One Wrong Choice

Bonus Chapter

(This is a bonus chapter for what Charles and Elizabeth got up to while in Saint Denis. I thought it'd be cute to give him a bit of a love interest as well and am planning on writing a short story with a Charles X reader in the future.)

Elizabeth's POV:

I inform Mrs. Derbin, the lady who took care of me and the other girls, that'd I'd no longer be working for her. I was more than happy to be free of this work. Though I'd grown to have a great deal of respect for the other women who put up with the mistreatment, I quickly found I was not so suited for that life.

Charles, the man who Mrs. Coterra and Mr. Morgan came with, was kind enough to stay behind with me while I gathered my things and quit my job.

While walking from the market place to the tiny closet of an apartment I'd been able to rent, he told me about himself. He was half Indian (Native American) and half black. He was quite tall, and definitely didn't seem like the type of person you wanted to piss off. Even then, getting to know him I realized he was a very calm and quite kind and sentimental individual.

I told him about myself as well. How I'd been raised by only my mother, who was also a servant to a very large estate farther out in the country. It was beautiful there, growing up I can still remember running through the large meadows and even sometimes playing with the children of the house, though their mother didn't like that. She said they shouldn't be playing with lower classman like myself. When my mother fell ill and passed, I moved to the city to try and be more than a "lower classman". Though, that didn't go as planned. I was, admittedly, a bit shy to people, which didn't help in landing me jobs. And being a woman didn't help either.

"Thankfully I found work at Coterra Manor though." I smiled, walking with my hand behind my back as I took in the noise of the city. Charles gave me a funny look,"Coterra Manor? You mean you worked for Y/n?" He looked very suprised,"I didn't know she was rich." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh? She didn't tell you?" I felt bad, perhaps I shouldn't have said all that I did. "So, I hate to pry but...how'd you lose your job there?" He asked as we neared my residence. "Well, Mrs. Cote- uh, Y/n started seeing your friend Mr. Morgan not that long ago. Unfortunately, he left something of his, uh...a hat, after one of his visits. Her husband caught me trying to hide it for her and well...," I let him fill in the rest. He nodded as I spoke,"Never took Arthur to be the type to go after a married woman." I chuckled slightly,"Well, I'm sure it's not my place to say but, I wouldn't say they've ever been a happy couple. It was an arranged marriage you see." I explained to him before pointing out the building of my residence. Climbing the few steps we entered the "lobby", which was beyond small. The stairs to the upper floor went right above the tiny desk where the landlords daughter, Ashley, worked.

To put it bluntly, she was a bitch. Rude, entitled, and horribly tempered, she took joy in ridiculing me, especially after learning about my little day job.

Only few steps up the stairs I heard her voice ring out, I'd hoped she hadn't seen me come in, but was unfortunately wrong. "Elizabeth? Oh my! I didn't realize you'd found a man desperate enough for a screw! Congrats!" She mocked before laughing viciously. My grip on the mantel tightened...but I remained silent, ascending the rest of the stairs while she laughed to herself. "Don't listen to her, she's just looking to get a kick out of her own miserable life," Charles said, placing a hand in my shoulder once we reached the second floor. I smiled and nodded to him before digging through my pockets for the small iron key to the door. Jiggling it around until I heard the click was only the first step, I then turned the doorknob, and slammed my hip hard into the stubborn wood.

The screws in one of the hinges was lose, and unfortunately that made the door very hard to get open as it leaned into the frame. "Sorry...gets stuck," I hit the door again, barely getting it to budge. It usually took 3 or 4 tries to get it open. Before I could wind up Again, I felt Charles place his hand on my shoulder, I backed up to let him take a try. Grabbing and turning the door knob firmly, I watched him ram his shoulder into the wood, the door swinging open in the process. Perhaps too loosely. The lose screws looked to have been ripped out, leaving one of the hinges to fall away from the wall and only give support to the middle and bottom of the door. I held back a laugh as he winced at the broken door. "Sorry," he mutters rubbing the back of his neck. I shrugged,"Not like I pay enough to care about this place anyway." I smiled.