"Hey Rosalyn," the young Everheart girl spoke. "Why'd you save me?" she wondered.

"You summoned me." Rosalyn replied, slightly dismissive.

"How?" Greenish blue eyes stared up at her with curiosity, innocence shinning through even after such a traumatic event. Though, that also made Rosalyn worry, her mind could still be in a state of shock, making her acting unusual. Rosalyn would hate to see what would happen if that was the case, once the impact of everything caught up to the girl. It surely wouldn't be pleasant to watch. She decided to act like she didn't hear the question her new master asked, after all, she didn't want to lie to the girl for a second time, truth be told, she hadn't been summoned at all.

Hope seemed to believe her act and didn't even bother asking again, yet, her next action just might've confused Rosalyn more than the hug had. The girl reached out her hand, grabbing onto the demon's. Feeling the small girl's hand shake slightly, she couldn't help but give it a reinsuring squeeze.

"Now, there are some things that we do need to work out," Rosalyn spoke softly, not wanting to frighten the girl even more. "What should I be to you?"

Lady Hope tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"When contracted to a human, demons are to fill whichever role their now master seems fit."

The girl couldn't help but frown at that, as it sounded rather demanding to just command someone around, even growing up as a noble, it was hard for her to picture.

"Anything? At all?" Hope asked.

Rosalyn flinched a bit, perhaps regretting her choice of words, she just couldn't have added a 'within reason, that is' to the end of her statement? She was worried she was seeing a sadistic side of the sweet little girl, yet she answered anyway.

"Yes, anything."

"Can you... can you just take care of me, than?"

The demon could've sworn she felt her heart melt at that. Out of all the things this child wanted, she just wanted someone to care for her, though, she guessed it would be understandable, given the trauma the girl had just escaped. She decided to help the girl figure it out though.

"Take care of you how?" She asked.

Hope just looked down, twiddling her thumbs. "Just... keep me alive, okay?" her voice was hardly above a whisper. "And... try and make sure I'm not in that situation again... okay?"

Rosalyn nodded a bit, thinking. "I'm assuming you're a noble?

The girl blinked and gave a small nod, confused on how Rosalyn figured that. Seeming to read her mind, Rosalyn replied.

"The way you speak," she explained. "It's very proper. And, you being a noble... the only position I see fit would be for me would be... your maid."

The small child simply nodded, and Rosalyn smiled, squeezing her hand. "Also... I believe we're here."

They now stood outside of a manor... though it seemed like it hadn't been touched in quite a while.

"I don't get it..." Hope mumbled. "This place seems abandoned, yet this is where I lived with Uncle Lucien and Marius..."

"Maybe you were assumed dead and they moved out because of all the memories being too much," Rosalyn gently suggested. "It would be easy for me to find them, though, we can jus-"

"No," Hope interrupted, than bowed her head. "I didn't mean for that to sound so snappy, but... I need to rest. Plus I think it will be good for me to have an evening to myself before I see my uncle and cousin again... I don't think I can handle that right now."

"Than, we'll stay here tonight."

"Thank you..."

***

The remainder of the night seemed to fly by, after being treated to an excellent dinner from Rosalyn, and being able to take a nice bath, Hope had felt a lot better than she had earlier. Though, don't get her wrong, the water hitting against the various bruises and hickeys that scattered her body didn't feel all that pleasant, neither did the shampoo getting into the cuts on her wrists, both self inflicted and from oh how much she struggled whenever she got cuffed or tied to the bed (marks such as these were the reason she told Rosalyn she could bathe herself.. that and the fact that she couldn't imagine being naked and touched by someone else, even if nothing was happening, at least not for a while), yet, she endured the pain and felt very clean afterwards, sore, but clean.

Right now, Rosalyn was elsewhere, preparing Hope's evening tea, leaving Hope alone in her room. Currently, the girl was staring at a wall, trying to process the events of the past two years, and also trying to think of an excuse to tell her uncle and cousin tomorrow, it would have been shameful to tell them she was a toy used by human traffickers for the past two years, she didn't know how they would react to it, nor did she really want to know. Would they blame her for wanting to go out alone that day? Or say she should've worn a different dress? Would they... would they disown her because not many nobles are willing to marry a non-virgin?

"My Lady, your tea."

Hope nearly screamed when Rosalyn brought her out of her thoughts.

When Rosalyn saw that panic that had been absent most of the day, she knew, Hope's state of shock was in fact wearing off, meaning...

She sighed, knowing the poor girl probably wouldn't get a good nights sleep.