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Chapter 15:Proud aunt

When Belle had opened the door, finding Lucas standing in front of her room was the last thing she had expected. She looked at him differently, her movements slightly awkward which she tried to cover up with a smile,

"Lucas," she greeted him as if she was up to no good and he stared at her for a second more before telling,

"Mrs. Adams\' is asking for your presence," he said to her, that had Belle give him a worried look.

"Is it about this evening?" she asked where she was yet to step outside her room. Lucas\' hair had dried and it was back to be combed neatly to the side. He did look different compared to what she had seen in the evening than now. The evening...Good Lord, she sighed internally.

"She didn\'t tell me anything about it. We have guests," he waited for her and she gave him a nod before stepping out and down the stairs to meet her mother who was in the drawing-room with her elder sister.

When did they arrive? She asked herself. She had been warped in her own mind since she had arrived back in the mansion to not hear the sound of the carriage or the neighing of the horses entering through the gates of the mansion.

"Belle, it is good to see you, darling. Come sit here," said her aunt Irene patting her hand next to her which had an empty seat. The woman wore her maroon-colored dress made of silk. Her hair was pulled back and puffed before rolling the ends of her hair that settled on her right shoulder. Her face was pale in complexion, her thin eyebrows raised because of continuously keeping them that way on her face to judge a person.

Belle wasn\'t exactly fond of her maternal aunt nor her aunt\'s husband. Gingerly, she walked around the table and took a seat, keeping a little distance between her and her relative, "Good evening, Aunt Irene and Uncle Hector," Belle bowed her head seeing her aunt open her mouth to only close when she greeted them.

"How have you been doing, Belle? It\'s been a long while since I last saw you. A month is it?" her aunt questioned her.

"Four weeks I think," Belled answered promptly and looked away from the gaze knowing how much her aunt disliked someone looking her in the eye continuously. The woman found it to be challenging when someone did that.

"I heard from Mabel that you fell sick. How is your health now?" her aunt continued to ask, her eyes looked faded unlike Belle\'s which was bright red due to the age. Both Belle and her aunt Irene knew that Belle had skipped the tea party that was held in her aunt\'s house on purpose. She couldn\'t get out of it all the time but she tried her best in not wanting to be part of the tea party they held.

"Yes, it\'s much better right now," Belle answered her.

"I don\'t think I have known any vampire who falls sick every month," when Belle\'s eyes met her aunt\'s eyes, all she could do was smile, "You should take better care of yourself."

"She went out in the rain again today," her mother complained and Belle wished her mother hadn\'t brought it up right now, "Your hair looks wet. Didn\'t you towel it, Belle? What were you even doing outside in the rain?" her mother questioned her with a look that said she didn\'t know what to do with her.

"I did, mama."

"You have spoiled her, Mabel. Look at my children, they listen to everything I say, never going against it. You should perhaps let her stay in my mansion for a couple of weeks. I assure you, she will learn a lot under my care," her aunt then looked at the butler who appeared human but he was still a vampire. It was hard to point out he wasn\'t one because he had shown his fangs when someone had demanded and framed him to be a witcher.

"Your butler must have done a decent job but there are a few errant strands on our dear Belle which needs to be smoothened so that she turns just like us. Elegant and poise," her aunt turned back to look at Belle and gave her a smile.

Belle didn\'t know why at times her mother entertained her elder sister. Her mother respected her sister even though the woman was rude. Families were meant to be a place where one was comfortable. A place where they could breathe and talk freely but instead, her aunt often came to show off how much assets they had and how she was higher in society compared to them. And as if that wasn\'t enough, the woman would point out any possible flaw in her and exaggerate it.

Her aunt then chuckled, humor in her voice as she said, "Make sure your butler teaches only what is necessary. It would be a shame if something more than the regular teaching took place," she added with an undertone of taunt in it, "I mean he is a handsome man."

