The Baroness Misbehaves

As the rain poured down heavily on the town’s cemetery, Cassian and his family made their way through the muddy ground to the corner where Jeremy’s grave was located. The stone slab was surrounded by a small fence, which was now half buried due to the rain that was presently dropping like little cold daggers piercing into the earth.

Madeline and Inna were huddled under one umbrella, and each and everyone of the family were clustered in groups as they shared an umbrella, looking in the direction of Jeremy’s grave with an air of melancholy. Orson and his family had also joined to pay Jeremy’s grave one last visit, and they were all dressed in their Sunday black, signifying the moment of their mourning, and Cassian was only forced to come since Madeline insisted it was the right thing to do in order to avoid appearing rude.

Everyone’s heart felt heavy as they approached Jeremy’s grave. It’s been three days since they buried Jeremy, and Richard had insisted that the family should gather to pay his grave some respect, even if he had done something awful, it wasn’t going to change the fact that he was still a member of the Albrecht family, and duties must be carried out without excuses.

Ignoring the puddles forming around his grave, Juliana moves forward and crouches down to place the bouquet of red and white flowers, the colors of the union flag that signaled the bloodline of every Albrecht family. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she gently placed the flower on the freshly earth, addressing her son as if he was still alive and could hear her call out to him.

Isabella could barely hold back her tears as she wiped it off with a tissue, sniffling it back since Abbot had told her to control herself.

Elaine felt completely downcast as she had never seen Juliana so shattered before, and it was understandable because she couldn’t imagine how she herself would react if she were to lose her only Cassian. Oliver stood in front of Elaine as they shared the umbrella, he barely shedded a single tear, but his pale expression already gave away how saddened he was to see his elder brother now below the earth, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.

Abbot stepped forward to help his mother up to her feet, and Madeline couldn’t help but feel her heart being weighed by everything happening. The rain had turned the cemetery into a gloomy and dismal place, a chill reminder of the horrors of losing someone who was part of the family, and knowing it would be impossible to ever see them again.

Orson moved closer to Cassian who just gazed at what was happening with boredom in his eyes, barely uttering a word, and Orson let out a sigh as he patted Cassian’s chest in a brotherly manner. "As much as you hated him, he was still your brother, and what I’m thankful for is the fact that you never had a hand in his death."

"What does it feel like to lose someone that matters?" Came Cassian’s subtle question as he tilted his head, blankly watching Juliana cry in the arms of her son while Richard also placed a bouquet on Jeremy’s grave. The emotions they were feeling, Cassian barely felt it, and it made him really curious to know and understand what it feels like to lose someone that truly mattered to the heart.