by Auriane Bell
The easiest part had been the haircut, which hadn’t required of her to be naked or to say more than ‘please don’t cut too much’ and ‘I like this colour’. Between getting her hair washed and the top layer packed into aluminium foil, having thrown strands into her face and being turned around in the process, she had tried to get a glimpse of the room. Unfortunately the pillars behind her as well as the girls who had been eagerly working on her hair, eyes and nails had kept her from seeing all of it in the mirror she was facing.
Once she had even tried to inquire after Adrijan but nobody had been willing to answer her questions. She was worried about him – after all he had to have lost a lot of blood and his wound had looked nasty. Mairin was wondering if he was staying here as well or if he had already returned to Traumstadt, where he was possibly still in danger, while she was being treated like royalty. Though they weren’t happy thoughts, she tried to focus on them while the maids were proceeding with their dreadful work. Mairin didn’t understand why they had still insisted on removing all kinds of body hair after all her struggling. What was the point of having smooth legs and empty armpits?
“Miss Muriel?” Mairin wasn’t listening. “Miss? We’re done for now, Miss.” Hilda bore a worried look on her face.
What they had done to her the past minutes had by far been one of the most humiliating experiences Mairin had made, and there was a long list of those in her past. Still, it was better than being left behind in that room in Sunflower Garden…
“Maybe it was too much for her,” one of the girls whispered and was immediately silenced by the others. Mairin tried to keep her composure and to stay calm.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. Can I dress now?”
Hilda looked at her as if she had lost her marbles.
“Maybe Miss would prefer to bathe first,” she suggested hesitantly.
Mairin blushed. Desperately trying not to look at anything or anyone during the process, she hadn’t noticed that her legs were partially still covered with foam.
Hilda and the other maids led her through the fully tiled room that was flooded by the afternoon sun. The rays of light had found their way through the countless windows and past the pillars that were forming a circle around the small group. To Mairin they were like druids who were quietly waiting for the sacrifice to be put on the altar.
While walking to the centre of the room she nervously tried to focus on the sun mosaic on the ground. If the situation had been any different, Mairin would have taken pleasure in gazing at the range of white, orange, beige and black stones that had been used for the sun. Black stones? Mairin was alarmed. Was there a particular reason why the tips of the sunbeams were black? Hastily she tried to remind herself that Hilda had told her she would be bathed, not sacrificed.
The maids finally halted in front of the small cabin in the middle of the room. There was a door on one side and the largest bath tub Mairin had ever seen on the other side. Both were black and richly decorated with a multitude of intertwined golden lines that looked like molten lava leaking through fractures of the earth. She would never forget the drawings the teacher had shown her back in Sunflower Garden. They had made her feel as if she were gazing into hell itself.
Unlike the outside of the bath tub, the walls of the cabin were transparent and revealed a strange apparatus that reminded her of the sprinkler of a watering can. Mairin was glad to see that the inside of the tub wasn’t black but cream-coloured. Somehow the thought that it could be otherwise had unsettled her.
One of the girls walked over to the tub and reached for a golden button. As if by magic, water started to stream out of several golden openings into the vessel.
“Amazing…” Mairin mumbled. Her remark earned her more than one strange look.
Hilda took control of the awkward situation and explained to her in a few words what it meant to ‘take a shower’ and how she would be able to operate the apparatus. Mairin would be allowed to wash without help, but they’d stay in reach in case they were needed.
In the meantime, the tub had filled with water and most of its surface had been covered with foam. Mairin took a deep breath and reluctantly entered the cabin, expecting to be immediately drowned or pulverised. When nothing of the sort happened, she carefully started to follow the instructions Hilda had given her and after the initial fear of the unknown had subsided, she even managed to relax under the streaming rain that was coming from the ‘watering can’. She especially enjoyed the slightly sweet scent of the creamy substance she was meant to apply to her body before washing it off again. Hilda had called it ‘shower gel’ and Mairin thought that it was far more practical than using a bar of soap. It felt good to get rid of the last traces of sweat and illness and the pieces of foam that had started to make her skin itch on the way to the cabin. When she was finished, she opened a small door on the other side and climbed the two stairs to the bath tub in front of her.
Finally she was able to allow herself to sink into the – hopefully – warm water. The temperature of the bath even surpassed Mairin’s expectations and she was convinced that the worst part of the day had to be over. The moment that thought crossed her mind, the bathroom door in front of her was opened.
Adrijan was on his way to retrieve the small bundle he had found in the bungalow. Amongst all the excitement he had forgotten to remove it from his coat before he had handed it to Alfred. Even so he was in no hurry, since he could be certain that every piece of his clothes was thoroughly checked before it was cleaned or thrown out. If the package was valuable at all, Alfred had surely realised by now and put its contents aside.
Adrijan was heading for one of the ‘secret’ staircases the servants used when he heard loud shrieking and screaming coming from nearby. The tower upstairs had been closed off for a long time undergoing renovation and even before then it had only rarely been used. Had Vivian chosen to accommodate Mairin there? The possibility alone that the uproar was connected to her was enough to make Adrijan bolt upstairs.
