Chapter 32: I Obeyed
"Farewell, Father."
Groan...
Thud!
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Esme and Lily standing before a vast window overlooking the glamorous lake.
"Lily, I grant you permission to answer the following question."
"Yes, Lady Esme."
Esme grabbed Lily's hand tightly.
"Why has Father permitted me to take Alora outside of the palace grounds? And why, in the first place, did Alora not have permission?"
Words flew out of Esme's mouth in a flurry, "Moreover!"
Sweat dripped out of the hand holding Lily's, turning her hold into a sticky mess.
"Why was it not Mother this time, but Father? What changed? What is going on with Alora? What secrets are they hiding? And why is Alora not saying anything?!"
Out of breath, Esme hyperventilated as she swung her head upwards at Lily's face. Her blazing golden eyes flashed with echoes of lightning, and her body began to burn up-
"Please, tell me-"
-But Lily's face was as dark as her own.
"...I do not know, Lady Esme. The Mistress and His Majesty seem unwilling to reveal any information regarding Lady Alora, if you want answers..."
Lily knelt to Esme's level, her forehead leaned closer and tapped Esme's:
"You must receive them from Lady Alora."
Flinching from the tingling of lightning flowing into her body, Lily bit her lips to the point where blood began dripping from the depths; her teeth cut into the flesh, allowing more blood to rush out.
Esme quickly doused the flames and inhaled the echoes of lightning.
"S, sorry!" Stumbling over her words, she pulled out a handkerchief and stubbed Lily's bleeding lips.
"It is fine, Lady Esme." Her mumbled words spilt over the muffle of the handkerchief.
Lily, gazing warmly into her Lady's eyes, rubbed her panicked head. It was a rare sight to catch her Lady so distressed.
"My Lady, I know you have many questions. I know you have many doubts. I know you have many worries..."
She traced Esme's head and reached for her cheek, playfully pinching it.
"And I know you awake at night with cold sweats, doused in worry."
Esme listened with quiet, dazed eyes.
"But, my Lady..."
Lily, with a bright smile:
"You trust in your sister, Lady Alora, do you not? You have spent years anticipating her, even having me doubt her existence at times-"
Lily paused her words and chuckled at Esme's stern eyes, "Sorry, it was a joke."
Releasing her breath, Lily continued.
"But you believe in her, do you not? You trust in her, do you not?"
Rubbing Esme's face, "If so, approach her. Get closer to her."
"But she doesn't want-"
Lily planted her index finger on Esme's mouth, signalling her to hush.
"Since when did the Esme I know show any form of hesitation when it came to receiving what she wants?"
Esme silently reached for Lily's finger, and, moving it aside...
"You're right, Lily."
Her golden eyes burned with newfound determination.
"I'll get her to talk."
Bubbles of sizzling air sputtered behind Esme's back.
"No matter what."
-----
"Jill, Vanessa, this is Esme. Esme, this is Jill and Vanessa."
An awkward silence hung in the air.
Between the black-haired girl who had the outburst when she saw me that day, the green-haired young man with a stiff face, and me, who was still hidden behind a mask.
Somehow, the girl who came here for an escape from everything ended up being the mediator.
"Vanessa, I think you're up for an apology first." Yulei nudged Vanessa with her arm, she even dragged herself closer to the girl just to give her that poke.
We sat on a picnic cloth in a deformed circle of sorts, around us was the downward-trending field of grass and flowers; our location was the top of the hill, overlooking a portion of the palace grounds.
"B, but why should I-" Indignant, Vanessa tried to escape-
"Just apologise." But Jill was also on Yulei's side.
With a drooped head, Vanessa shot me a couple of stuffy looks and:
"...Sorry."
Sighing, "Sure..." I belatedly accepted the unnecessary apology.
And, again, we fell into an awkward silence.
I didn't know what to talk about with these two around, plus-
How do you hold a casual conversation with children?
Not to mention children, I struggled to open my mouth to anyone who attempted to hold a conversation;
There's something wrong with me.
...
Oh, fair enough.
"Jill- Why doesn't Jill have to apologise?" Vanessa pointed at the stiff boy with sharp fingers.
And he retorted with, "Because I'm not loud, like you."
"Huh?! What do you mean loud?!" She laid out all the proof for his statement without even realising it, her voice was boisterous and filled to the brim with an accusatory, yet oddly defensive tone.
"...Vanessa, stop shouting."
Yulei patiently patted Vanessa's outstretched arm, "You're being loud."
Then, miraculously, Vanessa lowered her arm. "Oh, okay." And she blankly accepted that she was loud.
I can see a part of Lily in Yulei...
Jill tapped the picnic cloth with his shoes with a very faint disgruntled look struggling to reveal itself on his stiff face, "So you listen to her, but not me. Rat."
"Huh!? Whose a rat?!"
Vanessa punched at Jill, swinging with full force-!
Swoosh.
