Chapter Eighteen

‘Lost Daughter’ often used the dramatic fade-to-black cut when Cecily was alone with a family member so you didn’t really get to see their conversations. After a certain point, one just assumed violence was happening.

It’s not like she didn’t already know that the devs could, would, and regularly did mindfuck their players because they didn’t have a big game company exec to appease. This was a little extreme though and it was frustrating to realize that now she couldn’t even rely on what the game presented as facts to be true.

“Are you worried, senior?” Cecily asked out of the blue. “You were all by yourself when the first seizure happened. Did he really send you out to get married all by yourself?”

“I don’t really know. That bit is still fuzzy, but I had Nanny and Anna so it’s hard to say,” Mira admitted. “You don’t have to call me ‘senior’, you know. You can use my name—or ‘Mira’ when we’re in private. Vesper would like it if you stopped calling her ‘miss’ too.”

“Mira,” Cecily echoed, rolling it around on her tongue. “Then please call me Cece? It was Mama’s pet name for me. It’d be nice to hear that name from my family again. What is ‘Mira’ from?”

“My middle name is Altmira,” Mira replied. She’d gotten lucky there, although she almost always did so perhaps it wasn’t luck at all.

“I’m glad that you turned out to be my sister,” Cecily said quietly. She looked down at her lap. “Do–do you remember that day on the stairs?”

Mira made an honest effort, but Violet’s memories had little to offer; just a general sense of chaos and confusion. “I’m afraid not, just that there was a lot of noise.”

However, Cecily just nodded like that was the answer she expected. “How good are you at telling what direction sound is coming from?”

Mira shrugged, “I’m not reliable, let’s say that.” Violet might have been better since she was the one who’d had all the practice so Mira was reluctant to give her a firm answer.

Cecily nodded to herself again, harder this time. “I thought that might be the case.”

“Is something the matter?” Mira asked. There was something about the heroine’s expression…

“Maybe, maybe not.” Cecily turned to give her a wan smile. “Does Andrei know about your eye and ear?”

“I assumed he did,” Mira admitted with an honest shrug. “I don’t recall for certain, but we were engaged. It would be strange if he didn’t know, although I had assumed that if he did then he would have told you. Even if you didn’t believe that I was harassing you, he truly seems to have.”

“He doesn’t like to discuss you much,” Cecily said. She crossed her arms and frowned thoughtfully. “Actually, I always had the sense that he didn’t know you well at all, which is strange because he’s usually very observant when it comes to other people.”

Andrei was nineteen and a stubborn ass, which came across loud and clear in the game. He very much did not want an arranged marriage and he wouldn’t be the first young man to build up a villain in his mind and assign someone’s face to it; Violet’s, in this case. The other option would have been to hate the person who was actually responsible for his unhappiness and Andrei loved his father too much to do that.

“Perhaps,” Mira said. “What’s on your mind?”

However, Cecily declined to give her a direct answer. “I should talk to someone before I say anything.” She shook herself and clapped her hands together, “Do you think Viola will come with the Lord Warden? I haven’t gotten a letter from her since the school year ended. My allowance was stopped so I couldn’t send her a message after I left home or before M–before Vesper picked me up from the hostel. I had my mail stopped at the post office, but I haven’t seen a letter from her. I’m worried that she might have sent a special messenger directly to Rousseau House.” Cecily bit her lip and fidgeted. “The Baron can be very rude when he’s upset. What if he offended her and she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?”

“I’m sure that’s not the case,” Mira lied.

Unfortunately, she knew the root cause of this sudden silence from the game and it wasn’t anything Cecily or Mira could fix. She knew that plotline, at least, wasn’t a red herring. There was no stopping that part of the story, nor did Mira think she should even try. Viola would explain herself in no uncertain terms once the time came. However, Mira had no way to explain how she knew so there was no other option than to let Cecily wait until the story played itself out.

“A true friend will understand your circumstances,” Mira said instead. “Focus on yourself for now. Have you finished picking out your furniture for your room? Nanny says you’re still under budget. You could go to a gallery and pick out a few paintings, if you like?”

The author’s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Isn’t it better to come under budget?” Cecily asked with the naivete of a teenager who’d never had the opportunity to manage her own expenses. “It’s already enough that you and Vesper are taking care of me this much. I won’t be greedy.”