Despite wearing his clerical clothing he had reached the door to the lowest level of the tower in a trice. Adrijan wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that the screaming had ebbed down before he had even been able to verify the source of the racket. Without spending a second thought on it, he yanked the door open – and the shrieking started again.
“Father Démon!” He recognised the agitated voice at once. It belonged to Hilda whom he had appointed to be Mairin’s personal maid. At the same moment he also realised the reason for the uproar. Vivian was standing only a few steps away from him with his back to the door. He was wearing a yukata, Japanese clothing the immortal had chosen as his bath robe. Adrijan had his doubts that Vivian was wearing anything underneath it but he felt by no means obliged to find out for certain.
“Adrijan, how good of you to join us!” Vivian had turned around and looked at him, smirking broadly.
Adrijan found himself at a loss for words. Was he insane? Mairin had almost been raped and he had the nerve to walk into the bathroom in her presence! He had already spotted her behind Vivian, with her head immersed in the water as deep as possible while still being able to breathe. Foam was covering most of the surface but he could imagine that she was pressing her body against the inside of the bath tub, trying to make herself disappear.
“Viv, do you really think this is a goo-” Before he could finish the sentence Vivian had opened the yukata and let it slip to the floor.
Adrijan was here. He would not let the fair-haired man harm her. Mairin kept repeating it to herself over and over while keeping her eyes averted. Good God, had she averted her eyes in time? She had seen him, hadn’t she? She hadn’t been supposed to look! Why was he acting like this? Wasn’t this the man who had saved her from the ‘metal mule’? Wasn’t he the one who had been watching over her the day before when she had been down with a fever? Had he done something to her? Oh Lord, maybe he had done something to her! Mairin was panic-stricken. She couldn’t get out of the bath
tub without leaving the cover of the foamy water. The girls’ shrieking and giggling didn’t help her at all to stay calm. How could he do this to them?
“Just enjoy the bath. I would never harm such a pretty lady.”
There was no danger in his voice or what he said yet every fibre of her being told her to run. “Oh and you don’t have to avert your eyes.”
Was he being serious? Mairin’s heart was racing. When she thought the situation couldn’t get worse, he leisurely walked over to the tub and slowly slid into the water.
It wasn’t his first time to see Vivian naked but Adrijan was close to making it his last. At Mondstein castle Adrijan was only known as a priest and friend to the master and as such he was unable to restrain his secret half-brother. Attempting to go toe-to-toe with him would only add to his motivation and lead to a disaster. He had to help Mairin discreetly and play the perfect diplomat. First though, he would have to calm the girl before she did something rash.
“Mairin, let me introduce the master of this castle to you: the immortal Vivian Anfarwol.” This was hopefully surprising enough to distract her for a moment.
“You… are the immortal?” she asked almost inaudibly, still averting her eyes.
Vivian laughed heartily.
“Immortal is more ‘what’ than ‘who’ I am. You can call me Vivian or Viv – Vivi even, if you like the sound of it.”
Adrijan nervously watched the immortal as he playfully ran his hand through the water.
“Or you could call me darling… honey… sweetheart… dearest… handsome. Still, I have to admit I’m not so terribly fond of honeybun, or smoochie pie and the like.”
The maids were giggling and Adrijan’s intention to kill was dangerously high.
“But you are so… young,” Mairin mumbled as if she hadn’t listened to any of his words.
“Aw, the princess is disappointed – but I guess that means you did catch a glimpse of me.” Mairin blushed again which apparently added to his amusement.
Adrijan was wondering why Vivian enjoyed teasing her that much. What was his scheme? He would never win her over like this – or at least that was what he was hoping. A glimpse at the maids told him otherwise. Much to his disgust they looked like they would gladly trade places with Mairin.
“If I may say so, Miss Princess is not disappointing so far.”
Vivian was smiling, watching her like his prey. Adrijan couldn’t hold back any longer. He could physically feel her call for help. Why was it so hard to keep his composure?
“Don’t worry; you are perfectly covered by the foam,” Adrijan said calmingly, ”there are so many bubbles we can hardly see your nose.”
Adrijan was exaggerating of course. And of course he wasn’t in the mood for jokes but the situation certainly wasn’t eased by the girls staring at the bath tub – or to be more precise at the immortal. He had been indeed surprised that none of them had fainted before he realised that all of them except maybe Hilda had most likely seen Vivian naked before.
Ignoring the fact that it wasn’t the right time for having such a thought, he had to admit that Vivian was right: Mairin was a lovely sight. With her head crowned by the dark strands of her wet hair that was floating in the water, her rosy cheeks and the face that was bearing her innocent anxiety, she looked like a mermaid lost in foreign waters. It took him a considerable amount of effort to take his eyes off her.
“Vivian, don’t you want to give your bride a little more time to get accustomed to Mondstein?”
It was as difficult for him as it was important not to let his feelings show. Vivian liked playing with people – him included. As casually as possible Adrijan walked over to the towel rail, grabbed two large ones and walked back to the bath tub.
“Maybe you’re right, frater. You have wisdom beyond your years.”
