The Villainess Returns with a System

50: Fire Vouchers

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"What was that just now?" Esmeralda asked me as she managed to get her last brain cells in order.

"Isabella de Clare, believe it or not, my best friend forever." I replied while fixing my hair in the new mirror in my office.

"She is... too much." Esmeralda said.

"She can be a handful." I agreed with a smile, "But she is my handful to deal with."

"You sound like you like her a lot."

"When I think about Isabella, Logan, Princess Charlotte, and those people dear to me like Father and elder brother James, I feel a lot of warmth in my heart."

"This is beautiful! Even though you were just fighting."

"Ah! That chick is crazy."

"You think she is really going for Lord Julian?"

"I know she is."

"That's just ridiculous. He is the age of her own father if I am not mistaken."

"No, you're not. Isabella has... well, it's an old story..."

I smiled but fell silent. As for Esmeralda, she kept looking at me with a bright smile, expecting to hear the story.

"Fine... we lost my mother when I was 5 years old."

"I... I am sorry."

"Don't be. It was a long time ago. Back then, I was devastated like any would but Mama Claudia took me and James in their house for a month until things settled. Mama Claudia was my mother's best friend too and she insists that I call her the same as her children call her. By that time, Isabella started acting like an older sister to me and gave me all her toys but all I wanted was my mom back."

As I turned to Esmeralda, she was already in tears.

"You're such a crybaby, big girl."

"I'm sorry. sob!"

"It's okay. At that time, I was volatile to outbursts of emotion but thanks to Isabella and Mama Claudia, it passed. One night when I was crying for Mother to come and get me, Isabella snuck into my bed and pretended to act like a mother. I knew it was her, of course, but I just wanted to believe my mother got back. But after that, she made a silly promise that she would be my mother, and when she asked her maids how, they all said it's impossible unless she..."

"Marries Count Julian." Esmeralda figured it out.

"And thus began my nightmare." I laughed after saying that.

Esmeralda smiled and nodded.

"So, she's such a warm person."

"Too warm in fact? Almost burning hot. You can't imagine how many suitors this beautiful friend of mine has turned down just to pursue my dad."

"I can't still process that last part."

"We just ignore her when she brings it up, she'll grow out of it."

"You think?"

"Eventually. She just has nothing better to do and my father is 49 by now, she's just 22."

"What about your blessing?"

"It's a tradition here in Elgard... if you observe the men of the high society, you'll find that most of the family heads get to have two wives, while the king has three. My mother carried the title of the countess and was the first wife, and Saskia was the second wife. In order to marry a second wife, a man must get the blessing of the first wife."