Mated To The Dead Prince
Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Rose was led to the kitchen by Cornelia. She was left confused as she could smell edible foods from there.

She thought vampires only drank blood, what’s with all the human food preparation?

"What do you think you doing going to the Master’s secret study?" Cornelia asked as she handed Rose a potato and a peeler.

Rose was shocked by the information.

Secret study? So Damien was leading her astray?

"No, I didn’t know that was... it was one of the brothers who led me there," Rose explained, peeling the potatoes.

Cornelia sighed. "You have to be careful, Rose. Steer clear from the master as best as you can; you won’t always be saved," Cornelia took the potatoes from Rose put them into the pot, and closed them to steam.

"I understand. Thanks for saving me," Rose said, her mind going back to think about what exactly it was she had felt when Cassius held her back at the Passage.

"Rose?" Cornelia called, waving her white hand in front of Rose.

Rose blinked, instantly turning her head to look at Cornelia and saw her holding up a tray to her.

"Ah, I’m sorry," She said carrying the tray from Cornelia’s hand.

"Hold still," Cornelia said as she placed a transparent jug filled with warm blood onto the tray Rose was carrying.

Rose widened her eyes as she saw what she was carrying; she couldn’t help but wonder whose blood had been drained to get a full jug like that.

"Don’t make that face when you’re serving the master. You wouldn’t want him thinking his meal is disgusting, would you?" Cornelia asked, placing a lidded silver bowl beside the jug of blood.

Rose wanted to grimace but she quickly controlled her facial expression, "No, of course not." She forced a smile on her face.

"Can I ask something?" Rose suddenly asked.

"Sure," Cornelia replied.

"Why the human foods, since your kind only eat...this?" Rose asked cautiously, hoping Cornelia didn’t get offended by her question.

Cornelia chuckled, "Well, you see, we’re starting to get civilized. And it’s all thanks to the great master," Cornelia said, waving over another slave to hand her another tray of food.

"Oh, so, you people are trying to adapt to our foods and technology?" Rose questioned quietly.

Cornelia smiled, going back to check her potatoes.

"Technologies? Yes. But food? No." Cornelia chuckled.

Rose frowned in confusion. Does she mean that they’ve been eating human food since the beginning?

"What do you mean?" She finally asked.

"I know you believe that these kinds of food," Cornelia pointed to the stew boiling in the pot, the potatoes, the chicken, and whatnot, "was only meant for humans. But since the beginning of time, we’ve had this kind of food in our realm, just not for vampires; it was and is still the food that other creatures consume. We vampires are the only creatures that feed on blood, but like I said, civilization came," Cornelia explained.

Rose understood one part, but she still wanted to know why the vampires started to eat those kinds of food and what civilization she was talking about.

"What’s this civilization you’re talking about?" Rose asked, balancing the tray of blood on her hands.

"Before, long before the master became the leader of our kingdom, during the reign of his father, great master Levi, we used the other creatures as food, hunting and killing them. And this resulted in them always hiding; they were never free to walk the kingdom for fear of being drained by us," Cornelia replied, fishing out the potatoes from the pot and putting them in a drain.

"But everything changed when the great master Levi sired a son, a wolf son," Cornelia paused, watching Rose’s expression, and as expected, she looked shocked.

Rose couldn’t believe her ears; a vampire sired a wolf? How? In her stories, only a pureblood vampire could bear offspring for a fellow pureblood.

"How’s that possible? Does this mean that one of the twins has wolf genes?" Rose was baffled, she didn’t know what else to think.

"I can’t answer that; talking about this with you is already an offense if I’m caught. I can only tell you that after the son was born. He decided to stop the vampires from using the other creatures as food, I mean, he wouldn’t like it if his son was fed on. So, from then on, he divided the kingdom into two, the land of the undead and the land of the magical creatures," Cornelia narrated.

"So, these foods were now adopted by us to manage our hunger for blood; it can’t quench it, of course, just make us sated for a while," Cornelia said.

"Oh, I see. But which of them is the-"

"Okay, food is ready; get going before you become the food," Cornelia chuckled and placed the sliced potatoes on Rose’s tray, moving away to do something else.

Rose knew she was avoiding her question. But she was really curious to find out which of the brothers had wolf genes. Maybe Damien? He was tricky like a wolf, but she immediately dismissed the thought. He looked nothing like a wolf, he looked more like his undead brother, the master.

