𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰'𝓼 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Rest Of My Life

.•° ✿ °•.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lucien shook George's outstretched hand, spitting out a quick and spiteful greeting through gritted teeth.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine." George responded, somewhat nervous.

"This is Annette, Lucien's daughter." I cut in, before Lucien could scare George any further, "And this is his wife, Emile." Goerge offered them each a quick smile and a nod, before an awkward silence fell over us.

"Darling, Annette and I are heading in now." Emile said softly, before taking her child's hand and entering through the palace doors.

I looked back to George and Lucien, finding that Lucien was sending George a lethal glare. It was discouraging to see Lucien's distaste for George made so apparent, but at least he was trying to be... Civil, I suppose?

"So," Lucien spoke after a while, "I was promised a story of how this came to be," he folded his arms as he looked between George and I.

"Well, it's simple, really-" I began but was cut off.

"No. I want to hear it from you," he pointed menacingly to George.

"M-Me? Why?" George looked dumbfounded.

"Yes, from you. And does it really matter why? I need to be assured that you really love her, if you feel you must know." he said.

"Alright... Well, her regiment had come to the castle to steal some documents a few years ago, during the Revolution. Her regiment abandoned her here, and my men arrested her. And I was... I suppose you could say, curious about the French female soldier everyone talked of, and so, I paid her a visit and found myself quite captivated by her." he chuckled, "I believe her first words to me were something along the lines of 'What the fuck?' and it intrigued me, to have a woman, not of royal, rich, or noble descent address me as she did, speak to me in the manner that she did. And so, I arranged meetings with her nearly every day, called them interrogations, though I suppose she saw right through that..." he smiled.

"Well it wasn't hard, it wasn't as though you actually tried to interrogate me during your so called interrogations." I rolled my eyes.

"And then?" Lucien asked sternly, though his face looked somewhat softer.

"And then..." George cringed as he recalled Christain, what he'd done, "One of my soldiers, they'd grown tired of Rose's silence, and in my absence, took it upon themselves to get the information out of her through violence." he spat the word with a searing distaste, "Luckily, I caught him before he could do anything too serious. He fled from Britain. And I... I felt scared for the first time in a long time, scared that I would lose someone who'd become very dear to me, should that man return. So, I moved her to the palace as my-"

"It matters not what I was." I interjected, heat rising to my face, causing George to smirk.

"Anyways, we came to grow very close. And then there were some complications... She left for a year, and when I'd begun to give up hope, she returned, and in typical Rosalie Alcott fashion, made an extravagant production by saving my life. That's when she at last returned my feelings. And now, here we are." he said.

"When did you know?" Lucien asked, his tone a kinder one now.

"Know..?"

"When did you know for certain that you loved her?"

"I can't really say for certain. It just happened on its own, I never really paid it much mind. One moment there was this mysterious woman whom I longed to know better, and then suddenly as if by some magic spell, she'd become Rosalie Alcott, the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." George smiled, grasping my hand.