The duke was a very handsome man, tall, built with muscles but lean from the waist down. He wore rectangle shaped reading glasses and behind those glasses were dark green eyes.
Full brows, prominent cheekbones and a sharp jaw, he had full pale pink lips that were set out in a straight line like he was displeased and it seemed like he was, or was his face always in a permanent frown? Anne couldn't tell, she observed that he was putting on a gold earring on one ear which was rare in the human realm.
She had only seen a few human men wearing an earring, as they believed it made a man look irresponsible and feminine but there was nothing feminine about the duke and the single earring on his right ear only added to his to his charm and masculine energy.
The white shirt he wore was straining against his muscled chest, his fore arms and biceps thick with veins and muscles, he rolled the sleeves of shirt like he wanted to show off his thick arms.. 'did he come here to interview or seduce us' Anne wondered. The duke was a huge man, he was even taller than the king and every other man in the room.
The duke seemed to have felt her staring continuously at him and glared at her like he wanted her six feet under the ground.
Anne immediately averted her eyes and stared at the ground, her face turning beet red out of embarrassment.
" I can see you're all present here despite the heavy rain which is a good start, although some of you came quite late" the duke finally spoke while glancing at Anne with displeasure clearly written on his face
She almost rolled her eyes at his words, she wasn't late at all she was actually 10 minutes early and how did he know when she came was he spying on them like a bat?
" As you all know you all know, we'll be picking just four candidates out of the twenty one of you present here and I and his Majesty would personally conduct the interview. We wouldn't want to an incompetent person ending up with the job would we? " He continued while still glancing at her
' incompetent? He doesn't even know anything about me but he already hates me' Anne screamed inwardly.
She saw saw no point of wasting her time here if he was already disappointed in her.
She was pretty sure he wouldn't hand the job over to her and there was no need of going through with the interview until his heard his next words ..
" The four physicians who passed the interview would be paid 5 thousand gold coins monthly, and a hundred thousand Gold coins each if you're successful in curing my sister"
F-five thousand gold coins a month? Anne eye's widened in surprise, that was a lot of money and a hundred thousand gold coins when they got the job done? That was too much money, an average physician made at least a thousand gold coins a year.
Anne glanced at the other physicians present and saw their shell shocked expressions.
Most of them were already planning how to spend the money they haven't even gotten yet, she could literally smell the greed in the room, she couldn't blame them though even though she also needed this money too, buying a house, a carriage with two horses, opening her hospital and buying herbs and equipment had exhausted most of the money she had.
Although she had patients in her hopital they were mostly commoners and they paid in silver coins, she didn't have any noble patient yet and she wasn't a personal physician to any noble household.
She needed this money as much as any other physician present in the room.
" The four of you would also be living in the duke's estate as you'd be needing to keep a close eye on daisy's health at all times " he continued
Daisy so that was the name of his sister, Anne wondered if she looked as grumpy as her brother or if it were just the duke who had a permanent frown on his face.
" The interview would start in a few minutes and you're to come with your file, we'll be in the next room" he said walking out of the room along with the king.
The room suddenly went quiet as everyone was trying to process the information they just heard. Anne suddenly became nervous, she knew she only had 5 months experience and had only taken a few patients and performed a few minor surgeries, which was nothing compared to most of the people here who had nothing compared to the people here who had years of experience, she was pretty sure she wouldn't end up with the job plus the duke already hated her.
.... Meanwhile in the room next door
" You've been staring at me with that stupid grin on your face since we left the waiting room" Dexter suddenly snapped, although the king was his friend as well as his sister's fiance, he felt like tossing him into the lake at the back of his estate sometimes especially now that the king was trying to get on his nerves.
He was already very irritated today, he was always irritated but today took the number one spot as he had to arrive very early today while it rained to get ready for this stupid interview, and someone had the guts to come late, the red haired girl. What was she even doing here? She didn't even look like a physician, she looked no older than 18 yrs old and he was sure as heck no 18 yr old had experience as a physician, why did the council send her a letter? He made it clear that he only needed well trained and experienced physicians not a young girl who looked inexperienced, or was she here to represent someone? He had a lot of questions on his mind and the king wasn't helping matters.
" You seem to have something against the red haired maiden " king caron replied wriggling his brows much to Dexter's irritation
" We're here to interview these people, stop fooling around" Dexter suddenly regretted coming here, he would have left the king to interview the physicians, he was certain the king wouldn't give the position to anyone who would hurt his sister. The king certainly called him here for his own amusement, he let out a sigh
" Let's just get this over with" he signaled the butler who was standing by the door to call the first candidate...
