This I Promise

XXVIII. Carlstead

"It is such an honor to have you here, Lord Shunerman, Lady Baxter." a beautiful blonde said to her two guests sitting at the large maroon sofa situated in her vast and luxurious living room.

It was a very sunny morning, and the pair of Wall Rose migrants, who happened to be her new neighbors, decided to visit her.

Marie was utterly pleased to meet them. Not that she doesn't get that many visitors, no.

Her husband, Nile, was not really a social animal. In fact, he doesn't have too many friends aside from Erwin Smith, who was his long - time companion since Cadet training days. She wanted him to meet new friends, and Lord Elvis Shunerman and his fiancee' Jacqueline Baxter might just be the right people.

And they were quite nice, too.

But, what Marie didn't expect was how far people's descriptions were to what she actually saw.

"It is also such an honor to finally meet you, Mrs. Dawk." uttered Jacqueline, who graciously took Marie's outstretched hand.

Strange, Marie thought. Jacqueline seems to have a hard time looking at me. Is her eyesight poor?

Marie dropped those thoughts about Jacqueline, thinking it was very rude to think of her guest in such a way, and, instead turned to Lord Shunerman, who seemed a bit uninterested with everything that's going on around him.

After a few seconds of her fiance's unresponsive demeanor, Jacqueline nudged him with an elbow, finally making the short and grumpy blonde to finally look at Marie.

That's,... rather odd, Marie thought as the silent Lord took her right hand and planted a chaste peck on it. I never really expected Lord Shunerman to be this,... short.

"We do hope that we are not bothering you at this time for a short visit, Mrs. Dawk." said Jacqueline, once again looking very distracted and disoriented at the same time.

"No, not at all." answered Marie as she offered them tea and some pastries. "In fact, I was expecting more visitors here for the next five months for the Winter Season. My eldest daughter, Rosemarie, is going to have her debut. You know how bachelors are."

"Ah, yeah, hahaha." muttered Jacqueline while faking a laugh.

The moment Marie excused herself for a moment to fetch something from the other room, Jacqueline turned to Elvis, who remained silent during the whole conversation.

"How about making yourself more sociable, Elvis?" she whispered to her fiance'.

"How about not making yourself obvious that you can't see a thing without your glasses, four - eyes?" he savagely whispered back with his low and raspy voice.

"I can't help it! I can't see a thing without my glasses."

"Well, this is your idea. Bear it or suck it up."

"How sweet of you, my love."

"Shut the fuck up, shitty - eyes."

"I can't bother Rosemarie right now, unfortunately." said Marie, suddenly returning to the living room, making the two guests drop their argument. "Still sulking in her room. You know how teenagers are these days."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine. You don't have to bother her." said Jacqueline, whose hazel eyes seem to wander from the flower vase near the door to the person standing near it.

However, Marie didn't notice it when Elvis nudged Jacqueline on the right arm, gesturing her to focus on their true motive for their visit.

"But, we do have another debutante here. She just recently migrated from Wall Rose, just like you."