The Plague Doctor [RATED R] ✓

(36) Beautifully Tragic

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"THERE'S DUST IN YOUR SHOULDER," master Claudio suddenly tells me, instantly making my entire body stiffen. "Where on earth did you go this time?" he finally asks, and I could feel father Laurence and Adeline staring at me.

     I looked at my shoulder and realized there really was dust like what Claudio said. Still, instead of panicking, I dusted it off and casually explained, "I probably got it after helping Adeline clean the art studio earlier."

     Father Laurence almost laughed, and little Adie even nodded her head to confirm it, which made me smile because, for a second, I thought Adie would pretend like that never happened. She's a real one for that.

     "Is that so," Claudio says, and I couldn't tell if he saw through that lie or if he just didn't care at all. Thankfully he didn't ask about it any further and just continued eating.

     Laurence and I glanced at each other, and I could tell that Lino was looking at us too, but we ignored him instead, pretending like we weren't just looking through his things a couple of minutes ago. Now that I'm thinking about it, who really was that woman in Lino's picture? I was too preoccupied with the things we saw in the attic that I forgot about them. Was that his girlfriend? Wife? Sister?

     "Adeline, prepare my bath before we leave," Claudio says, interrupting my thoughts.

     Adie nods her head in answer, and then Claudio looks back at me and Lino before adding, "We're leaving in an hour, so get ready."

     Lino and I nodded our heads as well. Claudio then takes the last bite of his food before wiping his mouth and standing from his seat. He looks at the four of us for one last time and finally walks out of the dining room. None of us said a thing, but then Lino stood from his seat as well and got ready to leave. I was about to ignore him, but I immediately noticed the food that was still on his plate.

     "Finish your food," I sternly tell him, making Lino look back at me with brows furrowed.

     "Did you not hear me? Finish your food and—"

     "I heard you," Lino says with an annoyed tone. I thought he wasn't going to listen to what I had to say, but surprisingly enough, he sits back down and finished his food.

     "You're always so sensitive when it comes to food," Lino complains while shoving the meat in his mouth.

     "Laurence took the time to cook it for us, so it's common courtesy to finish what was prepared for our behalf," I say, and Adeline starts eating the vegetables she pushed aside earlier.

     "I should be flattered, but I call that bullshit," Laurence suddenly rebukes, making Adie giggle this time. "Could it be because of your parents? You told me once that they were food critics, right?" Laurence then asks, and this time, Lino looks at me like he is confused.

      "Food critics? Didn't you tell us that your father was in the military?" He then asks, and Laurence looks like he remembered it too because he looks like he realized it as well.

     The three of them stared at me, hoping to get this misunderstanding resolved, but I just laughed it off and took a sip of my water before staring down at my nearly empty plate. Did I ever tell them about my father being in the military? I don't think I have, haven't I? I only remember telling father Laurence about the food critic thing.

     "Must have been one of my alters playing tricks," I tried to explain, and Lino, Adie, and Laurence just looked at each other before finally letting the topic go.