After a long night of translating the Ancient language, I successfully translated a single sentence which was celebrated with a few hours of sleep. I woke in the morning and continued with my other duties which took a majority of my day.
Halfway through the day and after my lunch, a spider came into my room. He wordlessly crawled through my window balcony and made his way to my couch where he proceeded to sleep.
Sir Pine didn't acknowledge me nor did I call out to him. I still don't know what to make of him. He seemingly seems content enough to be around me, but he doesn't make much conversation which is fine by me. I didn't bother speaking first.
Our mutual silence was broken by a frenzy of chaos that started with a knock on my door. Sir Elliot knocks on my door then starts to open it. I throw the a balled up piece of paper to Sir Pine who is already running towards me.
As I hear his footsteps round the corner to where I will be in his view, Sir Pine ducks underneath my desk. I take a deep breath as I see his body crams itself under my desk. I stand by my bookcase, pretending to look for a book.
"Master!" I look up from my the random book in my hand to see Sir Elliot's happy face. He waves a letter around which catches my attention.
"Sir Elliot, good evening." I force a smile on my face and look at my desk. I can see his leg sticking out. I walk to my desk and slowly push my chair in, pushing his leg in so Sir Elliot cannot see.
"The young Master..." He gives me the letter with a laugh. "There are so many masters of the house, it's hard to differentiate it. Anyways, your brother has invited you to dinner."
I pause at his words, momentarily stopping. I quickly open the letter and see my brother's handwriting indeed inviting me to dinner. I narrow my eyes and look up at a grinning soldier.
"Alright," I sigh. "I'm hungry anyways." Sir Elliot cheers and tries to high five me when I stand near him. This isn't a celebratory reason for a high five. I weakly high five him and look back at my desk, wondering if Sir Pine will stay or leave. I purse my lips and start the walk out of my study.
I ignore Sir Elliots babbling as I try to think of why my brother has invited me to dinner. I'm sure Sebastian told him of our conversation, or limited it to the details- he's no longer helping me.
My mind has been racing and I didn't realize we were coming towards the dining hall. I narrow my eyes when I see Sebastian entering the room, not yet seeing me. I take a deep breath and mentally arm myself for a fight.
I walk into the dining hall and the conversation between my brother and his secretary stops. Elric is seated at the head of the table and Sebastian leans over his chair. I spot four placemats and I take one of the empty ones. Sir Elliot stands behind me, an almost comforting figure but I remind myself he's my brothers, not mine.
I smooth out my dress as I sit and look to my brother. "I won't speak to you if he is here." I narrow my eyes at Sebastian who looks equally as mad.
"I told you she would never work with you, why are you entertaining her?"
"I don't want to work with you," I point my finger at the secretary for added emphasis.
"We never wanted to work with you. You came to us. I do everything so you have to work with me."
"Then I will leave-"
"Stop," Sir Elliot tries to cut off our arguing, but I'm already standing up.
"I don't trust you. All I've ever heard was how terrible you are- to your maids and your brother. When he broke his arm you didn't even come! When-"
"I was in another country doing research!" I screech over him. "Besides, where was he when I was pushed down the stairs the night of Lady Heathrow's coming- of- age?"
"When was this?" Elric asks.
"Please," Sebastian rolls his eyes. "Everyone knows you did it for attention after the Prince escorted her."
"Why would I put myself in danger for the likes of him? I was in my bed for days and no one checked on me!" I slam my hands on the table. I sneer at Sebastian with growing hatred. "When I returned, I checked on my brother but you pushed me away. He never once checked on me."
The room is silent after that. I look around and see Sir Elliot is glaring at Sebastian who ignores him. I look to my brother who looks generally upset.
"Sister," he stands. "Please sit. We have much to discuss."
I look at him and sense no hostility from him so I sit down again. Elric claps his hands and maids quickly run in with our food before running out. I look down at the soup, not making a move to eat it.
