The Butterfly Caught in the Spider's Web (Alois Trancy x OC)

Decisions

December 25, 1887

Arabella admired herself in the mirror, the vial of poison sitting upon her dresser. Thankfully, none of the servants had noticed the small item when they were hurriedly dressing the girl. Holding her breath, Arabella reached to wrap her fingers around the vial. A sense of unreality hit her at that very moment as she attempted to calm her fraying nerves. Afraid of someone seeing her with it, she quickly hid the vial in the boots that she had demanded to wear. 

"I cannot believe I am going to poison someone," she whispered to herself, her dark brown eyes resting upon the vial. "How much damage could it possibly do? What if the man did not give me enough, and Trancy ends up with a bad case of stomachache...?" Arabella bit on her thumbnail as she added, "If I can convince him to call off the engagement, then I could avoid poisoning him."

"Miss Arabella, the carriage has been prepared. Your parents are waiting for you," Rebecca said, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the dress. "Oh miss, that is a splendid outfit to announce your engagement."

"Where in the world did you hear that? The entire point of the dinner party is to either approve or deny the offer of engagement. No one is going to be announcing anything," Arabella replied, her brow creasing in agitation.

"All of the others have been talking, and we are convinced that Earl Trancy has something entirely different planned."

"And what would that be?"

"Miss Arabella, your parents and siblings are waiting for you!" another maid exclaimed as she rushed past the open bedroom door. "It is best to make haste, ma'am-"

"Yes, yes! Thank you for reminding me!" Arabella irritably picked up her skirts and hurried down the hallways.

As much as she wanted to learn of the rumors that had been circulating amongst the servants, she did not want to anger her father further. As soon as she had reached the bottom of the stairs, Arabella noticed that Effie had joined them. 

"W-where are the others?" Arabella hesitantly asked, earning an irritated look from her father. 

"Effie was the only one that even wanted to travel with us. You should try to bond more with your brothers and sister, young lady," Mason answered as he turned on his heel and walked out of the mansion, quickly followed by his wife. 

Waiting for her sister to descend the stairs, Effie offered Arabella a small smile before grasping her wrist and squeezing it in support. 

"Adam and Cecil did not want to come since they knew that you did not want to be in this situation in the first place," she muttered underneath her breath, her words eliciting a relieved sigh from Arabella. "Don't worry about it. Despite what Father says, they are not mad at you or anything like that. Now, we must hurry!" 

--- 

Arabella stood rooted to the cobblestone streets as soon as she stepped outside of the carriage, her eyes looking around the stately mansion that stood before her. When she had first arrived at the Trancy estate, she had not taken the time to look at the utter magnificence of the building. Instead, she had opted to focus her eyes on the ground. Now, she could not help but admire the architecture of the building, which was so unlike her family's mansion which was slowly falling into disrepair. 

"At the very least, you will be able to live in such a beautiful place," Effie whispered, an awestruck expression settling over her face. 

"Girls, please stop goggling. It's not proper for ladies of your social standing," Emilia gently reprimanded as she reached over to pat Arabella's shoulder. 

"Effie, leave your mother and sister alone. They need to talk with one another," Mason called out, waiting for his daughter to rush up the steps and to the door. 

"Today is going to be a very eventful day, is it not?" 

"Yes, indeed," Arabella answered, suddenly aware of the vial that was still hidden in her boots.  

"I could not even imagine living in such a grandiose place. Imagine all of the beautiful ballgowns that you can buy with all of Earl Trancy's money-" 

"Mother, is this a half-hearted attempt to placate me?" 

"When I married your father, I also had my doubts. If you did not already know, we were also in an arranged marriage. However, that arrangement did not end horribly. In fact, it was an appropriate match." 

"Was it also a marriage to save your family's reputation?" 

"Arabella, this is not something we should discuss. Trust in your father's judgment. This marriage would be beneficial for us, and you will be living a charmed existence as well. It is not just our reputation at stake. It is yours as well." 

"I won't have to worry about reputation as soon as I marry Ansel." 

"No, your reputation would still be involved in the matter. If you married that boy, you would be thrown out of this house. It would be very difficult to wash away that circumstance from people's minds." 

"We're planning on moving to the States as soon as we are married. People will not recognize us there." 

"How much money will the two of you need to cross the sea?" 

"Ansel has been saving up, Mother." 

"It would be smart to recognize the fact that it would take a great deal of money to procure tickets. With that, we must face reality and join your father and sister. We must hurry now. You know how impatient Effie can be." 

"Must we always hurry?" Arabella grumbled as she followed after Emilia. 

As soon as she had stepped into the mansion, she was bombarded by Alois' attention. The boy, a giggle leaving his lips, wrapped his arms around her.

"My goodness, could you not cling to me? You're going to wrinkle my dress!" Arabella exclaimed, relieved that she was able to catch herself before she irritated her father. 

"Yes, it does seem like you spent a lot of money on it," Alois said, his eyes studying Arabella's dress. "May I say that you look absolutely darling in that gorgeous scarlet?" 

"Yes, I am quite aware of that." Arabella's eyes stared coldly back at his grinning face.  

"Arabella, come join me for a second," Effie said, sensing a possible tension between the two. She hurried beside Arabella, interlocking her arm with your younger sister's and curtsying toward Alois. "I hope that you do not mind, Earl Trancy." 

Arabella was quickly dragged away from the boy by her older sister, who made a beeline toward the tree that was set up in the corner of the room. Effie glanced over her shoulder before snapping her head back to the tree, pointing at one of the ornaments that hung from its branches. 

"Try to look engaged in a discussion, so that we don't have to return back to a conversation with him," Effie stated as she gently squeezed Arabella's shoulder. "Now, do you think that you could tell me why you look so worried?" 

"Who would not be worried during this event? Especially considering that he could-" 

"Excuse me, but why are you not telling me the truth?" Effie's brows creased together in concern as she took a step closer to Arabella. 

"How do you always know when I'm lying?" 

"I am never going to reveal my secrets," Effie conspiratorily whispered to the girl. "...Are you really not going to tell me?" 

"I'm not going to reveal my secrets either." 

--- 

Arabella let out a relieved sigh as she hurried into the dining room, which was devoid of any onlookers. With one final glance back at the doorway, Arabella hiked up her skirt and stuck her free hand into her boot, her fingers quickly wrapping around the bottle. Undoing the lid, Arabella made her way around the table, her eyes glancing at the slips of paper that lay on each spotless plate, all of which proclaimed the name of the person that would sit there. When Arabella finally found Alois' spot, she tipped the contents into his cup of tea. Her head whipped up when she heard someone walking into the room.