The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 31

Eva paced alone in her own room, biting her thumbnail while she thought.

She was losing control... it was clear that Corvina was a threat, planting unnecessary ideas in Anne's mind. Build a life for herself? As a separate goal from building a life for Anne? A ridiculous notion. Nonsensical. Impossible.

But still...

Eva, this is serious, Anne had said.

So Anne did remember their childhood promise after all.

Technically, it was Anne who had promised to do whatever Eva asked if she used that phrase, but still, why shouldn't it go both ways? That was only fair after all.

Eva had to show that she understood the importance of those words.

Eva opened her window and called out into the darkness. "Prince Agis!"

Agis jumped down from somewhere in the darkness, landing on the windowsill. "Yes, Sister Eva?" he said, with a formal bow.

"I want you to stay by your sister's side all day tomorrow," said Eva. "Don't let her out of your sight. And keep her inside, you hear me? After everything that happened today, she needs to rest and she needs to lie low. No sneaking out and causing trouble, understand? There will be serious consequences if something happens. I mean it."

"Okay, I got it," said Agis, fidgeting with the edge of his cloak nervously.

"Oh, and Agis?" said Eva, turning her head away.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly does one do on a day off?"

Ulrich was sitting in the kitchen of Lady Corvina's estate, polishing the silverware by candlelight while quietly humming to himself.

Someone knocked on the door-frame to announce their presence, and Ulrich looked up to see Lady Corvina, in her night dress, with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders against the chill of the night.

Ulrich got to his feet. "Can't sleep, my lady?" he said. "Let me make you some tea."

"Thank you, Uncle," said Corvina, sitting at the table.

"You could have called for your maid," said Ulrich. He filled a kettle with water, placing it on the stove, where a fire still burned brightly. "You didn't need to walk all the way down here yourself in the dark."

"I wanted to ask you something," said Corvina. "I thought you might still be up."

"And what was that?" asked Ulrich.

"Did you want to be a butler?"

"Oh no, not at all," said Ulrich, sitting back down. "Back when I was a young street thug, I used to resent how obsessed with appearances the nobility was, and I especially resented their servants for happily helping to maintain those appearances. At least my kind of violence had the decency to look like violence. But I looked at the nobility and I thought, there's a bunch of thugs doing greater violence than I ever could, only they pay their own victims to help them pretend no violence is happening at all."

Corvina looked down, her hands in her lap. "Then you must resent me," said Corvina. "It's my fault you have to live this way."

"My dear girl, a child is never at fault just for being born," said Ulrich, placing a hand on Corvina's shoulder. "And I could never resent you for anything. From the moment I saw you as a tiny baby in your mother's arms, I loved you, and I wanted to be there for you in any way I could."