Main Dinning Room
Veronique was quietly eating her breakfast, while that awful nightmare kept replaying on repeat in her mind.
Was it even a nightmare?
‘I was older and stuck in a straight jacket’ she recounted ‘It could be a memory of the original Veronique, but it shouldn’t be possible because I took over this Veronique way before she experienced any of it and yet’ she glanced at Hanging Jaw with slight frown ‘I also started experiencing her hallucinations before she was supposed to start having them, why?’ she tried to think of a possible explanation but all she was coming up with was a blank ‘and that woman who was she?’ she couldn’t remember her features ‘I saw her just before I had that nightmare, does she have anything to do with it?” she wondered ‘Something is going way off there’ she had no answer for her questions but she had still reached a conclusion based on the recent events
‘Things must have already gone way off course from what little I know about this story’ she slowly ate her breakfast as she mulled over her train of thought ‘something as destructive as Scorpions attacking the Aurelia would have been mentioned even if only to fill up more space, from what I gathered we had been lucky they emerged early’ she recounted the information she had and gave her hypothesis ‘but what if in the original story they were meant to come later? What if my interference has caused that chain of events to come earlier’
‘Did I really change the course of the story by doing so little?’ she couldn’t wrap her head around it ‘how could it be? I barely did anything and what I did certainly couldn’t have pissed off the Scorpions’ her thoughts went to Margaret ‘this shit all started when she disappeared, the last time she was seen was when we got our Skill assessment’ she recalled ‘Margaret had gone to take more pastries and never came back, if I hadn’t been there Miss Hawkings would have stayed by Rhea’s side so Margaret would have never left…assuming she would have even been called in the first place’ Veronique let out a sigh
‘I can’t live my life worrying about causing chain reactions, and thinking about it the big picture things worked out fine, there would have been more deaths if the Scorpions emerged later and the knights weren’t inside’ she tried to think positively then shock her head to kill that thought
‘No, that’s a dangerous way of thinking and the last thing I want is to become the kind of person that justifies killing the few for the most’ she drank a bit of water ‘people that think that way always end up resorting to straight up killing without thinking of any alternatives and murder must always be the last resort’
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She resumed eating, doing small bites to make her breakfast last longer ‘besides my situation is quite different, maybe if I knew the story I could have been in a position to do damage control and just kill off the villains, but I don’t and even if I did I seriously doubt I would have the guts to do such thing’
“Veronique” the Duke’s voice broke her train of thought before it could jump to something else
“Yes, my Lord?” Veronique responded fumbling a bit with her tone, which exposed her surprise at being called
“Glad to have your attention” the Duke had lightly reprimanded her, Veronique’s face lightly reddened from embarrassment
“Sorry, my Lord” who knows how long the Duke had been calling on her for
“As I was saying in three weeks we will be hosting a banquet” the Duke had declared earning dozens of gasps from the staff, which didn’t seem pleased by the idea.
Not one bit.
“I guess that’s a good thing?” Veronique slowly said ‘is it appropriate to party after so many died?’
“What’s on your mind Veronique? It seems you have some thoughts on the matter” the Duke had asked putting her on the spot and if Veronique didn’t remember Miss Hawkings’s words about him hating liars she probably would have never dared to speak her mind
“It’s just, it doesn’t seem appropriate to celebrate after the recent events” Veronique had said, nerves starting to take over her as the Duke looked at her with a blank expression while silence fell in the room ‘Did Miss Hawkings play me? I knew I should have kept the boot licking act up’ she thought
“The best way for everything to go back to normal is for the staff to get busy and focus on something else” the Duke explained then added “Usually I am able to host banquets with one week notice, this time I gave three”
“And we can’t show ourselves to be less then other nobles” Duchess Lucretia said the quiet part out aloud as quiet protests had reached their ears, but at the mention of the other noble houses those quieted down fast and suddenly the staff was metaphorically on fire about it
“As I was saying” the Duke got everyone to shut up “There will be many important guests and I find it will be a good opportunity to prove yourself Veronique”
“Prove myself?” the redhead repeated slowly, not really liking where this was going
“If I find your behaviour acceptable I will allow you to take residency back in the Main Wing” the Duke had said sparkling the discussion within the staff back up.
“What?” both her and Alexander had asked at the same time.
“Yes!” while Rhea just seemed outright overjoyed by the news
“On a side note tomorrow the skill teacher will arrive” the Duke kept talking as if he didn’t just drop a bomb, but he didn’t seem too pleased about this other piece of news “Given the circumstances the Royal family had sent one of their own”
‘Oh that’s why, the Royals found an excuse to put one of their own there’ she understood the issue, but had a sudden fear
“Please not Madame Luise” Veronique couldn’t help but say, and clamped her mouth shut immediately after as the Duke gave her a look
“No, it’s not Madame Luise” he slowly said but she had no time to celebrate before the Duke have her a warning “But even if it were, I expect you to treat them with respect”
“Yes, my Lord” Veronique was quick to say then as the Duke didn’t seem to have anything more to say she returned to her breakfast.
