A Familiar Guest

Editing in Progress…

~Chapter 43~

Soon, the raging ice queen had cooled down for a moment. "Shall we continue?" Lady Gwen uttered. But her usual soft voice entered a low-pitched tone. 

Marina nodded as she continued showing them around the house. She wasn't proud of it, but she needed them to see how the Rutherfords had soiled the Chamberlain name. She was only a servant girl. And there was a limit to what she could do and not do. 

"M-Miss M-Marina, did y-you hear the sounds of broken plates?" Mr. Yoke called out to her. With the direction he came from, it was clear he had just left the backyard from doing chores.

Before Marina even thought up a response, Lady Gwen immediately jumped at him, her face inching close to his, making the poor Butler quiver in his boots. 

"My Lady, no, you can't kill him!!" Marina shouted, while she unconsciously used her entropy on Lady Gwen. The noble lady suddenly stopped and was then pushed across the room. 

She stabilized herself before any harsh accident or injuries could be inflicted on her body. Her eyes immediately flew wide open in shock at her sudden audacity. She immediately bent her knee, ready to give an apology.

"I apologize for my actions, my lady, but this is Sir York. He is the servant I told you about." She quivered as her head was pressed hard against the floor. 

Lady Gwen looked stunned for a moment before busting of the dust from her clothes. She ignored the kneeling girl and turned to access the Butler. 

Sir York stood frozen in time; which he was as the short time Lady Gwen's fingers trailed his face, she had placed a frozen spell on him.

"It was not like I was going to kill him or something," She stated dryly.

The two other women didn't know whether to believe what she had said, but they had little to no choice given to them.

Turning to Marina, who still had her body bent and forehead pressed on the floor, "So he is a good person?" she questioned.

"Yes, he is." Marina's response came sharp and immediate. "He helps around with things in the house and—"

"Of course he should, that is what he is paid to do," Lady Gwen pointed out as matter-of-factly. 

"Although he's paid for it, the praises Lady Claire and Lord Lint had for him convinced him to stay even after their deaths, despite the Rutherfords' unpleasant behavior."

"Why?"

"Why? What?" Marina asked with a confusing expression on her face.

"What unpleasant behavior?" Lady Samara asked. 

"Well, ignoring the fact that they are all round despicable people, Sir York has a speech impediment, which prevents him from speaking smoothly and sometime coherently. So they most times unnecessarily go out of their way to make him feel less of a human than even a man"

"I guess that would be pitiable," Lady Gwen stated nonchalantly, with a lazy shrug of her shoulders. Samara only rolled her eyes at her self-absorbed nature.

"I don't know about both of you, but I wish to see Claire's daughter right now," lady Samara said, cutting through their conversation.

"Of course!" Marina replied, shutting up from her knee. She dusted her dress and knee as she made her way in front of them. They left the kitchen, leaving the poor butler frozen on his spot without a care.

Once they stepped into the living room, Lady Samara's eyes were met with an already worn out tapestry. Their previously fancy color had Faded because of years of neglect. It was clear that the servants had their way of room arrangement as the furniture, though worn in some places, it was still arranged in a way to create a fake air of luxury. The velvet drapes, that hung loosely in disguise as a for curtains, were in tatters. 

"I feel disgusted," Lady Samara stated, as she looked up at Lady Gwen to see if she was going to fly off the deep end. 

But to her utter shock, she noticed she wasn't even paying attention to the terrible state of the living room. She called out to her friend; she got the response. It was as though something else had caught her attention. She soon followed her eyes towards the direction hers went to, and she immediately understood why and what caught Gwen's complete attention.

Lady Gwen's eyes widen at the shock of her daughter, who ‌had shed her disguise and was holding on to the madam of the house in a threatening position.

Without thinking too much of it, she walked around the people present and in her way. She steeped the entropy to the tip of her fingers, making it cold as she placed it on her daughter's shoulder. This made Sereia flinch in surprise at the sudden icy impact on her body.

"MOM?!" 

Giving her a pointed look, her face expressed her next question, "What in daemarral are you doing right now?" 

