The Lady Knight

Chapter XXIII: Rescues and Revelations

Prince Nicholas

"Your Royal Highness, may I present to you my daughter, Lady Estelle of Vareniol," Lady Violante of Vareniol gestured to her daughter beside her, "and the other Potential of our duchy, Lady Elisabeth of Hertford."

Both the Ladies in question curtsied and while Lady Elisabeth sent me a weak, friendly smile, Lady Estelle stared straight ahead, her blue irises unmoving.

Captain Everard had informed me on our journey here that the Duke of Vareniol, Lord Pierre, was one of the four people who were murdered alongside Lucas and Lucien.

His daughter the new Duchess, Lady Estelle, and the Dowager Duchess, Lady Violante, were still in mourning, as was the entire duchy. As a result, all of them were dressed in black and seemed as if they had not slept for days.

He had also mentioned that Lady Estelle was blind.

I returned their smiles faintly, despising the fact that they were forced to participate in the Potential Quest even during their mourning period.

Why were they not allowed to grieve for Lord Pierre in peace? It was beyond cruel, and extremely saddening that they had to celebrate and pretend to be happy when all they wished to do was to mourn.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you," I bowed to them, and kissed the back of their hands, "and I would first and foremost like to express how very sorry I am for your loss, and for further inconveniencing you by intruding on your mourning."

Lady Violante smiled for the first time since we had entered Vareniol Manor. "You are every bit as frank as they say, Your Royal Highness," she answered softly, "and thank you very much for your condolences. I am sure all of us here, as do I, appreciate them."

"Your Royal Highness, did Jules not come with you?" Lady Estelle spoke up quietly, her head whipping from right to left.

My smile dimmed a little. "Nay, my Lady, I am sorry," I answered her tiredly, "she had some urgent work she had to attend to elsewhere. She will only return on Friday."

"I see. We heard that the Lady Knight was your advisor, and naturally, we were expecting her," Lady Elisabeth gave her friend a gentle smile, "I do not know her that well, but Estelle was a good friend of hers when we used to live in Bordeux."

Lady Estelle seemed disappointed. "I had hoped to see her again this time," she sighed, "it has been almost seven years since I had last met her."

"The Crown Prince says she will return on Friday, darling," Lady Violante assured her daughter, "you can meet her then."

Lady Elisabeth put an arm around her shoulder in comfort, but Lady Estelle shook her head, faintly amused.

"She will tell you that she will finish her work on a particular date, but if you want to find out when she would truly finish, then you must add at least two days to the date she had originally promised you," she chuckled to herself.

"Why?" I was intrigued.

From the way the Captains seemed to exchange knowing smiles at that, I gathered that Lady Estelle's words must have had been true.

"After Ma'am finishes any job, mission or work, she will go through it and check it again and again until she is satisfied with it," Captain Everard answered instead, grinning wryly, "you could say that she is a perfectionist."

"Once I had asked her to help me write an essay I had not known how to write, to submit to my tutor when I was younger," Lady Estelle recalled fondly, "and she swore that she would write me a marvellous one in three days' time. But a week had passed, and she still had not given it to me, because she could not bear to part with it, in case she had unknowingly failed to correct any mistakes in it. In the end, I had to write my own essay and I scored terribly for it."