"Waking up with a hangover… The worst feeling ever."
Those were Lea's first thoughts that morning. She wasn't prone to having awful hangovers— Nor to excessive drinking to that matter— so waking up feeling all groggy and nauseous was a surprise to herself as well.
"Did I really drink that much at the party..?"
Even though Lea had a hard time believing it, that had to be the case, since she could only remember bits and pieces about last night. She had finally agreed to go out with this one guy from art history lectures, who then insisted that they'd go to his friend's housewarming party. Going to that party had felt awkward to her, maybe the social anxiety got the better of her and she just started chugging down shots until she blacked out? No, that didn't sound like her. All she knew was that she felt like shit at the moment— She hadn't even yet opened her eyes, but the room felt like it was spinning! At least her bed felt unusually comfortable this morning, but that could've been only due to the fact that she felt too sick to even get out of it.
Still curled up under the covers, Lea reached her hand out of the bed, fumbling over to the direction of the bedside table to grab her phone. There was no way she'd make it to the morning lectures at the university— Even if it would turn out she somehow miraculously hadn't slept in, there was no way she'd step a foot outside her dormitory room while feeling this awful. Oddly enough, her phone didn't seem to be on the table… nor was her alarm clock. In fact, the bedside table didn't feel like hers either. Finally finding the strength to force her eyes open, Lea peeked her head from underneath the covers.
"Where… where am I..?" Surprised by the unfamiliar location she had found herself in, Lea struggled up into a sitting position on the bed. Hastily wiping her long, blond hair away from her face, she blinked several times, as if to make sure her vision wasn't blurred by the remnants of the night before, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar room. It appeared she was in a dimly lit bedroom, but the place itself looked unfamiliar to her. She had woken up in a large canopy bed, comfortably tucked under satin sheets. This definitely wasn't that sad excuse of a bed of her student flat she had gotten used to, that was something she knew even before opening her eyes! But whose bed it was, then? And why was she in it? She would've thought she was still dreaming, but the nauseous, groggy feeling that flushed over her told otherwise.
"What the heck..? Is this some kind of a manor or something..?" Furrowing her brow in confusion, Lea let her eyes travel across the rich colored walls coated with historic looking paintings, illuminated by the candles flickering on the golden sconces. The overall furnishing of the room was just as lavish as the wall ornaments, each and every piece of furniture expensive looking antique. It was as if she had been transported to a different era altogether!
The centerpiece of the room was a grand four-poster bed where she had woken up in— Its dark wood intricately carved with sophisticated patterns, and the canopy above the bed was adorned with delicate, diaphanous curtains that cascaded to the floor. A tall grandfather clock, a piece of intricate artistry itself, stood next to the door, its soft, rhythmic ticking echoing the heartbeat of the room. Dark red, heavy velvet curtains covered the tall windows, not letting a single ray of light inside the room. Was it day or night time, Lea had no way of knowing. There were two doors in the room— One of them was slightly ajar, leading to a small bathroom, but the other door appeared to be tightly shut… and the only way out, it seemed.
Lea felt her heart beginning to race— This couldn't possibly be happening. "What is this place..? And how did I end up here..?!" To find out what was going on, she had no other choice but to venture further into this mysterious place she had found herself in. Pushing back her anxiety, Lea got out of the bed and began to make her way towards the door, her footsteps muffled by the plush carpet beneath her feet.
But, she couldn't take more than a few steps, when the sudden dizziness almost made her lose her balance, forcing her to grab a hold of the bedpost— It was then when she realized that there was a thick layer of bandages wrapped around her left hand palm. "And what's this, then? Did I get hurt..? And… wait WHAT?!" Peering down, she saw her current clothing was also rather out of place: "Whose shirt is this?!" Glancing into a tall, full length mirror that stood close to bed, she saw she was wearing a black dress shirt— a men's shirt, no less. Her heart pounded in her chest as her trembling fingers traced the unfamiliar fabric of the black dress shirt; It was oversized, the sleeves hanging down past her wrists, hinting that the owner of this piece of clothing had to be a tall, rather broad shouldered man. "What the hell, really..?! Am I still dreaming?" With a sense of growing unease, she staggered closer to the mirror. The reflection that stared back at her was a far cry from her usual put-together self, confirming that she looked just as awful as she felt like; Her naturally wavy, blond hair was in disarray, pointing to every direction, and her normally pale complexion was almost ghostly white. There were dark circles under her blue eyes, as if she hadn't slept for days. "Oh… my… god." Lea whispered in disbelief as she scanned her disheveled reflection. "What the hell happened to me last night..?!" Her memory was still a foggy haze, and her mind raced with unanswered questions. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, looking like a wreck, not remembering a thing… This didn't seem like an aftermath of a regular night out! Not for her, at least.
