Kitchens

  One frustrated Anne was at her wits ends trying to make croissants, but she kept failing either during the folding process or while baking it.

  “Your butter melted too much” Elise pointed out at which Anne lightly snapped and stopped her efforts “what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong? I don’t even know why we are bothering with this” the maid had outright told her, her patience having run too thin to be gentle with the old cook

  “You don’t know?” the old woman seemed outright stunned by such exclamation

  “No, I don’t” Anne had affirmed before elaborating “Lady Veronique is eating in the Main wing and it’s likely she will stay there, so why are we still doing this?”

  “Because it’s fun and you never know when we might be needed again” Elise had simply told her with the same tone one would use with a child who couldn’t understand something basic and needed to be guided to the solution

  “Fun? You think this is fun?” Anne was appalled as she pointed to her culinary disasters, her eye already twitching at the thought of having to clean this unholy mess.

  “Oh mastering the art can be tricky, but do you remember how satisfying it felt when you got that sourdough bread right?” Elise had explained her point of view “Do you really prefer to go around cleaning rooms or bringing trays over doing this?” she questioned her.

  Anne didn’t respond she just resumed baking.

  Chef Bernard heard and saw the whole exchange from the corner of his eye, his lip slightly twitched up, then he got fully absorbed in making the next meal for the Aurelia.

  Music Room

  Veronique had left Rhea cry on her for a few minutes, lightly hugging her back, it hadn’t been unusual for the child to do this exact same thing in the last weeks but no matter how much it happened the redhead still felt awkward in comforting her.

  “Shh it’s okay the Duke would never let that old pig marry you” Veronique had said “He’s probably chewing him out as we speak”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “…a-are you sure?” Rhea had paused in her crying

  “Of course I am! I heard him yelling before I ran after you” Veronique reassured her with a confident smile, next she guided the child back on her feet wiping clean both of their dresses with her hands and straighting them out at the best that she could.

  “So I won’t have to marry?” Rhea had asked a bit hopeful, the redhead grabbed her hands and leaned down so that they would be at eye lever

  “Nope” she had said then added “You are too little for such thing anyway” ‘no really what kind of degenerate proposes to a five year old’

  “What about when I grow up?” Rhea sounded quite upset by the scenario

  “That’s still so far away, you don’t have to worry about it” Veronique didn’t have any other answer, knowing it was in the cards

  “But it will happen, it’s expected of me” the child insisted spelling out the truth about the situation

  “And what will solve crying about it now?” Veronique retorted back

  “Eh?” such answer had left Rhea with her mouth hanging open from the surprise, a bit of hurt going trough her eyes as she clearly took those words in the wrong way

  “I mean wouldn’t you rather enjoy the present instead of worrying about the future” Veronique was quick to rectify before the child started crying again and repeated “I told you it will take a long time before you even have to worry about it” it didn’t seem it was enough to put Rhea at ease so Veronique ended up adding to it “But if it will make you feel better I will personally scare off any suitor you don’t like” the proposal made Rhea giggle before another thought crossed her mind

  “But what if Veronique is asked to marry? You are a noble too and you are older then me” Rhea had pointed out, not saying out aloud that if that happened then Veronique wouldn’t be there to scare off anyone

  “I am too scary for anyone to think about marrying me” Veronique bluntly declared to avoid answering that question ‘that’s a can of worms I don’t even want to think about’

  “You are not scary, I like you” the child would insist not feeling such statement was right

  “That’s because I like you too, it’s not the same thing” the redhead had said back, just then Rhea’s stomach growled

  “Ugh Veronique I am hungry” she lamented

  “Oh we did end up skipping breakfast” Veronique pointed out

  “Ehm Ehm”

  “Miss Hawkings?!” Veronique was straddled by the voice and utterly surprised to see the older woman standing there ‘how long had she been staring at them?’ she wondered

  “Lady Veronique, Lady Rhea, I don’t have to tell you how irresponsible it was for the two of you to run off in such a manner without your escorts” Miss Hawkings had reprimanded them for their haste exit “we are still making sure the Estate is completely safe”

  “I know, can’t you let it go just this once?!” Veronique felt the words escaping her before she could stop them, feeling a familiar head ‘Did I take my tea?’

  “Let it go?” Miss Hawkings repeated

  “Yea, give us a pass, close an eye whatever phase suits best” the milk was already spilled so Veronique just kept rolling with “It’s not everyday you get proposed by a pig”

  “Mh I will consider it, but in the meantime it’s best you get some breakfast” at those words both girls ended up peaking up “Lady Veronique still has to take her tea” and that answered Veronique’s question

  “I had forgot about that” she sheepishly said then added “but isn’t it too late to go back to Main Dinning room?”

  “It is, which is why both of you will have something at the Dinning room in the East wing” Miss Hawking had declared earning Veronique’s excitement “it will be quiet and away from unwanted guests, but first we will have to fetch your guards” the woman kept talking as the three of them walked away.