Ariadne opened her eyes to the sound of raindrops falling against the window of her room. She wasn’t sure of the time, but heavy clouds that covered the far horizon turned everything outside and inside her room dark and gray.
Ariadne sat and hugged her body, the nightmare that she had just escaped still lingered at her like reality itself. She wanted to stand and pace around the four corners of her room, but the searing pain in her forehead would not allow her even the slightest of movements. Though the pain differed from the one she experienced when trying to remember things from her previous life. Pain is still pain, and it seems my tolerance is not as high as before.
How uncomfortable, she thought when she realized she had forgotten to change into her night clothes. She still wore the same dark-blue dress that Astram bought for the banquet…
She groaned in frustration when she realized that everything that happened last night, including his conversation with Osriel at the veranda of the palace was real.
I made a mistake! Ariadne admitted as she remembered the betrayal and sadness in Osriel’s eyes. A grave and terrible one.
“But I am wrong. You’re just like all those people in that hall. Thinking I am just my father’s son and nothing more.”
She was left alone on the veranda after that. Thankfully Arissa found her after an hour, if not, she would have stood in that place for the rest of the night. She kept thinking if Osriel hadn’t seen her hand hesitating during the final question, he would not have thought of those things.
She shook her head. He was right. My action spoke of my lack of trust in him. Though she knew it wasn’t the truth because all she ever wanted was to create the safest path for him, she didn’t realize that doing so would have made her trample on his pride.
She was lost. This was something that she didn’t experience back then. Osriel had never gotten angry at her to this extent, though he would constantly reprimand her like an older brother every time she did something wrong.
The door to her room creaked open and revealed Arissa. She carried neatly folded clothes in her arms… with dull and old colors. Even the cheap rugs sold outside are better than those things!
Ariadne felt even more horrified when she saw Arissa wearing a dress befitting of a commoner living in the slums of the city.
Even a housewife from farmland could do better than this!
“My lady, the lord had asked me to bring these clothes for you to wear during the Inhibition Week,” she said.
She sighed when Arissa told her the reason behind those clothes of her. Ariadne had almost forgotten about the Inhibition Week. After the banquet yesterday, the South will have a one-week period called Inhibition in which nobles and commoners alike will have to stop living in excess. They had to follow the steps of their ancestor, Ludrius Atolia, who locked himself in a cave for a week without food and water to pray and prepare himself for his fight with the Cold Snake. After living modestly for a week, the Atolia will now celebrate the Winternight Festival—a two-day celebration of Ludrius’ success in killing the Cold Snake.
Too bad that, according to him, clothes with bright colors are considered living in excess.
Arissa prepared a bath for her and helped her dress after. She had no clear agenda for today since she didn’t know how she would approach Osriel; just thinking of what happened to them last night had made her feel an uncomfortable heaviness in her stomach.
Beside her, Arissa started humming. Ariadne cleared her throat.
“Arissa… what will you do if you did something wrong to me?”
Arissa was horrified by what she had said. “I will bow to you and write my resignation letter.”
“No! What I mean is if you have done something wrong to someone… let’s say a friend, though you don’t intentionally do it to hurt her.” She said, blushing as soon as she finished.
Arissa looked at her through the mirror and nodded in understanding. “I will say sorry and promised not to do it again.”
For some reason, hearing Arissa’s answer made her remember uncomfortable things that she would rather bury deep within her memory.
“Why not try doing something for that person, my lady. I remember when I fought with this friend of mine, I decided to bake him a blueberry pie. It is her favorite. I put it on her window with a note telling her I am sorry for what I did to her…” Arissa said and avoided looking at her when she caught Ariadne looking at her. “She later found me and told me the pie was to her taste. We became much closer after that fight we had.”
“My lady, if it is not so insolent of me to ask, did you fight with the young duke?”
Ariadne turned at her sharply, but before she could open her mouth, Arissa had already started speaking again.
“These past few days, His Grace always asked for you, but today when I told him that you’re still sleeping, he just ignored me, so I figured out that he is mad,” she said in a low voice as if she was ashamed for intruding in her own problems.
Ariadne only nodded and said nothing more. She was trying to remember a thing that could be considered Osriel’s favorite, and in her effort to do so, she had to experience the excruciating pain of trying to recover something from her memory.
She closed her eyes to lessen the pain, but she could not remember when he told her about his favorite food, color, or wine since he was always fond of one. But she was sure about one thing, the Osriel that she knew liked to spend his time reading books. He had always been like that back, even in the University, but the young Osriel of this world did not share the same fondness for reading to the Osriel I knew.