Lea was just about to try and take another wobbly step towards the presumed exit, but stumbled onto her own feet when the door just then suddenly flew open— Accompanied by a shriek of surprise, she fell down to the floor next to the bed. Glancing up, she saw a man with dark green hair standing at the doorway, peering at her seemingly perplexed. He was dressed up very neatly, wearing a black tailcoat of sorts. Whoever this man was, he clearly hadn't expected to find her scrambling down on the floor.
"Ah, you've awoken..!" He exclaimed. Before Lea could even open her mouth, this man had already rushed to her side, carefully examining her with a worried look painted on his face. "Miss, are you alright? You should get back to bed, you must still be greatly fatigued from everything you've been through..!" The man's green eyes bore into her with a mix of worry and confusion as he extended a hand to help her back onto her feet, but the frightened girl had no intention of accepting the gesture.
"Wait..! What is going on? Where am I..?!" Lea's voice quivered with anxiety and fear as she demanded answers. When she refused to take his hand, the man firmly but gently took a hold of her, trying to help her back onto her feet. Unfortunately for him, Lea's legs still felt like jello, and having this stranger hustling over her didn't ease her anxiety one bit. "Just… Who the heck are you?! Did you bring me here-?!" Now almost panicking, she tried to push the man away from her, but there wasn't enough strength in her arms to even make him budge. Seeing the distress she was in, the man backed down a bit, but refused to leave her side.
"You don't remember anything?" He asked, concerned. "There was… an accident. Young master saved your life and brought you here to recover."
"An… accident..? Young master..?!" Lea's mind raced as she tried to process the information she was receiving. "T-There's no way, the last thing I know I was at a house party with my date, then I just…" Nothing. No matter how hard she tried to look back at last night's events, all she could remember was having a couple drinks at the party, but then the film snaps. "I swear I only had like two glasses of wine, there's no way I'd-" Her memory was still clouded, but a chilling suspicion began to form: Someone must've put something in her drink. Right when arriving at the house she had noticed that her date's friends seemed somewhat iffy… But trying not to make herself look bad in the eyes of her date, she had ignored her instincts and stayed anyway. Now when looking back at it, her date, who was quite charming when they occasionally chatted between the lectures at the university, had been suspiciously persistent that they'd go to that party. "Fuck, how I could've been so gullible..!" Lea couldn't help but curse herself for being so naive. "I barely knew that guy at all..! And now here I am, waking in a strange bed, wearing someone else's clothes..!"
But, apart from the cut in her left palm, she didn't seem to be injured. The man she had just met didn't seem to want to harm her, either— Instead, he seemed more concerned about her wellbeing. What was the talk about some accident..? And 'young master', who he claimed had saved her? Trying to calm down and focus on figuring out what had happened, Lea hesitantly took a hold of the stranger's hand and let him help her back up onto her feet.
"Carefully now…" Green haired man smiled kindly as he guided her to sit onto the edge of the bed. "Since your memories of the late events seem to be clouded, you must've been very surprised to find yourself here. Whatever questions you have in your mind, we are more than happy to answer them."
Lea's voice trembled as she attempted to gather her thoughts. "I... Uh, thank you," she stammered, her gaze shifting around the opulent room, still struggling to fathom the bizarre situation she had found herself in. "What exactly happened? You said I was saved by-" Her voice faltered as she caught sight of a figure in the doorway. Man by her side, one who rushed for her aid earlier, was unknown to her— But by the second she locked her eyes with the tall, red headed man by the door, the realization hit her like a lightning. Even though he maybe wasn't wearing this bright red uniform back then, she was sure she had seen him once before.
"Barbatos! You should've told me our guest is awake..!" Red headed man exclaimed as he entered the room, sounding almost disappointed that he wasn't the first one on the scene upon her awakement. "How are you f-" This time it was his words that were cut short; The reason for this was a blood curdling scream that filled the room… and the one screaming was no-one else but Lea.