Chapter Three Sharp Tongued Beauty

Next thing I remember is waking up, staring at a ceiling made of wood. My chest hurt like hell, and the room was dimly lit, presumably by a lantern. After processing the events that had just occurred, panic ensued me. Where was my mom? Worried, I sat in my bed looking at my surroundings, the first thing I noticed was a dark-skinned lady who was looking to be well into her fifties, it was unusual to find someone who was dark-skinned around here. She was sitting at my bedside. I looked to my left and met her gaze.

“Who’re you?” A perfectly valid question on my part.

“I’m a maid here.”

“Ok—and does this maid have a name?”

“Yes, she does, it’s Agatha”

“Ok, Agatha, where am I?” I said now slightly annoyed.

“Not a very polite boy I see. Well, if you must know, we’re in the Torin’ Mansion.”

Hmm, that name sounds familiar, I think Rebecca mentioned it somewhere during the trip. And speaking of which, I wonder if Rebeccas is doing alright.

“Oh, and by the way I came here with another lady, her name’s Rebecca. Would you happen to know anything about what happened to her?”

“The ponytail girl, right? She’s dead…”

“Huh?”

“I’m just messing with you, she’s fine, why do you ask?

Just then it seemed like a thought popped into her head.

“Oh my, she wouldn’t happen to be your special someone would she? I wouldn’t think someone her age would go after little boys.”

Well, we’re off to a bad start, first off, she has a grim sense of humor, and Second off, I AM NOT A CHILD!

“Absolutely not, I hate her”

“That’s harsh I’m sure she’s trying her best to understand you despite your large age-gap.”

As she said that in a pitiful tone, I only grew more annoyed. Wait, where’s my mom?

“Agatha, did you guys find another woman in the carriage, she should’ve been asleep in there, she’s about half a foot taller than me, Brown hair like mine and in a white dress.”

“Oh, her? She’s fine, when the guard’s got there, she had just stepped out of the carriage and didn’t really seem to understand what was going on when she saw that Rebecca of yours on the floor bleeding.

“Where is she now?”

“We have her set in the guest room just next door, she’s asleep at the moment.”

That’s a relief, ouch!, looking down at my chest I realized it was wrapped in bandages. Ah, I see, I got badly hurt didn’t I, wonder how long I’ve been out.

“So—how long was I unconscious?”

“You’ve been out since yesterday, well now that you’re up let’s introduce you two”

Oh yeah. Why did it never occur to me that this is our destination, this is the place we were going to, where I’m supposed to meet that girl.

“Why so suddenly? I just woke up.”

“Her father, Henry Torin, wants her to be married off as soon as possible. The first reason is because no one here likes him because of his high prices for passage in and out of Venreere kingdom. And the second reason is that he’s afraid of someone coming to kill her to get revenge on him. And he thinks her being married to one of boys in line to inherit the throne, like you, would be the best fit since she’d be protected.”

“One of the boys”??? I’d never considered it for some reason, but I guess it makes sense that I’d have brothers, for better or for worse. I see, so this is mutually beneficial, I see why he’d like that, but still, I can’t rest for even a little bit? I’m not exactly looking presentable all roughed up and in bandages. Have some sympathy for an injured child!

“I’m not exactly in a presentable state right now.”

“Believe me, I’m aware”

“So, I was just wonderin’, since you know, the whole being slashed open thing. No big deal by the way. Maybe you could give me like I don’t know a few days.”

“It’s your appearance you’re worried about? Seriously? If I were you, I’d be worried about something else, like your height. And you’re not very big down there, hate to break it to you.”

“Huh? H-, HOW WOULD YOU EVEN KNOW ALL THAT???”

“Who do you think changed you out of your clothes and into those bandages? Sorry pal, there just ain’t any magic that can put a new change of clothes on you.”

“Well, you could’ve left out that last part.”

“Putting that behind us, your bruises can have make-up put over them and your cuts will all be covered by your clothes, so you have nothing to worry about. I think the hardest part will be getting her out of her room. Ever since her father announced she’d be getting married she’s been protesting by hiding in her room every chance she gets.”

“That sounds… challenging” I didn’t really mean what I said, mid-sentence my eyes drifted around the room.

The room was rectangular, and the door was about 8 feet behind Agatha, it was a decently sized room, bigger than what I was used to. And next to me on my right was a wooden desk with a lantern on it. We were at the end of the room, as well. I moved the cover off of me and tried to get out of bed and stand up. My body felt a little heavier than usual, I was tired and to be honest I wanted to go back to sleep.

“Well let’s get you ready to meet her.”

“Yeah.”

Agatha threw a white button-up shirt at me, and a brown colored vest along with a tie and some dress pants. After throwing on the clothes she gave me, she took me to my desk sitting me down. She brought her chair over sitting in front of me, a small container filled with powder in hand, which I assumed was the makeup that she was going to use to cover up my bruises. While she was covering up all my bruises, I used the opportunity to think about what I was going to say. “Hello my lady, it’s nice to meet you, my names Arthur!”, or maybe “I’m Arthur, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Maybe I’ll just go with flow, I don’t have to script everything. Now that Agatha was done covering my bruises I got out of my seat. I was now being led down the hallway.