A scream came out of the Lounge. The Guards and Staff were shocked and rushed in, post haste.
“You fat pig, what did you…!”
“Guards! An intruder, capture him!”
While the Guards thought the half brother finally snapped and did something, they were shaken by the voice of their Master Luke to look at the corner. In that corner a person clad in black was hurriedly standing up and before they could do anything the Person jumped through the window and vanished right away.
“What are you doing you morons! After him!”
“Yes Sir!”
Running through the Lounge and jumping out of the Window they searched the Garden for the long gone suspicious Person. Nothing could be done, the Person itself was way too skilled and escaped right after being spotted in the Lounge.
-
“That concludes our visit. It seems you have more on your hands and I do not want to steal your time Elizabeth, Luke.”
“Sorry for the inconvenience. Whoever that was will be found and inquired about his motives. I hope to see you another day Brother.”
“Yeah Drak. Just come over, if you have the time. We are not at home and you are our Brother.”
While the small talk was done the Servants were feeling a bit incredulous. Since when do their Masters talk like that to their half brother? They remember in the Duchy, they never talked to him for a very long time and mostly evaded him, but now? Is it some kind of play or do they want to look benevolent to their waste of a brother inside the School?
“I will think about it. Right now there are many things to do and to study. Maids, we are leaving.”
“We bring you to the door, Brother.”
With Elizabeth’s words Luke also walked him to the door where the Coach lazed around. Seeing Drak an his maids coming out, he not even cared and just waited with his Carriage close to the other end of the track through the front Garden.
When Elizabeth and Luke saw this behaviour they were incensed.
“Head Butler, is this how our coachman should behave? Do we need to walk to him too, if we need a ride and beg him to drive us?”
Not really understanding what Luke meant the Butler was a bit perplexed before Elizabeth also started to shout.
“Get that lazy piece of work right over here with the carriage, or by the House of Berklin you both will be punished with the worst we can get legally away with!”
Finally the coin dropped, that his Masters are meaning what they say and ran over to shout to the Coachman. His speed was way faster than when he walked to Drak the first time he came through the door and under huffing he makes the Coach work double time. The whole thing was even funnier, as the shouting of the Butler scared the white horses and needed a little bit of time to behave.
Driving over, the Coachman was sitting in the seat and did not move as Luke personally ordered him to open the carriage door and put the stairs out. Not knowing what is going on, he just followed orders and made sure to work the official courtesy he would give everyone except his Masters half Brother.
“...Thank you.”
“No worries Brother. We will see to it that the bad behaviour will be sorted out by the next time you visit us.”
Elizabeth was friendly and tried her best to be like a real Sister, while also balancing the distance to Drak, as he seems to still dislike their presence in general. She thought it would take so much time to close that chasm she herself created with her own doing.
“...~”
Drak nods and entered the Carriage. Afterwards the Maids got on too and while the Coachman was rigid at first, he noticed the look on his Masters faces, carefully put up the stairs and closed the door himself, like he was originally trained to do. With that he originally wanted to go on top and just drive those nuisances back to where they came from, but Luke came forth and talked in a low tone to him.
“I know what you are thinking, but he is flesh and blood of the Berklin Family. You have slighted him for years, and we just ignored it but it is now enough. If I hear you mistreat or even disrespect him you will not be the only one who will be punished. Your Wife in the house is pregnant right now, right?”
Cold sweat flowed from the face of the Coachman, his face white as a sheet. He did not know what is going on right now, but definitely would remember to not look down on that waste… no, his Masters half brother ever again and be as courteous as he could be. Jumping on the Coach Seat he first thought to drive fast, but could hold himself back at the last Second to not make a mistake and made the Horses start the trip slowly as to not shake the visitors too much.
-
“What do you think you are doing?!”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Returning to the Lounge, Elizabeth was furious at seeing how the Servants were close to throw away the Cookies with the whole Plate.
“I… I am sorry Miss, we need new tableware, as it is already soiled by-”
“Set that plate down on the Table! Now!”
Not understanding the Maid did so and was already thinking of a generic apology as she did not know, what she did wrong. Elizabeth came to her in a quick step and slapped her across the face with heavy hand. Falling to the Floor the ears of the Maid still kept ringing, not knowing where she caught the ire of her Master.
“Why do we need a new tea set, just because our Brother touched it? Would we also need new sets every time you all touch it with your filthy hands?!”
The Servants were all shocked by the sudden outburst. While their Masters were silent the whole years, the treatment of the Servants was still the same ever since. Is this some kind of reoccurrence of the missing Day that happened in the Duchy?
