Inner Garden

  Veronique felt as if her head was about to explode, while studying to get a skill was less boring then normal etiquette lessons it was still boring.

  She couldn’t wait to get to the practical side of it, even if after what the old hag mentioned about catastrophic results she was still a bit nervous about it.

  Maybe she should ask for Kain to be present just in case? He was a knight he should be able to deal with such things.

  Handstand and Little Drag were running in circles around her again, the noise wasn’t helping her headache and neither was the slapping sound of the Disarmed’s arms clashing.

  It was meaty and it was accompanied by splashes, which just added to it along with Clashing Eyes.

  It had been easier to filter out the noise when she had deal with them full time, but since they left her alone while she was in Miss Hawkings’s study it had been more difficult.

  All of her exhaustion simply melted away as soon her dogs came to sight and she ran up to greet them

  “So did they do alright?” she asked as always, happily kneeling down to pet the dogs

  “…Y-yes” Lucia had answered but Veronique could tell something was off

  “Lucia, did something happen?” she called out the maid, who seemed to shirk under her gaze “you seem oddly nervous, more then usual”

  “So we meet, Lady Veronique” a new voice caught her attention and interrupted her questioning,

  “Eh? Who are you?” Veronique asked turning towards it with a confused frown as she saw an older woman with graying black hair and oddly familiar golden eyes standing there.

  “You don’t know your own Aunt?” the woman asked with fake disappointment, all at once something clicked into Veronique’s brain as she realized why those eyes seemed so familiar to her.

  They were just like Duchess Lucretia’s golden eyes, no not the same they were a tad darker

  “The Hound Master!” Veronique yelled out surprised “What are you doing there!?” she asked nervously

  “I ran into your maid and guard this morning, so when I heard you were training your dogs at this time I couldn’t help but wish to observe” the Hound Master had explained, in a moment that story about Valentia taking that noble’s dog away flashed before her eyes only it was Mos and Bos getting taken from her.

  “No you can’t!” she ended up saying out of pure panic

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  “I can’t?” The Hound Master inquired her tone dropping dangerously

  “I mean, it hasn’t even been two weeks since I started so I got nothing to show” Veronique raised her hands in a frenetic placating gesture as she tried to explain herself

  “Don’t worry child, I only want to watch your approach” Valentia insisted and it was clear she wouldn’t get no for an answer

  “O-okay” Veronique had no choice but to agree to her request…even if it was more like an order.

  Servant’s quarters

  “Anne, did you see Margaret?” Isabella had asked approaching the other maid

  “No, I didn’t” Anne answered “Did something happen?” she then asked out of basic concern after seeing how distraught Isabella looked at the moment.

  She may not have a friendly relationship with her coworkers but she wasn’t made of stone.

  “I am not sure, she could be busy with some other chores, but” she started explaining

  “But?” Anne pushed on it, Isabella may be a bit of airhead and speak out aloud a bit too much but she wasn’t one to overact so if she was worried then there was a good reason for it

  “She was supposed to bring more pastries for Lady Rhea, but she never came back and I can’t find her anywhere, she even missed Dinner” Isabella explained not looking Anne in the eye “This isn’t like her” her voice trembled as if she was about to cry.

  “Maybe Margaret was distracted by something urgent, I am sure she must be somewhere” what Isabella had said was worrying, but Anne’s priority at the moment was to keep Isabella calm for the night after all it was unlikely that Margaret was in any real danger, maybe she got distracted by some juicy gossip, and if she was still missing come morning Anne would go to report it to Mr Jerkings, who will no doubt handle the matter better then she could.

  “I hope you are right, I saved some Apple tarts for her” Isabella ended up saying seemly calmer then before, then she changed the subject and gave her a small smile “How are your lessons with Elise going?”

  “She said it’s a miracle I can’t burn water and put me on chopping duty” Anne recounted the old woman’s words in a disheartened tone at which Isabella giggled

  “You did warn her you couldn’t cook” she commented and added “I am sure you can get out of this mess if you plead your case to Mr Jerkings”

  “No” Anne’s answer came out straight and absolute as if the option of quitting was a great dishonor that she wasn’t willing to take

  “No?” Isabella repeated out of surprise

  “It became a personal matter” Anne wouldn’t say outright that she wanted to stick it to Chef Bernard, the man with his air of superiority got to her nerves so much that she wanted to learn to cook out of pure mere spite

  “Eh?”

  Anne didn’t elaborate and continued her business.

  Unknown Location

  Margaret wandered around trying to find a familiar path, but no matter where she went it seemed as if more paths sprang out.

  “Where am I?” she wondered out aloud, not understanding in which part of the Inner Garden she had ended up to or how.

  One moment she was in the corridor leading to the kitchen the next she was somehow standing in the Inner Garden, but such thing made no sense so she must have got distracted.

  However now that she thought about it, this place was a far cry from the curated garden she knew, the grass was darker and there was something wild about it, besides the paths in the Inner Garden were made out of carefully arranged stones, but here she was walking on simple gravel and the trees…there were too many, too tall.

  Could she have somehow ended in the Outer Garden? Then if she keeps moving she should eventually reach the wall, after that all she needed to do was to follow it till she either ran in a Knight or found the gate.

  She can find her way back to the Aurelia’s Estate from the gate and there was still the chance that she could end up at the Estate.

  Her stomach rumbled.

  ‘I better hurry before all the Apple tarts are gone’ Margaret thought, knowing they only get such treat once a week.

  They were her favorite.

  This is assuming I will remember and we will get to that point.

  They started a mock sword battle using their own arms.