Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER ELEVEN

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

I smiled as I watched her nod at my every word. I guess all there’s left to do is to develop and fix the hand gestures that we’re going to use.

To signal me for Lykus’ presence, she’ll have to tap her head three times and if he’s mad about something, probably at me, she’ll have to touch her forehead with the back of her hand, if he’s just wearing his resting scowl face then she’ll have to tap her cheeks with all of her fingers.

In the likely event that he’ll come my way or is on his way to meet me, she’ll have to clap and if I’ll get to meet him by chance, then she’ll rub her stomach, it’s all basic signals, and we even thought of a signal for when I’m speaking to someone of noble or high status, then she’ll make the signal of fixing her hair.

I know that this is going to be tricky because she could do this without signing the signal to me but I’ll live with that, another challenge for us would be for her to make sure she’s within my line of sight, otherwise, it’ll be a pretty big fail for us.

And if she’s not within my line of sight but close enough to be heard, then we’ll have to resort to the vocal codes.

For Lykus' presence, we have the anchor word 'Potato'. If he's in a bad mood, then she'd say that potatoes 'don't taste good', and if that's not the case, then she'd say the opposite.

If he's heading in my direction by chance, the 'potato is uncooked'. If he intends to come to me, then the 'potato is overcooked'. We got a good grasp of the whole thing quite immediately and even my doubts about whether we could actually pull this off were pushed into the background.

"Do you have any questions, Miss Polly?" I asked, placing my knuckles on my waist,

She shook her head "None my lady, ohh~ this is exhilarating!" she gushed, doing tiny kicks while remaining in her seat.

"Now remember, we need to be sneaky, no one must hear, see or catch on to us as we do this, absolutely no one," I warned, and she nodded with tightly shut eyes.

"Most certainly," she affirmed,

"Well, that will be all, Polly...I will see you tomorrow, I suppose, I'll be working at the gardens," I informed, she paused to look at me with a frown,

"My lady... the garden?" she repeated with a sullen tone,

"Yes," I replied, my gaze shifting around, suddenly feeling awkward with the quick change in the atmosphere, why does it look like she's concerned and frightened at the same time and why does it take a literal split second for her to change expressions and moods?

"Is there a problem, Polly?"

“N-Nothing my lady, it’s just that… I didn’t think you’d like being in the garden,” she mumbled. I felt my brows creasing as I tried to make sense of her words.

That can’t be. Looking at the rest of the castle, the garden should be as pretty and scenic as, and I’m pretty sure the real lady Pelomina loves flowers. How could she not like the garden? Even Lykus knows she likes the garden,

“Why would you think that?” I asked with a forced smile,

She sucked in a deep breath and cowered as she averted her gaze, “I’m very sorry my lady, I know I should, but I. saw you on that night,” she replied.

‘uh-oh, does the real Lady Pelomina actually have some hidden grudge with flowers that only she would know,’

I gulped and approached her, placing a hand over hers, “which night…what do you mean?” I followed, I really don’t want to play any more charades with her than I had to,

“That night…it was the night that lord Lykus left for the war so I guess it must be because of that, that you cried in the garden,” she said and I sighed, I thought it was something else, like burning the garden or picking the flowers,

“Then you started tearing the flowers from their plants and stomping on them like you had so much pent-up rage for the poor things,” she followed and my throat tightened, looks like the woman I’m supposed to mimic is a really interesting fellow.

I’m having mixed feelings about Polly’s stalking tendencies because now I have some ideas about Lady Vaustero’s personal stuff, kind of disconcerting, but inside knowledge is inside knowledge and I’ll take it as more to my benefit. As I thought, having Polly would be really useful. That said, she does look like she didn't want to see that. She looked so sullen and ashamed.

I bit the inside of my cheeks and just waved her off and patted her head, “That’s alright, but I will beg you to never tell this to anyone else,” I began and she nodded with downcast eyes, “And, to answer your question, yes I am alright with working in the garden, just remember what we studied for today, I’ll rely on your help for tomorrow,” I followed to try and lift her spirits.

