there. Even if he wanted to rip her throat out, it would just repair itself once more. What was more startling was, she wasn't a vampire nor a witch. Just a mere human.

Or rather should he say, 'Talented One'.

Nonetheless, it was…refreshing.

The pair sunk into a comfortable silence, only the clangs from her utensils against the edge of the plate, filling the gaps.

Alexander quietly watched her as she ate, his eyes flickering over to her arm. Pictures of her blood and flesh splattering all over the floor, appeared in his mind. He then recalled a certain blonde haired man.

Thinking of Eli once more, his eyes squinted slightly.

His crimson pupils watched Olivia's slender fingers as she slowly and carefully spread the butter on to the warm bread. For a moment, he caught her small pink tongue peeking out and wetting her lips in anticipation as she waited for the butter to slightly melt.

He didn't have any thoughts of telling her about Eli's visitation earlier on.

On the other hand, Olivia suddenly remembered something. She quietly placed her utensils down and spoke.

"I saw someone at the charity event. He looked particularly, no, extremely familiar."

Alexander's eyebrows furrowed at her words, "Who?"

"Do you remember the villagers who were staked and the preacher behind their deaths?"

"Him?"

Olivia nodded sullenly, "He claimed he came on behalf of The Order."

Alexander's forehead formed a small crease, his fingers tapping against the polished wooden table.

"Did you approach him?"

Remembering how the preacher toasted to her from across the room, she felt her body slightly drop in temperature, "No, I didn't think to do so."

"Good. The less they know about you, the better."

Olivia took a small sip of her milk, licking the residue off her lips before quietly asking, "Do you think they're behind what happened last night?"

Alexander shook his head slightly and replied, "I don't know but…I assume they have played a role. Especially now that we know they have a hand in the killings of villagers."

"It seems that there's something deeper and far more sinister than we know when it comes to that organisation," Alexander added on with a low voice. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel like he was in the middle of a large net, waiting to be caught.

This feeling was something he was averse to and strongly hated.

If anyone was going to be the predator, it would be him.

Cleaning her mouth with the clean and white napkin provided, Olivia asked slowly, "By the way, where are we?"

"My manor."

Olivia nodded her head. Her eyes flitted over to the empty space in the corner before asking something that she had been curious about for a while now, "You don't have any Givers here?"

Alexander narrowed his eyes, "No."

He didn't elaborate nor offer any explanation. Olivia wanted to ask further but she could see that the vampire seemed unwilling to answer any questions on the topic, so she couldn't do anything but let it drop.

Truthfully, she wanted to ask more or say something, but she didn't quite know what to talk about. If she didn't speak or distract herself in some other way, inevitably, she would end up recalling the nightmare she just had.

Unfortunately, such a thing was happening right now. She wanted to think about other thoughts yet her mind reeled her back to the ghastly images of that horrifying dream. She couldn't help but feel saddened and distressed.

As a child, she had often heard that dreams reflect what goes on in reality. If so, did whatever she saw last night have a meaning?

Even if it did, she did not dare to find out. She felt that just like in her dream, if everyone was to die before her, she would not be able to go on.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her thigh.

She pinched herself, hard.

Such damning thoughts, she shouldn't dwell on. When and if the time comes, she would face it then. Right now, she had other things to focus on. One might say Olivia was running away, and truthfully she was. She wasn't ready to go back to her village and see who had survived through the years and who hadn't. Therefore, she was pushing it away for when she was ready.

Lifting her head to glance at the thoughtful looking pureblood in front of her, she caressed her slightly aching thigh.

She still had unfinished business here.

Meanwhile, the day after, the entire capital was run amok in rumours and strife. Not long after, the king had put out a gag order. Everyone that had attended was not to talk about what had occurred at the charity event, and if caught, was to be heavily punished.

Of course, all the nobles would adhere to the king's order in public but, who was to stop them talking in private to their family and friends?

Even worse, everyone knew that rumours were something nobody could stop, not even the king himself. And so, the events of what had happened at the catastrophic charity, made its rounds around the nobles, even reaching the ears of commoners. Soon, the story had been played with and spun around so many times that it no longer had any resemblance to what had actually happened at the time.

Some described it as a mighty ancient monster killing everyone in sight, while other's named it 'the heavens curse', claiming that it came to take the lives of greedy nobles.

Furthermore, only three days later, the king had suddenly awarded the De Vere household a hoard of gifts as well as a few estates and lands, namely in Alexander's name. Although King Roman masked his gift giving as a 'meritocratic service', only those in the inner circles understood that it was truly about what had happened that night.