Bambi and the Duke

Please read the book 'Valerian Empire' and 'Heidi and the Lord' before you read this one. As they are the first books that come in the series. 'Bambi and the Duke' is a prequel where the information of other characters are provided in the other two books. Not reading them will make you miss a lot of things.

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Leonard's carriage rode from the Carmichael's mansion, now heading towards the heart of the Bonelake where Lord Nicholas' mansion resided. With the coachman riding the carriage, Leonard and Vivian sat inside the carriage next to each other on the same side of the seat facing the opposite direction they were heading in.

At the hour of eleven, Vivian had dressed in the clothes which were given to her in the box. The simple dress was pale green in colour, it's hand sleeves short that didn't go too far from her shoulders which were paired with a ribbon of the same colour of the dress which was tied around her waist.

Standing near the carriage, Leonard had sent her in first due to which she had picked the opposite seat thinking he would prefer to sit facing the coachman's back. An owner sitting next to a low servant was never accepted in the society and she had come to realize this when Leonard's family or his cousins took any of the servants out. Though Charlotte had been a dear friend of hers, always taking Vivian along with her during her visits to the Carmichael's mansion, Vivian always sat on the opposite side. It was an untold action which was supposed to be known and followed by the servants.

But who knew that Leonard would sit next to her instead of sitting where he was supposed to. The journey wasn't too long nor was it short. In less than an hour, they arrived at the tall mansion standing alone midst the barren ground that stretched until it touched the forest that surrounded it.

Seeing few carriages already stationed not far from the mansion, Vivian wondered if they were late. She followed Leonard inside while keeping a good distance between them as she trailed behind him like a nonexistent string that was tied to him.

Like she had guessed, the room they were directed to already had most of the guests seated, some standing and talking to each other.

Vivian didn't miss Lady Shirley who had taken a seat in front of a male guest who was talking to her. With her expensive white gown and her hair tied fancily, she couldn't deny the fact that Lady Shirley was one of the most beautiful women in the room. As if sensing her eyes or sensing Leonard's arrival, Lady Shirley's eyes moved from the man to them and the smile on her face faltered catching Vivian standing behind Leonard. But the young girl made no effort to go greet Leonard. Things that could be easily obtained was not something men went after. Her mother had taught her well that men liked a good chase.

"...surely it would be good to retreat the plan."

"Hmm, maybe but Rueben doesn't want to change the order right now," said Leonard to the man whom he was talking to, "You will have to wait for a few months before proposing it as there will be a re-election in the council team."

The man nodded his head, "I will do that."

Lord Nicholas walked towards them, "Did you receive the documents I sent you Mr Verne?"

"Yes, milord," Mr Verne bowed his head, "Thank you for sanctioning the statements early from Lord Herbert. I am extremely grateful for your generosity."

"That's the least I could do for you," Vivian heard the Lord respond back with a smile on his face.

In the beginning, when Leonard had asked her to accompany him to the Lord's mansion, it had made her wonder why he had picked her and she still wondered why. She had never once accompanied any of the pureblood outside the mansion as Paul never recommended her to any of the Carmichael's members in the past. Vivian was the art of clumsiness and there was no telling when she would bump into a pureblood by mistake or break something around her.

"Vivian," hearing her name from the Lord's mouth, she stood straighter than before, "What a surprise. I wasn't expecting you here," he looked at Leonard as he spoke the last line.

"Shawn has been sent to pick the scroll from the council. Mathias doesn't trust birds and wanted someone to come to collect it," Leonard then turned towards Vivian, "Why don't you go get the Lord and me a drink," Vivian bowed her head before exchanging a small smile with the Lord.

Seeing her leave, the Lord offered the young Duke with a sly smile to which Leonard didn't bother with a reaction but the Lord didn't let it go, he said,

"I didn't expect you to bring her here."

"She's a maid. I don't think there's anything more to think about it," Leonard answered before turning to his left to make sure the girl was still in sight.

"I think it is when you bring her here. She looks pretty as a peach," Lord Nicholas commented.

"How is Timothy?" Leonard shifted the conversation. Timothy was Leonard's mentor Malcolm Rufus' son. With him growing up in the Rufus' household, Leonard had come to be friends with Timothy who was Lord Nicholas' age.

"Same as last week and before that. It will take some time," Leonard pursed his lips.

After Leonard had left the main house of the Rufus household to go back to live with his parents, he hadn't heard much from Timothy. It was only after a few weeks didn't he come to hear from the Lord that the man had lost his human lover due to the transformation.

Though humans came with huge ambitions and dreams which couldn't be fully fulfilled in their time span, they were as fragile as they came by.

There was a reason why their high society didn't acknowledge love between a human and a pureblooded vampire. Humans, when transformed by the vampires, were called half-vampires. Then came the vampires who were lower compared to the pureblooded vampires but it wasn't the issue of hierarchy.

It was about the scale of success when it came to turning a human to a half vampire which was most of the times low but that didn't stop a vampire from turning a human to close to their kind. Trouble was caused when the change didn't take place which would create a vampire without any sanity or mind, destroying everything and anything who were considered to be a threat in both the society. Unfortunately, for Timothy, the process of transformation hadn't gone well and he had lost her forever.

"It is a tragedy. To fall in love with a human. I wonder how many have succumbed to it and how many turned a blond eye to avoid the misfortune that is caused," Lord Nicholas murmured quietly by his side, his gentle eyes intelligently looking through the room, "By the way, I did ask one of the members to look into the matter but they found nothing there. The answer remains the same."

"I see. When will he be executed with the rest?" asked Leonard, "The sooner the better."

"Lionel informed me that it would be less than a week. So it should be soon. Would you want to have a last word with the man?"

"That won't be necessary," Leonard had been hurt and angry, he still was angry at the thought of why his family hadn't been careful like the other pureblooded families. Given the time, he would have tortured and strangled the man for robbing his family from him. If he said the word, he knew Lord Nicholas would help him but the betrayal was too deep. To think someone he knew and his family trusted could do something so cruel was hard to digest.

"Looks like you will have to be careful, Leo," Lord Nicholas said looking past him. Furrowing his brows, Leonard turned to see what the Lord was talking about before his jaw ticked.

Vivian who had gone to bring the drinks had stopped by to talk to a certain vampire he had asked her to stay away from.