9 Rats

*** (Cera's Point of view) ***

Seriously, what the hell am I doing? Every time she touches me, it sends my head spiraling and my heart a flutter. It feels dangerous and it doesn't. Wait… now that I think about it… that was the first time someone has seen me naked… is that okay? But we're both girls and we're going to get married… This is scary. I can't tell if I'm in danger or not. At least, I don't want her to stop treating me the way she's been treating me. I even ran away earlier! I didn't know what to do when she was touching my face! Her gaze felt so heavy and my emotions couldn't keep up, but it felt really comforting. Yeah, I'll try my best to treat her nicely too.

Was I so lost in thought that I didn't hear the raindrops? When did it start pouring so hard? Wouldn't I be outside right now if Zara didn't pick me up? Oh. My heart's doing that thing again.

*** (Zara's point of view)***

How long has it been? 6 hours? There are so many people in this house! I didn't think there would be so many people working here! How rich are my parents to hire so many people? I don't remember my parents at all. I seriously hope I don't see them any time soon, it's going to be extremely uncomfortable.

What? It's raining? Oh! This is great timing! I'll bring Cera something warm to drink and a few more blankets! It's a good time to earn some good wife points! I put down the documents on the table and for some reason, Maddy's document was sticking out. A first-rate knight. From what I understand, my family hired a lot of professionally trained butlers and maids to take care of me and double as guards. Everybody here should be able to use Alm to a certain extent, how convenient, I don't have to worry about training inside. Maddy however, was the only officially trained knight that joined, she's probably a retired knight who found a good paying job? Well, whatever. As long as she doesn't keep being clumsy and useless, it'll work out. Priorities first though! I'll bring Cera some warm milk!

With my newfound knowledge, I called out the maid that served us food earlier.

"Noire, prepare some thick blankets and two cups of milk."

"I'll bring them to your room as soon as I can." She replied right away and hastily got moving. I'll be making her Cera's personal maid, she's smart and can read between the lines, quickly adapts, knows how to do most things around the house, she's also decently strong. At least according to the documents. Overall, she's a really good maid.

As I walked back to my room, I heard a few pained gasps coming from my room and I started sprinting. I ignored the maids standing watch outside the door in a panic and opened the door to see Cera still in bed but with her arm out in front of her as if she was trying to protect herself while Maddy was a few feet away from the end of the bed with her sword out on one hand and her other hand holding a bloody wound near her chest.

"What the hell do you think you're doing inside my room?" They didn't even notice me walk in and these useless maids didn't notice that someone was inside? Are you serious?

I rushed toward Cera whom had a pained, but worried expression. I tried my best to sound reassuring and swiftly hugged her while patting her back.

"It's okay, I'm here. You can relax."

"Agghh" I heard a violent cough come out of her mouth and realized that my shoulder felt wet.

I tugged back my arms and looked at Cera's pale face dripping blood out of her mouth and nose.

"Miss Zara! Please get away from her! She's danger-"

I instantly bombarded Maddy with a massive red tinted ice spikes and impaled her into the wall. For some reason, I was able to hear all the footsteps around the house and outside rushing inside. Every single drop of rain outside the house, and Cera's uneven breathing. My senses were seriously incredible. This was my first time feeling like this. I have take care of Cera as soon as possible though, I can't stand watching her like this.

"Sit up, I don't want you choking on blood. Please hold on for a bit. I need to get rid of this pest." I tried to speak gently while I reclined Cera against the headboard. I don't think I've ever been this mad. Previous life or not. Looking at her pallid face with blood dripping from her mouth made me so fucking mad.

I started walking toward the bloody painting I hung on the wall. She had an ice spike through her left shoulder and right thigh with blood dripping on my drawer and mirror. I could see part of my reflection on the bloodied covered mirror. My orange eyes had a vermillion glow around them that made me look demonic.

"You know, after reading all those documents, I figured we'd have a few rats scuttling around. Oh Maddy, I was suspicious from the very start. Why would you think it'd be okay to go against my orders? Rather, did you think I'd let you live after hurting Cera?" Even impaled on the wall, she was shaking. Is she cold or is she scared? Either way, a sin is a sin. Even though this was my first time killing a person in this life, I felt estranged from humanity. A surreal, exciting feeling.

I used enough ice on my feet to bring my hand right next to her face and forcefully exploded my ice right in front of her face, blowing the entire wall she was hung on away and creating massive, protruding red tinted ice that stuck out of the mansion. Blood was spurting from her neck and some got on my clothes, carpet, wall, even some of the furniture. Her head nowhere to be seen.

"What a mess. Even when you're dead, you're a pain in the ass." I shook my hand a few times to get rid of the blood.

I didn't forget about the two maids that were responsible for keeping guard. I launched myself into the air and appeared in between the two maids that were watching from the doorway, grabbed their heads and blew up both sides of the corridor away with two massive ice explosions.

"How did you not hear anything from inside the room? Did you two conspire with Maddy? Seriously, so many disgusting rats." From the corner of my eye, I could see Noire holding a tray with two cups of milk still steaming and two maids behind her carrying a few blankets with frightened expressions on their faces. I couldn't care less about them and gave Noire new orders because the room became uninhabitable.

"Take it to the living room and make the couch comfortable. Bring extra pillows, some easy to swallow pain medicine, and prepare a warm soup with extra meat." Before I walked back to grab Cera, I figured I might as well get rid of all the rats in the process.

"Also call every single employee inside, and outside the house. We need to fumigate the house."