Chapter 6
An awkward silence hung into the air.
After all, all three of them have been caught in an 'embarrassing' situation.
A servant and a Lady 'badmouthing' another Lady's friends and said Lady hiding in the bathroom, crying her eyes out, only to inadvertently be privy to said badmouthing.
Cécille coughed awkwardly before asking, " pardon me, but, how do you know me..?"
Clementine gave a wan smile, " I have seen pictures of you before during your father's and brother's visits. At this point, dare I say I know quite a lot about you even before meeting you?"
Cécille hid her face behind her hand and groaned, " just what have they been telling you for all these years?"
"It was all good things I assure you."
They both stared uncomfortably at each other before the moment was broken by Lea.
"Um.....Lady Clementine....." Lea stumbled with her words for a while before abruptly kneeling down with her head low.
She hid her trembling hands in her lap and pleaded, "Milady please forgive me for talking out of place! I shouldn't have badmouthed and criticised your friends behind your back! I am ready to accept any punishment but please allow me to continue serving at the Avalon estate!"
Clementine stared dumbfoundedly for a moment before hurriedly helping her up, " what are you talking about?! Why are you acting as if I were to turn into a monster the next second?! Am I that type of person in your eyes?! You should know by now that the Avalon family is not unreasonable! Please get up! I am not firing you!"
Lea tremblingly stood up but kept her head bowed. Her pursed lips were as pale as her face.
Clementine stared at her and let out a sigh," I know I should know your name.... but I don't. I have definitely seen you around but rarely had any contact with you...."
"I am Lea, Milady"
"Lea? Very well. Listen Lea, you have done nothing wrong so please calm down. You look like you are going to pass out at any second! What you said was nothing but the truth so who can fault you for that? At any rate, you are wong about one thing.
They are not my friends anymore. Not that there really was any sort of friendship in the first place." Clementine muttered bitterly.
"Could it be that you were present at that time...?"
Clementine snorted, "yes, I came back at just the right time it seems. I was planning to jumpscare them as a joke but ended up hearing their true feelings. What luck! I was even considering on confronting them on the spot when I saw what appeared to be a white blob flashing by! I thought it was a ghost! I nearly screamed bloody murder before realising it was a person in the wane moonlight. I then proceeded to see said Lady dash behind a tree and sob her eyes out! It was then that I decided to sneak away because how pitiful was I for a stranger to cry for me?! Who knew that we would cross roads again mere moments later?"
Cécille blinked dumbly before she flushed, "you saw all that?!!! Dear Lord! Couldn't you have not mentioned it?!! And I did not find you pitiful at all! It is just that the circumstances poked at some sore points!"
Clementine rolled her eyes, "please, you were crying so hard! And you are such an ugly crier too."
"I know I am an ugly crier! You do not have to point it out! Besides you were crying too."
"Of course I was crying! Crying for my stupidness! How pitiful that I had to come to the loo to lick my wounds! .............But, thank you."
"Pardon?" Cécille said puzzlingly.
"Thank you for caring. No matter what, a stranger showed more compassion for me than my so called friends. And you were planning on warning me about them, no?"
"Ah, yes I had decided to let you know. Didn't know by which method yet though."
Clementine smiled gently at her, " father was right. I am disappointed for not having met you way earlier."
"No. I believe some things happen for a reason. This was a harsh lesson but, it is an invaluable one." Cécille said firmly.
Clementine was taken aback for a moment before looking intensely at her, "you are quite deep, are you not? Wonder what were the harsh lessons you learnt."
"Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe I shall share some with you one day. And you are not what I was envisioning either. From what those three Ladies were saying, I thought that you were one of those little dolls kept preciously in a tower, blissfully unaware of the coyotes roaming the world." Cécille riposted with a teasing lilt.
Clementine grimaced, " please do not joke about that! If it were not for mother, that would have been my reality. But I guess some naivety still bled through.... I got too comfortable because my parents knew them and got duped. Now that I think about it, mother has always left the room when they were present.....Could it be it was done on purpose?"
Cécille hummed pensively, " from what I have seen of the Duke and Duchess, they do not seem that easy to fool. But, who knows? Parents are not infallible."
"Indeed....They are not." Clementine murmured lowly with a pensive face. "Mayhaps that was the point."
A comfortable silence settled for a brief moment before it was once again broken by Lea, "um...Lady Clementine, perhaps we should move somewhere else..? We've been in the loo for a long time and your presence is bound to be missed."
Clementine sighed wearily, "yes....I should go. I have to confront those three too. Very well."
She straightened her spine and took in a deep breath, "Lea, I am sure they must be looking for me by now. Please bring them to my personal receiving room. Do it discreetly. I do not want to cause a scene."
Lea stammered for a bit before replying, "Understood Milady!"
She bowed hastily before hurrying out to carry out the task.
"Why is she so afraid of me?" Clementine muttered sullenly.
"It is not you, per se, that she fears. It is the power you wield and the consequences of you wielding said power to her detriment." Cécille said.
Clementine blinked at her before derisively smiling, "in the end it still comes down to that. Power, huh..... Well, even the powerful are still constrained by those more powerful than themselves. So, in the end, we are all in the fire but at varying degrees of intensity; some with temporary immunity too."
"That was an apt analogy Lady Clementine." Cécille mused.
"Clementine."
"Pardon me?"
"No formalities please. Call me Clementine. We are on our way to become friends after all, are we not?" She said while fixing Cécille intensely.
The latter sighed before smiling helplessly, " Clementine then."
Clementine clapped gaily with a smile," good! Now, please excuse me Cécille. As you are intimately aware, I have some dreadful matter to take care of. It is getting quite late too and I am disheartened to have to end our chat so soon. Please be sure to await for my letter to invite you for tea!"
Cécille gave a playful curtsy, "I will await for it with baited breath, Milady."
Clementine laughed at her slight jest before walking towards the door.
"See you soon, Cécille."
"See you soon, Clementine."
Silence settled back as she stood alone. The bathroom, somehow, looked larger without her in it.
Cécille threw her head back and sighed tiredly, "...I want to go home and have a relaxing bath."
She mused on that thought for a few seconds before firmly walking out.
She had a father to hunt down and a crowd to brave.
Prev|TOC|Next
Comments
Post a Comment