~Posting 2 chapters, please scroll over~

They had gotten to be bed late but Vivian had woken up early, stepping into the kitchen before Mrs Clark had the opportunity to return back from an errand to stop her as she wasn’t anybody but the wife of a Duke, Vivian started whisking the eggs she had broken in the container. By the time Mrs Clark had returned back home, Vivian was done preparing breakfast while also preparing tea such that the entire kitchen and the rooms around it smelt of mouthwatering food.

“You didn’t have to do it, Lady Vivian. I am here to look after the meals, cleaning with other things so that your stay is comfortable here,” Mrs Clark gave her a troubled look.

Vivian waved her hands, “Please don’t tell it like that. I am happy to be cooking. I won’t get to do it once we get back home,” the housemaid continued to frown, “I am hoping you haven’t eaten anything yet. I made breakfast and tea for you too,” the housemaid gave her a deep bow.

“Thank you, milady. I am fortunate to be eating what you have made. I shall remember this for long as I live, of your kindness,” Mrs Clarks did make a big deal out of her cooking in the kitchen. It was due to the fact that pureblooded vampires or the humans who came from high society never did anything remotely close for the servant. Even if one came from the low class and into the elite class, they often forgot and tried to blend in like the rest as if that was how they were brought up since a very beginning by putting the servants down.

Taking the tray of food in her hand, Vivian made way to the room where Leonard had woken up. He was sitting against the headboard, his shirt which was V in the neck shape, his cut short hair which was ruffled making him look cute in her eyes.

“You left me alone in the bed,” he accused her, eyeing the food which she was carrying he looked up, “Mrs Clarks would have taken care of it, you didn’t have to trouble yourself.”

Vivian placed the tray of food on the side table and sat on the bed. Leonard leaned forward and she did too for their lips to touch, pressing them together and pulling them away from each other, “I thought you liked my cooking,” she said taking the plate and putting the food on it which she had freshly made.”

“Never said I didn’t. If I knew you were cooking I would have asked you to wake me up,” Vivian gave Leo a look, and she asked,

“You would help me cook?”

“I like watching you cook,” hearing this Vivian laughed. Deciding that they would be sharing the plate, she brought the food up to his lips where he stared at her. Didn’t he want her feeding him? She had never done it before, not that she could remember at the top of her head but seeing him not open his mouth she wondered if he wanted to eat it himself. Just when she was about to lower her hand, he opened his mouth and she pushed the spoon gently into his mouth.

Taking another spoonful, she took a bite and then back to feeding him, “Aren’t I loved,” he murmured making her smile.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked Leonard, “What is the fondest memory you have of us?”

“That’s a hard question. There are too many with you,” Vivian beamed waiting for an answer, “It must be the time when you hid behind Paul. It isn’t just us in it but those were the times that you had me intrigued. How about you?” he asked her the same question.

Vivian twisted her lips and scrunched her eyes thoughtfully before saying, “It was when you got hurt,” if it weren’t for her ability she wouldn’t have known about it. He gave her a confused look as to which one she was speaking of, “I think it was the time you didn’t get to go to the fair when you got into a brawl with Christopher,” as if the memory dawned on him he chuckled.

“Those were some really good times,” he agreed. How could he forget them, Vivian was the most adorable child for her age. For someone who was shy and always hid behind Paul as if that would help, he had seen her follow him like a little cat all around the house. Most of the times he would be up in the glass room or in somewhere behind a book reading for her to find him and take a seat next to him in silence. She had grown on him, this cute little thing to have grown to such a beautiful person, Leo sighed making Vivian confused.

“What happened?” he shook his head. He wanted to have her now but it was too early especially when she had prepared him breakfast to eat. For now, he settled with her feeding him.

When the time came to leave Gibb’s house, Mrs Clarks wished them a safe journey, asking them to visit her again when they had time so that she could be their caretaker again. The journey took an hour longer as some of the roads had begun to freeze with the early snowfall. By the time they entered the lands of Bonelake, the entire ground and place had turned white due to the snow covering it.

Winter had finally come and so did the day of the second exam.

Letters were sent for the candidates to arrive at the land of Bonelake at a certain village where they would gather everyone before starting the exam. Vivian had arrived at the spot half an hour earlier than the time to see three of the candidates who had arrived earlier just like her for not wanting to miss anything. Having worn simple clothes, that weren’t eye-catching with an overcoat on top of it and her regular black gloves, she stood in a corner waiting for the councilmen to arrive so that they could start the exam. The more time passed the more the anxiety began to build, jittering her nerves as she tapped her feet on the snowy ground which none could see as it was hidden beneath her skirt. The man named Jamien arrived too, wearing simple clothes like herself so that it wouldn’t stand out as he came from a high family.

