Chapter 54

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕴 𝕶𝖓𝖊𝖜 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖂𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

".....Milady?"

"Oh, sorry, Rita, what were you trying to say again?" the sweet and yet painful sunlight invaded my figure and I had to cover my face with the back of my hand. The letter that I was holding earlier, stayed on the table but after a few seconds of putting it down, it got flown by the colliding breezes of the wind.

I gaze at Rita but she managed to catch the letter and put some marbles on top of it to my table.

I chuckle, because no matter what, Rita kept reminding me of Anna.

"Just relax, Rita. So what were you trying to say again?"

I heard her sigh for the longest time before bowing.

"There had been some unknown senders of some letters from within the household, so should I give them to you or should I burn them instead, Milady?" My eyes widened when she spoke of those unknown letters.

But I knew what she meant because those letters might harm our household, especially for me. Some letters had been sent to me and my household with threats, and now I knew that the servants were only being careful.

I also forgot to mention some letters coming within the household that came from Sister Cristine and the rest of the children. Since I forgot that Rita wasn't Anna at all.

I chuckled.

"There's no need to burn them, Rita. Just hand them over to me, all right?"

"Yes, Milady," those were her last words before finally leaving my room. With the softness of the water from the tea that she brewed to me earlier, I couldn't help but compare the tea that Anna would always brew.

I felt a slight throb within my heart but I knew that she was fine, since the letter that she sent me last night consisted that she was able to infiltrate the Vellitas household as a servant while Sir Francis was able to come within the duke's shadow assassins.

But one phrase that she had written sounded vague to my mind and even now I couldn't help but keep them within my thoughts.

"Here are the letters, Milady..." Then they consisted of simple-looking ones that I knew the contents were from their sincerest hearts.

I couldn't help but beamed at the thought.

It always reminded me of the Lexus that I've known in the past.

It's been days that passed and ever since, I managed to send Lexus' siblings to Sister Cristine informing her of the new kids. She gladly followed my instructions and sent some letters ahead.

I even got to know that Lexus' siblings were warmly welcomed because the children in the small orphanage knew how hard it was to lose a family.

I picked the letters from the tray that Rita left and managed to read them one by one. As I saw there were only five letters left, I'm assuming that they were all from Lexus' siblings and so I wouldn't open them because they were meant to be his.

As soon as I was about to put the letters in my drawers, one of them got swayed by the winds, and as I looked, the window was still open.

I picked the letter and was about to put it back to the other four but I saw that there were some symbols on the upper right corners of it.

I widen my eyes and I immediately claimed the other four to put them in the separate drawer where I put the others.

I hurriedly closed the window and outstretched the curtain to make it dimmer than it was. Then I put on the candles that I rarely let on.

I sat on the bed making my whole body bounce for a little before my hands finally settled on opening the simple letter that contained the information I needed from the Vellitas household and this symbol meant that Anna found another information.

"Dear Milady, it was an afternoon when I was tasked to clean one of the guest's rooms where the duke and his aide would always come. I searched through the corners for some possible evidence and I found some secret passages."

"I knew that if you were able to see what I'd seen, it meant that there was a secret tunnel under this household and maybe, it was where they would conduct something. But Milady, aside from being able to see those, I've also seen a portrait of a young girl who had a different appearance from them. It was an old portrait..."

"When I've searched who it was and conduct some information within the servants, all they were saying was the child was cursed... there was no way she could have lived and that she was about to escape but she wasn't able to."

"Her appearance had golden hair and emerald eyes. When I first saw the portrait it reminded me of some familiarity but I knew it was impossible..."

"For the next letter, I hope Milady that you'll be prepared because as much as I wanted to gather much information, every day, I could only send some through Sir Francis, and Milady, the moment I saw the Duke, I knew he was up to something dark and terrible for the empire..."

Then just like the information that seeped through my mind, I engraved them to the deepest knowledge possible as the paper became one with the flashes of misty golden flames of the night's sky.

