Conquering His Cold Heart

332 Slander

Upon reaching the common bathhouse, Tilla saw that all the stalls were empty at the moment.

“Oh! It looks like I get to choose today.” She happily smiled and trotted towards a bathroom stall that had the nicest wooden washing tub.

She put her fresh clothes aside and then poured the hot bucket of water into the washing tub. Then she quickly fetched a bucket of cold water from the bathhouse to mix it with the hot water.

Tilla then closed the stall door and began undressing.

There was no bathtub available for the maids and servants to bathe in. It was a privilege that was only available to the nobles. But Tilla was still happy with the washing tub and the individual stalls because she didn’t have to bathe in front of other ladies, with her undergarments on, as she did back in Orsenia.

Tilla sat down on the stool and dipped her hand in the washing tub to check if the water was of the right temperature. And after adding a few pitchers of cold water to the mix, she started to pour the warm water on her body.

She took out a bar of fragrant soap that her mother had made for her and began rubbing it all over her body.

‘Ah! This smell always reminds me of home,’ she thought to herself while smiling wistfully.

She looked at the bar of soap. It was now already very small. ‘I wish I had brought more of these,’ she lamented.

.....

She instantly shook her head and scoffed at her idea. ‘If I had packed some more things then my luggage would have been bigger than that of the Prin– the Queen.’

Tilla sighed and continued bathing while a lot of things hovered around in her head.

After a while, when she was about to change into a fresh set of clothes, she was suddenly startled by the loud thud of the bathhouse door.

“Don’t slam the door like that!”

Tilla heard a maid shouting at the other maid who had just entered the bathhouse.

Tilla didn’t mind them and continued putting on her dress. When she was minding her own business, still inside the bathing stall, she suddenly heard a maid mentioning her name.

And she couldn’t help but eavesdrop on them.

“Ugh! I am so angry at that maid called Tilla,” one of the maids complained in a loud voice.

And the other one immediately agreed, “I am so glad that you brought it up. Even I can’t stand her sight these days…”

Tilla knitted her brows together in confusion thinking about what she had ever done to them that they were backbiting about her in the bathhouse.

Those maids kept on talking about Tilla as they carried the cold water into the empty stalls.

“Me neither! I don’t understand what Lord Vincent sees in that woman. If I knew that he was that interested in maids then I would have gone out of my way to please him and seduce him.”

‘The hell?’ Tilla glared at her closed door with deep frown lines on her forehead and shock in her eyes.

“That’s right! Even I would have made my advances on him if I knew that he didn’t have any reservations towards maids… Ugh! I can’t stand it that the Lord would prefer that human over us.”

One of the maids loudly dropped her bucket, startling Tilla again and almost making her squeak in fear.

Tilla was quick enough to clasp her mouth with her palm. She closed her eyes and even though she wanted to stop listening, she couldn’t do so because they were talking way too loudly.

“Maybe she did something to trap the Lord in her non-existent beauty.”

“You know what? I want to know what she did. I bet she either used her body or her blood to lure our Lord.”

The other maid laughed out loudly and almost choked. “Body? I bet she would break if our Lord tried to do anything to her. I bet my coins on blood. She must have offered her blood to the Lord.”

Tilla gritted her teeth and plugged her ears with her index fingers. She was unable to keep on listening to the nonsensical that they were blabbing about.

‘Please stop assuming things on your own and slandering me!’ she screamed in her head.

But obviously, those maids didn’t stop yapping.

“No… Why would he always follow her like a puppy if it was just blood? He can get as much blood as he wants! He is the King’s favorite. I bet the King wouldn’t deny him even if he was to choose the prisoners himself. I am sure she–”

“Maybe Lord Vincent is just enjoying the hunt, you know.”

“What do you mean by hunt?”

“We aren’t allowed to chase those humans and hunt them down. So, maybe he is just doing the same, but in a non-violent way. I guess he is chasing her around for the whole day and later… he enjoys the…”

The maid audibly slurped her saliva and mumbled in a tone that displayed her inner desire. “The warm and tasty blood directly from her veins… Ah!” She even moaned and spoke in a sultry voice, “I would chase a human around for the whole day if I get to feed on them every night.”

“Tsk! You and your hunger! I am thinking about seducing the rich Lord and living comfortably for the rest of my life. And all you can think about is blood. You are pathetic!”

Tilla suddenly heard one of the doors getting slammed hard. At this point, she was even holding her breath so as not to give away her presence. She was hoping that the fragrant smell of her soap was masking her natural smell and concealing her presence.

She feared that if they found out about her presence in the bathhouse then she would be preyed upon.

Tilla hung her head low and complained inwardly, ‘I thought that they didn’t see us as cattle anymore. But I was so wrong… I get it now. Just because the King and a few others don’t see us that way doesn’t mean that everyone would think like them.’

And as though whatever they had said already wasn’t enough, they continued to badmouth while pouring freezing water on themselves.

“You know what Beatrice, think about this again once your belly is full. We have already lost our King to a human from some other Kingdom. Now, for whatever reason, Lord Vincent is also showing interest in a human. If this keeps on happening then we will lose all the eligible bachelors to those darn humans. We have to do something!”

“Do what?” The other hungry maid shouted. “We can’t offer them our blood. So, all we can do is wait for those flies to die. We can try our luck afterward.”

“Ugh! Why are you so dumb, Beatrice?” The other maid shouted, almost rupturing her own eardrum. “We know that Lord Vincent wouldn’t mind falling for a maid. So, all we have to do is push that Tilla or Tilly or whatever out of the picture.”

“Ow! Don’t shout Marcella!” Beatrice grumbled and continued speaking in a lethargic manner, “I envy that handmaid but I don’t want any trouble. You can try to seduce the Lord yourself. If you become successful then let me work in your mansion.”

While they continued slandering the Queen and her, Tilla could only close her eyes and wait for those maids to finish bathing.