Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 541: Second chances are a luxury

"Have you the slightest idea of how terribly you could have doomed us all, you stupid girl?" The older maid looked as though liquid fire was ready to spew out her widened eyes.

The black hair pulled tight a bun up her head did not help those contorting features.

"Please forgive me. I won’t do it again!" the young woman bit down hard on her lips, doing her very best to avoid the piercing gaze of her higher up.

Ada’s heart battered her chest under the new appearance Morgana had bestowed upon her, shivering in her spot.

Out of the other three girls infiltrating the castle, she was well placed to know the horrors that would befall them should they step out of line, the absolute nightmare a life may turn into within those walls.

She, a former resident of Lustris, had witnessed some of the souls that came through those doors to never be seen again.

The light of day was precious in Lustris for many different reasons. Not all of them were wholesome.

"You better not!" the older woman hissed, "Second chances come as a luxury here. In fact, I am surprised we still have heads over our shoulders, but don’t get used to it, you imbeciles! If one of you falters, it is more than likely that the entire batch of you will pay. So, toe your lines and remain on your guard,"

"Understood!" the ten young maids huddled together, hung their heads low and sang in unison.

"Right! Dungeon duties are on the list for your first day. All you have to do is pick up the food trolleys from the kitchens and head through the elevator tracts down to the underground levels. The soldiers are waiting to be served,"

Ada fought with all of her might not to bite her nails while following at the very back of the line after their supervisor... To avoid the glares of her peers, considering the trouble she could have landed all of them in.

But it couldn’t be helped? How could she ever contain herself after seeing her best and only friend in such a state?

Floriel had warned that the sight of her wouldn’t be pretty, but such abuse... Such humiliation!

Where was that man taking her anyways? What was he doing to her?

It killed her heart to know that the only way to get Arabella out of their clutches was to be patient and follow their plan to the end.

Morgana, Floriel and Allegra must have been dispatched to the dungeons too since the training was the same for every new recruit. They were simply put under different supervisors.

Hopefully, none of their fake bodies would pique the interest of any perverted guards down there.

Following the advice of Arabella, Morgana made sure to pick the least attractive or conventional traits in a woman.

Ada crossed her fingers that none of the soldiers had unconventional tastes either.

The descent underground was a long one, but that was nothing next to the vast, endless labyrinth once their destination was reached.

There had to be multiple other elevators, but Ada’s group faced about eight guards that stopped them from going further.

"All of you will be searched before proceeding deeper into the dungeons!" an older looking guard declared, his eyes on one of the girls that stood ahead of everyone else.

A search made sense but then they seemed not so interested in the trolleys and mainly in the girls which they not so gently fondled.

The glint in their eyes as they rubbed their sweaty hands over the maids only grew.

"You there!" one of them grabbed a blond by the arm and hauled her aside, "You will need to undergo a more thorough search. Start stripping!"

More and more girls were ordered to step aside and disrobe under the guards’ eager gazes.

When the turn for Ada to be searched came around, the man in front of her barely looked and only lightly padded her dress before ordering her to move forward.

With an apologetic look at the trembling maids left behind, she obeyed and pushed her trolley deeper.

It worked! They took no interest in her. Although her heart ached for the girls they held back.

The air down there was cool but not the sweet kind. It was the type that gnawed at the skin. The kind that the fire burning atop those torches did very little to quell.

It would have been similar to the Eleazar dungeons only those were a lot smaller and the rock making its body a lot softer, well worked, whereas the castle’s was as rough as a stone can come, much darker too.

All the cells they moved past looked the same. Ada struggled and mostly failed to even see if a soul occupied each.

She went through the corridors carved between the pillars until her delivery station came into view.

The guards there didn’t say much aside from grunting... Something along the lines of, "They always take the best ones and send us the rest,"

Edgar and Cynric had yet to have the privilege of entering the castle as their skills needed to be assessed first.

They seemed a lot more careful with the men hired than the women which made sense.

All in all, Ada had no luck that time around as there was no trace of Arthur or Rubius and certainly not a glimpse of this great metal door that was supposed to be guarding Silas.

The young woman left the dungeons, hoping against all hope that the other girls had a better time than she did since their arrival.

The day was long... They put the new recruits through the ringer and seeing as her new appearance was less desirable than the rest, she had a more difficult time, shouldering most of the burden as the other girls around her were being pulled aside and away from their tasks by higher ranking men in the castle for... Other purposes.

Through all those grueling hours however, Ada not once managed to evict the image of Arabella battered and drained in the arms of that man.