Fifth
1683 Words
The series of heavy footsteps across the hall disturbed the marble statues. People were checking the rooms of the mansion.
Keys cling to each other as the Countess walks towards her son’s room.
The latch creaked, but the owner slept soundly. She sealed her opened mouth, using her handkerchief when an unusual scene slapped her.
She ambled back to the exit and locked it, preventing the servant’s entry.
“Hmmm...”
The teens woke up at the same time. Maxine blinked her eyes thrice, Kent gave his smirk.
“What were you doing here?” Maxine asked.
“I should be the one asking when you’re in my room.”
“No. Your Grace, we were in your office last night. I helped you finish your workload and...”
“And what now?”
She closed her eyes, pulled her hair to squeeze out memories, but everything was pitch black.
“Let’s ask Mother, what she thought.”
Maxine bowed, apologized to the Countess, and swore that no one happened between them.
“Were you sure no one happened?”
Kent’s question activated her killing aura. Her eyes became fiery. This didn’t affect the Duke. He squished her cheeks instead. Maxine attacked his cheeks with her sharp nails, yet he dodged it and maintained his flawless look.
She held his hands.
“Please, Your Grace, tell the Countess the truth.”
Our female lead gasped for air when the Duke hugged her.
“Don’t worry, my lady. I will take responsibility for what happened.”
He groaned out of pain when his mother twisted his ears to pull her son away from the muddled young lady.
“Mother, what’s your problem?”
“You deserved it, my dear son.”
Maxine flopped on the floor after losing energy from the crazy events.
“I’m telling the truth, though,” he said, with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Pull yourself together. You had to know something, first.”
“The sun didn’t rise?”
“How did you know?”
“Mother, imagine you became a man. Then, there’s a woman who coiled her body around you. What great torture! My only savior was the sunrise.”
“Alright. So we settled on this misunderstanding. Now, let’s eat breakfast.”
She stood up and straightened her silk sleeping gown.
“I’m sorry,” Maxine whispered.
“I forgive you. Thanks for the compliments last night. I enjoyed it.”
The two women arched their brows. The Duke’s words puzzled them. Until when she remembered her dream last night.
Yes, those praises were meant for her manhwa husband, Callisto.
Noon came, and the bloody moon stayed on his throne. Thanks to the holographic stones the wizards created, a meeting in the comfort of their homes became possible.
Duke De Clare felt instant relief and happiness when he saw his daughter staying at Revailon’s manor.
“Maxine, read the rest of the documents.”
They’re back in the office. The Emperor and the officials listened as she read the contents of the prophecy.
“They attributed this phenomenon to the spirits. Everyone, remember what I have told you before.”
The image from the stones flickered, showing the energy from it ran out so they had to end the meeting.
“Great job, Maxine! Now, expect the Emperor to call you when you have to read the ancient documents.”
“That’s fine. Hmm. Your Grace, why drop the formalities?”
In Yellubia, if you dropped the formality, it showed that the people involved had a close relationship.
“Why? You didn’t like it? I could call you my dear Maxine, or my lovely lady Maxine.”
“But we’re not close.”
He put his quill pen on the ink bottle. His hand touched her under the chin.
“We’re not close? Even we slept together?”
She gave a nervous laugh.
“My fault, Your Grace. Sorry, but the bathroom calls me.”
The Duke shouted when Maxine went to the exit door and not in the bathroom.
She sat with her head down when she finally entered the bathroom. Even without the mirror, just by touching, her hot and tomato cheeks appeared once more.
Interacting with the Duke was bad for her health, hence she spent the rest of her day staying inside the room. When the Countess noticed it, she used her feet as an excuse.
On the second day, the sun rose, which gave people hope.
A female visitor made the manor busy once more.
“Kent, where is the rumored young lady who could read the ancient scrolls? I would make her my disciple.”
“What a wild girl. By the way, you’ll fix my door. The person you were looking for was your ex’s little sister.”
