The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 686. Castle Affairs

Chapter 686: 686. Castle Affairs

Mauve folded the paper after she was done reading and quietly placed it on the bench. "I see you stated what you deemed to be issues and were kind enough to offer solutions," she said sarcastically.

"I do hope you won’t take it the wrong way, my lady," Danag mumbled.

Mauve took a deep breath. She couldn’t be angry. There wasn’t a lie in anything Danag had said; however, it felt more like he was attacking her person than trying to help.

"You said you think I am too polite?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I don’t see anything wrong with that."

"Yes, there isn’t. However, you don’t need to be grateful to the servants and people who wait on you. It is their duty to wait on you. You have been acting as though they are doing you a favor. I understand being overly polite with Miss Mill, as she is in fact a lady, but not to the servants of the castle. You even go as far as to excessively thank the servants during mealtimes."

Mauve winced at this. There was nothing wrong with being grateful. "Does that mean it is also fine to be rude to you?" she asked coldly.

"Of course, I wouldn’t mind if you were rude. Flippant would be better, but if rudeness will combat over-politeness, then that is also fine."

Mauve gave Danag an unimpressed look. She was clearly not going to have her way. Whatever she came up with, he seemed to have answers for it. "I see," she mumbled. "You also say I look like a scared cat in front of the lords." She changed the subject, unable to bear lingering on the earlier topic for too long.

Danag bowed even lower. "Please forgive that. I am sure the vampire regions must have been a very scary space the first time you got here, but things have changed, and it is pretty clear no one here would harm you."

Mauve wanted to say she begged to differ. There were a lot of people who would willingly stab their butter knife right into her chest. The only reason they didn’t do that was because of Jael. However, she understood what Danag meant, just as she knew he would never understand where she was coming from.

She was human, and whether or not they wanted to, vampires tended to exude an overwhelming aura. She had gotten used to it, but it was harder to act like anything other than a scared cat when these were creatures who could literally tear her to pieces.

"I fear you are making quite heavy demands from me, Danag. You may have forgotten, but your kind used to hunt us." She saw him stiffen and sighed. "But I hear you very clearly, and I’ll try to exude more confidence in their midst. Does that make you happy?" she asked.

"Very much so."

Mauve scrunched her nose. She had no idea how she would exude confidence, but she would try not to keep her head low and meet their eyes. She was the primus’ mate, after all; there was so much pride in that.

"You also said I have duties," she mumbled. This was the part that caught her attention. She did think about this the first period she arrived here, thinking surely there must be something she was supposed to do, some task that was solely hers. But as time went on, she discovered that was not the case. Yet here was Danag telling her otherwise. Or perhaps, she only had duties now that her status had been upgraded. She was no longer just the puny human Jael brought.

"Yes, you do."

"Pray tell, what these duties are," she mumbled.

Danag raised himself to his full height but didn’t meet her eyes. "Affairs of the castle."

Mauve gave Danag a dumbfounded look. That didn’t say anything. He just threw a title in her face with nothing else. "What affairs of the castle?" she asked and folded her arms.

"There are a handful of things, my lady, and none you have shown any interest in."

Mauve tried not to wince at the jab. She didn’t even know if this "castle affairs" was actually a proper job or if Danag just wanted to give her another thing to think about. Things seemed to be running smoothly without her input, and she doubted the servants would be pleased to have her bearing over them now that she was Jael’s mate.

"If you’re thinking the servants would be displeased if you meddle in their matters, I’d like you to dismiss the thought."

It took everything for Mauve not to gasp because at this point Danag was practically reading her mind. "I wasn’t thinking that," she said, but Danag was clearly not convinced.

"I understand that this is a new territory for you, but this is your duty. You’re the lady of the castle. All the servants are under your command, and so is everything that concerns the castle. Miss Mill has done your duties for you for far too long."

"Far too long? Don’t be ridiculous, Danag. I just became the Primus’ mate only a few days ago. You would have lost your mind had I tried to fulfill these supposed duties before now."

"You speak the truth, and I apologize for my oversight—"

"Oversight?" Mauve laughed. "We both know that’s not the right word. However, your apologies are starting to grind my ears. They don’t seem very genuine, Danag."

"But my intentions are true," Danag replied.

Mauve sighed. She didn’t know what to do in this case. There was nothing wrong with what Danag just told her; she just wished she had more time to revel in the romantic part of being Jael’s mate before being tossed into the political side so suddenly.

"I think that sums up all you had to say," she said and picked up the paper, offering it to Danag, who took it immediately.

Danag nodded. "Yes, and I wanted to let you know that moving forward, you’d be likely more involved in the decisions concerning vampires. Even if your input won’t be relevant, your presence will be."

Danag didn’t mince his words, and as Mauve listened to him some more, she could feel a headache coming on. By the time the conversation was over, she couldn’t wait to flee from the garden—and flee she did, all the way to the library.