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Stitched

I'm back! After nearly a month ✨٩( 'ω' )و

First order of business: Thank you for the 1K reads! We reached it a while back and we're at 1.21K. I never gave thanks where it was due so here I am. Thank you to each and every one of you who came and returned. And thank you for the 79 stars! It all means a lot (｀・ω・')

Did ya miss me? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I'm just kidding. I'm gonna jump straight into it before this gets any more awkward.

The translation for all the French sentences are provided at the very end✨

This is a continuation of the short story
Corpse Bride, inspired by the prompt below.

𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 — ❝ I'm trying my best to be polite, but if you move that knife a centimeter closer to me I will tear you apart. ❞

word count

1946

After a resurgence of the Roman Fever in the city of Edinburgh, Helen's family was struck. Her father caught it first; the poor old man stood no chance. Her elder brother came second, falling off his horse in a sudden bout of vertigo. Finally, her mother became feverish after fainting while having tea with a few ladies. Her fragile condition had her bedridden from day one.

Helen placed them under strict quarantine and had the staff quartered away from them. She wouldn't risk their servants contracting the plague from them and spreading it to their families. From morning to evening and throughout the night, she sacrificed herself in the chance that they might live.

But that chance slimmed day after day.

The herbs used to heal the open sores slowly lost their effects. The warm brews did nothing to ease their aching throats and no amount of cool towels could lower their scalding temperatures.

One morning, Helen came rushing to Sébastien's office. He wasn't there, but Beecham had taken his spot as he attended to his patients. Seeing her come in out of breath with swollen and still-watering eyes, he had her sit. He poured her a cup of tea and hurried to get Sébastien.

"You only have a small cold, thankfully," Sébastien reassured his patient, who would likely heal in the coming days. This is the tea my fiancée makes for me whenever I have similar cold episodes. You can add honey to sweeten it. It's quite a bitter brew."

"Thank you very much, doctor."

When the door suddenly opened and Beecham was the one who entered, Sébastien knew there was something wrong. He hated being disturbed when working but there was one person exempt from this rule: his fiancée, Helen.