Rose suddenly realized that she hadn’t even known the name of her so-called master, but what was the use? She’ll never call him by his name anyway.

"You, human, follow me," An elf slave suddenly tapped Rose from behind and said to her, rudely eyeing her before walking out of the kitchen.

Rose immediately followed her whilst thinking about why she had to be so rude; for all she knew, they were both slaves, why does she have to be rude to her?

She could tolerate the rudeness from the pureblood and socialites, but not from a damn slave, she wasn’t going to become one of those stupid and weak female characters that let themselves get bullied by people she knew they were better than.

"Oh," Rose was lost in thought and almost tripped as they climbed up a stair in another wing of the castle.

"Watch it, or you’ll go in for it," The elf slave said bitterly.

Rose righted herself immediately, thanking God that nothing spilled from the tray. She ignored the elf’s rudeness because, this time, she was wrong; if she had spilled the food, she would really have gone in for it. So this time, she was in the wrong.

Moving forward, she carefully watched her steps, following the elf slave into a long gothic dining room, or she would prefer to call it, a gothic banquet hall.

The rug under the table was thick, luxurious, and velvety, the rich crimson, evoking the opulence of a bygone era.

The atmosphere was mystical, the designs of the rug seemed to shimmer in the dim light that shone above the tables from the high roof, infused with a subtle, otherworldly glow.

Overall, Rose was amazed by the whole room; she wished Laura was here with her or she had a phone that could reach her; she would make sure to send her pictures of everything she saw. She was sure Laura would say ’She told her so.’

The place looked exactly like the one described in her book. So much alike.

"Quit staring and put the tray down," the elf slave commanded beside Rose.

Rose gently placed the food on the table and slowly stepped back.

She wanted to say something to the pompous elf slave but she decided against it and turned to leave.

"No, human. You don’t get to go away yet," said the elven slave.

Rose sighed and slowly turned, "Why?" She asked calmly.

Getting into a fight with someone in the Darkonis kingdom was the last thing she wanted; as the only human in their world, they would sure want to punish her even if she wasn’t at fault.

She knew how these things worked, she had read enough books and watched enough movies to know better by now.

"Don’t be so dumb, you have to serve the master, of course. I don’t even know why he suddenly chose an idiotic imbecile like you to be his slave," The elven slave daunted.

Rose was about to say something nasty to the elf slave when the long double door slowly opened.

She shut her mouth and moved to stand beside the pillar in the corner. Everywhere instantly turned cold as Cassius entered the dining room, followed by his three brothers.

Cassius elegantly walked to the head of the table, lowering himself on the chair before his brothers followed.

Rose was left feeling confused about what to do. Should she go and serve him food? Or wait for the other slaves to bring the remaining food for the vampire brothers?

Immediately, four slaves brought in another tray of food, but she frowned in confusion as she saw their number; why four?

"You better go serve your master," The elven slave spoke behind her.

Rose widened her eyes as she noticed the other slaves standing beside the brothers and tying their napkins behind their necks.

’Shit!’ She internally cursed and hurried over to stand beside Cassius, looking around the table for his napkin.

She found it beside his tray and reached out her hand to take it, but the moment her hand touched it, Cassius’ much larger and stronger hand covered hers.

She froze, instantly retrieving her hand from under his, but he grabbed her hand and brought it back to the napkin.

"Perform your duties, slave," He commanded coldly.

Rose wanted to snatch her hand away, but she remembered Cornelia’s advice and slowly nodded. She slowly picked the napkin up, spread it across his neck, and took it behind his neck to tie, the urge to just strangle him with the damn napkin increasing every second.

As she tied the napkin, she let her eyes wander around the table, noticing the empty spot with food in front of it.

Dabmond, Damien, and Damon. Those were the three brothers of the master, then, who was the fourth?

Realization suddenly hit her; the fourth brother must be the one with the wolf genes! She got extremely curious to know who it was, and just then, the door noiselessly pulled open and the shadow of a tall man was first cast into the room before she heard his approaching footsteps.

"You’re late as ever, Athan," Cassius said before the person even entered.

Rose’s eyes widened to their greatest width when she heard the name Cassius had called. It was only one person she’d heard him call that name. But she didn’t rush to conclude; she sharply turned her face to the door and almost passed out when she saw Eliot walking majestically into the dining room.