Chapter Nine

Vesper likely didn’t need Mira to point out the fact that Cecily and Viola bore an uncanny resemblance. If she wasn’t going to bring it up, then neither would Mira.

“The prophecy specifically mentioned a commoner child and a noble’s daughter,” Mira pointed out.

“That was something of a mistranslation, I’m told. Oracles give their prophecies in the Divine Tongue. The word ‘Avesh’ directly translates as ‘one who oversees a territory’, but is usually taken by the temple translators to mean a member of the landed gentry and above. In this context, a Baronet is not included in the term,” Vesper clarified. “Cecily is still a viable candidate if there turns out to be an issue with her heritage. In the meantime, Sir Rousseau has already turned Cecily out of the house and I could not in good conscience return her to his care, even if she wasn’t our half-sister.” Vesper looked away. “She was being mistreated.”

“Where do you plan to keep her?” Mira asked, directing her gaze down to her tea cup so she didn’t have to pretend to make an expression or form an opinion on Cecily’s past homelife.

“I had hoped that the Fenbys would take her in, actually,” Vesper admitted. “I understand you two have a history, but at the time I thought your in-laws might be inclined to do us this favor if I paid for her room and board. I hesitate to take her home until I’ve had time to speak with Papa, not to mention that Raoul is home for break.”

Raoul Coventry was another character who made their debut in the second game. Raoul was a low level antagonist and the spoiled, willful baby of the family. Specifically, he was the current Lady Coventry’s spoiled, willful baby. Madame didn’t pretend to not favor her own two biological children over her stepdaughters, but Viola had acquired some discipline as her eldest child.

Given Raoul’s non-existent chances of becoming the next Lord Warden, one would think he wouldn’t have any stake in the question of Viola’s legitimacy and he didn’t, really. What he did have was a wretched personality and lack of foresight. As a child, he was never punished for anything. In fact, his bad behavior often got rewarded by his mother so long as he picked his targets carefully.

Vesper was protected by her status as heir apparent. Not to mention, more and more of the family’s domestic budget came under Vesper’s control as she got older and whosoever holds the purse strings controls the world. Their father seemed willing to turn a blind eye to rather a lot, so long as his wife didn’t get too close to his bottom line. His bottom line, in this case, was the sanctity of his office as Lord Warden and the correct continuation of that line. Whatever ambitions Lady Coventry had to place one of her own children in the role of Lord or Lady Warden had been put down repeatedly.

Violet’s memories contained a few hints that Lady Coventry had tried a few times to put Viola forward as a potential heir and one time she pushed hard enough that Lord Coventry snapped and reprimanded her in front of the children, an act that seemed very out of character for him. So Mira knew that, because Viola had been conceived out of wedlock, she was excluded from the line of inheritance even if her parents had been married by the time she was born.

‘I’m going to need to study up on inheritance law here,’ Mira realized.

The rites of inheritance were always a tricky matter and every society she had lived in went at it from their own angle. So far, it looked like absolute primogeniture was the rule here since Raoul was at the bottom of the order, despite being the only boy of his generation. Even so, Mira wasn’t sure what to make of the extra qualifications that Vesper apparently had to go through in order to confirm her right to inherit; all the blood tests and whatnot.

Mira couldn’t help but feel like there was something she was missing, but the possibilities were too numerous for her to hazard a guess just yet.

“You’re worried that he’ll harass her?” Mira asked, trying to prod some more details out of Violet’s available memories. There wasn’t much about Raoul in there that wasn’t hazy or too slippery to grasp. Probably she’d get access to more once she actually met him, but from the game Mira knew that Raoul was a handsy little pustule; as likely to slap as he was to grope and the revelation that Cecily was his sister hadn’t slowed him down much.

“I’m not sure how Madame will react,” Vesper explained with a subtle sort of tension that told Mira, yes, she worried about exactly that. “She and Viola are very close, but this may change things between them. Raoul has always been aggressive towards anyone who upsets his mother or older sister.”

“Then she’ll have to stay with me, if she can’t stay with you,” Mira said. She was proud of her delivery. In fact she didn’t have to act much. She was incredibly hesitant to invite the heroine into her domestic affairs, but letting Cecily roam would result in an entirely new set of problems that Mira would have less control over.

Vesper finally had a reaction and squinted with displeasure. “Dearest, I don’t think that’s wise,” she said. “It might have been possible if you weren’t ill and, while I understand there is no personal enmity between you two, there is still the matter of…” she trailed off as the bedroom door opened.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Cecily stepped out of the room. Her color was slightly better, but her lips were drawn in a thin, tense line. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop…” she said, “…but I think I agree with Miss Vesper. I am grateful that you’re willing to take me in, Senior, despite—well, everything.” She twisted her hands in front of her. “I won’t tell anyone about your condition, but your doctor is right. You should avoid unnecessary stress right now and I can only guarantee my own behavior. My friends mean well, but…” she too let her sentence hang, letting her gaze slide tellingly to one side.

“…but nothing,” Mira said as she squashed an unreasonable surge of annoyance. She reminded herself that Cecily didn’t know what her other options actually were or how unpleasant they’d become. The route where she spent several months drudging as an unpaid ladies’ companion for one of Bryn Harvard’s terrible great aunts was about as good as it got and that nasty old bat would deliberately sabotage Cecily’s return to school in order to keep her free caretaker if she got the chance, saying ‘what does a girl need education for anyway?’ and ignoring the fact that she herself had spent decades serving as the Dean of a prestigious women’s college. “Come sit. This concerns you t—”

Mira began to stand in order to make Cecily come over and discuss the matter like a rational adult, but her stomach bottomed out even as she stood up from her chair, feeling like it plunged down as she rose up. Something like a jolt hit her right hand and when she looked down she saw it spasming, all on its own, with no input from her at all.

She had just enough time to think ‘oh no’ and realize what was happening right before it hit.