After some time of waiting for the councilmen, the four carriages arrived where the coachmen got down to open the door for them.

Four councilmen stepped out and one of them included Lionel. One of them wore an eyepatch on their eyes, his eyes black and his hair peppered black and white. Two other men were younger than Lionel and the eye-patched man.

Lionel seemed to be the one in charge again as he was the first one to speak to the nine examinees who had come to take the test, “Good afternoon, examinees,” he greeted them, looking at each and every one of them. When his eyes fell on her, being the only female candidate it didn’t linger long and gave the same attention as the rest which made her relax, “I have with me today three other councilmen who will be invigilating during your task or exam. We have Hueren, Oliver and Creed,” Lionel raised his hand towards the eye-patched man who smiled at them encouragingly but there was something about him which made people give an unsettling feeling in their chest and Vivian was no exception to it.

She was glad to see Heuren here, he was the friendliest among the four councilmen and when everyone was looking the other way, they exchanged a friendly smile before he had to put up a straight face.

Lionel spoke, “Please step into the carriage so that we can start the procedure,” everyone began to step into the carriage the councilmen had arrived in, Vivian stepped into the first one where she had to share it with Jamien, the councilman named Creed and another human candidate.

Being already informed of where it was going to take place, it didn’t come as a surprise to her nor did the mansion’s presence intimidate her. She had visited it twice in real but more than six to seven times in her dreams that now that she had people with her, her heart didn’t thud at the fear of meeting who or what was inside. The watermill near the mansion kept moving up and down, every time the wheel moved, it flapped with a sound moving up while taking in the water.

Once everyone stepped out of the carriage, some of them couldn’t stop murmuring to where they had come, “For people who aren’t aware, this is the snow mansion,” Lionel addressed the crowd, informing any illiterates if there was one present among the examinee who didn’t know where they were, “This is the second Lord’s mansion. Now for the task,” everyone leaned forward knowing it wouldn’t be told twice so making sure they got every word right.

The councilman named Creed stepped forward as if stating he would like to speak about it, “The task is very simple,” the man had a deep voice which resonated in their ears where they were surrounded by silence, “We have placed clues all around the mansion, what you need to find is, there’s a dead body that lays in this very place. Find it and try to tell us why or who killed it.”

One of the examinee hearing this said, “We are going to be working like the council?” Creed smiled, his eyes turning small where it felt like it was barely open.

“That’s right,” the councilman confirmed, “Bring us the artefacts and tell us with why was the person killed or if it was a natural death. If you get it right you pass,” he then raised his hand which was covered in gloves, “The first exam was written and we had a time limit of three hours?” he turned to look at one of his councilmen who nodded, “Yes, but this is the second exam. We will give you three days, of course not all of us will be here as we have other better work to do than play caretaker. There will be only one councilman each day, both Heuren and Oliver will take a day each respectively. Remember in this time, you are allowed to do anything you want,” his words were vague but none of them seemed to ask what he was exactly talking about, “But make sure to not get caught as it will only deduct your marks and possibility in being part of the council,” the man smiled.

Lionel picked out his pocket watch from his coat and saw the clock tick. Waiting for the minute and hour hand to meet together, he said, “Your time starts now,” the nine examinees entered the house with Vivian and Jamien being the last one as they didn’t run and rush to get an answer.

She was already familiar with this place, therefore she wondered which turn to take. If it was a new place, maybe she would have rushed to get a look around and start searching for this possible ‘body’ that was placed somewhere here.

But how elaborate was the term body here? she asked herself as she let everyone run in search of this evidence which one could get from the body itself. With what she had learnt from Jerome it was possible that this body wasn’t a fleshy one, one with the meat but could be the skeleton that she and Leo had stumbled upon.

Of course, one’s thought would be to go find a lying dead body but why would the council kill a person and place it here as a test, unless it was made of some dummy filled with magic with the help of witches.

“We’ll be coming back day after tomorrow,” Lionel informed Heuren who nodded and bowed his dead until he saw the boots of the high councilmen disappear from his sight.

When the carriage disappeared behind the white snow landscape, the young councilman stared at the mansion which had been deserted for years now. Though he was part of the council, he hadn’t known about the task until it was told to the other candidates. He had heard a lot about this mansion and no matter how each version of the story varied from another, it was never a good one to hear about.

His examination had been held in the village but now that he was here, he was glad, thanking his lucky stars that he didn’t have to go through such a fleet not that this would be easy.

“Wait a minute,” he murmured to himself, turning back to look at the carriage which had long disappeared from his sight. Councilman Creed had told that they would be taking one day each of to supervise but there just two and there were a total of three days.

Did that mean that on the third day there would be no one to supervise these candidates?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Novelsays.Com