Algernon Black

(Chapter 149) Something Much Worse

"You've got quite a good bust for someone as skinny as you are," Edia said, finishing the fitting of a dress near Lucy's chest.

"Oh, thank you," Lucy fumbled over saying, unsure of how to answer. When they had gotten to Edia's shop, the woman dressed her in a beautiful gleaming gown, saying she needed Lucy's help with the final alterations while positioning her on a wide lifted platform that the seamstress pivoted around as she hemmed.

"What you really want are big hips." Edia declared as she fidgeted with the ends of the gown. "Much easier for childbirth that way."

Lucy blushed as she stared at herself in one of the three floor-length mirrors before her.

"Oh, you just positively shine in that," Edia said, admiring her work. The dress was a beautiful pearl, with shimmering gold accents. One Mrs. Black had specially ordered a few days ago.

"Don't you think it's a bit too short for Mrs. Black?" Lucy asked.

Edia glowered at Lucy with one lifted eyebrow. "Don't ever tell a seamstress how to do her work."

Lucy's back straightened at the reprimand and decided to keep quiet, even though she thought it very odd Edia seemed to be fitting the dress to her size.

"It's nice to see Algernon again," Edia spoke, smiling down at her working hands. "And see him so happy for once."

Lucy smiled to herself, wondering if she could lay claim to any of the credit for it.

"That poor boy has had more put on his shoulders than men who've lived a hundred lives." Edia sighed.

"How so?" Lucy asked, spinning around to look at the woman.

"No moving please." Edia pointedly corrected.

Lucy stayed still but beckoned for an answer when her eyes met the seamstress's through the mirror. Edia let out a long breath through her nose. "Well after his father's death, he had to take on his artifact and not soon after that had to become the curator of this town and all those adjacent. Speaking on our behalf. Going to court. Managing the royals and all their shite." Edia thought back to the times before when Algernon's father was still around, and no one dared try to take advantage of Brunel's resources or encroach on their lands. "Not to mention the endless training he endured during it all while his mother struggled so much with her husband's passing she couldn't even notice her son struggling." As a mother herself, Edia always felt bad for Algernon, and as a wife who loved her husband very much, she empathized with Mrs. Black's tremendous pain. "It left Algernon quite alone," Edia stated, playing with some ribbon to put on the dress, but there was nothing else to add. It was perfect. "He was only 8 then, but it aged him a hundred years. And I've never seen him without dark circles under his eyes since."

"Is that so," Lucy said, remembering the picture of Algernon as a child.

"Of course, he would never talk about it," Edia said. "He'd rather carry everything on his own rather than rely on anyone else. Or pretend nothing ever gets to him."

Lucy thought back to all the times she'd seen Algernon flooded with stress. In every battle, he was in the middle of every fight. And saved her more than once by doing so. She imaged it must be exhausting having to constantly look out for everyone else, so much so you can't watch your own back. He even helped her learn dark magic and dance. And now that Lucy really thought about it, she hated to think she was just another person adding onto his already overflowing plate.

"It will be nice to see him have someone to share some of those burdens with," Edia hinted, smiling at Lucy. "One day."

Lucy hoped too that in some small way she could repay all he had done for her.