Rosalind now had two things on her mind, the first was about Alaric and the mission he had given her to learn how to seduce him. She was still annoyed by the fact that he had tricked her into his room and made her do all those things, her cheeks turning red as she recalled everything.
She wasn't able to get the image of him out of her head, his darkened gaze, his long hair and his smirk, it did something to her stomach that she shouldn't be feeling.
Rosalind knew this was a distraction on his part. He was distracting her from her real mission which was to escape, and no matter how tempting he was and how much she hated to admit that her body had responded to those things, Rosalind knew she couldn't afford to be swayed by this man.
The second thing on her mind was the spy that had been positioned outside her door by that same man, Alaric.
She had processed it and begun to accept the fact that someone would be following her around.
She concluded that if she was going to escape from here under this footman's watchful gaze, then she would have to do something, she would have to use him to her advantage.
Right now, his loyalty belonged to the king. He would likely be reporting everything, but what if she was able to turn it around and make him loyal to her instead. He might help her run away from here!
Alaric would never see this coming. He wouldn't even know he was aiding her himself.
Rosalind clapped softly, yeah… that seemed about right!
Good thinking Rosalind, she commended herself as a sly smile spread across her lips.
Rosalind slipped out of her bed. The maids had already taken care of her as they never skipped their duties, so now she was fully dressed and her breakfast had been served in her room, and thankfully Alaric had not yet requested her presence. She had all the time to do what she wanted.
Rosalind made her way to the door where she peeped through the hole and looked to the right. Just as she expected, her footman was standing there as composed as ever with his gaze set ahead of him.
She narrowed her eyes slightly as she wondered if this man ever had any rest at all, because all day and all night he was standing guard at her door, did he even have food? Did he even take his bath? Rosalind thought to herself.
But the truth was that Rowan had enough time to do all of that, because as a trained servant for all of these years, he knew how to manage himself. He would take quick baths and have quick food.
Sometimes, he could go without food for long hours, and was still able to make his reports, all of this happening deep in the midnight when Rosalind was asleep or when she was being attended to, and he always made it back in time because in House Eryndell, duty came first.
Rosalind took in a deep breath, now she had to begin her plan with this spy. First, she was going to start by observing him and knowing how alert he was.
She positioned her hand on the door, then she knocked.
Rosalind quickly moved to the peephole to check if he had noticed anything at all, but her brows pulled together when she saw that he didn't shift in the slightest.
Did he even hear that she knocked or was he pretending?
Whatever it was, she was going to find out what exactly was wrong. "Who's there?" Rosalind said from inside the room. She waited a bit before going back to check the peephole.
And he still didn't move, his posture remained as composed as ever.
Rosalind frowned in confusion, wasn't he at least supposed to turn and check what was wrong with her?
Maybe she wasn't being loud enough, she thought to herself.
She stood still with her hands on her hips as she looked around the room, searching for something loud enough, something worthy that could grab someone's attention.
Her gaze landed on the glass on the table and her eyes lit up, so she moved towards it. Rosalind deliberately pushed it off the table, watched it roll as it crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces. The crash echoed in her room.
"Oops," she muttered while covering her mouth with her hand.
Now, that should grab his attention.
As Rosalind made her way towards the door, she opened it slightly just enough to catch his reaction, but her confusion only deepened. Her brows creased when she saw that he didn't move in the slightest. He remained still, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes in wonder.
Could it be that he didn't hear anything that was happening inside the room?
Perhaps his only job was to follow her around whenever she stepped outside and not react to anything happening within... She slowly closed the door with a soft click, though she still wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.
But why wouldn't it be a good thing?
Rosalind thought as her eyes now found the window and another thought crossed her mind. She went forward, pulled the curtains aside before opening the window, feeling the air rush against her face.
Luckily, there wasn't any barrier and if she could slide down from this window then she could wander outside without her footman having to know.
Rosalind gathered her garment in her hand as she placed a foot on the window sill.
And immediately, the door to her room opened at once and her gaze flew there.
"Dropping from such heights would be dangerous, my lady," the footman said, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he lowered his head slightly.
The corner of Rosalind's lips stretched subtly, so now he could come into her room?
She sighed and came down from the window sill.
Rosalind didn't have any intentions of jumping down. She wasn't crazy. This was the fourth floor, and jumping down would mean breaking her legs. She didn't have any powers and she wouldn't even consider it if she had a rope because Rosalind wouldn't risk her life.
Her eyes narrowed at her footman. "Did you hear the glass drop?" she inquired from him, and then she folded her arms across her chest. "Why didn't you come?" she asked again.
There was silence at first before he said, "That's because you did it on purpose," and her eyes went wide in shock.
Her hands slipped from her chest as her face turned red in embarrassment, but the question of 'how' lingered in her mind. He hadn't shifted in the slightest to see her knock down the glass herself.
And because the glass hadn't been a life-threatening situation like the window, Rowan hadn't moved an inch, he wasn't dumb like Rosalind thought. He had been aware all along.
"Looks like you're well trained," she said, her lips twisting bitterly, as that wouldn't be working in her favor because if he was this well trained and clearly intelligent then she shouldn't be underestimating him.
Rosalind let out a sigh as she dropped to the couch and her eyes shifted to the footman.
"What are you waiting for? Come and clean up the mess," she said to him.
His gaze shifted from the floor to her.
Rosalind raised her eyebrow, what the hell was that? He couldn't be glaring at her.
After a moment of hesitation, he finally moved and his steps were almost too refined for someone in his position. It made her wonder HOW could a servant carry himself with such pride?
He lowered himself onto one knee before picking up the shards of glass while most servants would have dropped to both knees.
Later, when Rosalind decided to leave her room, she noticed the footman fall into step behind her again.
When she stopped in her track, he also stopped.
She turned on her heels to face him directly.
For a moment, he seemed to forget himself before lowering his head, and Rosalind didn't miss it.
Still, she decided not to comment on it. That was simply how he was.
"You know…" Rosalind began, trailing off before continuing, "You don't need to follow me. I just want to see Lady Verity, and it's just here, so you don't have to bother yourself." She tried to reason with him.
She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes before turning away.
Rosalind expected him not to follow.
But he did.
As if she had said nothing at all, as if her words meant nothing.
Rosalind clenched her fists, her jaw tightening as she spun around again. He stopped immediately, his gaze lowering once more.
She paused for a moment to think, before reaching up to her earrings. They were expensive, one of the fine things she had been given. She pulled them off and stretched her hand toward him.
"Here. If you sell this, it will fetch you enough money," she said, her voice dropping to a low whisper. "You don't have to follow me everywhere. You should take some time to rest too." Her tone softened, turning sweet in a way that didn't quite hide her frustration.
Rowan noticed the shift in her accent, the way her vowels softened and her r rolled slightly beneath the tension in her voice.
"I don't take bribes, my lady," he replied evenly with his gaze still fixed on the ground.
Rosalind clenched the earrings in her fists so tightly her knuckles threatened to whiten, her glare sharpening on him as if to cut him into pieces.
How annoying!
She turned at once, strands of hair slipping loose as irritation took over. She decided she wouldn't speak to him again.
Ugh. This was so frustrating...
She hated him!