"Thank you, Anna..." were the last words before the night completely brightened.

After a few more days, letters came from Cain and Celna saying that they were quite enjoying the scenery within their estate, sometimes Cain would come and visit and even sleep over within Celna's estate.

They would argue a lot and even ignore each other but Cain would always give up and come to say his sorry for Celna. It was all written on Celna's letter although Cain would leave that part out, for his embarrassment.

I continued to chuckle as I read their letters but the more that I read Celna's the more curious I got, because some lines were doubled stroke, while some other areas within the paper looked as if they got wet.

I wanted to shrug but I guess I just have to ask Celna about this through my response to her. Although Cain's letters were all about his daily life and Celna was included as well, I was intrigued by the tea that he would always drink.

I once read about, the tea of Hermoile, it was used as a medicinal tea to cure any disease that was caused by losing one's memories.

When I researched this tea in my past life, it tended to bring someone's memories back, but the disease was more severe because it wasn't only the memories that the person was losing, but also her heart.

A person's weak heart would be accompanied by early memory loss. It was a different case from Verfeil, although I'm still working on that since my father wasn't yet able to gather some information about the Belfore East.

Aside from that, even if the blue rose could fix someone's illness caused by any physical damage, the mind, and the memories of that person couldn't get back together, and it will be a cause for someone to be in a coma.

The flaw of the blue rose is that it couldn't cure any memories, and in the empire, if one lost memories, no matter how the blue rose made the brain healthy, there would always be some side effects.

I'm still learning more about it, but I guess, I needed more time----

"Don't worry, Vestia, this tea isn't for anything other than relaxation since it tends to boost our minds to be healthy..."

Just like before, I tend to get panic when everything's not in my plans but I guess, the two of them were just enjoying their time since their parents were also busy for the empire.

So they have the chance to travel within their countryside estate and here.

But I have to ask Celna about certain things since she wasn't the type to be like this in any letters from the past.

"Milady, butler Lexus is here..."

"Thank you, Rita, you may leave now"

"You're always welcome, Milady," as Rita went away, Lexus came in within a second without me knowing he had already come.

Then a shadow loomed over behind me when I turned, he had already engulfed me with his arms and I could smell the familiar woodland scent he had a natural scent that came from nature, accompanied by his warmth.

"I guess it took me days to finally be able to see you"

"And most of all, you have to serve me right now and then, Lexus," I continued his words and I could see the way the edges of his lips curled up

"And I knew that I've already come prepared," with a snap of his hands, black clothes covered him and in a blink of an eye, his simple clothes earlier changed into that of a butler uniform.

"How did you----"

"IT took me a lot of time to perfect this and I would never waste any of my training, not when I am already putting this much effort, Vestia..." he leaned in closer to me as he tucked some few strands of my hair to my ears.

My eyes widen for a second before finally chuckling

"I guess you'll always be you, Lexus..." he chuckled at my words and it was only a brief moment but I felt like every one of my friends was here smiling and chuckling like we were doing.

I have to endure it since all would be worth it in the end...

"Then as your first task, I will have you buy some of these ingredients, Lexus. Oh and take note, these couldn't be bought within a shop's façade. Near the alley where I fainted in the past, there was a shop that sold potions and medicines, but in front of it was a boutique of dresses," I paused and held both of his arms

"You have to say the code I'll write later on and speak of the name Doctor Brian. They will immediately let you enter"

"But why is there such a façade, Milady?" I chuckled at Lexus' creasing eyebrows.

"It's because not everything we see from within the empire is truth, there were just hidden gems that needed careful observations. Besides, I once said that the world we're living in can be cruel, Lexus..."

***

"Now, it's time to create medicinal potions..." I looked ahead of me and there were a lot of bottles lined one by one in the wooden rack that Doctor Brian created. Seems like he was used to creating his own medicine as well in his household.