"I've already told Sir Sebastian that I don't want people who don't trust me on my side of the trial." I make direct eye contact with Elric. "He's told me of your... unfavorable opinion of me and for that I remove you from the trial."
I push my chair and stand, officially done with this conversation. I look to Sir Elliot, but before I can speak a hand rests on my hand. I look down and see Elric stopping me from leaving.
"Sister, I do not think poorly of you. In fact I hold you in high regards, please sit down." Elric sighs softly and let's go of me.
I sit down, very curious about how why he has invited me to dinner. I re-smooth out my dress and grab my spoon, letting it sit in the soup.
"Sister, I apologize for how my subordinate has treated you. I wish for you to know I do not share his opinions. Now, Sebastian she will be choosing your punishment that has been done to us when we were children." Elric looks over at me and nods.
My eyebrows rise at his request. I'm not a violent person like our father who came up with... colorful punishments. I don't know why Elric came up with this idea, but Sebastian makes me angry so I nod.
"Since we are not on gravel, you will have to kneel on shards of broken glass until I say you're done." I say, my knees already aching at the childhood punishment.
Sebastian looks upset so when he turns to Elric, he finds Elric eating his food. Sebastian huffs and does as I command. He grabs his glass and throws it on the floor. There's broken glass everywhere and he kneels on it, his face strained but controlled.
"Now thats out of the way, come in!" My brother raises his voice.
A second later, the door opens and I spot my cousin, Mr. Solon. He has dark brown hair and the family green eyes hiding behind wired glasses. His hair is styled back and he oozes seriousness. He's sits at the empty placemat and greets us with a tight lipped smile, eyeing Sir Sebastian but not mentioning it.
"Good evening Masters of the house." Lawrence greets.
"Now don't speak so informally cousin. Please eat until your full." Elric smiles like a good host.
"It's lovely to see you again, dear cousin." I smile, trying to be as warm as possible, ignoring the man kneeling at my side.
"Cousins, thank you for treating me to dinner." He raises his glass and I raise mine. "I wish you all the luck." He cheers before we quietly go back to eating- the Solon family trait of silence falls heavy on us.
"Sister," Elric breaks the silence after the clinks of our spoons hitting the bowl. "I want you to know that I do worry over your well-being. I just admit that no one relays information about you to me, so I apologize for the times you have felt ignored. I want to remedy this by helping in your investigation. Please let me help."
I look at Elric and see the sincerity in his eyes. He reaches over and puts his hand over my hand and I look down at it. I look up at him and see a stoic face, but his eyes shine through.
I nod my head. "I must admit I was hurt after my conversation with Sir Sebastian. I thought you hated me."
"Never," Elric shakes his hand and lets go of me. "I think we're too alike to hate each other."
I softly smile and nod my head. We grew up the same way and we both have our father's hard personality. If I hate him, I hate myself.
At this moment, the maids return with our entree. Our bowls of half- eaten soup are taken away and replaced with extravagant steaks and side vegetables. My glass is filled with red wine and the bottle then sits between us. Everyone then leaves us alone.
"Elric," I look back at him and speak his name. "I really need my big brother's help."
I see my brother smile, a real but small smile on his lips. "Whatever you need, Giselle."
I smile, happy that we're on a first name basis. I swallow my spit and think about my words. "There's currently a power struggle in the Academy. The master in charge of Battle Magic is corrupt and allowed the selling of magic weapons to people outside of the Academy and temple. Meaning, he either isn't looking over who's buying the product, allowing it into the black market or he's profiting off of it. Either way, he needs to go."
As I speak, Elric is cutting into his steak. He hums and nods his head. "What do you need from me?" He asks before shoveling steak into his mouth.
"While the trial is about attempted murder, it's also going to be about the use of magical weapons. This master has some members of parliament on his side. If he wins, it sets the precedence of magical weapons being sold in the black market without punishment." I explain to him as I cut my steak.
"Meaning, a lot of dangerous people can get their hands on such weapons." Lawrence sighs before shoving another piece into his mouth.
