2-2: Brainless Hamster-II

Stanley had sent a total of sixteen maids into Victor's room, all of them eventually killed as Victor was used to having people who was after his room. So when Stanley first bought Jane, it was a whim and also an experiment. He wanted to see if Jane who they said bear a curse would somehow survive Victor and oddly, she did. 

This should be good... but it left Stanley confused. 

For all he knew, everyone who entered Victor's room at night was never spared but oddly by the morning Stanley woke up to get rid of her body, he found Victor sitting on his bed with a smirk on his lips as he pointed his finger lazily on the floor. 

"A wrong maid entered my room at night, screamed, and fainted." 

It was a simple statement but it felt too strange when it came from Victor's own mouth.

So Stanley kept a watch on the girl, wondering whether she had done something that others couldn't but so far, Stanley couldn't notice anything different from her than the other maids that he sent before, leaving him in a puzzle. 

While it's good that now Victor spared Jane, what Stanley need was secret so he could blackmail Jane. 

Though... perhaps that wasn't really needed. 

Although Jane tried to hide it, Stanley noticed that the girl had one simple wish. 

The wish was to run away from the mansion. 

As long as he uses this card against her, Stanley was confident he could use Jane as he wishes. 

After all he would rather have a selfish and prideful master like Lady Piper than a monstrous, blood thirsty, creature wearing a flawless human skin like Victor. 

"The fault lies in the master for falling in love with that woman," muttered Stanley as he reached the staircase, clicking his tongue. 

What he wasn't aware was how Victor's lips had curled when he heard the statement that the butler muttered. The man was far enough for his footsteps not to leave a single dull thumping sound yet somehow, Victor could hear the words he said as if his hearing could reach so far. 

"The man who will come next is an important guest," Victor decided to speak. He had enough of making Stanley confused and unsettled, now was the maid's turn. 

He could feel her heartbeat, the way it had raced ever since she saw him walking out of the attic and that jumpy sound only lift his mood even further in a cruel mirth. 

Jane nodded but knew nodding won't do anything to a blind man and voiced out instead, "I understand." 

"So you shall not make any mistake." 

"I... shall not," Jane obediently agreed, taking a mental note that if she fails she might as well forfeit her own life. 

"You said you will be my eyes." Victor then said after a while and than strike her as odd as she thought Victor wouldn't speak to her again but he did. 

She remembered the rules stating that she must answer if she's spoken to so quietness seemed to be against that rule that the mansion protects like its own life. 

"I... did promise that, young master," the words rolled easily from her tongue. Fooling a prideful snake was easy. As long as you flatter them, become a pawn they wish you to be, and you will regain your own freedom soon enough. 

"Then you have to know it's not easy to be my eyes," Victor could hear an odd thumping from Jane's heart for a moment, one that sounded calmer and calculating. He pretended he doesn't know and continued, "Because I am not a man who would appreciate a mistake." 

Jane bowed her head towards him, "I shall make sure that happen." 

"Great," Victor smiled, "I only need your eyes and mouth after all... you should be careful that all your other limbs won't make any mistake as it will be a shame if you..." he drawled his tone and completed with a grin, "Lose them." 

Gulp. 

Jane's throat moved down and up when she swallowed to calm her nerves which only excited Victor further.

He quite like it when his prey struggles after all. What he enjoys most out of anything was seeing how hard a creature wriggle underneath his shoes, just like the time when he used to mush all those ants under his shoes during his mother's funeral. 

It was all terribly fun for someone like Victor Mildred, someone who strive in a situation where people fear him. 

Just like always, the maid that's now standing beside him was inching to get as far as possible for him, to make no mistake, to not anger him. 

But what's the fun in that?

Victor dislike it when things go stale. 

If there was one thing Stanley and the people in this mansion, no, across the world would know is how he had a bad habit, the habit of torturing the people around him for fun. 

Although he was sure Jane would react similarly to the previous maids before her, he couldn't help but became excited at the idea of entertainment that her tears and fear could bring. 

By the time the door knocked again from outside, a person had walked inside and this time it was a man who had walked inside the room. With a large figure and a greasy round bald head, he was sporting a wild smile and a vest that looked too tight for his figure. 

He rubbed his hands that was filled with golden rings and when Jane saw his face, horror struck her at once. 

She wasn't familiar with many people but having worked in many wealthy mansion, shifting from many different locations due to her unique work curse, she had found herself in one of Sir Smith's mansion before. 

But she wasn't aware that the Smith in front of her was the same as her employer three years ago. 

That man... was one of the men who was well known to molest his maids and valets. Men or women, as long as he liked their appearance, Smith wouldn't hesitate to lay his hand on them. 

There was once a rumor that a maid had killed herself due to this but Jane learnt the rumors later on. She mostly work in the laundry room and that was where maids tend to have the least rumors spreading towards them. So she wasn't aware what kind of man Smith was. At first, it didn't really matter until one day she bumped into him who had just slapped a maid across the cheeks on the back entrance. 

That was when Smith's eyes laid on her. 

Jane's fingers turned cold as a shuddering fear run down in her when she recalled everything that had happened again. 

Now that she think about it... it was also her aunt who had introduced her into working in Smith's mansion. Did she knew about it? 

Jane's stomach turn into knots as she questioned just how many times did her aunt served her in a silver platter to death. Once? Twice? What if there was more yet she was never clever enough to understand their ill intention? 

It seems about right. 

Jane squeezed her hands, in her head the images of the past flitted again, waltzing unannounced as Smith walked closer towards the chair in front of Victor. The closer he was, the fiercer his gaze seem to settle on her, the kind that make her froze entirely, the kind that make her feel as if the ground was coming closer to her face. 

Victor who was smiling slowly raised the tails of his silver brows, his face moving towards Jane even though he couldn't see her face and suddenly, the smile he held earlier slowly turned smaller until it was only traces on his lips.