Cinderella Rebirth //hiatus

Chapter 27

The sun had set when finally Arnold came back inside the house and took a bath. Jones was after him, with a messier hair look. They both were clean, no sweat whatsoever, but they look drained.

Jones sat beside Ella.

"What took you so long?"

Jones threw his hands on the air. "Ask your uncle, ask your uncle."

Ella squinted her eyes, got up, went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water. She put it down in front of Jones and sat back across her fiancé. "I will go ask Arnold later."

"He won't tell you," Jones gulped down the drink, "unless he's dying-"

"And that won't be anytime soon." Arnold cut him off, entering the dining room. Jones shrugged. "Of course you won't."

As per his hobby, Arnold squinted his eyes. He bitterly spat the words immediately after. "I only agree with your marriage because I trust Ella and her decision. Fucking brat, just you wait and see, if you do anything hurtful to my niece I'll torture you to the brink of death."

Jones smiled sloppily. Arnold is an Ioviagrippa after all, him hunting Jones down wouldn't do any good for Jones.

"Relax Sir, I ain't that stupid and you know that."

Arnold's temper flared up. "Well of course I ain't giving Ross permission to marry someone intellectually challenged!" He snorted and trotted away. "Lass, Ross, follow me."

"Sooo, what element do you wield?" Ella asked, whispering in her steps beside Jones.

Jones wasn't surprised that Ella knew, but honestly, he wondered how and when his soon-to-be wife found out. "When did you found out?"

"When you came to my house? You scattered your magic and I particularly felt it. You weren't really trying to hide it."

"Aahh," Jones acknowledged the event. To be fair, he was searching for Ella's location at that time. "I'm an Inflamancer. You're an Aquamancer, right? Correct me if I'm wrong."

"Nah, you're right." There was a way to leak someone's magical aura in a way it seemed accidental if not on purpose. While Jones had completely concealed his, Ella leaked hers.

"Jones, what's your ma-,"

Slam. "We're here, fucking lovebirds," Arnold was annoyed. What marriage of convenience? Do they think I'm dumb? It was Lilac's room. Arnold's heart clenched when he realized what he did. If Lilac knew he slammed her door, he would be damned. Really, Arnold just couldn't figure out why did his sister became so meek and sweet in front of Thomas Leravinn.

Arnold shivered but strode to enter the room anyway. He went right to the bedside and reached for a long, thin box under the bed.

"It's dusty, what's that?" Ella inquired.

Arnold, as per his hobby, grumbled. "I don't usually clean this part of Sis' room. She'd like it to be aesthetically dirty when she's gone, I bet." He tossed the dusty box to Jones.

"It's surprisingly heavy." Jones caught it, slipping and rebalancing himself.

"Made of heavy wood, yes. Now open it but don't let the dust get inside."

The wooden box was put on the floor. Ella crouched unladylikely to open it.

"Arnold, this?"

"My wedding gift because I ain't giving another, I mean no, I'll give another coz it's actually your mom's heirloom but I am the one giving it to you, so," Arnold nodded to himself, "it counts."

Ella put her hand down to feel the cloth. It was a normal piece of clothing, yet the magical trace was so obvious she felt that just yesterday, Lilac wore it.

"This ain't no ordinary box." Jones muttered and Ella hummed her agreement by a whisper.

Ella took out the cloth from the box and let the foldings go down.

Ella stared at it for quite a long time. She gave a look to her uncle, but Arnold just shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and left. Arnold also dragged Jones when the boy didn't readily follow him. "Go change, Ross, we'll wait outside."

The door clicked and Ella put down the gown on the bed. She had seen it before, only on paintings in her manor, of her parents' wedding.

"It's mama's wedding dress, wow." She whispered. She didn't know whether if it was passed down the generations or was just her mother's. Ella felt hesitation in putting it on.

The gown was simple. Its color was broken white, not pure white like most wedding dresses in town. It didn't have many layers, and the inner clothing was not coarse at all. There was an undergarment but no exaggerated corset. It looked like a dress you'd wear to a garden party. It's beautifully simple. Not too much like the dresses she wore to the ball before, nor her previous seemingly royal wedding dress.

So after checking that the door was tightly shut, Ella changed into the dress. It felt tight at first, then the dress magically adjusted itself, aligning perfectly with her body. The dress went down to her ankle and dropped around her waist. The sleeves went up to her elbow, looking silvery yet soft. Her collarbone was apparent, though, not that Thomas could protest for Lilac wore it once.

Ella looked at the jewelry in the box. There were so many she could choose. Ella fondly laughed, forgetting for a moment that she was in a wedding dress she dreaded. She went ahead and put on sparkling, dangly earrings and a simple chain around her neck. A similar chain was on her right wrist, which might be Lilac's before it got passed on to her, Ella reckoned.

She hesitated before putting the shoes on. Oh, so much bitter memories involving shoes! 

"Fuck shoes," she muttered, full of animosity, "they deserve shit."

But they weren't glass slippers. Instead, the shoes were of an intricate design. Besides the white fabric, the metal decoration made it look classy. Silver with a warm, golden tone. Flowers on the heels. It also looked soft.

Ella clipped her long hair and put the shoes on. She then walked towards the mirror and frowned at her reflection.

"Oh my, I look like a bride." Ella threw herself a resignation smile. "I guess we won't have to order a dress made, then."