Grace didn't go to her room when she left the living room, instead, she went out of the manor in search of Ailsa. She wasn't anywhere near the yellow stones and Grace didn't predict her to be, after all, according to the sixty-year-old, taking the same path as everyone else was the first step towards self-annihilation.
Grace grunted as she went out of the door and towards the back of the manor. As she ran, Grace understood why the manor was called impregnable. It's stone walls were incredibly large and garnished with spikes being impassable to ladders or thieves, it being the sole reason it stood guard against all the odds even after being vacant for more than twenty years.
By the time she reached the back of the Manor, Ailsa was already there, leaning against the cold stones. Grace stopped running and glared at Ailsa for a moment. She was wearing her brown shades and looked as if she expected Grace to come. Besides Ailsa was a Xovier armored jeep, Camouflaged in appearance.
"You took forever to come," Ailsa said as she removed her shades.
Grace balled her fists in anger as she marched towards her, "How did you know I was coming?"
Ailsa laughed, "Well I insulted your baby girl, didn't I? Naturally mommy dear had to come."
Grace didn't know what to say, she was fuming with rage because no one could ever insult her daughter, especially not in front of her. "Why did you do it?" she asked her.
Ailsa put her hand on Grace's shoulder, "You know why." she said, "she has a destiny, doesn't she? Or did you forget about her parentage?"
"I didn't forget," Grace answered. "I wasn't meant to have her in the first place." Grace lowered her gaze down at her feet.
"And why is that?" she asked as she caressed her face.
"B-because..." her voice broke.
Ailsa hushed her by putting a finger over her lips, "Poor Mark was so devastated when he found out."
Grace's jaw dropped dead. Her eyes became bloodshot and her mouth ran dry. "What?" she implored. "What the hell did you do?"
"Oh I didn't do anything," Ailsa shrugged. "He found out himself."
Grace shrieked in frustration, her blood started boiling. She balled her fist in anger, she wanted to scream, scream so loud that her veins would burst. Grace punched the stone wall in bitterness and outrage until her knuckles began to crack.
"Acting out won't help you," Ailsa said passively. "It has never helped you."
Grace clenched her jaw, seeing Ailsa react so stagnantly, her blood began to evaporate. "Why," she said in a low voice, "Why the hell would you do that to me?"
Ailsa laughed, "I did nothing." she said as she shrugged. "Everything that happened to you, you brought it upon yourself."
Grace wiped a drop of tear that had somehow escaped her eye. She wiped the blood off her knuckles with a handkerchief even though she didn't want to. Blood rarely bothered her anymore, even she had seen it since the day she was born. The reason she was so violent was that that was the way she was brought up. Back when she used to live with her parents, violence was how her day started. Grace always pretended that she didn't give a damn to people or love. But the truth was, she was sad and desperate for it.
After she regained herself, she retorted, "Don't," she inforced.
A smug appeared on Ailsa's wrinkled face. "Are you, perhaps, warning me?" she said, further agitating Grace as if it was what she wanted.
"Yes," Grace answered. "Don't try to agonize me, Ailsa. You know what happens when I get agonized. Everything... everything, that happened with me, that I struggled with after joining the Academy was your- it was your fucking fault!"
Ailsa flinched for a moment after seeing Grace burst all of a sudden, for a moment there, Ailsa sympathized with the brunette. She knew that some of the reasons, for which, Grace allegedly blamed her were true. She did, in fact, ruin Grace's life with her cold miscalculations. But Ailsa couldn't dare to show sympathy on her face, not in front of her at least. She knew exactly why Grace blamed her, rather for who. But Ailsa never regretted screwing Grace only to keep her son safe, Charlus mattered more to her than anyone. She would screw a thousand Grace if it could help her keep him safe.
"I didn't do anything." Ailsa said, "Everything that happened to you, you brought it on yourself."
Grace laughed like a manic as she advanced towards her. "You," she cried out as she jabbed Ailsa on her shoulder. "You threatened to destroy Delia if I didn't stay away from Charlus. You forbid me to meet him at James's funeral. You threatened to jeopardize my daughter's future and my cover if I ever told him the truth... How is this my fault?!"
Ailsa shrugged inhumanely, "Everything I did, was for the Chamber, and not for myself."
"Of course you did," she said. "Just to be clear, your dear son doesn't love you. I can take down everything you've ever worked for in a single blow, you know it better than anyone." For the first time ever, Grace felt like she was winning, she had never stood up to Ailsa. Maybe if she did, she wouldn't be standing here. "I have an ace up my sleeve."
Grace scoffed for one last time and turned back to leave. Just then, a sudden grasp on the forearm lead her to jerk back. "What now?" she asked Ailsa while shrugging off her hand.
"You-" she stooped momentarily as she tried to regain her stature. "You can't ever tell Charlus." She said, "don't." She further added.
"Desperate isn't a good look on you," Grace said. "I can do whatever I want, and let me tell you, if you bully my baby girl again, I'll make sure your boy know about our little secret." Grace walked away, leaving Ailsa startled.
Ailsa clenched her fist in resentment, "I did what I did for the best." She cried out. "You know how joyous Charlus was with Bethany if you had told him, Gary would've never had his parents!"
Grace stooped in her path, once again, she turned back and just smiled, "You destroyed Mark to allegedly protect your son." She stated sentimentally, "you destroyed me."
Grace sadly shook her head, "No she doesn't." She answered. "Mark was always suspiciously of that fact, and I- well, I wasn't exactly fond of being called a cheater."
Charlus sympathized with the brunette. He couldn't help but feel a little hurt, knowing that Serena was, in fact, Mark's daughter. "Well, he can't do anything now," he said humorously. "Because he's dead."
Grace nodded slightly. Mark was dead, the news came in form of a shock wave to her. He was a charming man, no matter how much she denied, she had to accept the latter. Moreover, he loved Serena. It was only because of Grace that he had to leave her, because of her selfish interest.
Just because she couldn't love him back, he had died with nothing but hatred in his heart for her. Her little lie had been exposed, Ailsa had made sure.
She was nothing but a lying, broken doll.
All of those emotions leaked from her safety wall through a hole in their dam. And within a moment, she burst into tears.
Charlus's eyes almost dropped out of their sockets. Grace was beautiful, smart, dangerous, and even hazardous, but she wasn't a crier. Seeing her cry, he didn't know what to do. "Hey hey hey," he said in a soothing tone as he awkwardly pats her back. "I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have said that... Please don't cry-?"
But Grace kept on crying, she had buried her face in her hand. Her ragged breathing and the pain in her voice was overbearing, despite her efforts, in no time she found herself hugging Charlus.
"What happened?" he asked her as he put his hand behind her back.
Even when tears had dried up in her eyes, she didn't let go of him. When he insisted for a second time, she said. "M-my knuckles really hurt."