Suddenly Nobles

Who's Dad?

By midnight, Margaret was incessantly praying while pacing in front of her porch. The woman's feelings were chaotic after knowing Eve disappeared on the way home to the village. Johan and his men immediately moved by leaving the road they went through. The coachman, the only one who knows where Eve left him, has gone with Garlein back to the border.

Sese came from behind. Grazing Margaret's shoulders that looked so restless. "Mrs don't worry, Eve's coming back."

"He knows nothing about the city. How it is now, I don't know either" replied Margaret with a drop of tears perched on her bright eye patch, "Already many cases of women walking alone in the middle of the night will end up being residents of brothels. I don't want anything that bad to happen to my daughter!"

"Eve is a tough and strong girl, she will not be easily fooled by someone, mistress," Sese said trying to cheer up. The bead looked up, watching the stars sprinkling up there expectantly. "He'll definitely be home. Tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning, I'm sure."

"Hopefully so. Other than losing Eve, there was already too much burden on my mind right now. Not to mention the message from the Duke of Lumiere's envoy this morning who asked Eve to return to the castle as soon as possible. In the past, he dumped Eve, but look what the duke did. I ... I also don't know if I can live without Eve." Margaret took a breath. He nodded again, "I'm scared too. Had Eve not been able to adapt to the environment of the upper class nobles, she would have been ostracized. My only treasure is that, I don't want to make him as fragile as I am" he said weakly.

One wide-eyed, "His Grace's mouth is coming at you? Does that mean the Duke of Lumiere already knows where you live?"

"That order, it will definitely say everything about his meeting with me today to His Grace. He must have known that I did not live in the mansion of Earl Averish who had already fallen into the hands of my cruel half-brother—" His words came to a halt. Margaret shook her head weakly, "No. It could be that the duke has completely forgotten me and does not care where I live. Remember, he's with that woman."

Someone knows very well the figure of the Duke of Lumiere and according to him, Margaret's last speech —although painful— has a point. Duke probably won't care and so on probably will.

Margaret is better than Britney. Margaret was of noble origin, once the prima donna of a debutante in her time, and the youngest daughter of the late Earl of Averish. As for Britney, what had the woman done so that the duke could not turn away from her?

Sese just silently listened. He did not want to destroy Margaret's already little hope.

"Mama, I'm back!"

The familiar voice of the girls suddenly published a bright smile on Margaret's face. He stood up quickly, approaching Eve who was already standing in the courtyard of their house without any shortcomings.

"Eve, is that you?" Margaret hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and watched Eve from head to toe. "Are you hurt, did anyone hurt you? You're okay, right?!"

"Eve was naughty, why did you just come home? Look, your mother is so worried!"

"Eh, you're panicking too much." Eve outlined their embrace. His hands stretched out to wipe away Margaret's tears dripping down her cheek, "There are no hard obstacles as you think. It's just .. well, I know. Nothing is free in this world."

Margaret glanced at a cattle-feeder carriage that Eve had previously been riding. The train had already walked away past the tall weeds that were glaring in the darkness. As Eve said that in this world nothing is free, this daughter must have paid them. But Margaret remembered that Eve had run out the window this morning. And that means he didn't give Eve a dime. "Eve, where did you get the money to pay them?"

Eve grimaced. As bad as she was, Eve never dared to lie to Margaret. But with Aunt Sese, Eve often does. "That's—I was forced to borrow money from one of the people in town."

"Borrowed? Eve, tell me honestly," said Aunt Sese who was suddenly upset.

"Ish, Aunt Sese doesn't know how I was. I was really desperate when there wasn't even a shred of money left in my pocket. Aunty just think about what I have to do when people are busy with their respective affairs. People in the city are so cruel, unlike Garlein or Uncle Johan who always help me. Steal. Yes, I did steal." Eve swallowed dry. She was afraid that Margaret was angry at her confession but the woman she loved was just silent. "After all, the man I stole was a rich man. Taken a little, wouldn't spend their treasures either, would they?"

"Sorry, Margaret. We have not—" Johan who planned to report their search results to Margaret actually stopped when he saw the figure they were looking for was standing in front of his house. "Eve? You're back, how can you?!"

"Ah, no. It's my duty to take her with us." Johan was relieved. Really am. In addition to feeling responsible for Eve's disappearance while with them, Johan has also considered Eve like his own daughter.

He only had a stiff son. Eve's arrival as Garlein's friend turned out to have an impact on him and Sarah. The personality of the friendly and cheerful blonde girl had raised the desire in Johan's mind to have a daughter as well. But unfortunately, to this day Johan's wishes have not been fulfilled.

"Then I'll stop the search. It's good to see Eve get back home safely." Johan turned to look at Eve, "Son, I'm sorry for leaving you in town. Next time something like this won't happen again, I promise."

"Eh, no-no. Uncle Johan is not wrong!" Eve waved her hand. "I do not want to blame anyone in this incident because my fault is also desperate to get out of the group. It's just that Uncle Johan might need to help the coachman to strengthen his memory. I know he's old, but if it gets worse, instead of just forgetting to leave someone else behind, he might end up forgetting his own name."

Johan, Aunt Sese, and also her mother suddenly laughed due to Eve's soft but offensive plain speech. Johan shakes his head, Margaret's daughter this one is there.

"Alright, Eve. Uncle will remember your message. It's late at night, then uncle excuse me." Johan looked at Margaret and Sese alternately, "Goodbye."

"Drug, uncle. Give my regards to Garlein that he has nothing to worry about, this beautiful friend of his has returned home!" reply Eve who breaks the silence of the night. Someone glared at him, in contrast to Johan who replied to Eve's words with a thumbs up in the air.

"Well, Eve, now there's some things I want to tell you." Margaret brought her daughter inside the house while Sese immediately closed the door behind them.

"Can't tomorrow morning, Ma?"

"If I say it tomorrow, I guarantee you'll be mad at me" Margaret replied and chuckled. "How, would you listen to it?"

Eve nodded quickly. Curiosity has spread in his brain, thinking about the possibilities of what his mother will say.

"Dad asked you to stay with him."

"Dad?" The cheerful lightning that usually adorned Eve's blue bead slowly dimmed. "What's mama kidding, didn't you ever tell me you were dead?"

Margaret threw away her face, "If you understood her nature, you'd know what caused mama not to think she was among us."

Margaret cupped Eve's palm like a fairy godmother giving strength to her favorite human child. Margaret knew that Zachary's request must have been hard on Eve.

"So he's alive?" muttered Eve to herself. He looked up, trying to ask for more explanation. "Who's my dad?"

"Zachary Lumiero, Duke of Lumiere."

As a witness to the Duke of Lumiere's cruelty, Sese could only stare at the fragile girl concerned. He's not an orphan. His parents were complete, but being rejected by one of them was certainly more painful.

"Your return is a direct decree from His Majesty the King. Eve, even if mom is too heavy to let you go, you still have to do it. Honey, do this for mama."