Married To The Mad Vampire Lord-Chapter 41: "Would you rather come to my chamber?"

Though Belle had expected to be punished for ruining the plant, she had not expected the punishment given to her by her husband, who was now standing under the big apple tree, leaning casually against it with his arms crossed and his right leg bent, his foot flat against the tree, as he watched her with a blank expression, taking the punishment she had earned for herself in the rain.

She was shivering so much in the cold as it had decided to suddenly start to drizzle, making the task he had given her more treacherous. She would have taken any punishment other than this, and she could tell he was enjoying her misery as he watched her bend and stand to pick up the rotten fruits on the ground of the garden and gather them in one big basket at the side.

When she admitted to breaking the plant, she had thought she saw a look of disappointment cross his face before it disappeared immediately, and he nodded his head and said, "Very well then, Isa. Since you admitted to the crime, you shall be punished for it."

At first, Belle had almost believed he wanted to punish her by doing to her another sinful act in the bed like he said he would in the dining hall as a form of punishment. A small part, the sinful part of her mind, had been curious about what he would do next to make her body betray her like last night. Would he use his mouth like he threatened her last night? Was there another way to do it that she was completely ignorant about?

She had been wondering those thoughts, her cheeks slowly flaming up in embarrassment at the fact that she was curious about what the devil’s temptation would be next instead of repelling it and trying to avoid it. But she had quickly repelled it and scolded herself for thinking such thoughts and for daring to be curious. This man was no ordinary man. Whatever he did to her was for his own twisted amusement and to carve a path to hell for her and make her one of those disgraceful women the ministers in Aragonia said would never smell the path to heaven.

From many rumors she’d heard about him and the vampires, his kind were merciless, and when they decided to punish humans, they would do it in a way that made the person see the gates of hell and back. They would suck one’s blood until only a small amount remained to keep them alive and in misery, or they would easily wring their neck.

But after what he had said in the dining hall to his lying cousin, whom Belle had added to the list of people she did not like, she knew he wouldn’t kill her or punish her by taking her blood, since it was stated in the marriage contract he signed that he couldn’t do so without her consent. Belle was never the kind to dislike people, and there were only a few she did, but now Cordelia was at the top of that list. Thus, the only likely punishment would be what he did last night—or even worse!

She had dreaded him ordering her to go into the castle and to her chamber, but to her utter relief and horror, he had looked at her in thoughtful silence and then placed his hand on her head, turning her around to face the vast garden.

"Don’t look at me with those cute eyes of yours. Look there." His voice was a husky whisper beside her ear, the heat of his breath sending shivers down her spine. "Do you see all those apples lying around on the ground? I want them all cleared up and picked. Not a single one should be left behind. Understood?"

Belle felt the fine hairs at the back of her nape rise, her body instinctively tensing at the low, velvety commanding voice. Did he have to stand so close to her? She thought uneasily. But the moment his words registered in her mind, her eyes widened in disbelief. The apples were too many for one person to pick, this was impossible!

She opened her mouth to protest the punishment, but before she could speak, he moved closer to her from behind, his lips dangerously close to her ear as if he had read her thoughts. His hand, warm even through the glove, came around her, trailing lightly along the curve of her neck. Her breath hitched.

"Or would you rather," he murmured, his voice turning deep and almost sinful, "come to my chamber and be punished another way?"

Her stomach clenched. No!

"This mouth of yours..." His gloved fingers brushed against her lips, tracing the soft curves before skimming down to the corner of her mouth in a featherlight touch. "...has been enticing me. Every time I look at it, I find myself wondering just how much it could take in and handle."

Belle’s lips parted slightly to question what he meant, but she didn’t dare speak, not when he had his fingers over her lips.

His head dipped lower in the crook of her neck, his breath fanning against the sensitive skin. "Perhaps I should take you to my chamber and find out for myself?"

Then, just as she was about to tell him she was fine with picking apples rather than going to his chamber, something warm and wet grazed against the crook of her neck.

Her entire body jolted.

Belle gasped, her eyes widening as she stumbled away from him, clutching her throat. Did... did he just lick her?

Her breath came in short, uneven bursts as she stared at him in astonished disbelief. But Rohan merely stood there, his expression blank, as if nothing had happened. As if she had imagined the sensation still tingling on her neck.