Sitting down on the couch Elizabeth drank the last bit out of her cup and ordered at another maid sternly.
“Give me some tea out of the kettle… And bring the plate with the cookies over!”
Still not registering what they had heard no one was moving. While the first maid still silently sobbing on the floor is keeping quiet, the others were quiet out of not knowing what to do at first.
“Miss, this tea was brewed by the maids of that… I mean your-”
“Did. I. Stutter!”
“My Sister wants tea and those cookies, and you are really ungrateful for not presenting them to her. I will see for how I will punish you, so better not make it worse!”
Domineering Luke made his point, as he was rather angry at his Servants too. So long was he not able to get that grudge out of his stomach. He understood the simple scheme his Brother had worked on, to be as inconspicuous as possible, but while he is a bit young, his planning is not the best. One of the rough edges were how the inconsistency of the Family and their Servants behaviour was. Now that they are a bit less restrained, they first wanted to vent that vile feeling inside them before smoothing over details for him.
‘My half brother is simple in his scheming, but it is what he wants, so best to help him somehow. It should be possible to help a bit. And about the Empire… No, that is no ones problem, they just do, what they are doing. Better ask him to keep Sister’s mind clear at least.’
“I… I am sorry, there is just half a cup. If Miss wants, I will brew a new one right-”
“It is enough. You can go and clean the rest of the dishes. Do not throw them away just like that!”
“Yes Miss, I understand!”
While the Servants were running around like ants doing their best to make their work as seamless as possible to abate the wrath of their Masters, Luke sat on the other couch directly in front of Elizabeth where originally Drak sat.
“Master we did not clean that place as of-”
“What? Is my half Brother that filthy? Are the Berklin in your eyes just filth staining this Mansion?!”
“No Sir, I did not mean-”
“Get out! All of you. NOW!”
Without any time in between that order everyone left the Lounge in a hurry. While they were panicked, they still bowed before going through the door, except the one Maid who was hit, as she had already a hard time walking straight. Elizabeth did not hold back with her slap and it showed.
“Close the door!”
Luke commanded the last one to close the double door and left them inside alone. The wind through the broken Window was the only thing that was heard as the search team was already far away looking for the suspect.
Elizabeth took the half full tea cup and saw an ember coloured liquid gently swaying inside. No residue or other blemishes were inside, this tea was really well prepared by his maid. She notices with how much love this must have been brewed.
After a taste she put the cup down and took one of the remaining cookies for a nibble.
“...It is sweet. Does Brother like sweet things?”
“His Life was and still is really bitter, so I can understand him to love sweet things to balance it out. Maybe that is why… no, it is definitely because of his constitution, it has nothing to do with that.”
“We were not that better. I am still regretting it. Why did we do such things?”
“It is our Education from our Parents, Sis. We imitated them and saw only upper and lower class. Just seeing him as lower because… No, it is also our own fault, too. We just made him our outlet, for our own convenience.”
Elizabeth nodded at Luke’s words. Still her eyes were moist from the realization how deep the pain goes inside Drak. She was not sure if she ever could mend those scars on his heart, but at least she would try her best.
“First we should make this place a bit more homely for our Brother, Luke. His Maids seem to be angry with the Servants too, so we should make them have a better opinion of us. We need to educate those people and thoroughly at that! I will whip them until-”
“Stop! Do not use a whip. We can use everything else except a whip.”
“Eh? Why is that Brother?”
“...trust me. Drak would hate it and it would be very bad.”
“Is there something I do not know?”
“I do not want to talk about it, just… trust me and do not use a whip. Do not have anything like that even near him. It’s better that way.”
“I understand. There are still things I do not know, I… I need to work harder to try and remedy what we all did.”
“I help. We are Family, right?”
“Yeah… You, me… and Drak is too.”
-
“Reason for the incident was an injured knee?”
“Yes Princess. Albeit the Doctors did not see any issues before, an old scar inside the knee got inflamed and made him lose balance, accidentally revealing himself.”
“An accident, huh? If the doctors found it, so it must be true. But somehow I still have doubts. What did those Siblings talk about?”
“It was more or less courtesy, the talk was only about school and related issues. Tone was cold and detached. There were some signs of reconciliation, but were still more out of embarrassment for some behaviour in their own home fief.”
“So no clue at all. Still somehow I feel there is something going on, we might overlook or not able to see.”
“A premonition?”
“Maybe, maybe just a feeling of unease, because of the last failure to connect him with the black Merchant. Whatever, we have time. Six more years, it is only one week since we are tracking him in the Central Domain. Review prior happenings with the new Information we now have.”
“Yes Princess.”