The small noblewoman guided her around the house. The hallways were broad, but not very tall, to Edwina's relief. And the rooms were surprisingly modernised.

"The rooms used to be much smaller", Lady Summers said, "But I hate that cramped Victorian style. So I had some walls torn down."

The first room was big and full of sports equipment.

"That is the sport exercising room. There is another one, but this one is for normal exercising."

"And the other one?", Edwina asked curiously.

Lady Summers smirked: "The other one is for the real combat training. It's exclusively for me and those of my servants, who are skilled fighters. But I'll let you see it. In fact, it's the one right behind you!"

She turned around and opened the opposite door. This room was bigger than the other one and Edwina was sure that it was taking up half of the left side of the hallway.

The brunette was not just a little amazed at the abundance of real weapons hanging from the walls.

"Wow", she marvelled and the Lady seemed very pleased with her amazement.

"Indeed", she agreed, "But like I said, it's for me and my servants exclusively."

Edwina sighed and pouted in disappointed. She really would have loved to try out all these awesome weapons. But the proprietress remained firm, locked the door again and put the key away.

"Why are you putting the key in your décolletage?", the brunette asked confusedly.

The Lady laughed: "I have a small pocket on the inside of my dress here. I put that specific key there, because right now you're thinking about 'borrowing' it."

How the hell did she know?!

"There is a lot of things I know!", she teased.

That's fucking creepy! How does she do that?!

"Telepathic abilities!", the blond said with a wink.

Stop it!

Lady Summers chuckled: "Do forgive me. I can't contain myself sometimes. It's one of my sicker hobbies to creep out other people with the things I can do."

She stopped laughing. "But back to the topic at hand. I don't trust you enough to allow my weapons in your hands just yet. If you want to sharpen your hand-to-hand combat skills, you can train in the other room. But those are real weapons made for mortal combat and that's why I don't allow any of my lodgers near them. Besides, you're dangerous enough without weapons."

Edwina gave up.

"Come along", the Lady spoke up gently, "I know you're disappointed, but you still have to see the rest of the house. It's easy to forget where everything is."

The brunette recoiled, when the older woman attempted to take her hand.

The other apologised and continued the tour.

"This is one of the kitchens. The one on the ground floor is for my employees. They cook their own food separately."

The cooking space was directly connected to the dining section, which was nice. The brunette didn't like having to switch rooms between cooking and eating. It reminded her of prison and homeless shelters too much. A fire extinguisher was next to the cooking counter.

"Do you know how to use that?", the older woman inquired.

The younger one snapped: "Of course I do!"

"Alright, alright! Just checking!"

Next was the sanitary closet. The Lady shrieked in surprise, when she was assaulted by cleaning tools upon opening it. Edwina wheezed with laughter, which intensified at the other woman's mock-glare. Giggling, she helped the older one up and they stuffed the tools back into the closet.

Then came the sickroom, although it looked more like a real doctor's surgery.

"It used to be the tea room", the Lady explained, "But Hastie and Henry thought that the sickroom downstairs wasn't enough and decided to move some of their surgery equipment in here. And I didn't object, of course. Their idea was perfect."

When they opened the door to the next room, the Lady shouted in frustration: "GODDAMMIT, HENRY!"

It was a small library, or archive, Edwina wasn't sure.

But one thing was clear: the room was a mess. Papers were scattered all over the floor, scribbles of what seemed to be complicated formulas and scientific notes.

The Lady bent down and began to gather up the papers, grumbling something in a foreign language, maybe German.

So she is the control freak Mr. Utterson spoke about, huh?

"Can you help me, please?", the blonde snapped in agitation.

The brunette winced and helped the other to gather up the papers.

"Hoof", the older woman huffed, when they were done. "That man can never bother to keep his scientific research tidy! Why can't he be as careful with his notes as he is with the lab safety precautions?!"

"… Mad scientist much?"

"You have no idea", the noblewoman muttered, "That's Dr. Henry Jekyll for you – absent-minded to a fault! That man is a hazard! And his ideas are crazier than Theresa May!"

That made the brunette laugh again. For a middle-aged Lady that woman was really funny. And interesting.

The bedrooms were on the second floor. Three stairways connected them to the lower floors. The two women took the stairway in the kitchen and came first to the community living room.

"The gentlemen used to smoke here", Luise remarked. "But one evening one of my lodgers forgot to snuff out his cigarette. We needed half an hour to extinguish the ensuing fire. I prohibited it afterwards."

Good thing Miss Hyde doesn't smoke anymore, she thought drily.

They passed a few bedrooms (some belonging to absentee lodgers), before they came to the bathroom.

"This is the second floor bathroom", she explained, "Both Hastie and Henry take their sweet time in the morning, so if you're an early bird, be sure to take your bath or shower before six-"

But the young woman obviously wasn't listening.

She was too busy gawking at the interior. And honestly, who could blame her. Everything looked like in a luxury hotel, with marble floors, marble sink and counter, a huge mirror and everything.

"I think this thing is too good for m– HOLY SHIT, IS THAT A BATHTUP?"

Miss Hyde immediately jumped into the huge tub, almost slipping on the smooth surface. She could easily stretch her arms and legs, but instead curled into a ball and purred comfortably.

It looked really adorable, but the tour wasn't finished yet.

The countess chuckled: "Glad that you love it, but I'm afraid you have to come out of the tub. Unless-", she added, when the brunette gave her a menacing glare, "-you don't wish to see the room you're going to live in from now on?"

The kitten – uh, the former delinquent, jumped out of the tub immediately and joined her on the path to the highlight of the tour – uh, that was, her new room.

With a dramatic air (because that was absolutely necessary) she opened the door.

"Well, Miss Hyde, this is where you will live from now on! Make yourself at home!"

This was her room?

This perfect, white, clean, ready-furnished and big room was hers?!

Hers all alone?

"Is this heaven?", she marvelled.

The Lady laughed behind her: "I guess you like it."

"Like it? Like it?!", Edwina echoed incredulously, "I'm fucking starstruck!"

She dropped her bag in front of the bed and flung herself onto it. With a happy purr she cuddled into the blanket.

The other woman giggled: "Good to know. I wasn't sure what you liked. And speaking of which …"

The brunette looked up and saw the blonde walk over to a big closet.

When she opened it, it was empty.

"We'll buy you new clothes today. I hope you're not too fond of those", she remarked, eyeing Edwina's baggy, ragged clothes with a frown. "Because they're unwearable."

The young woman knew that the older was right. But she feared, that the Lady would want to stuff her into girly designer clothes she didn't like.

"Don't worry", Lady Summers assured her, "You don't have to wear designer dresses like me. Just some real clothes."

She looked at the bag next to the bed. "Is that everything you have?"

"Yup."

"May I see?"

It didn't contain much. Just her sanitary articles, a hand mirror, a pocket umbrella, a notebook and an overused pencil. Her trusty pocket knife wasn't in there, the police must have kept it.

The noblewoman shook her head. "Never mind, you need everything new."

She turned to leave.

"I'll give you an hour to get used to your new room. Then we'll go out for a grand shopping tour. Oh, and Miss Hyde: you really need to work on your behaviour."