Sereia immediately stepped away from Evangeline and a guilty look play on her face. 

"Well, you see, I–um–she—" 

"I didn't know my daughter was a stutterer?" She asked, sounding playful, but she had a clearer= contrast expression on her face.

Sereia breathed out as she opted to try again. "She was being impolite to Yeona," She finally answered with a clear voice as she pointed to where Yeona was standing.

Seeing as her attention was 'somewhat' needed, she stepped forward and curtsied, "Pleasant morning to you, Lady Gwen" 

"I reassure you the morning hasn't been a very pleasant morning," Laid Gwen responded as she calmly placed her hands on the girl's head. They both immediately flinched at the cold contact.

"MOM!!" Sereia cried out as she clapped her hands away from her head and stepped away from her. Though Yeona could not 'clap' her hands always, she did step away from her reach, just to get away from the coldness.

Evangeline's eyes widen at the sudden presence of Lady Gwen. Even a low-class noble like herself knew who she was. Ladies in the Kingdom would do anything just to get an invitation to her tea parties, or would go wild with delight just for her to accept their own tea party. 

Just the few minutes of presence from the woman was enough to boost a woman's status. Some shameless husbands often pressurize their wives into inviting the lady of Eastwood house to one of their tea party, as they believed it was an easy way to get Lord Whyte's attention to them and the 'business' idea. And Evangeline was also part of this set of women. She would do anything to get invited to any party hosted by Lady Gwen. 

Evangeline watched the regal woman with eagle eyes. She watched her demeanor; she watched the way she moved, swayed, spoke, smiled. Even mundane things as how her brows and eyes changed twitched according to her expression. She wanted to see how she could copy off the woman.

Shameless.

"Someone else came with me!" She excitedly informed. Even though the ladies had their moments when they disagreed, they were true and true friends.

 Her brows furrowed, her confusion. "Who?" Sereia quizzed. This soon everyone's attention. Her mother pointed to her back. With curiosity, Yeona also turned around to see who else arrived at her house. Her eyes soon landed on the woman who stood beside Marina. 

Her eyes furrowed. As she had no idea who she was, but it seemed as though Sereia did, as she immediately left her mother's side and leaped into the woman's arms.

"Lady Samara!!" She ecstatically greeted. 

"How are you, lovely?" She lovingly patted her head.

"Fine!"

"That's good." Lady Samara pinched on her cheeks.

Evangeline's jaws dropped and hit the ground with sharp accuracy. Lady Samara Tenebris was standing in her house?! Were the gods finally in favor of her and rewarding her for her good deed?

Lady Samara was a prominent matchmaker. She was very well known to have a good connection with noble families. And because of that, some many families would go to her with hopes of getting more connection and the best way most of them [if not all] thought of was to 'sell' their daughters for marriage. And ‌it worked. As she would take the girls through etiquette lesson, grooming them into wives. Teaching them the ways of the female hand fan, dance lessons, and she would also go as far as teaching them walking, standing and sitting positions. This also led to her being the lead head of a young ladies' debutante. It was really a 'feat' if your daughter's debutante was arranged and organized by Lady Samara Tenebris.

Yet again, Evangeline had tried to get her daughters into those classes as they would soon have their debutante ceremony, and she wanted them to have enough.

Lady Eva had no idea with the two most famous noble women in the kingdom were standing in her living room. Immediately the thought clicked in her head as she shot up, again, attraction from the women. 

She cleared her throat once she realized that the spotlight was on her. Evangeline decided to use the opportunity to bring attention to her and her daughter. 

Roughly pulling her daughters forward, they curtsied their greetings to the noble women. "I greet you Lady Gwen Eastwood and Lady Samara Tenebris"

Lady Samara's face cringed in embarrassment that she forgot her racing for visiting and wanted out.

IMMEDIATELY.

Lexicon

Pewter: This is a metal alloy; This simply means a blend of several types of metals. It is expensive and also hard to get in Voudia Kingdom, that is why Claire uses it.