14 The rules
The wind howled back as the sky have calmed, and they, too, have retreated back inside the mansion. The mist swayed by the east wind earlier had sprayed damp on their clothes and garments, which Lilith could shiver if not for the tight corset that sucked her abdomen fats and the layers of clothes under her gown. She scurried on the half-spiral staircase, up to her chamber, so she can have herself a breather.
She stagger on the hallway while reaching to untangle the lace ribbon at her back until she reached her chamber door. She was itching to remove this damp gown of hers, the lace unknotted, and she began unwrapping this corset garment off her stomach.
She exhaled vehemently “Whew!” and slouched. Although her hands were tottering to remove her garments, her mind wandered elsewhere. In the garden, the twins, and Mr. Grahams. The garden would have looked extravagantly beautiful, envisioning the scenery it would have contributed to the mansion’s improvement. It just needs to be taken care of. Ada, Mr. Grahams or perhaps Stewt could manage that…
Lilith paused when she heard the noise of her door creaking slowly behind her. She immediately covered herself and swiftly moved her body facing the door. But there was nothing. It could not be the wind from her window since it would have defied the law of physics and science. Upon seeing nothing, she slammed close the door and shrugged it off.
It was not exceptionally long, and the sky quickly became darker after six in the afternoon. She had her white house gown on when she was preparing for the supper, since she had tasked Ada to clean the mansion every nook and edges of the house must be shiningly spotless. And so, she took over the kitchen. Grahams was left cleaning outside the mansion with Stewt.
She could taste the different spices from the sip of burbling soup she is boiling when she heard,
“Madam,” she steps closer to Lilith and handed a teared, crumple paper “here are the rules you asked of me”
She extended her arms and reached for the paper, it was a crunchy and old paper, she assumed, but at the slightest touch of it, she had felt the forgotten remorse of the death of her love, Gerald. There were fluids forming in her eyes, but she could not let it fall, not in front of anyone. She grabbed the paper and snapped back to reality.
“Ah I-I see, thank you, Ada. I will have a look at it later”
“Madam, would you like me to help you with the cooking” she offered.
“Actually, could you take over?”
Hurriedly, she went out to the lavatory and tried to compose herself by exercising her breathing and washing her face. After pausing looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, she dried off her hands on her gown cloth when she felt the brush edges of the paper touch her hand. She took it from her pocket gown, although the words are present right in her eyes, she could not help but feel and be conscious of the paper’s sensation on her hands. As if she is reading the paper that her beloved had left for her.
The handwriting was of a great scribble of cursive, she commended Ada for that. It looked rather pleasing and illusionary that plays with her vision, the loops and curves were like the mermaid’s tails and delicate fins. It said:
[Master’s’ rules
1. Work or leave
2. Use our respective titles
3. Never to feast alongside our table
4. Unwanted slave’s guest is no more than a slave
5. Stealing and disrespect is punishable with death….]
The list could go on if not for it teared, but even with these 5 rules she had read is enough to boil with wonder, their tyranny to them, or at least that is what Lilith thought. It seemed reasonable for the first two rules, but as it goes on, it gets rather hateful and more of a threat.
Death cannot be right for just stealing bread, can it? She was relieved, somehow, Stewt managed to be punished with his finger only. But in her confusion with the said rules, she had gone out of the lavatory and went straight to the kitchen where she left Ada.
“The first two rules seem to be ordinary, but as the number of rules increase, it seemed more of a threat. Death is too much, don’t you think?”
“Death… Ah, now I see. Thank you, madam”
Gratitude is not the thing she should have said to what Lilith just told her “I don’t think I said anything that grants me your gratitude-“ she shrugged it off and same closer to Ada “Come, now see, I don’t think this fifth rule is right” flaunting the paper in front of Ada.
Ada looked rather uncomfortable and displease, she utter no word, but her body was trembling. When Lilith asked her,
“Madam, we cannot read nor write. Forgive me”
After they feast, Lilith retreated back to her chamber and pondered about the paper. “Who wrote it, then?” The initial question in her mind, followed by “But I asked her to write the rules their master have set for them, if she did not write it herself, that is not something she should be sorry of. And why was the paper teared off? If she really could not read though, then how did she know the third rule? Who wrote it, then?”
Filled with confusion once more, that she could almost forget her husband’s death. She grabbed her bag from the corner of the room and searched for the paper, “Is this your way for letting me forget you? Filling my head with question and curiosity?” she spoke to the air while clenching the letter he left. She was smart anyway, a professor in the same university they met years back they started to love each other. That was what her husband viewed of her, composed, smart and elegant woman, independent and strong.
Lilith concluded it was his gift for her to discover the mansion he had left her, she viewed the mansion as a mystery to unravel and resolve, this was her only way to connect with his husband, through what he had left her.