Aunt Irene was not only embarrassing Belle but she was also embarrassing the butler, Lucas who stood in the room who was waiting on them. She took a quick look at him and his expression remained unchanged and unaffected by her aunt\'s words.

She then heard her mother say, "He is a wonderful tutor, Sister and Lucas does his job well. He has seen Belle grow and he is somewhat her guardian. Maybe father-daughter?" her mother laughed at the end making her sister nod.

Belle blinked at her mother\'s words. Was that how people looked at them? To Belle, Lucas was her guardian, sure but she looked at him more like a friend and had never looked at him like a father-figure. She already had a father for that role.

"If that is so, then everything should be fine," said Aunt Irene with a quiet laugh and Belle laughed along with her, putting a fake smile and somewhere deep in her chest, this thought didn\'t settle well within her heart. For now, she drove away all the thoughts that were in her head and decided to tackle one problem at a time, the current one being her aunt, where she didn\'t want to sit and listen to her nitpick the non-existent faults in her.

Her aunt turned face to look at the butler and said, "Be a doll and get me blood tea with extra sugar," she raised her hand and she waved her fingers to let the people around her know that she was a lady of high standing, who had everything that she needed.

Belle at times wondered why her aunt was so pompous or prideful. It wasn\'t like she was a pureblooded vampire, which she understood because the pureblooded vampires were considered the first creatures of the night to appear in this world where the average vampires came later to them. Also, the pureblooded vampires were mostly rich.

Lucas didn\'t mind it. His cold face held no expression before he left the room and her aunt leaned forward to speak to her mother,

"Did you hear what happened to Mrs. Smith\'s daughter?" there was an evil glee in her tone as she said this, "Her daughter ran away with a servant boy. How shameful!"

"She did?" her mother questioned taken aback by this news and her aunt gave her a nod of confirmation, "Wasn\'t she going to marry Mr. Flitcher\'s son who works for some wood company that was run by Mr. Dante?"

Aunt Irene shrugged her shoulders dramatically, "That is what they said but look at what happened? Poor Mrs. Smith, they have been the talk of the town since the last two days," Belle couldn\'t help but comment in her mind that her aunt was one of the gossipers who was shaming the lady, "One minute you think someone is getting married and the next meet you find them eloped with some lower status of men and women," the woman clicked her tongue in distaste.

Belle continued to listen to her mother and her aunt speak while she sat there quietly without a word as opening her mouth and talking back to her aunt was not something her mother appreciated. Her parents valued family. In general, her parents appreciated her being polite to all their relatives as a family was important but Belle didn\'t know why she didn\'t want to have this extended family. She was more than happy with her mother, father, Lucas, and other workers in the mansion.

She saw Lucas enter back the room with blood tea and some cookies that were called crusts that were made for vampires that made use of human blood that was dried and kept for weeks before using it in the dough giving it a crackling feel when one chewed on them.

The butler didn\'t react to anything that was told making him look like a statue who was not in the room. When the time was finally up for her aunt to leave, Belle gave her aunt a bright smile.

"Come visit us this weekend. I am sure your cousins and uncle would like to see you too," to pick on her? No thanks, thought Belle in her mind.

"Yes, Aunt Irene," Belle replied sweetly when the woman placed her hand on her shoulder to tap.

But before the woman could get into a carriage, she said, "Oh, I totally forgot to tell you something, Mabel. I heard that Mr. Sylvester is hosting a tea ceremony. Probably fifteen to seventeen days from now. You should come along with Belle, I heard there will be some of the pureblooded families who would be making their presence," and the woman got inside the carriage. The woman raised her hand once she sat inside the carriage and the coachman closed the door for her,

"Later then."

Belle plastered a smile on her face waving back and once the carriage and her mother had left her side, she heard the butler say,

"Your next lesson will be on how to smile falsely."

She turned around to look at her butler, "Do they teach that too?"

"No, but I think you will need one," seeing the butler started to walk to head inside, Belle followed him. It made her wonder if Lucas didn\'t like her aunt either.