But she found nothing but air.
Not because he dodged, nor because she missed...
"Whose the rat?! Say it!"
But because she repeatedly punched just a couple of centimetres off his face.
As feisty as she seemed:
She's quite tame in comparison to...
I shot a sideways glance at Hilda.
Hilda caught my eyes peeking, but, innocent as she was, she remained completely oblivious as to the meaning behind the look I gave her.
Instead, she mouthed: What's wrong, little dummy?
...No more unnecessary thoughts.
I had to dig the answers out of Yulei; whether the method was pretty or not mattered little.
"H, hey-" I forced the words out of my stuttering mouth, whether people were watching shouldn't matter, "Yulei, why is-"
All eyes gathered on me, Yulei's, Jill's, Vanessa's, and each of the servants'. Child clung to the back of my neck as my throat began to clench up, practically closing shut at the many eyes staring down at me.
"Why is..."
As I hesitated-
...
As they mocked-
...
"Phew! Yulei, would Duke Parsimen not admonish you once more for escaping outside the estate grounds?"
Rubbing the faint sparkles of sweat oozing from her neck, her gleaming snow-white hair bashfully danced in the wind. Gazing down at us, at me, with cheeky, flashing golden eyes, Esme abruptly summoned flickering fire to evaporate the sweat clinging to her skin.
"Esme? I thought you-"
Esme raised her hand, stopping Yulei from going any further, and with a wide grin:
"I ran away."
Smack.
Jill, seemingly the only rational person around here, facepalmed at Esme's antics.
And Vanessa:
"Huh?! Won't His Majesty be angry at you again?! How about the Mistress?!" She didn't waste a second to cling onto Esme's back, pestering her for answers.
...She literally clung to her back, I don't know when, or how, but she had gotten up at some point and embraced Esme.
But why is Esme here in the first place?
I'm investigating Yulei, it won't be pretty, if she sees me act this way, if she grows suspicious, if she comes to hate-
"Little dummy, is it just me, or are you staring at Jill way too hard?"
...Excuse me?
"What?"
When I looked up to glare at Hilda-
Woosh!
-all I found was the rustling of a tree's leaves. That girl ran away to Esme's side before I could give her a smack.
Not to mention.
Jill is staring at me with odd eyes.
Cutting the eye contact between us, I hung my head between my raised knees; I'd say let's take it slow, but I can't take it slow.
I need to somehow get answers out of Yulei while keeping Esme in the dark.
And in the worst-case scenario-
73,982,091Icanbeattheanswersoutofher73,983,441
"While we're at it... Alora!"
Esme called out to me. So, I blinked my hollow eyes back to clarity and looked at her.
"Let's go out together! To the city!"
...?
Mother would never allow-
I saw blue.
Mother would never-
I saw chestnut.
Mother would-
I received her command.
Mother-
And I obeyed.
...
Dazed, I clasped my head as a sudden headache overtook me; a headache sharp enough to pierce through the layers of Curses overlapping the countless voices.
What was I thinking again?
Sensing a faint dissonance, I heaved in a couple of breaths of air-
"Okay, Esme, let's go."
-and promptly agreed.
Maybe I'd find a way to get closer to Yulei on this outing.
Mother would approve of it anyway, plus, Esme would have no way of getting closer to me with this many people around.
It'll be fine.
...
Understoodmother.
-----
Light descended.
Bathing in the beauty of the Aurora, she fiddled with the golden leaf clasped between her slender fingers.
"How intriguing..."
Releasing her hold on the leaf, it fluttered into the distance-
...Then nothing.
It promptly ceased to exist, as though a golden leaf had never been held between her holy fingers in the first place.
"Little child... Sweetheart... Is this fate...?"
The Mistress swung her legs over the railing, gazing upon the scintillating lake spreading to the edges of the horizon before her. Her oceanic eyes stared afar, at the faint outline of mountains.
Raising her arm at the horizon, she spread her fingers and gently flicked them. Another golden leaf came to her grasp, gripped tightly.
"You have yet to receive the wonderful news... Bask in the glory of her perfection... Your perfection..."
Bringing the leaf to her mouth:
"Hoo~"
She blew it into the distance, and, again, as though its very existence had been denied, it ceased to exist.
"...Yet somehow, unbeknownst to you..."
The Mistress shifted her gaze backwards, at the other party;
At the it that had been standing behind her the entire time;
"You are pushing your sister to further perfection..."
She gazed at that existence.
"...Or is she not, honey?"
Then, it parted its lips.
It responded.
Yet, its response faded with the wind, eluding the essence of reality...
"...Indeed, they truly are perfect. Only perfection can produce the perfect coincidence."
The Mistress' eyes looked forward, once more, at the distant horizon.
This time, she grasped the mountains, the lake, and even the Aurora with her spread palm.
"It won't be long, but until then..."
She smiled quaintly.
"We shall watch."