She nodded and stood up, nodding to me as I saw her out the door, “Oh—Polly, can you help me in the bathroom first? I would like to take a bath,” I asked, and she tilted her head in confusion,

‘What did I say wrong now?’ I thought, hiding the frustration behind a smile,

Polly then snorted and shook her head, waving me off, “My lady, you kid too much, I’ll call your attendants immediately,” she replied before doing a curtsy and walking away, leaving me confused and stinking. Is helping me to the washroom not something just anyone can do?

I mean, it's not like I asked a man to do it, and I didn’t tell her to bathe me myself. That’s kind of… awkward. I just want to take a bath. I’m starting to think that the smell from the kitchen latched itself onto my clothes and skin.

I have no issue with smelling delicious, but I do feel a little sticky. The steam and smoke from that place not only did suffocate my lungs, and it also made me sweat.

Can I not just take a bath myself? Oh right, they don’t have running water here. Then I should just find a rag somewhere and—

“My lady? You called us to help you bathe, yes?” I heard Java's voice call from the other side of the door,

“Ah, yes, I will be with you shortly,” I replied as I walked to the door once again and saw all three of them, Keion, Java, and Eustace.

They smiled at me with a small nod, “Must be a tough day at the kitchen, my lady,” Java started, gesturing for me to follow as Keion offered her arms for me to hold on to, which I did. Not sure if it was a custom for them to offer an arm for nobles wherever they walked or if it was a thing developed to help Pelomina with her weak constitution.

But to answer Java’s question, I nodded, “Yes, but it was a wonderful experience, nonetheless, everyone was so kind, and the food was so delicious,” I gushed, that was a genuinely fun experience for me, my first time in such a bustling kitchen who’s been making homemade meals with pure spices and no additives, it was so darned delicious, though.

They chuckled and snorted after I spoke, “Oh my dear lady, the kitchen is not for everyone but I suppose you had fun, I’d assume that you didn’t have any trouble?” Keion asked with a warm smile,

I gulped and shook my head. They’ll probably be too concerned if I tell them what happened, everyone here has a really negative and deep-rooted fear and worry whenever even the thought of me getting hurt gets brought up. It’s like their trigger.

We reached the bathroom and—Good golly, what is this?!

Marbled floors, golden lining, a porcelain tub, a polished shelf filled with wine-bottle-looking glass, glass jars filled with flower petals, ceramic basins, and yet another large chandelier on the ceiling lighting the room with a golden glow making it glow.

Who is the interior designer of this place?! They did an amazing job, obviously. It couldn’t be Lykus, so I can proudly say that whoever decorated this deserves to have delicious meals and both sides of their pillow cool for an optimal sleeping experience. I was so dazed that I didn’t notice how loose the corset part of the dress was until it slid off of my shoulders.

It caught me off guard that I instinctively tried to raise it back up so all three of them looked at me strangely, I cleared my throat and smiled, “Sorry, I got distracted,” I replied before helping them get rid of the dress, I have another thin dress underneath the dress and the corset itself but what I’m a bit uncomfortable about was having someone else to tend to me.

“Hmm, perhaps because you’re exhausted, my lady, no matter, no matter we’ll clean you right up, bring your dinner, and then you can go to sleep,” Eustace noted and the others nodded.

Then they proceeded to undress me and when I was fully naked, they immediately draped a robe over me and guided me to the filled tub, I expected it to be cold but it was lukewarm, just right so I just dipped and felt the nerves I had all day long melt alongside the sticky feeling I had since earlier.

I noticed that they really have their designated… expertise is the word I had in mind, but there has to be a better term for that.

Keion grabbed the wine bottles from the shelf and uncorked them releasing such a wonderful aroma that’s so fragrant and light on the nose, then she poured some on my hair, working it through its length and lathering it up to the scalp, that must take a lot of work and massaged my scalp. I wouldn’t lie, it feels nice to be pampered like this. It's been so long since I was washed like this. The last time was…

… when I was five, I think? Kind of sad, but it is what it is.

I closed my eyes and started to feel like I’ll doze off at any second. Even when Java started to wash my body, it just felt relaxing,

“The poor thing must’ve been tired to her bones,” I could hear Eustace whisper,

“Hush now, let her get some shut-eye,” Java said,

“But….carry….edroo…” that was probably Keion but I couldn’t pay attention anymore, as I was taken over by sleep. This was the most relaxed I’ve ever felt ever since I came here…

Maybe even before arriving here, actually.