Erica

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"How dare you?!" Walter roughly grabbed Sorin by the collar of his shirt. 

He was slightly taller than Sorin making him rather intimidating as he glared down at his brother. 

"Do you think this is funny?" He seethed.

Sorin placed his hand over his brothers in a futile attempt to lesson Walter's deadly grip. 

"Listen to me. I am telling the truth." Sorin met his furious gaze.

Walter searched his face, looking for anything that would indicate that his brother was not speaking the truth and when he found none, he let go and shoved the man away.

"Explain." It was if he were ordering him, something that Sorin would not take lightly to anyone below his rank doing, but he understood his brother in that moment and choose to ignore it for once.

"Walter, father and I... We went to it. The crash sight." Sorin began, "What we found was nothing."

"What do you mean?" Walter narrowed his eyes at him.

"I mean there was no trace of her. In fact, there was no trace of anyone even being in the carriage to begin with." Sorin ran his hand through his hair frustratedly, "I personally searched it so I would know."

"But the report-" 

"The report was wrong." Sorin cut him off.

"Why would they lie?" Walter slammed his fist against the wall.

"Father and I are looking into this. We first need to find the coachman." Sorin informed him.

"We must find her!"

"And we will, but I do not think that she wants to be found..." Sorin trailed off looking away, " I think she planned this."

"And if she did, would you blame her?" Walter clenched his fists. 

Sorin was silent. He knew exactly what Water had meant by those words. The note in his hand supported that. 

The note...

Sorin found himself looking at it again. Looking for any possible clues. The note was strange, in it, it seemed as though Erica was indirectly addressing someone. It was if she had written the note in such a way to explain the events of Sibyl's thirteenth birthday to someone who had no idea.

Maybe this was supposed to be part of a journal?

If it was then perhaps said journal was still hidden somewhere back in that room....

"What is it?" Walter asked, he was watching Sorin and could tell that his brother might be onto something, that he might have seen something that Walter had failed to.

"I do not know yet, but the way that this is written is clear that it was intended for someone or something. A journal perhaps?" Sorin rubbed his chin still looking at the note.

Walter did not even hesitate to shove past him and make his way back into the room. Sorin was right, the note was definitely intended for something, and it was clearly not them.

"Hey, wait!" Sorin chased after him. 

Walter no longer cared about keeping the room neat in his snooping and was just about turning the room upside down. Sorin just let out a sigh and began too. 

They were at it for a solid hour. Between the two of them, they had cleared just about every centimetre of the room, but no luck.

Sorin had plonked himself down on the bed dejectedly. There was nothing. 

Walter was equally as frustrated and was now pacing. Had they looked into it wrong and made a mistake?

He heard a floorboard creak. The only place they had not checked yet.

He immediately dropped to the floor looking for loose floorboards hoping to find something. 

Again nothing, but that did not stop him. 

When he neared the bed, something caught his eye. 

Underneath was a small, crumpled ball of paper. Pushing his brother out of the way, he reached for it.

Unravelling the creased page, he was greeted with a list. It was Erica's handwriting again.

Sorin noticed and leaned over to try read it at the same time that Walter was.

The very first word was a name.

Georgie.

The list held reasons why Erica could not attend a certain festival, but that was not as important as who the list was addressed to. 

Whoever this Georgie person was personally knew Erica. 

Walter thought back to the festival mentioned. The only festival that he could think of was the summer one that he had attended nearly two months ago. The very festival where that brat Aleric had reopened his wounds and given him a mini heart attack.

He suddenly thought of the blurry figure that was with him that night minutes before he and Louis arrived. He never got to ask Aleric about that.

There was a really low probability that whoever that person was helping the injured idiot was irrelevant, but something was still nagging him at the back of his head about it. 

The young king knew who Erica was...

He really needed to speak with his friend again, but for now he would focus on finding Georgie. 

"Sorin, do you any idea who Georgie may be?" Walter glanced up at his brother.

"No, I'm afraid not." Sorin scrunched his eyebrows.

"Pardon me, young masters." The head maid bowed at the door of the room, "Please forgive me for overhearing your conversation, but I know of servant who recently served this noble household by that name." 

Both Sorin and Walter looked up at her, desperate for this information.

"Emma, tell us what you know." Sorin ordered.

"Miss Georgie started here a few months prior, she was a hard worker and hardly ever gave any issues... Unfortunately, a few weeks ago I encountered her in a fragile state. I do not know what happened, but she quit the job that night and left the next day." Emma shifted nervously on her feet keeping her head down.

Walter and Sorin shared a look. The servant girl had left around the time that Erica had supposedly died. There was by no doubt not a coincidence. 

"Do you know where we can find her?" Walter asked.

"Unfortunately, I do not, but I did suggest she takes an assistant job working for the local tailor in this area."

"Thank you, Emma. If know anything else, please let us know. You may leave." Sorin dismissed.

"Um..." Emma was actually there for another reason so she stood in place not knowing how to say it without coming off as disrespectful.

"Yes?" Walter raised an eyebrow at her.

"The Countess has returned. She has requested your presence."