As soon as the words escaped her lips, she began to wonder if she was making a mistake.
She was to remain under his care for three good days.
Was fate toying with her?
Eve turned to glance at Candace, who just stared back at her with wide eyes.
I won’t do anything stupid, she pleaded with her eyes.
“Well, I better start packing my things since this has been settled.” Spinning on her heel, Lady Kent called out to Candace, “I advise you do the same, dear.
You will have enough time to say your farewells afterwards.” Then, with a flutter of her elegant fan, Lady Kent rid the room of her presence.
Friedrich stared at the receding frame before turning to his father.
“We should do the same as well, Father.” With that, everyone left the room.
Candace gave her a lingering look before leaving.
When Eve glanced at the door, she saw Theodore still standing there with his arms folded.
He was looking in her direction, but his eyes didn’t meet hers.
She gulped, wondering what he was thinking beneath that cold, expressionless face of his.
“Why are you still standing there, Sir Theodore?
If you have nothing to say, you might as well take your leave.
I do not need to be waited on every minute of the day like a newly born baby.” Slowly, his eyes locked with hers.
She felt her pulse spike to the vault ceiling of the room, but he just asked in a calm voice, “What were you doing at the stable?” She blinked, pondering for a response, but finding none.
“Next time you go to any stable, make sure it’s a bright sunny day.” With that, he turned to leave.
“What’s the name of that horse you were riding?” He paused in his tracks, but didn’t turn around.
“Lou,” he said, even though his voice was barely above a whisper.
Lou?
What kind of name is that?
Who names horses Lou?
“What does it mean?” He shrugged nonchalantly and walked off without answering, leaving her door wide open.
The instinct to slide out of bed and slam the door loud enough for all the windows in the entire building to rattle was very strong, but she had to swallow it down.
Her hand couldn’t be moved, except she planned on remaining an invalid for a much longer time.
“How long will I stay in this bed?” she groaned aloud.
It was scandalizing enough that she was being denied a modest thing such as privacy.
After a while, a maid arrived with a basin of lukewarm water, a towel, and a tray of food.
Then the pale-faced woman with bulging, frog-looking eyes set the tray down on the bedside table and turned to her.
“Good morrow, my lady.
May I help you undress?” All Everetta could do was gape at the open door.
At the end of the hallway was the door to Theodore’s room, which he had disappeared behind and hadn’t emerged from.
“Can you close the door?” The woman didn’t even bother glancing at the door.
“Sir Theodore asked that it be kept open.” Eve’s eyes bulged at the words ‘kept open’.
“Kept open?” she repeated incredulously, “but I am a woman, for crying out loud, and I need my privacy.” The woman finally glanced at her, a look of understanding on her features.
“Very well, but I will have to open it as soon as you are dressed.” Why was he so insistent that the door be kept open?
“Why?” The question burst out unbidden.
“The door is thick, my lady.
If the door is closed, no one would hear if you need anything.
And all the remaining servants are busy with repairs, so no one is at your beck and call.” Eve settled back into the bed and narrowed her eyes at Theodore’s door.
Was it out of concern for her, or was there another reason?
“What do you mean by ‘remaining’ servants?
Were any lives lost in the fire?” The woman waved her hand in the air as she answered, “No, my lady.
Some of the other servants have been asked to go home until everything is restored, while some are accompanying the Duke.
You see, Mr.
Chainer had a cough so serious the doctor had to be called.” The woman leaned in to gossip, her eyes as bright as a child who had information no one else had.
Eve nodded, quietly watching as the woman went to close the door.
Just as the woman reached the door, Theodore’s door slipped open and he emerged.
She caught a faint glimpse of the room behind him before he shut the door.
He glanced at the room just when the maid clicked the door shut.
Everetta wanted to swing a pillow at the maid just then.
Instead, she sat up and let the woman undress her and wipe her with a washcloth.
“Why can’t a bell be installed by my bedside instead?
It is far more reasonable than leaving my door ajar.” The maid said nothing, continuing with her task as if she’d never spoken.
Everetta decided to forget the matter.
Since he wanted her to leave the door open, she would give him a sight to remember, she told herself.
After she was dressed in a soft silk nightdress and a robe of midnight blue, despite the fact it was midday, the maid handed her the tray and left the room with the items she had brought.
As promised, the door was kept wide open.
For someone like her who cherished her personal space and privacy, she couldn’t help feeling that Theodore was trying to provoke her somehow.
Everetta stared at the food for a long time before she tried the fork with her left hand.
Inside the tray was a grilled lamb with a sauce on the side.
The maid hadn’t even bothered to cut the meat into small pieces.
How in the world was she to call out for help?
