"Ah, Alice?" Irene was surprised to be greeted by Alice as soon she arrived at the funeral. Suddenly Alice started to cry, "Irene! I'm so glad you made it out safely! I would have been lost if I lost my best friend too."
Alice then hugged Irene while crying and Irene stood there shocked, so she didn't move for a while. Alice was hugging Irene while crying after some seconds, Irene's right hand started to pat Alice's back.
"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Irene smiled in relief.
"Yes, you did!" Alice said as she continued to sob.
"I thought you will be mad at me and abandoned me..." Irene said sadly, Alice suddenly retracted from the hug.
"Why would you ever say that?" Alice said worriedly.
Irene smirked in her head and said pitifully, "It's from past experience," she said side glancing her family behind for a hot second.
The Grand Duke flinched.
Irene knew this action was quite inappropriate to do at a funeral, but the Count would have enjoyed the slander on the Grand Duke.
Alice just blinked and her eyes softened, "Well, I am glad you are alive and those people in your past experience are scums!"
Alice...you called the Grand Duke a scum.
Irene bit her lips to hold in a chuckle, who knew the first thing did in the Count's funeral was a small laugh.
With her biting her lips so then made an ever-so-pitiful face, which then Irene hugged Alice.
"Thank you so much."
Then the funeral proceeded.
Irene looked up at the cloudy sky, it seemed like it was going to rain.
How cliché.
Speeches when on and on, it was a sad day. The Count's and Countess's seemed to impact everyone. However, greediness still exists.
"What is going to happen with their title?"
"Alice is way too young to take the Count title."
"Heh, she's a girl, very unlikely."
Irene listened to the disgusting comments about the Count's inheritance and title, but the answer was already clear for Irene.
Alice is going to inherit everything and is going to claim her father's title once she's eighteen.
The problem is who's going to take her in?
Irene glanced to Grand Duke who has been silently standing, hasn't spoken during the funeral. Shivers went down Irene's spine, all eyes on us.
The Grand Duke's family, what are they going to do?
Irene knew exactly what he was going to do.
Alice was an emotional wreck after everyone did their speeches, she was crying and kneeling on her parents' grave. Irene watched the sight, it was quite pitiful.
"Didn't Irene run in the fire too?"
Irene's eyes widened and quickly turned her head towards the person who was speaking, just another greedy noble. Irene looked down for a while and then felt droplets of rain landing on her hair.
Irene looked up as the rain droplets slide down her face and it seems some nobles were leaving, Irene stood there looking up.
Alice didn't move a single bit nor the Grand Duke's family.
Irene kept her head up, she then heard footsteps walking, Irene looked at the source of the noise. Irene looked at the Grand Duke approaching Alice and started to bend down.
Reaching Alice's height he then opened his mouth.
Irene quickly turned her head and started to walk away, she only heard the Grand Duke's voice fade. Irene knew what he was going to say.
[The Grand Duke bend down to Alice's eye level as she poured her sadness with tears, he looked at Alice with sympathy. He spoke softly, "Come live with us," the man said. That's where Alice's life completely changed]
Those were the words stated from the novel Irene read when she was Cha-hee.
Irene kept walking as she suddenly saw a tree, this tree was simple. It was ugly, it was really simple looked like every other tree she had seen.
But what made it different then?
Irene felt her eyes soaking as her vision blurred. Irene walked under the tree and sat down.
The tree had no significance to Irene.
No special memories.
Just a simple tree.
Nothing else.
Irene asked herself, why was she crying after seeing a goddamn tree?
Was it because the story has begun?
An extra life was lost?
What was she supposed to do at this time?
Alice is bound to soon capture their hearts and what will happen to Irene?
Irene had mind-buzzing questions, however as her tears cooled down and her sniffles calm down, her mind became clearer.
She did not plan to stay in the Grand Duke's residence forever. Irene is going to stay as Alice's friend even if Alice earns the ice-cold boys of the Grand Duke.
Wait.
The Countess died, which means the love plot of the Grand Duke and the Countess is demolished which means, Alice is very much likely going to inherit the title.
It depends if Josiah will fall in love with her or not, Irene's future was clear. But the other characters' plots might be heavily impacted.
So what?
Irene realized she can't stop anything here, especially the main plot, it's going to happen either way bad or good.
Irene just needs to know who's the traitor from the dream she had, Irene had a banging headache developing.
I am going...
"You are going to have a fever if you stay in the rain forever," a voice said, Irene, looked up to see a handkerchief in front of her.
Irene stared at it and looked up to see shiny blonde hair with dark violet eyes. "Josiah?" Irene spoke informally from being a bit surprised.
He was just as soaked as Irene. He looked at her in surprise and just sighed.
He bent down and wiped Irene's face and wiped her hair as if the wetness is going to disappear.
"Wiping my hair isn't going to do anything, it's still raining," Irene said moving his hand away from her hair.
Josiah looked at her a bit frustrated, he pushed his wet hair behind. Irene looked at the handsome boy.
He sure is handsome
Fifteen years old, Josiah William Alden, grew up to be quite handsome and had a broad body, yet still look more feminine than some girls.
It's probably because of his long-ass eyelashes...
Irene seemed to be intently looking at his face for a long time and Josiah was getting flustered.
"What are you looking at?" he asked. Irene watched the boy's ears becoming red, Irene smiled, she felt like teasing him.
Wait...someone's funeral, male lead approaches female lead as she cries...am I having a main character moment right now?!
Josiah titles his head, "Are you alright?"
"Yes.."
Josiah blinked at her and laughed, "Yeah sure, crybaby," he said as he wiped her tears from her breakdown earlier.
Irene tsked, she slapped his hand away, Josiah winces.
"Wow so cold! We finally met after years and this is how you greet me?" he said hurt.
Irene ignored him.
Josiah had gone to the academy for some time, and it seems like he is graduating early.
Irene only kept in touch with Sasha during the years, she did not forget about Josiah rather she didn't want to write to him.
"I was waiting for your letters..." Josiah said pitifully.
"You're here right now, happy?" Irene scoffed.
Josiah stood up and reached his hand out.
"Cheer up, let's get you inside," Josiah said kindly with a bright smile, Irene suddenly saw a bright light, the cloud was clearing up and the rain had stopped.
Irene reached out for his hand and stopped midway.
Isn't this a bit too cliché?
Irene asked herself as she continued to grab Josiah's hands which he then pulled her up by surprise.
Josiah had pulled Irene close to his body and put one of his hands around Irene's waist, whispered in her ear.
"You going to get a cold, let's go," he said.
Irene flushed and pushed Josiah away, she started to run back inside of the funeral venue.
She rushed inside and saw Alice standing beside the Grand Duke as she whipped her tears, "Thank you so much!"
Irene went past them to use the washroom.
She hurried in and shut them down.
Irene looked at herself in the mirror, saw her red face, and slapped it.
What the fuck?!
~Author's Note~
Got me cringing as I wrote the scene, sorry I am an anti romantic (sorry this just popped into my mind) I cannot write romantic scenes without cringinggg
- ANMU