Servienne (LGBT)

12-Investigation

    It had been several days since the occurrence, and Aaron had spent each and every moment absentmindedly touching his lips where Noll had been, hugging himself where Noll had hugged. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He couldn't do anything. Noll hadn't come back since then, and it terrified him. Had Noll tested the experience and forgotten him? Had Noll hated it? He knew that it wasn't acceptable, that sort of behavior with a man, but for the first time in his life, it felt like the only thing that made sense. It had happened so fast, and he was still terrified of it, but he didn't dislike it. Was he sinful for that? He knew it happened from time to time, those relationships, but you weren't supposed to let it be known. It was an unspoken truth, an open secret, but he had never expected himself to get drawn into that. He also hadn't expected to be as equally drawn to and scared of Noll's touch, to tremble when he remembered when Noll slammed him against the wall, growled into his ear, made him fear for his life. Anticipation. Terror. It all just tore through him. He needed a distraction.

  He had requested to begin on his work again, and by the next day, he was receiving papers as usual. It seemed some turmoil had been flaring up in southern Yoheim where the rebel group was causing trouble. Apparently, some of the noblesse believed there were spies amongst them somehow. Sensitive documents that only he and a few others were in charge of handling had been leaked, and stronghold weaknesses exposed. He tried to worry little of it. He didn't let anyone see his documents, so it had to be one of the other idiotic twats. In all honesty, it was probably a basic servant, like a maid or a coachman. Those kinds of people could never be trusted. But, then again, he trusted Lucillia and Noll enough. He tried to, anyway, but he couldn't trust them and have it fall through in some horrible way. He couldn't trust anyone but he and his father. His country could be on the line if anything happened to them.

    But the spy problem, it troubled him.

  Today, he decided to work from his office, so taking his papers down the hall, he stepped inside the space. He walked over, pulling back the curtains to fill the space with bright sunlight, falling over the dark wood of his desk, the half-wood and half-carpeted floors, and the elaborate fractal wallpapers in Art Deco--all in cool browns, blacks, and golds. He threw down the papers on his flawlessly dusted desk, smiling with contempt at the cozy cleanliness of the space as he sat in the soft, plush black chair, pulling it closer to the desk and beginning his work.

  It had been about an hour through the document handling when a knock came at the door. He called them in, motioning for the person to sit in front of his desk, but he didn't even bother looking up at them until they sat down. When he did, he couldn't help but want to laugh. Aaron stopped himself, however, staring at what was basically a child sitting in front of him. A girl who couldn't be older than fourteen sat in the chair uncomfortably, unable to touch the ground because she was so small, maid's dress wrinkled and dusty. Her dark eyes darted about to look at every place in the room except him, playing nervously with messy, taupe hair. She would be the first, then he would go down the line of names in the servant rosters.

    "I will ask you a series of questions, and I expect you to answer without question accordingly," He began, looking down at a pad of paper. "Let's begin. What is your name?"

    "Étoile Dubois."

    "How old are you?"

    "Th--Thirteen."

    "Where were you the night of the fifth of the Month of Flowers?"

    "Flowers? That was near a whole two weeks past, I... I am not sure--"

    "Anything significant? Did you take a day off? Should I check the rosters to see if you were absent? I would rather not."

    "No! I do not believe so, sir."

    "What is your family status?"

    "Upper-lower class, I suppose--"

    "That would make some room for resentment against the royal family, would it not?"

    "W--What? No!"

  It was a constant berating of questions, and when he had wrung the small girl dry, he kicked her out and called in the next. The next was a butler, then a kitchen maid, then a stable boy, and so on and so forth until most of the staff was covered. He didn't bother with a few. Lucillia knew he would have her head without so much as the blink of her eyes if it upset him enough, and Noll was too impulsive and just a lowly kitchen worker.

  He found nothing suspicious in any of the staff, unless you count a couple of them here and there sneaking off shifts for drinks--which they ended up confessing to after his brutal questioning--but that troubled him more, having no results. That meant that somewhere, one of the people given the responsibility of dealing with these matters was leaving them out in the open for a spy to be able to get information on. What sorts of people had his father put in charge, then?

  Aaron let out a heavy sigh, leaning back in his chair after dismissing a trembling, older gardener who begged to keep his job, looking out the window at the already setting sun. He had been sitting in that office all day, but it felt nice to get back into the swing of things. Still, now plagued by the worrisome threat that the Liberty Syndicate was posing on the royal family, Aaron found himself on edge. The worst part was how uncertain the future seemed. How could he defend against a threat that could be hiding in his own walls?

    Then it clicked. Of course!

  He stood from his chair like wildfire, heading to get the rosters from the Human Resources offices in the castle. He had a plan. Not everyone would approve, but he could save them while he still could.

A/N: spoiler - the plan isn't all that grand, whoops.