𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄 || 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Chapter Twenty-Four

About an hour had passed, and finally, everyone was out of the house, leaving just a very shaken-up Luis, Sebastian, Vienne, and a guilty-looking Claudine. Ominis and Rolf had decided to accompany Natty to the Ministry as she was escorting Edward there. They wanted to make sure he'd actually get the treatment he deserved there.

Of course, they'd all have to go in for some sort of witness questioning soon, but at the moment, none of that mattered.

Once Luis felt comfortable enough going home and left, Claudine looked over to where Vienne and Sebastian were sitting at the bottom of the stairs, talking to each other. Claudine let out a sigh watching them, realizing just how badly she had messed up. How badly she had been messing up for months—years even.

The look of anxiousness she saw on Vienne's face at the beginning of the night was completely gone—and while talking to Sebastian, she seemed almost completely comfortable, as if the rocky events of the night had never happened.

That's when it hit Claudine—Vienne really did love Sebastian, and he loved her. Whatever past he had, he had been honest about it with her, and all he wanted for her was the best.

The worst guilt of her life then ran over her; it was almost like she could physically feel her heart drop to her stomach. She had almost just forced her daughter to get married to a horrendous man who was planning on killing her son! And Merlin knows what else he had planned.

With heavy steps, Claudine walked over to the stairs where the two of them were sitting on the bottom step. Vienne looked up, wondering why her mother was approaching her—she hoped she wasn't about to be scolded or yelled at.

Sebastian looked up as well, his hand immediately going atop of Vienne's. "Mother, what is it?" Vienne asked in a somewhat stoic tone.

Claudine let out a big sigh, knowing what she had to do. "I'm sorry, Vienne, for everything." She spoke, clasping her hands in front of her nervously. Her hands felt sweaty and clammy, her heart still aching. This was her own child; how could she not notice the damage she was doing to her before it was almost too late?

Vienne's brows raised a little in shock. She hadn't heard her mother apologize to her in what felt like literal years. And of course, she was a little skeptical; was Claudine being genuine?

"And I know you're probably wondering if I'm being sincere, and I completely understand why you would question that." Claudine said, carrying a sort of heaviness in her voice. "I am now just seeing the errors of my ways and just how badly I've treated you, especially since the death of your father, and I am so, so sorry."

Her voice cracked a little as her throat burned; the guilt and shame were almost too much to bear, but she knew she deserved to feel like this to understand how badly she had affected Vienne.

"I've treated you unfairly, taken away your ability to choose, and forced you into things that... quite frankly, I should have had no business in." She admitted. "I don't know what came over me, and I understand if you want to leave and never speak to me again. But I do hope you understand, whether that be now or later, I am truly, so, so sorry."

Some tears rolled down her cheeks as the words left her mouth. She really was sorry, but she understood if Vienne wanted to go through with her plan of leaving and not coming back or having any contact with her.

Vienne could sense the sincerity of her mother's words in her tone, and although she was surprised, she could feel her heart swell. It had taken such a long time and a drastic situation to get to this point, but she couldn't deny the feeling of happiness swelling in her heart.

She stood up, Sebastian's hand falling off of hers as she did so. Without another word, she wrapped her arms around her mother, giving her a hug for the first time in months. A simple hug wouldn't fix all the emotional distress it had put on her, but Merlin, did it feel good.

Claudine couldn't believe it for a moment, but immediately, she broke down into sobs, small "I am so sorry" leaving her mouth consistently. Her heart ached, but something about the hug made her feel like she wasn't a complete failure of a mother.

"Thank you, mother." Vienne said, hugging her mother tight.

Certainly not everything was fixed, and it'd take a long time before things were healed, but the apology and the hug were the start of it all.

Claudine pulled back a little, her hands going from Vienne's back to her face, cupping her cheeks in her hands. "I want you to do what you want to do." She said, her voice quivering. "And if that means marrying that young man, I'd be more than happy to support you."

Her eyes flickered over to Sebastian for a moment, seeing him sitting on the bottom step. Sebastian was just about as shocked as Vienne was to hear the words, but he couldn't deny how his heart soared.

"I know your father would've wanted you to be happy... and if this makes you happy, then so be it." Claudine smiled.

Once Vienne pulled away, Claudine faced Sebastian, taking another deep breath. "As for you, I do owe you an apology as well." She spoke. "I know you've had a hard past, and I shouldn't have judged you on it. I was so quick to believe Edward on what he had told me; I had no idea he was using it to put you in a bad light or to frame you later for a horrible crime."

"As far as I'm concerned, you make my daughter happy, and that should've been enough for me to see that clearly; you were the better choice from the start." She added, swallowing hard. "My ignorance got me into this situation as well as my pride and stubbornness. I hope the both of you can forgive me, but more importantly, I hope you can live the life together that you want. You won't get any judgment from me; that much I can promise."

Sebastian smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Austen." He replied.

Claudine gave a small smile back. "I know this won't fix everything, Merlin knows I still have the mess I made to clean up, but I hope that you both know that I support you in anything you do."

Claudine took some steps back to give them some space, looking around and wondering how in Merlin's name she was going to explain this to the rest of the town, but she was no longer afraid of backlash. She just wanted what was best for Vienne.

"So, what do we do now?" Vienne asked Sebastian, feeling a sudden rush of newfound freedom that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"I don't see why our original plan wouldn't work." Sebastian said with a grin. "But it's all up to you."

It was all up to her; finally, something was hers to choose with no backlash or judgment. She could do as she pleased, and what a liberating feeling that was. "Your right!" She exclaimed with a small laugh.

Yeah, she could leave town with Sebastian whenever she wanted. She could leave and never have to explain herself or do anything. She could be with the man she actually loved and the one who actually loved and cared for her.

"Once all of this is over, we can leave." Vienne said, a smile on her face. "We can leave and be together, just like we wanted before."

Sebastian smiled back at her, her words restoring his hope in his future with her. "And I'd love nothing more than that."

A/n: Two in one day? Yep! (Again, sorry if its rushed!)