Anne had been sitting in the waiting room for over 3 hours now, although only 5 of them remained that haven't been interviewed yet, she was supposed to be the last person to be interviewed as she came 'late' according to Mr grumpy face. it was already almost 6pm in the evening and she was the only one remaining in the waiting room, the maids had already began lightning the candles on the chandeliers as it was already getting dark outside.
Poor Edward, he was still waiting in the carriage, she would have told him not to wait for her if she knew she was going to stay this long, it had already stopped raining an hour ago but it was still cold in the waiting room and it has to fire place to produce heat.
"Miss Anne? It's time for your interview" the butler said with a small bow
"Oh ok lead the way" Anne stood up quickly, she grabbed her files and held it close to her chest as she didn't come with a hand bag, she took a deep breath and pushed the door to the interview room open and there he was glaring at her through his glasses.
The king seemed to be busy with going through some files, he suddenly raised his head and stared at her.
" Have a seat you're miss Anne right?"
" Yes your majesty," she replied while taking her sit purposely staring at the king and avoiding the duke.
" Can I see your file please?" He asked stretching his hand, which she immediately gave him.. The king was a polite man and he seemed like a nice person unlike the blond devil sitting beside him. Speaking of blonde devil she could feel his glare on her like she offended him or did she? She didn't know him from anywhere or was he always hostile with everyone? None of the candidates of the interview came back so she couldn't ask them how it went or if the duke was like this to everyone of them.
She was almost tempted to glare back but she had to be polite as she was in the presence of the king.
The king let out a satisfied hum while going through her file
"I'm quite impressed miss Anne, you have a lot of skills in the medical field for someone so young, where did you learn how to perform surgery? " He questioned while handing out her file to the duke who looked eager to take it, he immediately opening her file and started going through it.
She couldn't blame them though learning surgery in the human realm was rare as most people only started practicing it a few years ago because most people used to think it was a witchcraft practice and tearing up a person's body to treat them was diabolical, it wasn't until the council approved surgeries a few years ago did most physicians start practicing it.
" I learnt from the ro- I mean I learnt from my home town it's quite far from here as you can already guess I'm not from here" she let out an awkward laugh making the duke narrow his eyes in suspicion.
" Who's this master of yours miss Anne? It says here that you studied for just 2 years, but the person you studied under still remained unknown, did you forge your file? Studying surgery under 2 years is quite hard to believe don't you think miss Anne?"
" Of course not, the list of surgeries I have successfully performed are written in that file and they are all council approved" Anne gritted her teeth, she couldn't help but glare back at the blonde devil, how dare he accuse her of forgery? If only he knew how much she studied and rebelled against her parents to get to where she was today. It wasn't her fault she was a quick learner and that she was passionate about studying medicine, besides studying surgery was no big deal in the fae realm and they had a lot of surgeons there.
Yet this blonde devil had the guts to doubt her, screw him and those sexy lips of his.
The king suddenly chuckled clearly amused with their bantering, the red haired maiden seems to have gotten under Dexter's skin which was rare, the king had never seen Dexter so annoyed before.
Anne sudden turned her eyes towards the king her face turning red in embarrassment, she was supposed to be calm during the interview but her she was glaring at the duke the same person who was her employer, she mentally chided herself, what was she thinking? Even if she was annoyed she wasn't supposed to let it show.
" I apologize your majesty" she bowed slightly
Dexter couldn't believe his ears, why was she apologizing to the king instead of him? He was the one who she disrespected not the king, non of the other candidates had the guts to glare at him, heck no one had the guts to glare at him. He was the duke of crowfield and he was used to respect, yet this fiesty red haired had been getting on his nerves since she stepped through the castle gates, he gritted his teeth in annoyance and glared at her.
" Its fine I wasn't offended, we'll review your file and send you a letter if you manage to reach the criteria for the job" the king replied with amusement clear in his eyes
" Good day miss Anne"
" Good day your majesty, milord" she bowed slightly before walking out of the room
" Quite fiesty isn't she?" The king chuckled while the duke narrowed his eyes in irritation.
" She isn't going to get the job, she's too rebellious" Dexter let out a sigh
" We'll see about that" the king said with a mischievous look in his eyes