Inner Garden

  Veronique was quite nervous as they headed to their usual spot for training, she had planned on trying on a new command today and something told her that if she kept training Mos and Bos with sit then her Aunt would notice and force her into doing something new anyway.

  ‘What do I do?’ she thought eyes watering, she knew full well there was nothing she could do to impress the woman.

  She didn’t want to lose Mos and Bos.

  She shook her head and focused, if her pups noticed she was upset then they would get thrown off their game.

  She wasn’t going to set them up for failure no matter how dire the situation was.

  ‘Alright I just need to think of the exercise and forget the dog snatcher is watching’ she thought to herself as she removed Mos and Bos leashes, took some of the treats from Lucia so she would have a few ready

  “Sit!” she yelled out evenly before even turning back as the duo was already starting to wander off, they sat down for a moment then got up again, but stayed attentive on Veronique.

  Getting right before Mos and Bos, she started stepping back after she was sure they both noticed the treat in her hands the dogs followed her then she would stop and wait for them to sit down

  “Yes, good boys” she gave them the treat then she repeated the process over and over, once the dogs were acclimated with movement she would proceed to add the command “Sit!” quickly succeeded by “Stay” but that was for another day, for now she was just getting them used to it

  “I see you are trying to teach them the stay command” the voice made Veronique jump as she did indeed forget the Hound master was watching “not bad, but relying on your maid to hold the treat bag breaks the flow of your training and don’t you think I didn’t notice your maid also kept an hand on the leashes while we got there” Valentia’s tone had turned grave “you are going to confuse your dogs on who they are supposed to listen to”

  “I-it can’t be h-helped Mos and Bos can o-overpower Lady Veronique e-easily” Lucia intervened in her favor

  “Then your training should focus curbing out those tendencies first instead of party tricks” the Hound master didn’t take such words as valid excuse, if anything it was more of an insult as she had visibly got angrier “those dogs are going to get way bigger in a few months, what are you going to do then?” this question made the redhead’s blood boil, sure Valentia had a point and it was quite possible that she wasn’t the best candidate to take care of Mos and Bos

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  “By then they will be trained enough, so it won’t be a problem” Veronique said confidently “call me selfish if you want but I won’t give up on them before even trying” she added determined

  “You say they will be trained by then?” Valentia slowly said, the roaring fire in her voice had quieted down to a candle “Very well, then I will give you three months prove such claim, in the meantime I don’t mind if your…staff keeps using the spot I showed them to let the dogs wander safely” and with that the Hound master just left

  “Eh what just happened?” Veronique slowly wondered out aloud not expecting such result.

  Meanwhile Kain’s attention was taken by a flicker of light, it had lasted only a second but it was enough for him to lock his gaze towards it.

  While their chosen spot was far away from the paths, it wasn’t that far away from the building, but they weren’t right by the wall and there was a considerable distance, so the idea of someone looking at them from a one of the windows in the upper floor was unthinkable.

  Kain would have felt it if a skill was used, so he dismissed it thinking it was just his imagination and focused back to his duty.

  Corridor towards the Duke’s Office

  Hrodwulf Kepler wasn’t expecting to be summoned to the Duke’s office first thing in the morning, normally any interruption to his usual schedule on such short notice would irritate him, but this was an order from the Duke and proving he was the most qualified person for his job was a greater need to him, so he was ready to be of assistance.

  It wasn’t the first time the Duke had purchased some new rare books and wanted his expertise over them, but then he suddenly found himself sharing his path with Doctor Franklin and suddenly he had a bad feeling about this summoning.

  “Did the Duke summon you too?” the Doctor would ask him, the man was already sweating from head to toe as if he had some scalding secret he couldn’t confess

  ‘Could the Duke be sick and need my help in writing his memoirs at haste?’ Kepler thought with dread since Lord Alexander was still so young and while he was a good student, he was no where ready to be put at the head of the Aurelia’s Estate ‘If this is the case I will plead for letting Duchess Lucretia hold such duty till he is of age’

  “Yes, do you have any idea why he called for the both of us?” Kepler asked back trying to pry something out of the doctor, after all it did seem as if he was about to crack on the spot

  “…did you interact with Lady Veronique recently?” the Doctor would say, such question took the librarian out of surprise

  “She went to be a nuisance in my library, why?” the librarian had responded, not getting the reason such event would be connected to the Duke summoning them.

  “I am afraid that could be the reason, I fear Miss Hawkings must have told something unsavory to the Duke” Doctor Franklin seemed quite aghast by the idea, but to Kepler such thing was simply no sense

  “Miss Hawkings has at heart the Aurelia’s affairs, if anything she complained about Lady Veronique and now we are called to confirm her claims” he reassured the man completely sure of his words.

  “…Yes! That must be it, we know the Duke doesn’t care about that bastard” the Doctor would say and Kepler would hum and nod along in agreement

  “Maybe the Duke will finally see reason and send her to live with the commoners” he would add to it a the notion the other man nodded with a quick grin.

  Yet when the two of them entered the room, they immediately knew they were completely wrong in their claims as there was the Duke looking completely livid in a way they had never seen him.