Chapter 12: Past I - Lady Florent

Next to Annabelle, Belevere’s face darkened as well as the sight of the caller’s name. She quickly wrapped her arms around Annabelle, and Annabelle took a bit of comfort in her friend's presence. “It’s okay. You don’t have to pick up if you don’t want to.”

Annabelle shook her head, still trembling. “I can’t. I have to pick up or she’ll...”

She reached forward to accept the sudden call, but before she could, the call automatically connected. Her mother’s emotionless face appeared on the call and turned into a hologram.

Annabelle hadn’t even done anything. For her comms to do all that by itself meant it had been compromised by her mother.

But when and how?

Her mother opened her mouth and Annabelle flinched, looking away. Her bravado only hours ago had evaporated. She couldn’t even retain a trace of it.

“Annabelle. Why have you not contacted me? I was told that you were awake last night,” she said calmly. “Should letting your own mother know that you are safe and sound not be your foremost priority?”

Annabelle dipped her head. “...Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, I can understand why you didn’t call me last night, but why not today?” her mother asked again.

Annabelle could say nothing. She could only keep her head low. Although there were many things she wanted to say to her mother, like that she disowned her, or to tell her to get out of her life, the words would not leave her mouth. 

It was like someone had sewn her lips shut.

She bit her lips so hard the coppery taste of blood spread through her mouth. The taste of blood...

The side of her face burned, almost as if her mother had slapped her, splitting her lips. She could almost see the stars that she had seen years ago, the headache she had, vomiting...

Seeing that she did not reply, her mother continued on by herself. Her voice forced Annabelle back to the present. “You disappoint me, Annabelle. With your abilities, you should have easily won. Why have you not become a knight?”

The room filled with the sound of her mother drumming her fingers and Annabelle’s heart skipped to the beat. She swallowed and tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes. Her mother was right. She was a disappointment who couldn’t even accomplish her own goals.

She nodded numbly. She had failed everyone. Herself, her mother, Belevere. She couldn’t win...

The hologram sighed. “On top of that, you’ve gone and damaged your aptitude. Why did you do that?”

“I...”

“Silence!”

Annabelle quickly clamped her mouth shut, afraid to say more.

“Do you know what kind of laughing stock you’ve made me? I gifted you with such excellent genes and you pay me back with failure?” Her mother’s face suddenly twisted with rage and she leaned forward.

Annabelle backed away, but the hologram followed her. “You don’t think I know your plans? It seems I need to reeducate you. Come back home, or I’ll need to send someone to fetch you.”

Choking back tears, Annabelle nodded. “Y-yes, m-”

Before she could say any more, a hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her. All she could handle was an incoherent mumble. She struggled to break free. If she didn’t obey, who knows what her mother will do?

Try as she might, she couldn’t free herself from Belevere’s grip. She was too strong. Though she should have easily been able to beat Belevere normally, she couldn’t summon any strength to her limbs. Before she realized it, she was pinned to the ground with her arms behind her back. 

“Let me go, Bel! Please!” she begged.

“No.”

Annabelle hurriedly turned to her mother to apologize, only to realize the hologram was nowhere in sight. Where was it?

The weight on her back disappeared and Annabelle struggled to her feet. Her eyes widened as she found her comms in Belevere’s hand. “Give it back!”

“No,” Belevere repeated. “Sit down. Don’t force me to make you,” she said coldly, her eyes fixed on the hologram that stemmed from the comms in her hand.

“I’m sorry...” Annabelle shivered at the tone of her mother’s words and backed away on unsteady feet. She tripped over herself and tumbled to the ground. “No...”

It was all over. Her mother was coming. She was right in front of her. Her mind spun as she rocked back and forth. “No...”

 

Vesmelda Florent stared at her bastard daughter who sat crying in the corner of the room and shook her head. She could scarcely believe she had given birth to a coward like this. A toy that broke so easily. 

She had been right. Annabelle had been destined for greatness, to be an excellent pawn. She even advanced to be an expert candidate with plenty of growth left in her. But now all that effort she sunk into her was wasted. There's almost no way to hide the special quality that Annabelle possessed now. People in high positions will be curious about why Annabelle was able to recover her aptitude so quickly.

Watching Annabelle snivel like that after ruining her plans filled her with rage, and Vesmelda quickly panned away the screen so that she would not have to see her daughter. Instead, she focused on the one person still standing, who was staring at her as if her eyes could burn her.

She morphed her lips into a pleasant smile. 

“Hello, Belevere Odis—Lady Odis. Welcome to our ranks,” she purred. “I believe this is the first time we’ve talked. To tell you the truth, I did not think you had it in you to get this far.”

Against all odds, the girl before her had managed to advance to expert and won the tournament. She was the one that Annabelle had failed against. 

At the thought of her daughter, Vesmelda sighed again to expel the rage that threatened to erupt again.

“Can I ask you to not interfere with this matter? It would be a shame to crush someone as promising as you,” Vesmelda said. And she did mean it. If possible, though it seemed rather unlikely, she wanted to have Belevere under her command.

“Would you like to join me?”

“Lady Florent,” Belevere Odis snarled, ignoring her. “Anne is not your toy to do with as you wish. Do not contact her again!”

Vesmelda sighed and looked at her nails.

“And who are you to butt in between us?” she asked.

“I’m her friend. As long as I’m alive, I won’t let you hurt her,” the girl on the screen said, forming a fist with her hands. 

Vesmelda shook her head. Why couldn’t this girl be her daughter instead? Unlike Annabelle, she had a spine.

Too bad she wasn’t. Instead, she was the one that helped Annabelle partially break free from her grasp. That meant Belevere had to go. It wouldn’t do if the plaything she had cultivated for so many years slipped free from her grasp just like that.

“Big words for a little girl,” she said, blowing out the speck of dirt she found. “I heard you are building a faction with my worthless daughter. I’d hate to see it fail—”

“It won’t.”

She was going to say more, but the girl first interrupted her and then spat at her. She almost dodged before she realized that it was just a hologram. Then, the insolent girl disconnected, leaving her alone in her office that she had darkened.

Vesmelda gritted her teeth.

No one mocked her and disrespected her without paying for it. First it was William Maxime, that idiot that ruined her chess piece, and now it’s this little bitch of an upstart.

It seems that it’s time to clear the board a bit.

Besides, now that Annabelle's ability will soon be revealed, she had to recover her immediately before anyone else got to her. Otherwise, Annabelle might really escape her grasp this time—this time for good.

She pressed a button on her desk, connecting her with her assistant. Her butler’s respectful voice sounded through the speakers installed on her desk. “Yes, mistress?”

“Come. There is something we must discuss.”