Cinderella Story [Wriothesley x Reader]

Page 12 - I

Epilogue

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"In short, I want to thank you for your tip regarding the murder weapon. As it turned out, you were completely right with your theory." Chevreuse, the captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol of the Maison Gardiennage, collected all the papers in front of her and lightly knocked the edge of the pile against the desk to even out the pages.

"I'm just glad I could help," you answered her with a smile, albeit slightly pained. "As you can imagine, finding my father's murderer was an important concern on my part as well."

"Yes, that makes sense." She nodded and finished cleaning up her desk. She was done for the day, and her last task was to talk to you about everything that had happened once more. Through her, you had found out about everything that the Maison Gardiennage had managed to piece together through various clues and information provided to them by you and your stepfamily. You were thankful, because none of them had even considered talking to you – or were already in custody, in Jonas' and Geroge's case. Pearl and Hematitia had made it a point to blatantly ignore you when you had crossed their path on the way to Chevreuse's office a few days earlier and had gone out of their way to not cross paths with you ever since. Not that you minded, of course. You were more than ready for some peace and quiet.

But it seemed that everything had concluded now. Chevreuse had filled you in: Emil, George and Jonas were all convicted of different crimes and all currently in Meropide. Your father's murder had been found (even though she was already dead) and every single one of your problems seemed to have finally been resolved, one way or another. You still couldn't believe it. Over the course of just a few days, your life had taken a complete turn. It was somehow even scary how easy everything turned out to be with so many of the toxic people that had been tormenting you being cut off. There was nobody left in your vicinity that wanted to harm you. For the first time in a long, long time, you felt so light, as if you had been carrying a huge rock on your back for years and it was finally gone. Your smile had never been more honest than it was these days.

"Thank you very much, for everything," you told Chevreuse. "I'm glad things finally are resolved."

"Me too, Miss Rainsworth."

Ah. It stung.

The surname that you just wanted to leave behind still clung to you like a shadow. It was a memento from your father, yes, but you didn't want it sticking to you anymore. It held you down, like chains, painful and heavy. You had different things to remember your father by, both physical and emotional, but this surname was only a burden. You couldn't wait to shed it. Thankfully, preparations for that shedding were already in motion, and you were on your way to your final fitting with Chiori, for the finishing touches on your dress. You said your good-byes to Chevreuse, who was anyway finishing up her workday, and left the building.

On your way through the city, you encountered another familiar face. As you passed Café Lutece, you spotted Navia at one of the tables, but right before you called out to her, you realized that she was sitting across from someone else – the blue haired woman you had already seen her with at the gathering – and that she was deeply engaged in the conversation. You had never seen her behave the way she did at this very moment. You had gotten to know Navia as a confident young woman who didn't hesitate to stand up for what she believed was right, but now she seemed to be more a nervous and blushing mess. The setting was pretty obvious: she was on a date. And not wanting to intrude (plus, you had to get to Chioriya Boutique anyway), you lowered the hand you had just raised to wave, and quietly went past the café. There was a grin on your face, though. You were glad that it was not only you that was heading for a happy ending.