Justice For The Side Character

Chapter 13

"Where are they all?" Francisco just came home from his long survey yet his mansion was completely quiet without a sound of his children even though they usually were having dinner at this time.

"The young master and young misses are out for the food festival, they said they are coming back at around 9pm." He nodded at the maid's words and quickly went up for a bath, the survey has left him dirty.

When he stepped out of his bath instead of wearing his usual night clothes, what he wore was clearly for outside.

"I am going to find them, you guys don't have to follow." Francisco went out with Louise and tried to find the three kids but the street was busy and filled with people and not to mention, the children were all shorter than most people on this street, it was harder for his to look for them.

That was until he heard a loud cheer, "Don't give up Matthew!" It was clearly his daughter's voice followed by a small "Good Luck" from the girl he just adopted. So they were, Francisco walked to the crowd and watched the whole play where he saw his son finally success shooting the balloon.

Then he saw his daughter handing the doll to Celestina. 'They act like siblings...'

He felt a dejavu when he saw Celestina, she reminded him of his last best friend, Sergio Horne. Her pink eyes same as the eyes of his friend's and her golden blonde hair same as Keith's, Sergio's wife, but he wasn't sure until he found her age. 7 years old, the same year as the year Sergio was assassinated. Francisco never knew that Keith was pregnant but when their bodies were found, there were signs of baby's blanket and products around them, only that the baby was nowhere to be found.

"I will take care of her well."

"So here you are." The children seemed shock by his voice and their heads turned back at the same time with guilty faces. "You should have informed me  if you were going out." Mellisa blushed at that and reasoned with "I brought some knights and everyone in the mansion knew, if we are to inform you first... I'm afraid we won't be able to get out tonight." Matthew nodded furiously at that while Celestina looked at Mellisa with admiration. Francisco already felt headache from this interaction alone.

"Fine, where are you going next?" Mellisa pointed at a food stall and walked toward it with her followers following behind her like lost chicks. "What's this?" Celestina held the delicious looking sweet in her hand.

"It's fruit coated with chocolate!" Mellisa handed one to her and Matthew while Francisco paid for them. "You can choose which fruit you want, that one is strawberry while yours is blueberries coated with white chocolate and dark chocolate." Celestina tried one of the blueberries and instantly, her mouth was filled with the sweet taste of the chocolate and the refreshing taste of the blueberry.

"I want to try that!" Before the food in his hand was done, Matthew was already walking toward another stall. Celestina tried to look which stall he was pointing at but unfortunately she was too short to look past through the others. She suddenly felt her legs not touching the floor and almost panic until she saw Francisco's hands holding her securely in his arms.

"You're too short, I'll carry you there." He said when he saw her questioning look. He carried her to the stall following  behind the twin and took out some bronze coins after the twin took the skewers.

"You want one? It's really good." Matthew handed her one after Francisco put her down, he didn't even ask the person who paid it. Celestina took the skewer helplessly and immediately brighten up after she after it. The sauce was just so good.

"See? It's good right? It's my favorite!" Matthew said as he unconsciously match his steps with Celestina's to walked side by side with her.

After the food festival ended they came home exhausted and after Celestina took her bath, she immediately fell asleep.

"You should try this one." Ginny held a pale yellow dress to her. The dress looked very cute and comfortable and after she wore her dress, Ginny layered it with another pale yellow coat as the weather has gotten even colder that morning.

"You should hold this bag with you. I placed some warming stone, some coins and your favorite cookies. All kids in Ashdown have one bag, it's kind of a tradition here so you should have one too. Miss Mellisa bought this for you and she said if you would like other design then you can order another one, it's good to have varieties but usually most kids have 2-3 bags for daily use." Celestina's bag is white in color with some pearls decorating it and a little hanger with her name written.

"This is really beautiful, I like it." Celestina put it on and placed her ribbon inside. Her pale blue ribbon didn't quite suit her outfit right now so she could only place it inside. Ginny then tied her hair with a white lace ribbon. "And we're done!"

Francisco has ordered Ginny to teach  her some basics before letting her study with Mellisa and Matthew so now when the twins were studying with their tutor, Ginny was teaching her about the currency in this world.

"This is bronze, silver and gold. The most valuable one is diamond but we don't have diamond with us right now. With one bronze coin, you can get 5 candies, one silver coin is equal to 100 bronze coins while one gold coins is equal to 100 silver coins. Your monthly allowance is 2 silver coins, so make sure to spend it well." After making sure that Celestina understood, Ginny continued to another topic. Just at that moment, someone knocked on the door and a maid entered.

"Miss, the duke asked if you would like to send anything to the capital. The messenger just arrived and will depart 2 hours later so if you would like to send anything you can give it to me or bring it to the duke's office later."

"I understand, I do have something, I will bring it to the duke's office later." Even though it's just been a week since she left the capital, she had missed her friends, especially Ambrose who helped her the most. The maid bowed slightly and went outside.

"What will you send the young miss?" Ginny asked.

"I want to send a letter! But can they read my letters?"

"Don't worry about that miss, it has been almost 2 months since then. The teachers assigned must have already taught them how to write and read and even if they can't read, the servants there can read it for them."

"That's good! I will write it now then."

Celestina wrote 3 papers of letters and sent some things as well. Back then she always sent things but last week Mellisa recommended her to send a letter as well.

After writing them, Celestina headed to the duke's office and the messenger was there as well.

"Make sure to send them well, thank you." Celestina handed her letters to the messenger and thanked him properly.

"Tina!" Mellisa called her when she stepped put of the duke's office.

"We're going to Atkinson Academy next month. The letter of acceptance have just arrived. Here"

"Atkinson? But I just started my lessons." Celestina read the letter and handed it over to Mellisa.

"Don't worry, you will start learning from out tutor first and not to mention, they will test you there and assign you to grades according to your ability." Mellisa seemed excited and that made Celestina's worry ceased.