She heard Robarte chuckle at her words, “You are being so sure about yourself and him. It is good to see that you both have built a good relationship,” said the man to have her smile and say nothing to him in return.
“How about you and your slave?” Penny questioned him as she had not seen his slave here. The mansion itself was dark and quiet that made one wonder if one really lived here or not.
“My slave?” Robarte asked her.
“Yes,” she replied back as they had spoken about the slave while they were in the carriage. Did the man forget about her so soon?
“She is resting up in the room.”
“Is she alright?” Penny asked, slightly worried for the girl. He gave her a nod.
“She hardly sleeps at night because of the nightmares of what has happened in the past. Cries all the time, so I had to put her to sleep in the afternoon,” he looked at the door of the drawing-room, saying, “If she was awake she would have come here by now.”
“I see…”
“Her previous master, he mistreated her quite badly. Beating her and not feeding her well which is why things have turned so bad in her case. Hopefully, she will be able to get and feel better,” he said, looking at the insides of his teacup which was getting over, “Would you like some more tea?” he asked her.
“Sure,” Penny said before another glass of tea was poured into her teacup as well as into his teacup.
Once she was done finishing it, Penny looked towards the windows where she could see the rain still pouring down as the water trickled down in a zigzag motion on the window pane.
“I should get going,” she said, placing the empty teacup along with the saucer on the table.
“Let me see you out,” said Robarte, taking her out and getting a carriage prepare which he had come in.
“Thank you for your help, Mr. Varreran,” Penny bowed her head and stood up to see him offer her a smile.
“Anytime. I hope to see you again,” he said when Penny got into the carriage and the door was closed. Penny didn’t comment on it and only waved her hand, glad that she was leaving this place and was finally going back home.
She rode the carriage that took her to Quinn’s mansion, stepping out she thanked the coachman who turned the carriage around and left the place. Penny didn’t step inside but stood outside the mansion, staring at the carriage that disappeared in the night. The rain had stopped since the time she had started to travel back, letting her look outside the window, she made sure that the path was the same and that the coachman wasn’t taking her elsewhere.
On hearing the arrival of the carriage, the butler of Quinn’s came running from inside the mansion to greet Master Damien and Lady Penelope but when he came out it was just Lady Penelope who was drenched. He looked left and right to see where Master Damien was and why the lady was drenched if she had come in the carriage. The air out here was sending her chills as her clothes had not dried yet. Her hair was still in the process of getting dried and she would need to wash it again before heading to bed.
Penny, hearing the footsteps turned around to see that it was the butler, “Milady,” he bowed his head in greeting. She gave him a nod, before asking him,
“Has Master Damien arrived back home?”
The butler shook his head quickly, “No, milady,” he wasn’t home yet? Penny wondered where he caught up with work. It wasn’t usual for him to be late and even if he was, he always sent her a carriage so that she could get back home safely without much trouble. This made her worry, wondering if something had happened that had kept him from doing so, “Would you want me to ask the maid to fill up the bath with hot water?” he asked her.
“Okay,” she said to see him wait for her to step in and she looked back at the gate before leaving the entrance to step inside the mansion and go up to her.
A maid was sent to their room and she got the water-filled in the bath before taking the wet clothes and the dirty boots that Penelope gave her. Sending the maid out of the room while being wrapped in the towel, Penny locked the room and stepped inside the bath after letting go of the towel that fell on the ground.
The warm and almost hot water felt good which she didn’t bother cooling it down not caring about her skin. She had been out in the cold for many hours now that she wanted to sleep in the bathtub if it was possible.
After she spent her time in the bath, she stepped out to change herself to her nightclothes. Penny, who didn’t have the energy to go down for dinner, she continued to stay in the room, hoping she would be able to eat with Damien. And while waiting for him, she decided to reread the books to see if she had missed anything that had failed to catch her attention during her first read.
Sitting on the bed with the lantern and candles next to her, Penny continued to read until she dozed off to sleep.
After a few minutes, the door to the room was knocked on before the knob was turned around and in stepped Caitlin.
“Penelope?” she called the young girl to notice that Penny had fallen fast asleep while reading the book. Penny had not laid herself down on the bed but her body had moved to the side to lean against the pillow that was next to her.
She had come here to talk to her niece about something important. She wanted to talk to her in the evening but Penny had not returned back and she had decided to wait. Walking towards her, the woman took the book that was on her lap to place it on the table and she took hold of the blanket and put it over the young girl who was now sleeping.
She stood there seeing her sleeping, seeing how much she resembled her brother and she was glad she didn’t resemble that scheming black witch who was Penny’s mother. Caitlin had lost hope long ago after she had been chased by both Laurae and her fiance. Escaping from death and them to find herself in the establishment. She was young at that time, young and vulnerable who had been living her life freely to suddenly find herself in a closed shell until a few weeks ago.
Caitlin didn’t practice magic, it was something she was not used to as a child as her parents and her relatives didn’t want her or her brother to take part in it, but who knew that the same relatives were being a hypocrite by touching not only white magic but also forbidden magic.
Since the time she had found out that Penny was her brother’s daughter, she had decided to look after her. She felt it was her responsibility as they were family. Bending down to the candles that were in there, she blew the candles out so that Penny could sleep comfortably.