She entered the library. She was not good at cooking, and what she could bake was those hard cookies that barely resembled the ones her father made for her, and even if she could learn it this time, would Osriel even enjoy something sweet?
She stood and left the library for the garden to clear her mind. The rain earlier had made pools of water appear on the paved road. If she was right, it might be the last rain that they might experience before winter starts.
Ariadne stooped low before a shrub that bore a cluster of violet flowers—the sight of it had brought her back into the past. The Hydrangea still had a drop of rain in its umbrella-shaped petals. Ah, how many years has it been since I last met that person… and how long before I met him again in this lifetime.
From the corners of her eyes, he saw a familiar hair color walking in the garden. She looked up and saw Osriel wearing a simple shirt, brown trousers, and old leather boots. The boy’s head was bent low as if he was in a trance. Ariadne moved to approach him but immediately stopped herself when she remembered how he looked at her that night.
She hid herself and only stood when she was certain the garden was once again empty.
“Arissa!” She said as soon as she barged into the maid’s quarter, everyone looked up from what they were doing.
“M-my lady?!” The maid’s eyes widen.
The three other maids in the room hastily bowed to her. “Greetings, Lady Severine.”
Arissa stood and walked towards her.
“What is it?” She asked as soon as the two of them were already far from the maid’s quarter
“Do I really need to bring something for him to forgive me?” She spoke. “What should I bring?”
“My lady,” she said in a low voice. “It doesn’t matter what you bring to him. What’s important is your sincerity in mending the relationship between you two… I am sure the young duke will forgive you if you say sorry to him.”
Listening to Arissa made her feel like a child. I am older than her by a decade. She didn’t want this feeling, but at the same time, something inside her felt touched by her gesture. To have someone comfort you, to have someone you can lean on… was indeed an amazing feeling.
She nodded to her.
“Thank y-you, I will remember it,” she said.
Arissa smiled and bowed to her.
Ariadne carried her dress and sprinted in the garden’s direction. She doesn’t want to do anything at that moment other than see Osriel.
Behind her, Arissa watched her master leave in excitement. She still couldn’t help but be amazed at how far her attitude had changed. Before, she was always buried in her books and had no interest in anyone around him, but lately, he had become more sensitive to the feelings of the people around her. And it was not just her who noticed those changes but also his father and the maids who served her occasionally.
Ariadne turned a corner, and due to her excitement, her awareness of her surroundings had gone to zero. She only became aware of someone’s presence when she bumped into him.
The collision had made her lose her balance and had almost made her fall to the floor, but the man was quick with his hand and managed to snake his hands to her waist to support her. When she felt it, Ariadne froze and froze even more when she heard his voice.
“What’s the reason for my lady to be in a hurry?” Lewis Alexander said.
Ariadne looked up and saw his golden eyes inspecting her.
She steadied herself and moved away from the hand grasping her waist since she wore thin clothes for the Inhibition Week, the place where he put his hand still burning with discomfort. Just like that, Ariadne was reminded of those damn nights when she could do nothing but accept their advances against her body… where she could do nothing but look up and wish that the person would ride her gentler than the first one.
She backed away from him.
Lewis found her fear to be gripping. The girl glared at her, and this had stirred his desire alive. Just like a prey who was pushed back into a corner
Ariadne tried to calm herself. She stared around the hallway. The hall was surrounded by lavish tapestries with paintings from every known artist. Lewis is in the center with his black double-breasted coat and white tight pants?
“Aren’t you wearing too lavish, your lordship?”
Lewis laughed, “the crowd will not be pleased if they see me dressing like a beggar.”
But I will.
“How shameless, when everyone seemed inclined to do so to follow what our Founder did centuries ago,” she replied. Ariadne avoided him and walked before she could even say anything to him.
But Lewis was persistent to bugged him that day for some reason, and this development was unsettling enough for her to think of singing any of the Hundred Songs to throw him away.
“Well, Ludrius could trouble himself for all I care. Are you not thinking the same? This Inhibition is pretentious. Why do we have to stop living the way we used to just to prepare to celebrate lavishly after? If you ask me, it is dumb.”
“Well, aren’t my lord had so many things to say? Why not talk to someone from the temple instead of complaining about it to a ten-year-old little girl?”
Lewis laughed. “The least I could get from doing so was being sent to solitary confinement for ten years. I’ll just complain to this ten-year-old little girl.”
Ariadne could only sigh at his annoying answer. She wondered how she could shake this person away from her.
