Van Deloney: To My Dearest Emma [[BOOK ONE]]

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝑰𝑰

NOCTURNAL ITINERARY TO ALBIANA

October 27, 1879

          STANDING OUTSIDE the mansion, her face donning a stern and serious expression as she looked at her sister. She addressed her older sister with a bit of uneasiness in her tone. "Carmelia..." she spoke, her voice sounding rather stern and cold. It's as if the events and occurrences of the day had made her tired and wary, to a point where she had no more patience for Carmelia's teasing and childish antics.

Helena, who had been accompanying her lady, Charlotte, throughout this day, excused herself promptly with a polite curtsy, leaving the two sisters to their own private company.

Charlotte's older sister, Carmelia, watched with a smug look on her face as Helena excused herself and walked off to give her and Charlotte some privacy. She then turned to look at her sister, Charlotte, with a slight smirk on her face, as if she was feeling a sense of amusement or satisfaction in the fact that the two of them would now be left alone to talk and have a sisterly chat together.

"I surmised that you would've been assisting the celebration alongside the others in the grand occasion of your 18th birthday, yet it seems as though you have chosen to eschew your responsibilities." Carmelia uttered with a tone that was thick with sarcasm and mockery.

She wielded her fan with grace and elegance, yet the sight of it was ominous and foreboding to Charlotte. It felt as though her older sister wished to derive some pleasure out of this moment, even if it meant tormenting herself.

"Why do you not cease speaking and simply substitute your place for mine so you could see what I have had to go through?" Charlotte remarked, the words dripping with a subtle edge of annoyance and contempt. Her tone was quite sharp and firm, as she looked at her older sister with a mixture of frustration and disdain.

It seemed as though she was not in the mood to participate in the childish banter of her sister, but rather wished to get this whole matter over with.
"I dare say, if I had the choice, I would take your place so that I could bear witness to your burden." Carmelia spoke out, a faint hint of irritation coloring her tone.

"In any case, if I were you, I'd be rather keen to take up the offer to tie the knot with the Prince of Luxtonia." Carmelia then paused for a brief moment to let out a childish giggle before continuing her statement.
"After all, he is the Crown Prince of Luxtonia, is he not?" she uttered snickering once more.

"Whether one is a high-ranking noble or not, I have no ambition or interest in partaking in conversations or events that require me to pretend and act in a certain manner in front of the other nobles." Her words were sharp, her tone cold as ice, as if she was shutting down both the previous statement and topic of conversation with the swiftness of a snap-shut.
Charlotte proceeded into the interior of the grand mansion, leaving her older sister Carmelia alone outside.

"That dimwitted little brat! It seems that she has no sense of ambition or drive to obtain a higher position within the social hierarchy of nobility." Carmelia grumbled, her hand's grip on her fan becoming tighter.

"I would much rather wed a Crown Prince than some insignificant Duke of Albrecht family." She muttered; her words tainted with a slight hint of jealousy at her sister's possible marriage to a man of higher social station than her.

As Charlotte entered the interior of the mansion, she was approached by a group of anxious and eager-looking maids asking for her opinion. One of the maids, the first one, approached her and asked, "Mí lady, would you prefer a Majestic crêpe de Chine or a Royal Taffeta?" In her hand, she was carrying two set of fabric napkins.