I lower my head and nod. "Unfortunately, because he is allying with the count... they're using their people on parliament to go against me." I say before eating a piece of steak.
"Are some Masters in the Academy on your side or is it split evenly?" Lawrence asks me.
"It's a split somewhat evenly. Those who normally remain neutral don't want to see future violence so they're siding with me. But the others, the more aggressive ones who are influential side with Master Pamen. I need your influence, your people to stick to me. I need you to show up at the trial." I say, looking at him with hope.
Elric nods his head with a mouth full of food. "If that's what you need, I'll show up tomorrow. I'll send letters to my people now. Is his punishment over? He needs to grab my papers." He points to his secretary kneeling on the floor.
I look down at Sebastian who looks utterly humiliated. We make eye contact and I see anger in his eyes. I wonder if that's how I looked when I was younger.
"He can run your errand." I say and look away from him. I hear the scuffling of Sebastian standing and walking out of the room as I eat my dinner. Once we're alone, I look to Elric.
"Brother," I break the silence. "Have you looked into what we discussed? Your rat problem?" I ask, curious if he believes me.
Lawrence looks up, probably knowing we're not actually discussing rats. I can see his line of thought- do I want to get involved? How would that benefit me? He decides to eat, staying silent.
He nods his head, but doesn't look up from his food. "I found that it is... eating too much cheese. I have yet to look into the... people who feed him. Once I know, I'll get rid of the problem one way or another."
I nod my head and digest my food. "May I ask why you don't like rats?" I ask because I'm very curious.
Elric sighs and shovels food down his throat, probably bidding time. "I just don't like them. They're terrible." He just shrugs his shoulders.
I look at him, unsure if that's a good enough reason for siding with him. However, I remember Duke Stiling is an enemy of a state so I nod my head and put a piece of steak in my mouth.
"Will your fiancé be coming tomorrow?" Elric asks after a couple of minutes of silent eating. I lower my fork, not yet having food in my mouth.
"I do not know. He's very busy." I say. "Will father be coming?" I change the subject quickly, not wanting to talk about the walking menace.
"He's busy."
Silence surrounds us once more but it breaks when Sebastian returns with a pile of papers. Elric pushes his food out of the way, grabbing the papers and a fountain pen.
Elric speaks aloud out a draft as our cousin writes it, speaking aloud and I chime in to correct a saying or change a sentence. This time, Sebastian helps us come out with a draft- the four of us working together.
We spend time carefully writing down the final draft, perfecting it in a way so that Elric's soldiers can ride out immediately for tomorrow morning. When he shows his face tomorrow, it will secure their stance with me.
After we come up with a letter, we plan out who we will be sending them out to. Parliament is made up on 50 members, all influential people including my brother and the other Captains.
We can assume Duke Stiling will be supporting the Count, probably hoping to benefit the buying of magical weapons and selling it to our enemy state. He'll have his people working against us.
We carefully come up with people who we know will join our side with... gentle persuasion. The tricky voters are this whole ally with Duke Driscol and the Crown Prince.
Driscol's people are older and influential, but their votes are pretty important. They're Northern born, men easily feared. Since Driscol normally doesn't show, they do whatever they want.
Since I am the Prince's fiancé, theoretically people should be supporting me. However, the Prince has made it clear he doesn't care for me so they probably won't support me.
Even after all of this, my brother will be coming tomorrow and it should be okay in the end. He's powerful and influential. I have my own people from the Academy on my side. Plus the clear evidence of the count's son attacking me will surely make me win the case.
I say goodnight to my brother and his friend before heading back to my study. I don't see Sir Pine around, probably leaving shortly after I left the room. However, he did leave a note on my desk, saying he will see me tomorrow for the trial.
I narrow my eyes. Earlier he said he wouldn't be acting as a witness but another person would be pretending to be him. I don't know if he understands he can't lie in court, but I don't really care for his testimony. I care for the members that watch from the stands that decide the fate of the trial.