She couldn’t even imagine having to call servants whom she didn’t know their names.
The only name she knew was the one she didn’t want to call, because she wasn’t sure how brazen she would behave if he did something as tender and intimate as dicing her lamb for her.
Swallowing her pride like a bitter lump, she picked out the knife from the side of the tray and struggled to dent the thick piece of meat.
A string of unladylike curses erupted from her mouth as she wiped a sweat off her sore brow, after what must have been her hundredth attempt.
Groaning, she tried again.
The meat just slipped out of place, toppling the plate over.
Well done, Everetta, she chided herself.
“It wouldn’t take anything out of you to ask for help,” a deep voice sounded at the doorway.
Her head snapped up instinctively, startled.
Theodore stood there, his face expressionless.
But she liked to imagine that she saw the faintest hint of a smirk on his handsome features.
The darkened hallway cast shadows on his face, making his eyes look dark.
“Is Candace still around?” He just leaned against the doorframe and looked at her.
Why did he always stop at the doorframe?
Was he afraid of stepping into her room?
Into her territory?
She set the tray aside and threw off the covers with her good hand.
“Take me to the vanity table, if you please.
If you keep staring at me as though I look like a hog fresh out of the rain.
I might as well run mad.” He carefully arched a brow at the comment.
“You are not to be moved, Lady Whitmore,” came his calm, detached voice.
“Then fetch me a brush, please, and a looking glass as well.” She paused to catch her breath.
“And please tell Candace to pay me a visit.” She was about to spout another request, but her voice died in her throat the moment she felt it.
Her nightdress felt damp.
Knowing she didn’t wee herself, it could only mean one thing.
She hadn’t realized her face became very pale until he asked, “Are you in need of the doctor?” Everetta shook her head violently and swung the covers back over her legs to retain whatever dignity she had left.
“Forget the brush, just get Candace for me.” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“If it is something I can help with, I would rather that you do not burden Lady Kent with it.” His voice sounded colder than usual, as if he especially did not want to speak to or have anything to do with Candace, which was unusual.
Candace had never mentioned having any issues with him, at least not to her hearing.
But if they did have issues, what could it be?
“Well?” he prodded, dragging her out of her chaotic thoughts.
Color flooded her cheeks as she realized she had to give him some form of explanation.
Why was fate giving her ample opportunities to humiliate herself in front of him?
“It’s a womanly thing.” He took a step back, concealing himself in the shadows, but before he did, she thought she saw the faintest hint of color flush across his cool features.
Could she have been imagining it?
“Then I’ll fetch Candace for you.” He disappeared down the stairway at the center of the hall.
Only when he left did she realize she had been sweating despite the assault of cool breeze from the windows.
Only Theodore von Virchow made her body disregard the weather, she thought humorlessly.
A few minutes later, she heard heavy breathing accompanied by the sound of heavy footfalls coming from the stairway.
Then Candace came into view.
She had changed her dress to a bright yellow picnic dress, dotted with white on the bodice and light frills at the neck and cuffs.
“My mother is relentless.
How I wish she did not have to come as well,” Candace blurted at the doorway.
When she looked up and saw Eve’s pale face, she pressed her lips together like a reprimanded child might do.
“Theodore sent a maid to inform me that you needed me.” Her tone was flat.
Everetta couldn’t help but notice.
“So, what do you need me for?” Forgetting her present dilemma, Everetta decided to press the subject.
“Is there a problem between you and Theodore that I don’t know about?” Something flickered in Candace’s eyes before she averted her gaze.
“What makes you think there is a problem between us?
I just cannot condone his aloof attitude, so he makes a point to avoid me.
That’s all.” Everetta narrowed her eyes but nodded all the same.
Her stray mind wondered if there had been some sort of relationship between the two of them, but she quickly brushed it off.
“Please shut the door behind you,” she said, eyeing the hallway with a sour expression.
Immediately Candace did, Everetta sat up and narrated everything that happened right before she was summoned.
“Well, let’s say that after his years in the army, his etiquette concerning women are non-existent.” Everetta had to gasp at the revelation.
“Why do you say such?” Candace cast a wary glance at the door before scrambling to sit beside Everetta on the bed.
Then, in a hushed whisper, she said, “In the army, his second in command was a woman, and they shared living quarters.
There was little distinction between the genders.” “This has to have happened before he became a Eunuch.
Does that mean he is used to seeing women in all indecent states of undress?” Her shoulders slumped.
“I might as well give up now.” Candace laid a hand on her knee beneath the covers.
“She probably looked and behaved like a man.
Why else would she have joined the army?” Everetta plastered a smile on her face at her friend’s attempt to lift her spirits, but deep down, she wanted to know everything about this second in command.