Canillian wiped a drop on his nose and spoke to Claude expectantly, “Are you leaving then, Your Highness?”
“Yes,” he replied bluntly, but he couldn’t hide a smirk as Canillian looked happy with his answer.
“Then, I hope you enjoy your evening.”
“Eat less candy.”
Claude walked casually away from her room to the gallery which was adorned with historical artifacts. He shook his head at Canillian’s last words. The boy did know how to play him.
***
Young ladies tilted their parasols and smiled broadly as they rode by in an open-top carriage. They wore ribboned hats and inflated dresses, and their gazes lingered on the Vale carriage as they chattered away. Canillia felt their eyes penetrate through the door of their carriage.
The academy was a mile north of Etear Street in Lona Park. When the horseman pulled up to the entrance of the academy, Lia felt overwhelmed for a moment as she looked up at the massive high walls.
“Looks can be deceiving, Lian. Sir Theodore is the best teacher there and has taught you only for the last four years and you’re already at the top, so don’t look up like that.”
The Marquis sounded happy, but Lia breathed in deeply with a bitter smile. She didn’t care what happened there, as she’d only come to the academy so that she could stay in the capital. She’d already drawn Louvre’s map and had made the carriage take a long way around so that she could see where Etear Street was and look for entrances that she didn’t know of.
“We passed where you will live a bit earlier. Do you want to go there now?”
“Yes, please.”
The carriage moved at the Marquis’s wave, and the horses trotted down the well-paved road which was about ten minutes to the mansion that Lia would live in. It was close to the Marquis’s townhouse and could be managed by a small group of servants. The three-story cream building made Lia’s eyes light up brightly in delight.
“You seem to like it,” the Marquis smiled, and she looked at the hydrangeas the previous owner had planted, picking a petal off one of the beautiful flowers before going into the house.
“Is it all right for me to live in this house?”
“What do you mean? I wanted you to live in my townhouse, but compromised due to your school route.”
“Thank you, father.”
The reception room was very welcoming and the central staircase was a pleasant coral color. The old dull carpet had to be replaced though, but all in all, it was an elegant place. Lia put her hand on the banister at the bottom of the staircase, realizing that after four years, she was finally in the capital.
“You will have to ride a horse since the academy doesn’t allow carriages, and you have to learn to protect yourself in the academy.”
Lia stopped walking up the stairs, and she looked down at the Marquis as he took off his hat, “I have a question.”
“Speak.”
“If my brother recovers, do I go back to Louvre?”
The Marquis shook his head at the bleak question and took out a cigar from an engraved gold cigar box. “I will not tell you to leave. You can make your own decision. However, stay somewhere near.” His answer implied many things, and she smiled as she watched the cigar smoke rise.
Lia thought back to the day when a maid had thrown Master Kieran in the lake in the middle of the winter. He had been like a corpse, and while he’d survived, he had been weak since then. She recalled the conversation she’d had with the maid thereafter.
‘Pepe, do you know who she is?’
‘She was gone when I came, but I heard that she had been close to Betty.’
‘Is that so.’
‘Yes, do you want me to ask?’
‘No, I don’t have a reason to ask.’
Lia had cried under the blankets that night when she’d thought of Kieran coughing up blood in front of her. She had felt so sorry and afraid for him. Now, she just wanted to see her mother. Even if she had been a villain to others, Laura had been her only family.
Lia opened all the doors to the many rooms in the mansion and eventually chose the corner room that looked out over the urban district. The Marquis came in and looked dissatisfied at the small room.
“Isn’t this room too small?”
“No, it’s perfect, and the view is lovely.”
“If you say so.”
Lia smiled, and her eyes sparkled as she looked out of the window. She could finally do this.
YOU ARE READING
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