Duchess Lucretia’s Study

  Duchess Lucretia had wondered where her maid had ended up to, Amelia had disappeared after the breakfast meal and she hadn’t seen her since.

  It was an unusual occurrence since the maid was loyal to her to a fault and wouldn’t leave the Duchess unattended for so long.

  However she was about to discover just how far the younger woman was willing to go for her and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant wake up call.

  “Amelia what have you done?” Duchess Lucretia was aghast seeing her usually pale maid with her skin bordering to red with what was no doubt a developing painful sunburn

  “I just wanted to keep an eye out on that new maid” Amelia confessed “I saw her going in the gardens with that Undead and the dogs”

  “Why didn’t you use your umbrella?” she questioned the maid

  “They would have seen me if I did…I-I thought hiding in the shade would have been enough” Amelia responded truthfully

  “You did far more then your duty today” Duchess Lucretia put on a severe face “Warn Miss Hawkings that Lunch is approaching then go rest in your quarters, I don’t want to see you again till that sunburn is healed” she had to reign in Amelia’s behaviour before she hurt herself seriously and she knew that forcing the maid to be off duty would feel like a punishment to Amelia.

  “But Duchess-” “No buts, I order you to never do such a thing again, I will deal with Lucia myself if she proves to be malevolent” she tried to be as clear as possible with her words and leave no room for argument

  “If she proves? How can the younger sister of that man be anything but malevolent?!” Amelia almost yelled out

  “Are you arguing with me?” the Duchess cut such protest short her tone full of warning

  “…No my Duchess” the maid’s fight drained out of her

  “Good, because that would imply you think I am a fool, do you think of me as am a fool?” Duchess Lucretia hated that she had to resort to this, but she couldn’t allow such thing to happen again

  “Absolutely not! I apology for my insolence” Amelia seemed outraged just by the notion, even bowed down her head to make her apology more sincere.

  “Then don’t question my ways anymore” the Duchess said utterly serious

  “Will do my Duchess” Amelia still had her head bowed

  “I will have Doctor Franklin deliver you some skin ointment” Duchess Lucretia conceded out of concern

  “Thank you my Duchess, your generosity has no limits” Amelia responded, but didn’t break her bow

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “You are dismissed”

  Once Amelia was gone Duchess Lucretia let out an exhausted sigh, hoping the maid would listen to her clear instructions and never do such thing again.

  Life was easier when she was just a lower noble.

  Miss Hawkings’s Study

  Currently Miss Hawkings was trying to make Veronique walk correctly while having her balance a stack of books on her head.

  Veronique felt her brain was about to explode as previously Miss Hawkings went over a series of rules for the most mundane things and kept correcting her posture every time the redhead did as much a slouch, the way in which the woman did such thing was irritating to the point she wished to be stuck with stick instead.

  “Ah Ah Ah” she would always start wiggling her finger in reprimand then add something like “that’s incorrect Lady Veronique” or “Lady Veronique are slouching again” or “for Luminance we already went over this” depending on the situation but most of all she would highly praise Rhea at every chance she got, which wasn’t the part Veronique felt the most irritated about, but what was maddening to her was the fact it seemed to her as a clear attempt to put a wedge between the two of them.

  Now that was pissing her off, Veronique would rather the two of them to become enemies on their own terms over being manipulated into it by an old hag turning etiquette lessons in some sort of competition.

  Veronique felt as if she just got a time limit to learn this useless stuff before Rhea got a superiority complex over her and then she would need to deal with another Alexander.

  She only dealt with him for an hour at best this morning and she already knew dealing with another him would make her insane.

  ‘Well technically she was insane, nobody else saw…wait where are they?’ Veronique thought not seeing any of the Dead around, which usually never happened

  ‘Lately they keep surprising me’ she thought as she tripped and fell.

  “Ah Ah Ah” Miss Hawking wiggled her finger in her face “You got distracted, but you had almost made it Lady Veronique” it was the closest thing to a praise she got from her, just then there was a knock to the door and the white haired maid usually accompanying the Duchess entered as Miss Hawking allowed so

  Veronique noticed that her skin looked red and inflamed, along with the fact that all of her missing hallucinations were just outside the open door.

  ‘That’s odd’ she thought wondering if her subconscious caught on her need to concentrate and tried to help.

  “Amelia did you walk in the sun without your umbrella? you know that’s bad for you” Miss Hawkings actually seemed concerned for the woman

  “Thank you for your concerns Miss Hawkings, I had foolishly thought a short walk wouldn’t be an issue” Amelia admitted

  “Did you try sunscreen?” Veronique was answered with a full on glare and a warning look from Miss Hawkings “what? It was just a suggestion” what was wrong with sunscreen?

  “Forgive Lady Veronique, I have come to learn today that most of what she says and does is born out of simple utter ignorance” her teacher of the day had declared

  ‘Did she just insult me?’ Veronique’s eye twitched

  “even if I can understand why you would have trouble believing so” Miss Hawkings continued

  ‘what was that supposed to mean?’ it was frustrating Veronique to not know her past history with this maid ‘what could she have done to make her so mad?’ she wondered

  “Don’t be fooled Miss Hawkings, some rotten eggs should just be tossed out” Amelia boldly said making Miss Hawkings gasp

  Veronique was tempted to just ask what in the bloody hell she did to Amelia to make her hate her so much, but in doing so she would have to make it know she didn’t remember such thing and that would be like throwing gasoline on fire.

  Not only would Amelia get angry because she didn’t know, but then Miss Hawkings would be back on her case.

  “So what’s your purpose there?” the redhead choose to say that instead before Miss Hawkings started scolding the Maid, this way they can just go on for the day and not waste time arguing

  “Duchess Lucretia asked me to warn you that Lunch is about to be ready before I retired for the day”

  “Thank you for the warning, I didn’t even notice we were running so late” Miss Hawkings admitted after glancing to her brass pocket watch “Rest well Amelia”

  “I am glad to be of service” and with that the Maid left, but not before giving one last glare to Veronique, who simply rolled her eyes.