BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 147's

Xavier stood by the window of the reading room that led to the main street. It does not touch the coffee prepared for it at the table, but it already looks much calmer than when it first came. Although not going to admit this, but the willingness of Jose to accept it makes Xavier feel calmer. At least, he was currently safe from anything that followed him.

"First," started Xavier, still unwilling to move from the bright window. He would rather stand than sit. Sitting makes his trembling legs clear. "You're gonna protect me."

Jose folded his hands together on his chest, leaning his waist side on a large reading table made of old teak wood. The three sides of the wall were filled with giant bookshelves that extended until they almost touched the ceiling of the room. The sofa is comfortably laid out in a circle in the middle of the room, with a thick fur carpet lining the wooden floor. On the side of the windowed wall, a large teak table was firmly placed, filled with paper and stationery belonging to Marco—, which had previously been dismantled by Jose to look for clues where the man was.

"Second," Xavier continued.

"First," said Jose calmly, "that's not the way to talk to an Argent."

Xavier laughed mockingly. "Then how? You want me to bark?"

Jose's smile expands small, feeling deja vu. "If that's the best thing you can do, go ahead."

The door opened and Rolan entered, cutting off the reply Xavier wanted to throw. "Jose, you're not gonna believe this, I know what they're doing! Fucking occult! They made—" He stopped when he saw there was someone else in the room. "Oh, there's still Hastings," he said astonishedly, "you haven't come home yet?"

Jose approached Rolan, whispering softly to him. The doctor nodded, then walked out without saying anything.

"What?" ask Xavier beware. "You're telling him to bring in another bouncer?"

"Don't be paranoid. I'm just asking him to leave because we're going to talk about something serious" Jose said. "I can promise that nothing bad will happen to you as long as you're in this house, and as long as you don't cross your boundaries as a guest."

"Only as a guest?" Xavier frowned. "Just dong today! It's the same bullshit! Then what about the creatures that bother me?!"

Jose flicked his finger. He walked closer. "I'll listen to your monster story first. Now, tell me about my uncle. What do you mean, you're trying to free him? What did you free him from?"

Xavier looked at Jose straight. "S swear first you'll give me asylum."

"I will consider after hearing your story" said Jose stubbornly. "I don't like buying cats in sacks."

"What is the guarantee that you won't deceive me?" Xavier laughs. "You can pretend you know what I'm about to say, and then throw me away on the grounds that there's nothing new you got from me?"

Jose straightened his back. He looked at Xavier sharply. "You came here to insult me?" tanyakanya. "If you don't believe the words I say, please leave here. It's not me who needs help."

Xavier gulped. He raised his hands to the side of his head in surrender. "Don't be offended" he said, "I'm really dizzy at the moment."

"Sit down." Jose turned his head towards the sofa. "Drink coffee. Stop looking out the window so you don't worry. This manor is safe."

***

Maria was just about to decide to take a break when the door of her room was knocked. Susan got up from his side and opened the door, spoke briefly with the waiter outside, then returned to the side of Mary who was creeping into the bed.

"Miss, there's a guest for Miss outside."

"Tell me I'm dead" lamented Mary. "I hate guests. I want to sleep."

Susan kept quiet, knowing Maria wouldn't sulk for too long. Sure enough, after rolling left and right lazily on the bed, Mary got up. He looked at Susan with a curious expression. "Who's coming?"

"Lady Spencer."

"Baron Spencer's wife, she's coming alone." Susan looked at Mary intently.

"Flora? What's he here for?"

"Said there was an invitation he wanted to convey directly. If Miss is not pleased, I can say that Miss is not feeling well."

Maria grunts. "Help me straighten my hair" she said as she sat in front of the makeup glass. "These are just the reasons. He must have come to make fun of me about last night!"

"What happened, Miss?"

Maria glanced through the makeup glass. "Jose hit Sir William," he said with blushing cheeks, not recounting the part he hugged tightly in front of everyone at the party. "Have I told you about that yet? Now I'm definitely being rumored about Bjork!"

Susan blinked in wonder. "Why did Lord Jose hit Sir William?"

Mary did not answer. He wears his birthday gift necklace, takes a peg once again, then goes to meet Flora.

The girl got up from her seat and gave her greetings while smiling politely when she saw Maria coming.

Mary was grateful that her living room was protected from the sun. It was still in pain every time I saw the light. Doctors said his eyes were exhausted and suggested he wear a wide hat when out, even in the afternoon.

Flora gave him an invitation to the charity meeting he was going to hold. "I built chapels and baths for the poor" he said. "There is a kitchen there. Soon the snow will fall, and people on the road will have trouble finding shelter or places to eat. The opening itself will be carried out with a blessing mass in its chapel. I wish you could come. We can also watch the solar eclipse together after that."

A solar eclipse? Maria frowned at the unusual idea. He stared at the invitation letter he had received, which was expensively printed with many handmade colors and drawings, then turned the invitation over to Susan for safekeeping. "That's fine, Flora," he said. "I'll come."

"thank you. Everyone must be happy to see this famous Garnet princess come. I'll set up a special place for you at Mass tomorrow."

Flora spoke each of her sentences in a tone as sweet as honey, but Maria knew the woman's last words were the opening of her banter and innuendo. Maria took a deep breath, not understanding why she was always looking for him when she was married to Baron Spencer. He turned to Susan, moved his head slightly, asked her to leave.

"What place are you going to prepare, Flora?" ask Mary as soon as Susan leaves. Despite not liking Flora, he had enough ethics to not embarrass her in front of a ladyboy. Maria turned her head to the side, towards Flora who was sitting to her right. "Rules in Bjork, the nobles will indeed sit at the very front, after the Deacons. It's the rule of the kingdom, not your right to rule it, just obey the rules of the palace like other commoners."

Flora's pupils dilated. The woman opened her mouth without a sound, clenched it again, then said softly restraining the emotions, "Miss Garnet," she said with a trembling voice. "I've let it go every time you call me a commoner for considering your very young age. But I need to remind you that I am a baroness, I am not a commoner. You didn't forget, did you?"

Maria smiled faintly, knowing that Flora was very sensitive to her status. Even though the issue of abolition of social caste, still until now the girls desperately attract the attention of noble men to marry—t care even though the nobleman already has a wife or is old. Not a few who are willing to live a difficult life married to a poor baron just for the sake of being able to get the title of Lady.

Despite always voicing the issue of equal status and behaving as if he was an egalitarian, Flora was obsessed with status.

"You know why we nobles are called blue-blooded?" Maria turned to Flora, who turned her face away from her to keep the emotions in check. "The story is from Spain there. There is a term called sangre azul, which literally means blue blood. It was a term for a noble family in Spain, who only married into the same race in order to keep their race pure, so that their lineage was pure. They have pale white skin to their bluish blood vessels. That's where the blue blood idiom comes from."

"Then? Everyone has veins. You want to see my vein?" Flora listened with increasingly fast breaths, despite knowing which direction Maria was talking about, but still could not guess what the girl wanted to say.

"You can't catch my point?" Maria raised both her eyebrows high, her eyes widened. "Blue blood is an idiom to describe bloodlines. Lineage, Flora." He shook his head slowly, making his curly hair sway gently. "One does not become noble through the marriage parchment, but through the bonds of blood. Through birth."

Flora got up quickly with a red face, gave a goodbye to Maria, then rushed away from there.

***