He bent down to look for his slippers under the bed and slid his feet onto it.
“Maxine? I’ve known her. History, Languages, Etiquette. Five minutes in the lesson and she already fell asleep.”
“That’s not the case anymore.”
At Kent’s request, Nancy waited for Maxine to finish her breakfast and dressed up.
A hundred meters away from the main house was a roofed porch where the three of them met.
“Big Sister, Nancy!”
Well, Maxine heard a voice inside her head saying another person who had a part of Un’s spirit requested a meeting with her.
“Maxine, you grew up to be a pretty girl!”
She tucked strands of her hair behind her left ear.
“Thanks. Big Sister, you’re stunning today!”
The woman gave a sarcastic laugh. Duke of Revailon’s ears tingle.
“If you both have forgotten, I’m here too. C’mon! Praise me like what you’ve done last night!”
He continued to sip his cup of hot Jasmine tea.
Nancy pulled Maxine away. She warned the young lady to avoid stroking his ego.
Maxine defended herself by saying the Duke got it all wrong.
Their bodies quivered when they felt an icy presence behind them.
“Wow, the topic must be important. The two of you forgot there was a sofa.”
The two sat as per the Duke’s order.
Maxine read the contents of the dusty book. She coughed for every page she flipped.
“What’s with this book? Are you torturing us?”
This time, the language was in French. So she translated the first twenty pages in under thirty minutes.
“Why did you stop?” Nancy asked when she closed the book in the middle of reading an important passage about the hidden treasure on an unsettled island.
“Have you heard about symbiosis?”
Nancy scratched her nape.
“Simba. Is that the name of a lion?” Nancy asked.
“No, I said symbiosis. It’s when plants or animals work together to exist.”
“Then, tell me what’s the catch.”
Eventually, Nancy agreed, even though Maxine’s condition was quite impossible to achieve.
When the afternoon sun struck, the mother-son duo escorted Maxine back to her home.
“Maxine!” Her Mom waited outside the gates and immediately ran to her the moment she stepped foot on the De Clare’s property.
“I thought I would lose you again!”
Her back was wet because of the Duchess’s tears.
“Mom, Countess Rochester took care of me.”
Her Mom and the Countess linked their arms and their topic was none other than the bathtub accident.
The Duke chuckled behind the three women.
Maxine shrugged her shoulders.
Rochester’s family visit gave way to hide in her shell. Her parents were busy discussing business matters with the Countess, his brother and the Duke were busy in their swordsmanship.
Before going to her room, she thanked the Countess once more for their hospitality.
It was dinnertime. Maxine expected the maid would deliver her meal, not the next Duke of this household. He put down the tray on the wooden table facing her bed.
“Brother!” she cried.
Her brother carried her to sit on the chair surrounding the coffee table.
“How’re your feet?”
“I’m fine. I needed a week before the wounds healed.”
“I’m sorry.”
She held her brother’s hand.
“It wasn’t your fault, brother. It was those men who attacked us. You had to investigate who they are.”
“I already did, silly. All you had to do is rest and eat well. I asked our chef to put more Reblochon cheese in your tartiflette.”
“Big Brother, you’re the best!”
She applauded him before she dug into her tartiflette.
The layers of flavor exploded in her mouth. She rubbed her belly after a wonderful meal.
“Why did you do that? You look like Dad?”
“Why? I’m congratulating myself for a job well done!”
“You had one more job.”
A jar of dessert in his hand appeared out of nowhere.
She picked a piece of brown tamarind ball coated with white sugar. The sourness from the dessert kicked on her tongue. The next scene was her stealing the whole jar.
“Hey, that’s six balls in one go.”
She responded with a smile on her face. Asking for the source of Bonbon Tamarin was in her mind.
“Now that I gave you a treat, answer this. Why did Kent tell me you slept with him?”
At this moment, Maxine was ready to evacuate to another continent.
- Writer
