When Eilen came down to the dining room in her new dress with a beautiful, though not very deep neckline, Henry squeezed his chair under the table. He needed a lot of effort not to grab this sweet girl right now and not get hold of her at the dinner table.
"Everything has its time," he said to himself and stood up, greeting the beautiful lady.

Ellie looked at the long table richly decorated for dinner and was surprised at the absence of other people behind it, except for the Count himself.

“Are we having dinner alone?” She asked puzzled.

“The maid usually dines in the kitchen,” smiled the earl, inviting Ellie to sit next to him.
Eilen crouched anxiously at Henry.

After what happened to her in the bathroom, the girl began to be even more ashamed and afraid of this man. And most of all - those hitherto unknown to her feelings that arose to him.

- Am I not a servant? Asked Allie, blushing again.

The count sat down beside her at the table, watching his beauty picking up vegetables in his plate with a fork.

- You? Oh no! - he ran his hand through her hair, pulling them away from her delicate ear: touching her began to drive him crazy. - I adopted you, did you forget?

Ellie, only having sent a piece of cabbage into her mouth, choked.

- What? I do not understand, I am here to work so that I can begin to live my life - her beautiful, rich green eyes shot up and met the count's cold and pale eyes.

At this point, Ally noted for herself that he was not very young. Henry was not less than thirty, which frightened her even more and at the same time intrigued her. Although he was handsome and stately. But his beauty was rather cold and domineering than warm and noble, like the knights from Ellie's favorite books.

“Exactly the way it is,” he ran his hand down her tender cheek and felt that a fire was starting in his pants. Ellie herself, of course, did not even suspect anything.

The girl pulled back slightly after his touch and rested her gaze on the plate.

“Well ... what does my responsibilities include?” She said in a slightly shaky voice. At that moment, all the charm from communicating with this person for her disappeared, leaving only fear.

“To be a loving daughter,” Henry laughed, but Ellie looked at him again in surprise. “If you haven't noticed, then I'm a lonely, childless man.” I am thirty years old - the age at which a man should already be married and bring up more than one child. And I? And I feel even older than I really are, and all those around me are my servants!

Henry smiled and looked tenderly at Allie, no longer trying to touch her, so as not to frighten this delicate flower. His words worked out - a happy blush reappeared on the girl's cheeks, driving away the pallor of fear.

“Therefore, all I want from you, for which I will pay you generously, is to pretend to be my loving daughter until I come of age!”

Ellie's stone fell from her heart. She sincerely smiled at this poor and lonely man. At that moment she really felt sorry for him, wanted to console him. I was also ashamed of my fear and my thoughts.

- Of course, forgive me for thinking that something was wrong!

- Give all the same to you, are we now not strangers? He smiled again, but this time the smile didn’t seem so cold. - Now, have a snack and go to sleep, you had a hard day today!

Eilen smiled gratefully at him and continued to have dinner, chatting with Henry at ease and telling him about her life. Only servants, sometimes running past them, often looked at the naive girl.

Chapter 4. Eyes of Darkness

That night Eilen could not sleep. I managed to fall asleep only once, after which she awoke to the sound of thunder outside the window, and the memories of the past day rolled over her again.
The girl shivered from the cold and fear.It was the first night away from such a home, a night in a foreign man’s mansion.
She got out of bed and took a lamp from the dresser, from which she then moved down the corridor in search of a toilet.
The storm outside the window, the eerie shadows of the objects from the lamp were scaring the terrible horror on Ellie, but her bladder was already so full that it was a little more and it seemed she was being described!

Here, finally, got to the toilet. Everything would be fine, but after leaving the restroom, Ellie thought she was lost. Winding through endless corridors and small living rooms, the girl is completely confused where she came from.

Thunder rumbled again, Allie started and almost cried from the horror of being lost in this huge castle. If only she knew where her room was! She would rush there with all legs! The darkness and emptiness of the castle mercilessly pressed on the psyche of the girl, who seemed to be waiting for a werewolf because of every corner, and a snow-white ghost was coming up from the wall ...

There was a terrible crash, on which the girl dropped the lamp in surprise, and she went out. Again a flash of lightning outside the window, a rumble of thunder and silence. The girl just froze in horror, trying to frantically figure out what the noise was.
The crackle of a broken tree repeated. Now, Eilen was able to determine that he was coming from the street, right under the window. Bare feet made a couple of steps towards the only source of light in the corridor, but froze. Fear did not allow to look behind the thin curtain. But the stubborn pen leapt to the window and pushed aside the silk fabric barrier.

On the rain-drenched lawn, Count Goldman stood in a nightgown and held a huge ax with which he smashed antique furniture right in the courtyard. He smashed the magnificent patterned chair with a powerful blow over and over again, which turned into a pile of chips in his eyes.
Ellie's eyes widened in horror. This sight itself, the thunderstorm and the terrible castle began to drive her crazy. Then Henry, who had his back to this moment, turned around and looked up at the window of the second floor of the castle, in which Ellie stood with a lamp. His eyes were bloodshot.

The girl screamed in surprise and, dropping the lamp, rushed like mad along the corridor, wanting to get rid of her creepy pictures being persecuted.

Chapter 5: Passion

She herself did not know how she was in this room. Apparently, in the heat of passion, Eilen hid here last night and just fell asleep, shaking in an easy chair. After all, this room was cozy and very nice. She clearly belonged to a young girl: a single bed with openwork pink linen, a chest of drawers with a mirror in front of which several boxes lay, and many books, namely chivalrous novels, were placed on the shelves above the bed.

Ellie loved books since childhood, especially novels about beautiful knights, rescuing their beloved ladies from the clutches of monsters. Therefore, the girl immediately climbed barefoot onto the bed and took out a few books from the shelf. After that, being afraid to be caught up by someone from the servant, she rushed in search of her room, which on a bright morning was not difficult.

Climbing into bed, Eilen decided to skip breakfast. She was not even so afraid to look into the earl, as she wanted to take a closer look at her findings. Of course, the last night scared her, but if you think about everything soberly, it is not so scary.

“Not true,” Ally whispered to herself, putting a book on her lap. - This view is only in psychos, psychos, who keep the girls in captivity ...

It always seemed to her romantic to identify with the main character of some novel and to wait for her prince with her. And Eilen, already eager to read a new story, opened the book.
On my knees fell a sealed letter.

Intriguing start.

- Do not take other people's things, Ellie! Do not take other people's books, Ellie, - she laughed and mocked the girl with her teacher. “But now I'm an adult ... and ...”
She took ...