𝓤𝓷𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓟𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟥

Leaving the manor wasn't of Lucinda's utmost interests. In fact, she loathed having to leave the comfort of her bedroom or her beloved study. But her father had insisted his daughters join him in visiting the Grey manor to organise how their tea leaves for their new business would be bred and grown while Lilian Price was away on her own business to visit her sick mother. 

Antoine had scolded Lucinda for almost leaving the manor with mismatched clothing to hat, though this time around she had done so unintentionally. It was becoming hard to keep track of all the pieces he'd made for her, and she was certain that the hat she had was the one which matched her current knee-high, bouncy, frilly, baby blue dress, with it's cute white collar and puffy bishop sleeves with the ruffles. Obviously she had been wrong. Though she had to admit, the hat that Antoine had selected did much better suit the bonnet she had initially picked up thinking it was the correct match for her dress. Classique Oncle Antoine.

Once they had arrived to the Grey manor, they were of course greeted by the warm and welcoming arms of Lord Grey and his family. Lord Grey seemed a very outgoing and somewhat bubbly character, always greeting Alexandre with a big friendly hug, as though they were brothers. But by this point they might as well have been brothers, they were starting a rather significant business venture after all and for that they'd have to work on intimate terms. Unfortunately for Lucinda, that meant frequent visits to and from the Grey family, most notably the enigmatic Master Charles. 

"It is so nice to see you again Lord Price!" Lord Grey exclaimed, still having the taller man wrapped up in a friendly hug.
"As it is you, brother," Alexandre laughed as he patted the other man gently on his back. 

Lucinda had already caught Charles' eyeing her off, not surprised but still slightly unsettled. Though what seemed to accompany her uncomfort was a sense of excitement which formed as a small flame at the pit of her stomach. Part of her hoped Charles would feed that flame, but she wasn't consciously aware of that internal voice. She had never felt strong unwavering desire, only read of it in her large collection of novels, nor was she aware that it was what she was experiencing at the time. Lucinda was still new to this world, new to sensation and emotion, but she still had all the time in the world to discover it all and explore it to the ends of the earth, as much and as little as she desired. The world was a bare book, and she was the pen who danced over the pages and created a story. She could be science, she could be literature, she could be art, she could be music. There was no limit, nor could there ever be. 

Green gardens. Not a hint of death or imperfection. Lucinda could smell how alive the frondescence was, like it was always that perfect time in the morning where the world was just waking up and the flora wept in mist and fog. 

The idea was that they'd simply brew the separate tea leaves together as a test run before breeding the plants into a hybrid species, just to be sure that there wasn't any modifications that needed to be made to ensure the utmost quality for their product. 

As the two families gathered where Lord Grey was showing off his tea plants, Lucinda wondered off astray, uninterested in the boring little practical details of this venture and more so fascinated in the splashes of colour in green walls of life. She crossed an arch into a hedged off area with a grand fountain at the centre, surrounded by flowers of all sorts. 

"Charming, isn't it?"

Startled, Lucinda spun around at the sudden voice which came behind her, only to find that it was, of course, the young Master Charles. His lashes were glittering in the mist, and she almost felt a gasp leave her body. What a beautiful man, she couldn't help but think from the angle she was standing at. Though dazed, she was quick to her usual composure.