The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 38: Conversation In The Bathtub

Chapter 38: Conversation In The Bathtub

In the early morning, Madeline had woken up feeling more delighted than usual. Thanks to the medication she took last night, she didn’t have any issues with sleepwalking, nor did she have to envision those terrible nightmares that reminded her of her trauma. The good thing about her medications was the fact that they can be very effective when it comes to controlling her disorder. Frankly speaking, she slept positively well last night.

Sinking into the warm tub in the bathroom and letting her skin flush under its warmth, Madeline relaxed herself with a satisfying sigh escaping her parted lips. The window slit was opened, letting streaks of sunlight slip into the bathtub and forming rays of bright light on her immaculate skin.

Staring at the white painted ceiling, Madeline couldn’t remember the last time she got to enjoy such a warm peaceful bath with her mind at ease. Back at Roland’s place, Auriela had heartlessly cut off the pipe that allows warm water stream into her tub, and whenever she had to bathe, she had to pray to the heavens for strength before taking a shivering bath. Most times she had to wait until the sun was completely out, so she could sweat before using the cold tub.

The time she suffered most was during the winter season when she had to skip a few days without taking a bath. Everything still felt like yesterday and it was difficult to believe how quickly her life had changed from just a single decision she made, and that decision was getting married to one of the Young Lord’s living in the upper east quarters of Carmarthen.

"Maddie." Madeline’s body jolted into the present when she heard a familiar voice calling her name from outside the sliding door, followed by a continuous knocking she was only starting to hear now.

How did she lose herself like that?

"Are you in there?"

"Y...Yes." she quickly responded, sitting up properly on the bathtub out of instinct before looking down at her body and reminding herself that she was stark naked.

"Can I come in, or do you need me to wait? I need to speak with you about something." He requested.

"Uhhhhh..." Madeline was about to refuse his entry after realizing she was naked, but she suddenly stopped herself before the words could leave her mouth. He is her husband now, is he not? so she has no right to chase him away. This is one of the things she’s bound to get used to as time goes on so why not start now?

Lowering her body deeper into the foamy tub until only her collarbones were visible, she finally gave her approval. "Come in."

The door slid open to the side along with Madeline’s racing heartbeat. Her eyes widened slightly when Cassian naturally stepped into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind him before turning around to look at his wife.

His eyes landed on the woman who had funnily buried herself into the foamy water of her tub, and only her flushed face was visible to his gaze. Despite that, it was easy to read the bashful expression on her face, and the colors on her cheeks already gave her timidness away.

"Are you sure you’re comfortable..."

"I am." Madeline quickly interjected. "You said you wanted to see me, is there a problem?" She switched the question to the main reason why he was asking for her, and even though he had a good reason for interrupting her like this, the look on her harmless face was tempting him to tease her right now.

"I did have a good reason for coming here, but seeing you so relaxed is making me itch to get out of this clothes and join you." He commented, pulling slightly at the collar of his shirt as though he was really itching to take them off and join her.

"Ah! No no!!" Madeline instantly reacted when she mistook his actions as him trying to unbutton and take off his shirt. "You have to wait till I’m done, you can’t join me." She immediately refused, her face visibly flushed and the young lad stopped.

"I beg your pardon?" He raised an eyebrow tauntingly. "I can bet you are only refusing because you have no idea what it’s like to stay in the same tub with the opposite gender, most especially when that person is your husband. Trust me, there’s a lot of fun to it."

"Have you shared a tub with someone of the opposite gender then?" She asked meekly with her head tilted to the side. The way he placed his words made her wonder if he’s had any other woman in his life, and in a tub too.

"Curious?" He smirked handsomely, but Madeline didn’t give a response. She soon realized he was pulling her legs and that made her send a half glare his way.

"You are free to meet the other women if you so please, but I am not sharing my bath with you. So, are you here to make me red, or is there something you really need?"

"I’ll respond honestly if you stand up."

Madeline’s mouth dropped open at his preposition and her heart sped even more. His eyes twinkled with pure mischief that made her toes curl underneath the tub. He’s really flirting with her at a time like this?

"Cassian!"

He chuckled at her completely flushed reaction. "I think your reaction is enough to make my day go smoothly for the entire day. Now, back to the real reason I’m here."

"Thank you." Madeline’s shoulders relaxed when he was finally done teasing her hearts out.

"I had a little conversation with your Aunt Auriela last night." He began. "She’s in a distraught mess as we speak, and I just need to ask you something that might help me get to the route of the matter."

"What is it?" She asked, looking more than willing to help him out with this case if need be so.

"All black," he raised a finger. "A red cloak hiding the face of the killer responsible. Have you seen anyone with such a description? Anyone at all? Maybe from your uncle’s side or Auriela’s side? Even a family friend?" He questioned.

He didn’t want to get Maddie involved in any of this, but he found it harmless asking her a few questions based on the description her Aunt had given him. According to what Auriela had told him, the killer was holding two silver blades, but he didn’t think it would be necessary adding that little detail for Madeline in order to guess who the unknown killer might be.

At the mention of the red cloak, Madeline continued to think, trying to remember if she’s come across anyone with that description. As far as she knows, there’s nobody with that description that had paid visits to her Uncle Roland. She was happy to hear that Auriela had said something regarding the Murder case, but Madeline wasn’t hundred percent sure about running into someone who’d fit in with such an odd description.

"No." She finally said, to Cassian’s dismay. "No one has ever visited Roland wearing such clothings. Again, I might be wrong too since he steps out often to hold personal meetings with some of his friends. I don’t know them since they never came to visit, but Auriela must know them."

Cassian sighed. "So far, Gregory can’t be held responsible for this crime, cause he’s too stupid to devise such a clean murder."

"You are right." Madeline nodded in agreement. "Gregor is more open when it comes to killing those who have offended him, so I don’t think he’s responsible either."

"Do you feel bad about your uncle’s death?" He asked again. From her reaction at the scene, he didn’t like the fact she had to cry over someone who doesn’t deserve a single drop of her tears.

"I don’t." She responded as a matter-of-fact, surprising Cassian who was expecting her to say otherwise. "But it is sad since he was the only family I knew."

"You aren’t as weak as I expected you to be, I’m impressed."

"You flatter me a little too much these days." Madeline hit him with a suspicious glare, but he said nothing to it and finally turned around to excuse himself.

"It’s a personality I made specially for you." He teased once more before sliding the door open. "Sadly, I’ll have to cut our conversation short. It’s thirty minutes before breakfast so you must head down today, Fredrick has run out of excuses unfortunately."

He looked at her. "Don’t be late." Saying this, he slid the door shut.

Madeline finally got a chance to breathe properly after he left, and a shy smile adorned her lips at the thought of how he had teased her. He wasn’t lying when he said she hadn’t used a tub with someone of the opposite gender, and it made her think about what it’d actually be like to share a tub with....

"Stop it! Stop it!" She gave herself a little smack at the back of her head, feeling crazy for daring to have imagined something so scandalous.

This is all his fault!!

Distracting her thoughts from Cassian, she reminded herself of the description he gave based on the killer. Even though she denied knowing someone with that appearance, Madeline couldn’t stop herself from pulling at the strings that told her she had seen someone with such a description before.

But where??

"This must be one of the side effects from staying in a tub for too long." She concluded, feeling silly to even think she’s seen someone with such description.

"I need to stop thinking too much and get ready for breakfast." She shuddered a bit at the idea of having breakfast with EVERYONE of the Albrecht family.

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