Penny had been too eager to notice the young vampiress who had seen her walk into the kitchen to follow her and see her picking up the food and ready to eat. Her eyes looked back at Grace where the young woman stood with her hands crossed against her chest, her body slightly leaning back with a smug look on her face. 

The young vampiress let go of her hands and started to walk towards where Penny stood, "Don't you know the mansion's decorum on what the servants have to follow. Especially the slaves who are to not touch the food which is made for the family members?" it wasn't a question as Grace spoke to Penny.

Penny being quite frank replied, "I didn't eat anything since last noon," it was only after she had smelled the food did she remember how hungry she was. It wasn't that she hadn't ever skipped a few meals before. She had done it out of savings, out of lack of time but since she had arrived at Quinn's mansion she had been given meals on time. Initially, though Damien had tortured her by not giving her food and eating right in front of her, the man had later made sure to have the butler visit the room with a sufficient amount of food such that her appet.i.te had grown for good food in quant.i.ty. 

"Of course, you were. You could have done it when everyone was present. I am sure we wouldn't refuse giving food to you. Instead, you pick the time when everyone has retired to their rooms and gone to the beds," Grace point the obvious flaw with which she was going to make use of against this slave who had been protected under her step-brother Damien. She had been waiting for this opportunity since she had arrived back home without Damien with her. Her brother must have been caught up with the council work as the death wasn't a simple feud but a plot against causing murder in Quinn's mansion. 

"I just felt hungry now," Penny said seeing through right away what Grace was trying to do. 

"Such an impudent slave girl who looks at people above her in the eye," Grace with one flick of her hand splashed the bowl on the floor that Penny had been holding to eat. 

"What did you do?" asked Penny in disbelief. She had wasted a whole bowl of her food.

The young vampiress didn't like the tone in which Penny had spoken to her right now. This pesky little slave didn't have manners on how to talk to people who were above her. She was the master's sister and to be using such tone with her was unforgivable in Grace's eyes! No one had ever questioned her or her actions yet this slave who was beneath her feet had the audacity to question her. 

"What is going on here at this hour of the night?" asked a woman near the entrance of the kitchen. 

Grace raised her hand when Fleurance who was walking by heard the words coming from the kitchen. To see what was going on where her daughter and slave stood talking. Fleurance wasn't fond of the slave herself and didn't understand why her step-son dragged this slave all around like a pet dog where she wasn't supposed to be brought. Just today at noon one of the women in her circles came to have tea in the mansion when she heard from her on how there were rumors running in the society now about Damien's bad reputation. 

'I overheard Lady Venetia speak on how she overheard another friend of her say that Damien had declared his feelings over this girl who was supposed to be his slave. Is it true? It hardly makes any sense,' the lady had gone on to speak where Lady Fleaurance had cut it short with,

'Rumors are often spread when the person is popular and from a family of ours, it shouldn't come as a surprise. It is a piece of false news.'

Since the time Fleurance had got married to the Quinn family, she had made sure to get all the reports from the maids and other servants who worked in this mansion to make sure it was running just as she wanted. 

Having a slave wasn't bad. It had never been bad as only the rich men and women could afford slaves from the black market or from the slave establishment. It showed the high status of how they had the ability to have a slave and do what they wanted with it. From the time Damien had bought the girl home, instead of having her put in the bas.e.m.e.nt cage, he had directly made her sleep in his room while making her eat what they ate which the woman considered to be an insult on her face. 

Her husband didn't mind it but she did. To Flerauance to have married into the rich and prestigious family, she wasn't going to let a mere slave tarnish her step-son's name. 

"Mother!" her daughter Grace walked to her mother, facing her to say, "I found this slave girl snooping around with the ladle in her hand," she placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and then took a step forward such that the little light from the lantern fell on the Lady's face. 

"Haven't you eaten enough for the day? You are already turning plump in size, the last thing we need is you looking down at us thinking we are equals. Imagine the day where you sit with us at the table," Penny blinked back at the vampiress which the woman took offense, "It is as I thought. Damien has taught you no manners at all on how to behave with us," said Fleurance, her eyes catching note of the bowl and the food which was splattered across the kitchen floor. 

Penny's teeth ground against each other in annoyance where she could not retaliate or express. What a stroke of bad luck to be caught by these two vampiresses at this hour of the night today.