Beforehand I apologize for the lack of sensibility of this title. Second, I know the quality might've been affected since chapter 7 so I promise once I'm able to recover my notes I'll edit the current chapters decently; meanwhile I'll be posting as regularly as I can.
TW: Mutilation
10
Two weeks after being separated of her best friend, Cherry became a ghost. Or that's what she wanted the Marquis to believe, in order to fall from his interest since he was looking for a new favourite. While some of the mansion residents, including Velvet, were already fighting for the privilege, the mayority of them wanted nothing to do with it, and now a mass breakout was on the planning, leaded by the redhead. Not that she couldn't believe on Angel coming back for her, but Cherry knew he wouldn't mind if she broke out before that. If anything, she wished she had a way to contact him without anyone noticing; mail was first recieved by Valentino both to prevent escapes and steal whatever the clients gifted to their personal favourites -unless it was valueless like a certain felted piggy the servants recovered from the trash for her.
She told Angel it was a gift for her, so he didn't break down in tears and confusion. The morning a yellow envelope with the Laveausian Crest arrived with Fat Nuggets, a golden locket covered in blood, a love letter and a telegram announcing Lord Tyco's death under enemy fire, Val took the devastated and heart-broken blonde to the basement with Vox, and when Angel came back yawning like if he woke up from slumber he didn't even recall the name of his beloved one.
-Tell'im a word and I'll kill him in front o' ya-threated Valentino, who kept the locket and threw away the letters and the pig. Still, another concubine asked Angel about it and he had a panic attack so bad he fainted. As Angel was taken down to Vox again, the perpetrator was hung from a magnolia tree at the garden the whole night as a reminder to the rest of the residents not to touch the topic again. By the time Angel came back, the body was buried somewhere in the bayou.
That was a year ago, and Cherry would never forget it. But she and Angel forgot a lot more things, a lot more nights. And not only them, but anyone in the mansion, as if an invisible hand plucked those memories out in their sleep. So the first thing was to avoid sleeping at any cost.
Why?, asked one of the servants with signs, one with their hands burnt -before working at the kitchen.
-Because if it's true, we need to know how he does it-she explained-so we can find a way out of it.
Valentino disparaged the servants so badly he didn't even cared if they reunited after hours. A hidden force that offered their hand and a safe way to the stables to Cherry the second she asked, and three of every group of servants -kitchen, stables, bedrooms and garden- attended to her meetings with the express order to communicate with the rest of the crew discretly. Besides, she couldn't really trust the other concubines since Velvet had a close eye on them as a way to gain the Marquis' favour.
And then what?, wrote another one in the dirt.
-Then, we'll have an advantage-she said with a smile.-We can dodge whatever they're doing to us and find our way out. With some luck, we will be able to fight them and win!
Some sort of excited panting emerged from the group, the best their burnt throats could do.
-But we need to be careful. Stables and Gardens-Cherry talked them by their positions so if she was caught, no name could be given-draw a map with every possible way out of the bayou, including the closed ones, there must be a blindspot we haven't found yet. Kitchens, we need a gas leak. Bedrooms, you and I will take turns for the nightwatch.
As Cherry came back through the woods, she tought about why she and Angel never thought of a mass breakout before. Maybe they did, but it had the same failed result with everyone losing their memories the day after. But now she had something they didn't count with before: someone out. Most probably Angel spoke to the Red Prince and his mother about the atrocities happening within the pink walls of the mansion; the Royals were known to be intolerant to the Marquis' activities and that could move them to do something to help them.
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The Concubine
RomanceA few days before his birthday, Prince Alastor recieves the Marquis' favourite concubine as a gift. Busy as he is with his royal duties, an inherited curse and a war decades old, the last thing he needs is an unwanted harlot that doesn't want to be...
