Sweater and muffler

Two days had passed and Belle didn't exchange a word with Lucas. It wasn't that she was upset but after what she had seen and the way he had shown an indifference of attitude, she came to really think that the man truly possessed a cold heart.

She sighed while sitting with her friend Pauline in the room. Calling the girl her friend was far fetched but she was someone Belle spent her time with. She was someone sane she could get along with.

"You have been sighing a lot today," her friend commented as she sewed, holding the two needles in her hand, "Everything alright?"

"Yes. I must have slept less last night," she made up a reason before asking, "How is the groom hunting going?"

"The number of times I have attended the tea parties for the last three weeks I would tell the taste of tea makes my stomach churn," the girl then leaned forward to tell, "They have been making me meet one man after another while I am trying to coax the other to speak to my parents." The story of Pauline was that she was in love with a human and it wasn't a human who belonged to the high society which her parents maybe would have agreed to if the man belonged to the high social class but instead, it was a woodcutter who the girl had fallen in love with.

Belle looked around to make sure there were no maids walking by and asked, "Do you think your parents would agree to it?" it was because she knew how vampires, humans, or pureblooded vampires preferred to get their children married with the same creatures.

Pauline shook her head, "I don't know but it is worth the try to get him to meet my parents so that they know he is a wonderful man. I don't know what I would do if I end up marrying someone else," she said to Belle.

Belle looked at the girl who was beautiful to look at. She hoped things would work well for Pauline and the man she was in love with. They were still sewing the cloth with the wool when the house butler arrived at the room, "Good evening, Lucas," Pauline greeted the butler who bowed at her politely.

"Good evening, Miss Pauline. Is there something you would like to drink or eat?" he asked her.

"No, thank you. I am already full of what I ate during the time of noon. Have you been doing well?" Pauline asked Lucas who gave her a nod.

"Yes, thank you for inquiring," came out the polite words. Belle's eyebrows furrowed and narrowed looking at Lucas who didn't look at her. Was he ignoring her? She was the one ignoring him, what was he ignoring her for?!

"We have been asked to sew and hence we are sewing sweaters and mufflers," Pauline showed what she had sewed so far.

"That is good," Lucas replied to Pauline and said, "The art of sewing itself is very attractive on a woman, it shows the delicate fingers at work. A long time ago, there were Lords and Dukes in the past when they picked a woman to marry depending on who knew how to knit the wool well."

Belle, who was unable to hold back said, "Looks like the Lords and Dukes had a lack of tailors."

This brought a chuckle from Pauline and the butler finally shifted his gaze to look at her, "Always having something to say."

"But that's the truth," Belle responded back.

"I never told it is a lie," Lucas replied to her.

Pauline, who was sitting next to Belle smiled and then asked the butler, "Would you like me to knit a sweater for you, Lucas?"

But before Lucas or Pauline could speak, Belle turned to Pauline with a frown on her face, "When was the last time you knit a sweater for your butler? Go give it to him as an early Christmas present."

The girl laughed, "I think I did give him once but I think everyone will agree when I say that everyone feels like gifting Lucas. He is perfect butler and handsome."

Lucas bowed his head again to say, "Thank you, Miss Pauline, for thinking so highly of me."

"Even my mother keeps praising you along with the others of how efficient you are."

"Your mother is too kind with her words," the butler replied to the compliment.

Belle's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them and if Belle didn't know that Pauline was in love with a man she would have chased the girl from the mansion. It was just that she didn't like people trying to please him. He already behaved like the mighty 'I know it all' person, any more and she didn't know what would happen.

"As Belle said, if I finish the sweater for my butler, I will make one for you," Pauline continued and the butler bowed.

"That's alright," said Belle waving her hand, "I will make one for Lucas. You can make it for your other favorite person," she said not liking why Pauline would make one when Lucas was her butler.

Lucas bowed his head and then left the two girls in the room.

Belle glared at Pauline, hoping the girl would get married quickly so that she wouldn't keep visiting and try giving out presents to him but it wasn't just Pauline. The number of people who came and went to the mansion, they were impressed to have the man as the butler. She looked down at her lap and the piece she had knit wondering what to knit for Lucas.

It took Belle some time to finish knitting the muffler but she had done it. Made of black inked wool which she had picked hoping it would compliment Lucas' eyes, she looked at it satisfied. She had tried to finish it as soon as possible before Pauline would try to give him anything. She didn't understand why outsiders were so interested in her butler.

A day passed and during the time of noon, Belle sat outside the mansion on the stairs with a man who sat next to her. His eyes were dark red in color, looking at the blood tea in his teacup and a grin on his lips when he asked, "I heard that you started going to dance class. How are you finding it?" he asked her.

"It's going alright. The teacher taught us quite many things which I wouldn't have been aware of if I didn't attend the class. Brother Damien, you haven't been visiting here often. Is the work getting too much in the council?" she asked the man who was an acquaintance of her father. He was biting on a stick in his mouth.

"We have had some cases in the local villages about the witches who are causing some issue which needs a little attention but I have been spending my time in the house," answered Damien, "There's a cute mouse in the mansion I need to return to."

"Mouse?" Belle raised her brows in question. She would have never pegged for him to have a pet mouse, "Won't Baxter eat the mouse?" she asked him.