The big smirk didn’t want to vanish from the immortal’s face. Even though it had sounded like an agreement, Vivian didn’t move an inch. Adrijan carefully soaked one of the towels with water, before gently pushing it into Mairin’s direction, making it slowly drift towards her. When she reached for it, their eyes met and again colour rose to her cheeks.
Adrijan handed the second towel to his brother and saw with relief that he accepted it.
“Please have dinner with me tonight, princess. I feel that I made a bad impression and want to make up for it.”
The immortal didn’t wait for a reply. Everyone present was well aware that there was only one potential answer to his request. Vivian skilfully covered himself with the towel while climbing out of the tub. Adrijan frowned as he watched the girls stare at his brother’s athletic body.
“Proceed,” Vivian ordered the maids jokingly and smirked at them before he turned around and left the room.
Adrijan breathed a sigh of relief. He felt the urge to stay a little longer, but being regretfully aware that it wouldn’t improve Mairin’s situation he decided against it. On top of it, the matter had to be discussed with the immortal.
“Mesdames.” He bowed his head in salutation and hurried for the door.
Adrijan spotted his brother at the bottom of the stairs, already turning into one of the vast hallways of Mondstein castle. The pace of his steps showed Adrijan at once that he was just waiting for him to catch up. Even though he knew better, he was unable to restrain himself any longer, rushed down the stairs, abrasively grabbed him at his shoulder and forced him to turn around.
“What the hell came over you? What in God’s name were you trying to accomplish?”
“Tsk, tsk. For Christ’s sake, watch your language, brother.” Once again there was an aggravating grin on his face. “And I don’t appreciate being manhandled.” Vivian elegantly removed his hand and looked at him as if he were the one true embodiment of innocence.
“I simply wanted to take a bath with my future bride… or maybe even more than that if it hadn’t been for the audience.” Vivian shrugged. “Or maybe I should say if it hadn’t been for you.”
Adrijan swallowed. He knew where this was going and decided to make another attempt at explaining to him the graveness of the situation.
“Vivian, think! Don’t you want her to fall for you? The way you approached her was most unwise. Mairin has most likely never seen a man naked and surely hasn’t shared her bed with anyone.”
“Well, I guess it was at least partially educating for her then.”
Adrijan shook his head wishing his brother wouldn’t annoy him so.
“Aren’t you forgetting about something?”
Vivian faked a sigh. “Alright, alright. I’ll behave like the perfect gentleman until she gets over that incident at Sunflower Garden.”
Adrijan was genuinely surprised. Was this just another one of his tricks, a part of his little game?
“I’d love to continue chatting with you brother, but I think I should change into something less revealing for dinner. Talking about dinner… will you be joining us?”
Adrijan resisted the urge to decline. He could only be of use to Mairin if he was present.
“Count on it, Viv,” he replied grumpily.
The immortal nodded, turned around and was on his way. Since there were still at least two hours until dinner, Adrijan decided to pay Alfred a visit. He was curious about Mairin’s bundle and this way he could easily pretend to have a reason to be thinking of her.
Mairin wanted to jump out of the tub as soon as the door clicked shut but her legs felt like rubber and the chatting and giggling of the girls sounded to her like the buzzing of bees. In her mind she slowly counted to ten and then after the third try she successfully managed to climb out of the bath tub and back into the shower cabin. Even though the walls were transparent, she felt a lot safer there than just a few minutes ago with the immortal. The warm water streaming down her body slowly washed away her fear and thereby made room for different thoughts. Adrijan was here. He was here and he had saved her again – this time even from his own master. Mairin slowly forced herself to let
go of the wet towel. Part of her wanted to blame her saviour for not acting sooner or more vigorously but in the end she was just glad that he had shown up in time. Had he smiled at her when he had sent the towel her way? Was there a chance that the alleged priest had feelings for her? Surely it was impossible. If he was a priest then he had only acted out of sympathy or due to his own believes and if he wasn’t – well in that case there were certainly better options than to fall for a girl with no qualities, a girl without means and moreover a girl, who was already spoken for.
“Miss Muriel? If you stay in there much longer, your skin will start peeling off!”
Hilda’s reproachful voice made Mairin realise that she had spent enough time pondering under the ‘watering can’. She regretted having to leave her shelter but obediently turned off the machinery, wiped the water out of her face and opened the door to the cabin. As soon as she stepped outside, one of the maids started to dry her off with a heavenly soft towel and only allowed Mairin to complete the task on her own after vehement protesting. Once she was done, Hilda helped her put on a black silken dressing gown with a golden pattern that had a lot in common with the design of the bath tub and led her over to the chair she had sat in for her hair cut.
Mairin was startled by the loud noise of the ‘wind blowing machine’ they put to her head but calmed down when Hilda gently put her hands on her shoulders and reassuringly nodded towards her to signify that she should stay in her seat. The warm air accelerated the process of drying her hair and soon her face was surrounded by her natural curls. Rebellious as they were, she had always dreaded their appearance but the maid easily managed to tame them bit by bit. Mairin looked at her new self in wonder. Her hair had been put up, all except for a few loose strands that were tangling down to her shoulders like elongated corkscrews. She was already more than satisfied with what the mirror was showing her and wanted to get up to put on proper clothes.
