Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

7. Cold Bath, Hot Tea.

Y/N looked around the kitchen in wonder. It was the largest kitchen she had ever been in. Copper pots and pans in a variety of sizes hung from the ceiling, and were placed upon the dark shelves that lined the white walls of the room.  A door stood on the far left wall of the room, and in the center of the spacious room stood a large scrubbed wooden table perfect for preparing ingredients. There were several fancy metal cookstoves, and a large stone fireplace set into the wall on the far side of the kitchen. To the right, there was another door, and on either side of it were the only windows set into the wall.

"Well, don' just stand there get in," Tola said gruffly, pointing to a large metal tub on the floor of the kitchen.

Y/N jumped, startled by both the woman's words and her tonality.

"Ye can leave the dress on if ya want," Tola spoke in a slightly gentler voice. "ay'm gonna have to wash it either way."

Feeling apprehensive, Y/N made her way over to the tub, which looked suspiciously like a laundry basket, and hesitated about getting in. Apparently, she was taking too long for the housekeeper's liking, because Tola picked her up by the collar of her nightdress and threw her unceremoniously into the water.

Y/N shrieked at how cold the water was and tried to scramble out as quickly as she could, but Tola forced her back into the cold water grumbling, "it would 'ave been warm if ye didn't run off an' cause trouble."

Y/N sat in the bucket, weighed down by the waterlogged nightgown. This was all just too much for her little mind to process. She sat in the tub, and Tola began scrubbing her clean, trying her best to not dwell on her dislike for children. 

But as she looked at the little girl in the laundry bucket of water, memories of her old life that she had done her best to repress, resurfaced and flashed before her eyes.

Tola was laying in a bed. Sweat covered her brow and she was exhausted. Even though childbirth was something that the woman of her people could handle in good health it had still taken a lot out of her. Her breathing was ragged, as she lay in the bed, holding her newborn son in her arms.

Even though the room was only a simple maids chamber, it was the nicest room she had been in since that night, that dreadful night when the master of the house had his way with her. Tola felt her eyes grow wet just at the thought of what had been done to her.

She was currently alone except for the crying babe. The midwife who had helped to deliver the child had hurried out of the room in order to inform the Master of the house that his 'son' had been born.

Tola held the child tightly to herself, knowing that after the midwife returned with the Master she would never be able to see her son again. She didn't know what the fate of her son would be after that, but did know that it would not be a kind one. He was most likely to be sold as a slave, or raised as the master and mistresses own son, and Tola knew just how cruel both options were.

She didn't want the child, that she had carried in her womb for nine months, to suffer the same indignity and torment that she had. Looking around the room, her eyes landed on the washbasin in the far corner of the room.

Seeing as it was her only option, she sat up, and struggled to get to her feet, clutching the baby to her chest. Her legs were shaking, and her stomach felt like it was on fire, but she continued to walk across the room. She stumbled as she reached the small table, she held her child tightly to her bosom as she stared down into the clean water of the basin.

Tola was well aware that she would be severely punished when her master realized what she had done, but she was willing to suffer any torment to ensure that her son never would.