Damien looked at the garden around them, finishing his tea in the cup and placed it in the corner, "I sent Baxter to Valeria. They needed him there. What is up with you? Every time I come home you are always praising your butler but today you seem to be quiet," he raised his brow at him, "Is he giving you a hard time making you study again?"

Belle shook her head with a smile, "No nothing like that."

"Really?" he asked her.

"It was about black witches," her red eyes looked into his eyes questioningly, "When a human is caught doing something, everybody offers trials to them but it is not the same for black witches. There's some good in bad."

The man stared at the girl wondering how the girl he had known since she was a little girl had grown up to ponder on things like these, "It is because of the status and ability each of them holds. A human is harmless and weak, unlike the black witches who have the ability of spells and are crueler than most of the humans. But then the blame lies with the black witches, the old ones who had killed people all around the lands, setting a standard example of why one should not trust a black witch."

"But..." Belle said looking at the ground and said, "Didn't you tell you have some black witch you trust when it comes to taking information?"

Damien nodded, "That I do. It all depends on luck. If you find a black witch you can trust then it is well and good but make sure to keep them at a distance because the black witches were created to compliment the witches."

"What if there are bad white witches out there, do you think there are some good black witches to balance it?"

"Sure, why not. The place is full of possibilities," Damien started to whistle and he stood up and she did the same as it was time for him to leave. The man had come to meet her father and had stayed behind to talk to the young vampiress who was close to his sister's age.

She remembered something and then asked, "Say, brother Damien, what if a person from a higher status likes a person with no status wants to get married. And what if people don't agree to it?"

Damien shifted his eyes to look at the girl who was shorter than him. If it was someone else he would have grinned but instead, he asked her, "Who do you like?"

She laughed, "Not, me brother Damien. It is a friend of mine?" the man continued to give her a look of suspicion.

Belle was a sweet girl. Sweeter than most and better than his own younger half-sister. For a sheltered girl, she wasn't stupid or an idiot but she had a kinder heart than the rest of the usual vampires, thought the man looking at her. Most of the vampires and vampiress had a similar line of thought. People ended up in three categories- the first who were cunning and wanted to climb the ladder of high society. Two, who wanted to do nothing with the others and three, the kind of vampires who were compassionate and kind like this one.

He knew Belle since she was a young girl as both his father and her father worked together. He had met her when she, his sister, and another girl were fighting each other over a doll.

"Ask her to run away. It has all the thrills and perks of life. Also, ask her to have enough money before she does that," was the suggestion that he gave her.

"Okay…" She should have known he would have come up with this kind of an answer.

She then saw him look behind her back and she turned around to find Lucas walking towards them. She heard Damien say, "Your guardian is here. I should get going now. I will visit you sometime again," and he got into his carriage.

Lucas didn't say anything but stand next to her, "Eloping isn't a bad idea," she heard him say and Belle's eyes moved from the carriage to the corner right before she turned her face to look at him.

"You don't think it is immoral?" she asked Lucas, her eyes meeting his black ones that stared back at her.

"The world will consider one thing to be moral and the same thing will be weighed to be immoral. It causes certain confusion, doesn't it?" he then gave her a smile, the polite one that he often wore, "You should let Miss Pauline decide on it. It is her life after all," Belle didn't know how Lucas heard everything that happened around. It might be because he happened to be at that place when they were talking, "Do you remember the chain reaction?"

Belle gave him a nod.

The theory of chain reaction where one person's action could affect the next two and the next which would change the course of life.

"Where did you learn about it?" She was curious about it.

"A white witch spoke about it to me," said Lucas looking distantly.

"Who is it?"

"She lives in the church. She is a priestess there who helps people with the council work."

White witches were given the option to work in the church but in the favor to help the council and the council members. It was one way to keep a track of them to make sure none of the white witches would be involved in anything unlawful.

Seeing him turn around to walk inside, she asked, "Do you follow the chain reaction?"

"No. Some rules are meant to be broken when it involves you, Miss Belle. What would you like to have this evening? There is cookie crust with blood tea and dessert with ice glazed cream and cake. The cook has prepared jellies which are still at the test stage which would be served once I know it is edible to eat."

"Cake and cream sounds good," Belle answered walking in the front and the butler walking in the back replied, "Excellent choice."

When Lucas arrived at Belle's room, he saw the young miss had left the door open and was pushing the wooden logs into the fire. Starting the heat before the cold temperature of the land would seep into the room she was in.

He knocked on the door and stepped inside the room.

Belle was waiting to give the muffler to him and when Lucas placed the assortments at the table, she stood up and walked to the cupboard to pick up the box, "I had to give you something," she said, turning around and walking towards him to bring the box forward.

Lucas took the box in his hand and pulled the ribbon open to see a black muffler that was placed inside it, "Thank you for your generosity," he offered her a box and stood straight.

"You're welcome," Belle replied back without asking if he liked it or not.

For some reason, she felt that if she gave him a bag full of cold, the butler would still have the serene expression that would show no excitement on his face.

She was about to say something when her eyesight started to dim and darken where she could hear the whirring sound at the back of her head which started to increase from faint to being loud enough that made her flinch before she fell unconscious.