Iris kissed her Master's cheek, bidding him a good morning. She had been instructed to do so, every morning that she did not wake up next to him. She had taken Claude's place in waking him up, and getting him ready for the day. Claude, of course, was not very happy about that, but as far as she was concerned, he could suck it. She did, however, try to steer clear of him. Something about him rather unsettled her, as much as she tried to push it away. There were moments when Claude would snap, and he would be completely intent on doing something, but on Alois's word, he would stop. It was uncanny, how quickly Claude yielded to certain orders. She knew it was the mark of a good butler, but something about it made her horribly uneasy.
Alois stirred slightly, pulling the covers over his head spitefully. She sighed. He really was just like a child. Just as she thought so, a memory of two nights ago flashed through her mind, and she quickly adjusted her previous statement. He was like a child most of the time. "Alois," she told him, "You have to get up. Claude says you have a lot to do today."
"Fuck Claude." He muttered through the sheets.
She tried to tug at the covers but he held them in place. "Alois."
"No." He grunted.
She sighed, sitting down at the edge of the bed. "Won't you please come out?" He poked his head out of the sheets. "I'm the Earl. I tell him what to do." He grumbled, but his expression was playful. She nearly smiled at how much he resembled a young boy, just then.
Slowly, she had gotten better at reading his moods, and was therefore better able to come up with the appropriate responses. "Of course you are," she said, "But you still have to get up and start today. Lots of things depend on you."
He hummed, thinking for a bit, the sheets still wrapped around his body. "Do you depend on me?"
She felt her cheeks warm. She didn't want to. But the simple answer was that yes, she did. He quite literally held her life in his hands. On a whim he could kick her out, and she'd be on the streets again. It was not something she was new to, however. She was always dependent on someone. For once she wanted to know what it was like to not need anyone. But, she knew that was an unlikely scenario.
"Yes, Master."
He smiled and reached for her arm, pulling her fully onto the bed. She yelped with surprise, practically falling on him.
"I just want to stay like this today." He said.
She had no option but to comply.
"Puppet," he muttered, looking at her. His eyes were soft.
"Yes?"
"Tell me about yourself."
"M-Myself?" That had caught her completely off guard. Alois was generally quite selfish in matters like these.
He nodded.
"I'm afraid my life story would bore you to tears, Master."
He chuckled at that, "I want to hear it."
Her eyes lowered. "There's not much to tell. I was an orphan. I generally had very little food. One day a woman came up to me, and called me beautiful. No one had ever told me something like that before. I didn't know what she meant by it, back then, but she offered me work. I think I was nine. And now I'm here."
"I was an orphan too." He whispered.
She nodded, noticing how close their faces were. "Yes, I hear it was quite the tragedy, what happened to the Trancy family."
"I had a brother."
"I wasn't aware…"
"He died really young." He clenched his fists, his expression darkening.
She didn't know why, but at that moment she kissed him, his cheeks in her hands.
"I don't need your pity!" he spat.
She was taken aback slightly, but because she had spent quite a bit of time with him now, she couldn't bring herself to be afraid. "It's not pity." She said seriously, "That someone like you went through so much, and yet here you are…it's encouraging. To someone pitiful like me."
"You're not pitiful," he breathed, his crystal blue eyes boring into her brown ones.
She looked down, avoiding his intense gaze, "You're very kind, Master."
He placed a soft kiss on her lips, "Alois."
Without realizing it, her heart raced at that, and she repeated his name back to him.
"Do you have a last name, Iris?" he asked suddenly.
She stayed quiet for a long time. Iris Sullivan had been her name, many years ago. She belonged to a quaint family, and after a poor business decision, her father killed himself. Her mother died of a broken heart shortly after. What little property they had was stripped away, and Iris was placed in an orphanage. She was beaten and abused, and one way or another she managed to run away. Living on the streets of course, was not much better. And eventually, she became a woman of the night. It was also not ideal, but it provided housing and food. Two things she didn't have previously.
"It used to be Sullivan." She said finally, realizing Alois was still waiting for an answer.
He drew his fingers lazily across her cheek and then up to the top of her face, where he brushed her hair back.
"Would you like to change it to Trancy?"
"A-Alois?"
He had to be joking. She was a nobody. A nothing. She was equivalent to the dirt he walked on. Her heart beat furiously. They hadn't known each other all that long to begin with either. She had been living in the mansion only—what was it? Three months, now?
He smirked. Her chest tightened. Perhaps he was only messing with her. He liked to toy with people and revel in their reactions. She knew that. Still, she couldn't help but be a bit hopeful. If he was indeed lying then that was uselessly cruel.
"I'm asking you to marry me."
"M-Master? Surely you can't be serious. I don't know how to be a lady, or anything close to it. I have no value to my name-"
"I don't really care about any of that." He yawned lazily, stretching out his arms. Then, turning to look at her, "So what do you say?"
Her heart pounded slowly. Marriage was like a contract, that's what the women in the brothel always said. The man provides for you and you return it by giving him sex. And while she naturally belonged to Alois now, marrying him would cement that fact.
He began to cackle, and the entire aura of the room seemed to darken. "You thought I was serious!" he was laughing so hard he had to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Oh your face was priceless! That look of hope was hilarious!" He grabbed her by the fabric of her dress, so that she sat up. He smacked her harshly across the face.
She didn't know how to react. She had thought for a brief moment that perhaps he was being genuine. She was about to say yes, as crazy as that sounded. But just as she had suspected, he was only doing it to mess with her head. Perhaps she was nothing more than a fool, or perhaps it was because the force of his slap still stung her cheek, but tears began to line her eyes.
"Oh, are you going to cry? Please do!" he said excitedly, "I want to see that look on your face! Come on, don't be shy!"
She quickly got up off the bed. "You should get ready, Master. Claude is expecting you." She made for the door as fast as she could, and shut the door quietly behind her.
The number one rule to being an escort was to never let one's feelings intervene. That was an absolute necessity, and she had learned it long ago. And though Alois was an impossible character to love, she found herself being thrown around by him nonetheless. Perhaps it would be better if he tossed her back into the streets…
A/N: Wow it's been a while haha. Hope you all enjoy ^^