If not for the lingering heat, she would have thought she had.

"Your time starts now. Start picking before I change your punishment," came his lazy, unimpressed voice as he walked away from her to stand under the tree when it suddenly began to drizzle.

Belle turned to the vampiress, who also stood beside Rohan, watching her with amusement, before she gritted her teeth and began to pick up the apples and pretend that she wasn’t being watched by the two. Her tight corset and dress did not make it easy to bend and stand again. Some of the apples were so rotten, and the light rain that fell made them slimy and fragile as she picked them up, causing them to break in her hand.

She didn’t know why he never let the servants come in to clear up the fruits since he didn’t allow people to eat from them or even eat them himself, as the vampiress had explained to her. She packed them in her hands and walked to the basket, dumping them into it. Among the many apples, Belle found many half-eaten ones that made her wonder if Rohan came here to eat from them and throw them away without finishing, because they all had bite marks.

So he did eat from them after all, Belle thought to herself as she stared at one of the many apples with a single big bite mark that had already started to darken. How wasteful he was.

Belle did not know how many times she kept moving up and down the garden with the rain beginning to increase, causing her hair to get on her face and her drenched dress to make her want to slip many times, but she balanced herself. She wanted to curse at Rohan but realized if she hadn’t been stupid enough to break his plant and allow the vampiress to trick her into walking into his so-called Dead Garden, this wouldn’t have happened. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

As Belle continued to work, Rav, who had thought he would walk into the garden to find the human’s dead body and Lady Cordelia’s, was surprised to see that the human was instead picking the fallen apples in the rain, and the vampiress was standing next to his master, looking somewhat uncomfortable in the rain that did not spare them even though they were standing under the apple tree.

This was the first time more than two people had stood in this garden ever since he was brought to work at the castle, Rav thought as he made his way towards Rohan. Many servants who wandered into it out of curiosity ended up dead afterward, even if they were not caught in it, which was why it was given the name the Dead Garden. Thus, Rav was surprised that Lord Dagon had not killed anyone yet and was instead watching with a somewhat unamused face as his human bride struggled in the rain to pick the apples.

It was when Rav came under the tree that he noticed one of the pots of plants lying broken before Rohan’s feet, and when he realized which plant it was, his light red eyes under his hood widened as he looked around again as if to confirm if it was the black plant the master had celebrated when it finally sprouted out of the soil after twenty years. Rav did not know the value of the plant, but he had seen his master water it with blood and other unspeakable things. He would sit under the apple tree at night and watch it as if willing it to grow, and Rav, who always watched him from afar, could not help but pity his master, as he had never seen anyone that desperate for a plant.

Though no matter what people said about his master, Rav still believed the man was not entirely bad and still had some goodness in him, even if only a little. Because if he had been truly bad, he would have ignored Rav many years ago when he pleaded with him not to let him die.

Rav was originally from Raventown, and on the night it had been massacred, Rohan had been sitting up on one of the trees watching the bloodbath in amusement without doing anything to stop the rogues from destroying the human town. He had been there, but instead of helping, he had been feeding on any human who wandered off to escape the rogues by trying to hide in the tree he was sitting on.

Rohan had fed on them and flung their bodies away like rags and then continued to watch until Rav had run, bleeding from his arms and side as he had mistakenly stabbed himself in the process of trying to protect his family. He’d watched them all die and their house burn down. Rav had managed to escape to that tree as it was the only one that was big and had branches to hide and protect one on the shadows. He had ended up in Rohan’s clutches instead.

Dismissing the memory, Rav could not believe that this important plant Rohan had devoted so much of his time to and was the first thing he checked up on when he was released from the asylum, and yet the man had not lashed out in rage. He looked up at his master, whose eyes never looked away from the human, and then cleared his throat.

"My Lord... the plant..." He hesitated as Rohan blinked but did not tear his eyes away from the human.

"It’s gone," Rohan said emotionlessly, but a look of loss crossed his eyes before it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Have you taken care of it?" he asked, referring to the butler’s heart he’d given him.

Rav nodded his head. "Yes, my Lord. I kept it with the collections after the councils left."