My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 52- An uninvited interruption

A week passed since my talk with Gobbie, and much had changed. Or at least change was on its way. The very next day enthusiastic government officials showed me and Jenni to the office of Duke Orgosolo, the Southwest ruler, in the building set for the parliament, its employees and the Great Houses of the empire. The office was a dusty place filled with mural paintings of fairies and beasts washed out by time and misuse.

The colours, once vibrant, were now almost grey and cast an eery feeling on my bones. Even if the stories portrayed told of a journey filled with hope and joy, with princesses and heroes, they lay forgotten as the rest of the things inside these walls. A sad fate for happy endings.

The room had stopped in time, and if the whispers were right, no one had set foot on it since the ascent of Emperor Alexander. Whatever Duke Orgosolo was doing, he certainly was not taking care of his matters as lord of the Southwest realm. That was for Gobbie, who didn't complain or ever dwelled on the issue in front of me or others.

No matter how much I asked what the man looked like, he said nothing and no one else knew either. No one had seen him or had glimpsed at a portrait of him. This man was a ghost, a story just like his mural paintings.

But because of him, however, I had a place to work, so ghost or not, he was useful. And since his office was the closest to Gobbie's, it made him happy enough that it took out that annoying scowl off his face.

It just needed some cleaning and organization, and soon enough, me and Jenni got the help of Fanny. And two days later, Amelia and Eloise joined us as well after getting the approval of their families to work on this project of mine.

I realized after just one week how their help was truly welcome. And how thankful I was to not do it alone.

The first thing to reverse the situation at The Pit of Shadows was to understand how it all began.

I knew that the Empress had given control away, but who actually was in charge was murky. There were mountains of documents, full of errors, misleading accounts and strange descriptions. They were a mess and potentially useless, yet I dove into them to find the answer to what or whom I was up against, what I needed to do, and how to convince the crown to go along with my solutions.

It was a frustratingly slow process that took the entire week to just get used to.

Then my peace ended with the bashing of the doors and a very unwelcome visit. Princess Odette had come uninvited and walked into our working space as if she owned it (although her father did, but that was another story). She was also more presentable than I had ever seen her before, with a full-length dress of white marble and sheer silk embroidered with golden suns. It fit her as a second skin, falling to the floor and leaving a small trail in its wake.

Shiny pearls the size of peas adorned her hair, which danced freely. On her delicate middle finger was a topaz ring and on her wrist curled a golden serpent with eyes of jade.

Behind her were two ladies, dressed finely, yet their gowns, hair and faces lacked any proximity to the princess' aura of grandiosity. As ladies-in-waiting, they were meant to be in the shadow of her lady. They were only there to exalt her position and power.

We all stopped our work and bowed at the princess' arrival. All except princess Lola, who went into hiding the moment she heard the furious steps from outside.

Princess Odette's pace inside was much smoother and silent. She watched everything with a sad display of disinterest as she trapped her golden hair behind her ear.

Then she smiled. Bright as the sun and poisonous as a viper.

"You have not visited me in the full week that you have imprisoned yourselves here, my ladies." Her voice was sweet, the venom just behind, clouding the surface. "I must confess, I felt sad and forgotten."