Masquerade [BANG CHAN FF]

9. Dance lesson

Waking up the next morning, ten minutes before her alarm clock rang, Madeline gasped for air, pulling every breath with such difficulty, and feeling as if her body was on fire. She couldn't remember her dream but a lingering sense on her lips and the small of her back was still vivid that she had to take a moment to recover from it.

Madeline closed her eyes but the scenes, played in her dream, evaporated as fast as cheap perfume. She was sure that she dreamt of a man but his features were unknown and she blamed the motive of such a dream on her encounter with eight handsome men last night. Her mind probably mixed all that happened last night into one confusing dream.

A hard and loud knock broke Madeline out of her recollection and she jumped off the bed, tapping the ringing alarm clock and grabbing a robe to pull it around her body. The knocking was persistent and she rushed down the old wooden stairs, opening the door to a stern-looking man in a suit and top hat whose bitter facial expression became rock-hard and frowning when he saw the distressed young woman with ruffled hair still in her sleep-wear.

"C-Can I help you?" she stuttered, calming down her rapid breathing.

"Good morning," the man cleared his throat. "As an official messenger of the Thompson family from the south city of Semerria, I am here to deliver this official notice from the head of the family, Sir Luke," the older man handed Madeline a closed envelope, sealed with a red wax stamp of a family crest. The confused girl looked up at the man, seeking for an explanation, "You have five days to move out," he spoke evenly and she tensed up, a cold sweat covering her back immediately. "More details are in the letter. Good day, miss," he tipped his hat and turned, hurrying to the awaiting carriage.

Madeline slowly closed the old door and pulled her dry lips inside her mouth, licking them while she tried to wrap her head around what that man had just said. She went to the kitchen, sat at the table, and ripped the envelope, reading the decision of the family - since the house and land on which it was on were their property, they demanded tenants to move out so that they could build a motel and that way earn more than a cheap rent for the old house.

Madeline's heart sank and she gripped her head in defeat.

After feeling so flustered and distraught last night, she tried to regain strength so that she could push through this misery. But, being early in the morning and time for her to get ready to head to the castle for tutoring, she couldn't think about the solution to this problem as her head and heart thumped in pain and fear about her future.

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"And this concludes today's geography lesson about the south of our kingdom," Madeline let down the wand she used to point places on the old geographical map, turning to smile at the two students and trying to suppress her troubling thoughts. "Make sure to review everything we have learned so far because we'll have a small pop quiz next week."

She kept her smile but two children watched her confused, then looked at each other before young Prince Lucas spoke first.

"Maddie, is everything okay?" he asked casually and Madeline pushed a wider smile, not wanting to burden the children with her worries.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," Madeline nodded, and just then the clock struck noon, the door of the study opened and the servants came in to carry yet another fragrant tea and plates of pastry to go with it.

The children were quiet in the presence of others but when the maid closed the door behind her, Princess Hannah huffed, crossing her arms in front of her.

"You don't look fine at all," the princess raised her brow and Madeline chuckled.

"You don't need to worry about me, Your Highness. I promise you - I'm fine."