I woke up the next feeling every sore bone in my body. I winced at any movement I made and decided to stay still for a little while longer. I closed my eyes, even feeling the pain there and took staggered breaths. That hurt as well; everything was bruised. The stinging pain made me drowsy and made it hard to breath. I felt Claude's arms around my waist and his head nuzzling into my neck. I gasped in pain. I shifted so I could face him and I moaned in pain again; he cuddled me closer to him.
"Was I too rough?" He asked me and kissed my swollen lips. I shook my head, careful in not to hurt myself but that couldn't be helped at all. Any small move would hurt. Claude kissed me again. "Good." He said and ran his hand along my naked and bruised body.
"Claude?" He looked at me with a smile.
"Yes?" He said.
"Thank you…" I sighed and pressured myself to move my head under his chin. He chuckled, kissing the top of my head.
"Are you better?" He asked me instead. I knew what he meant and to be totally honest…I wan't but I didn't want to ruin a good moment for him.
"Yes." I said, not looking at him.
"Good." He replied and pulled me away, getting up from the bed to get dressed. It was 5:30 in the morning and Alois would be getting up at 6 for a meeting that is supposed to be taking place all day, Claude told me that Hannah and the twins would be going with Alois for the meeting. God knows why so that Claude and I would be alone in the estate for the whole day. Despite the fact that I really wanted to stay in bed, I got up anyway and stood up unsteadily. My legs were so shaky that I had to hold onto one of the pillars of the bed to keep myself up. Claude took me by my waist and held me up to him.
"I'll take you to the bathroom to get cleaned and I'll make you something to eat." He said and I thanked him only mouthing the words. He kissed my forehead and took me down the hallway to get ready for the day. I bathed as fast as possible, groaning when the soapy warm water touched my body. It stung everywhere and I got out quickly, washing my body as best as I could. Claude placed a turtle neck, black dress on the towel rack so I took it and put it on carefully. The dress was an inch or two above my knees with long sleeves that ended a few inches after my wrists. It hugged me nicely and it looked good on me. I looked in the mirror examining all the bruises and cuts on my face and they were already starting to heal. That was good but the pain was still there.
I walked out after putting on a matching pair of dress boots and headed to the dining hall. Claude was already preparing breakfast for Alois and me. He sat me down first, giving me a plate of scones along with a cup of tea. I didn't care if I wasn't human anymore; I wanted to eat something. I scarfed it down and wiped my mouth with a napkin, finishing the tea right after. I felt a little better than before, giving a short kiss to Claude as a thank you. He gladly took it and held me against him until we sensed Alois coming in. We let go and greeted him once he walked in.
He ate while talking to the both of us and we listened to him. He said that he and the servants wouldn't be home till possibly midnight; Claude smiled at me and I flustered while looking away. When he was done we saw him off at the front and watched him ride off with the others in the carriage; Hannah was driving. Claude and I looked at each other and nodded, heading back into the estate. We relaxed for the next few hours before actually doing something. I went back to the bathroom to check on my wounds, they were almost completely healed but the soreness lingered on my body. I stretched my neck out, rotating it and feeling it crack. It felt nice. I was able to move more now that the wounds were closing up and with the energy building up inside of me; I ran down the hallway and hugged Claude tightly. He laughed and hugged back.
"Thank you." I said and kissed him fully on the lips. His lips were so soft against mine as we kissed. We let go slowly and smiled at each other. The contract didn't really seem as bad as I thought.
Claude refused to train me when I asked him because he knew how sore I was because of last night's activities. Instead we played chess while drinking tea. We made bets that if he won, I would have to sleep with him from now on, even though he could've just ordered me. About an hour passed and no one was winning; I started giggling out of nowhere to that known fact and I would see Claude smiling at me like I was going crazy.
I picked up my tea cup to take a quick sip and stopped right before the edge reached my lips. There were ripples in the tea and I looked at Claude. He nodded and got up to look outside the window but my guess was that he didn't see anything because he sat back down with a shake of his head. I bit my lower still bothered by it. My bang covered the same eye with the contract as usual as I looked down to the board then excused myself to go to the bathroom.
I didn't go to bathroom but I went into the grand hall just to be sure that Claude hadn't missed something. I was right, something was headed here and that made it clear when the doors slammed open and sent me flying back into the wall. I grimaced and breathed heavily while standing up. I looked ahead of with one eye and saw only a black shadow from my blurry vision. There was nothing there in the entrance way but I could still feel a strange presence going around in the mansion. I went searching for whatever it was, but something told me that I knew who it was.