❝you needn't worry, lily. i shall stay within the room at all times.❞
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CHAPTER THREE . LEAVING LIKE A FATHER, RUNNING LIKE WATER
[ content warning: spoiler alert for the origin of the Melusines ]
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⸻IN ALL HER YEARS OF LIVING IN FONTAINE, Lily believed that nothing could ever compare to the humiliation she now felt over wrongly accusing you.
Is it possible to become sea foam?
The little Melusine wanted nothing more than for her token to disappear and return to its rightful Meka— for the blood spilled over her to be recovered by the organs of their mother, Elynas. As the youngest and last Melusine to be born (whichever way being born works for their kind), Lily was naturally spoiled in every way possible.
From all her sisters tending to her every need to Neuvillette's doting nature, Lily thought it certainly was a combination for disaster, or rather a ticking time bomb of their leniency whose result was now biting back at her with bare fangs.
After the whole 'FOREIGNER WITH UGLY JACKET ARRESTED ON THE DOCKS OF FONTAINE' fiasco with the Steambird was sorted out, she immediately locked herself inside her room for days. If it weren't for Evarallin's mouth that blabbered to Monsieur Neuvillette, Lily would have hidden herself for a week.
Now, here she sat inside the Iudex's office, studying the contents of the Marechaussee Phantom's manual while rueing her mistake. How could she be so... discourteous with her denouncement?
Was it her excitement on the first day of work? Was it the fascination that glittered across your face at the first sight of Fontaine's splendor? Or was it your tacky coat in blue? Whatever distracted her or caused her hasty accusation, it did not matter.
Neuvillette, being the kind and understanding person that he naturally is, was prepared to go to lengths to remedy the mistake she had made. But it was all so unfair. The fault was supposed to be hers and hers alone to bear. And with how much the Melusines owed to the Chief Justice, disappointing him was the last thing she wanted— they needed.
Yet here Lily sat. How pathetic she must look to him.
When the clock struck a quarter to 12, Neuvillette cleared his desk and made his way to the sofa she was comfortably glued to. Lily all but clumsily placed the thick manual on the marbled center table of the Chief Justice's office and resorted to fidgeting with the outer pocket of her uniform to soothe her restless heart.
