Eternity Through Sacrifice

Chapter 11

"Reuben Gallo! Why're you doing the work of a butler!" The man said lunging himself towards Reuben trying playfully to land a choke hold on him.

Although Reuben skillfully avoided the man he dropped all of my poor books on the ground ever-so-gracefully.

"Grey Hughes! Why can't you be more aware of your surroundings?! You could of injured young lady Mireille!"

"Oh!" The man suddenly turned to me, "Grey Hughes of the Argent Knights, my lady. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused."

"No need," I pick up one of the many books scattered at my feet and clutch it to my chest. "Sir Gallo, please bring the rest to my room after you're done here." And I walk off.

Reuben talks briefly with the other knight and continues after me.

Once I reach my room I get Reuben to place them down on the desk and kick him out. I get to reading and get through about three books by the time dinner rolls around.

According to Claude D'Argent I'm still "ill" so the maids bring me dinner. I read as I eat and finish my fourth book. I then step out to take a break and the moment I opened the door my view was blocked with the white and blue colours of the Uniform of the Argent Knights.

"Hello, Sir Gallo." I greet, peaking out from the door, smiling just as Iris D'Argent had taught.

"Ah, Lady Mireille!" He bowed cheerfully in greeting, like a puppy of some sort. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I was just hoping to get some fresh air, I imagine that Alfred is still outside training with his sword at this hour."

I leave my room, book in hand, and Reuben trailing me. If I ask him why he's following me he'll obviously say that it's his job... I need a way of exposing all potential spies of Claude D'Argent.

I mean there's always magic and curses. I suppose those will have to do for now, but I need a way for me to determine if they're siding with Claude D'Argent without using magic. It'll be troublesome if someone realizes that I used magic and curses on random servants around the mansion.

As I get to the courtyard I spot Al sparring with another soldier. I take a closer look and realize that it was the soldier from earlier. Grey Hughes, was it?

I sit beneath a tree, reading as I wait for Al to finish his training. I finish the book before Al approaches me.

"Sorry, did you wait for long?" Al asks.

"Nope." I set down my book. "I'm just bored. There's really nothing to do around here."

I sit down, admiring the leafless trees, even though it's technically the middle of winter in this world it's still pretty snowless. It snowed about two or three weeks before we came to the Argent Estate but that's about it.

It's basically New Years right now but it seems humans in this world don't really value celebrating the New Years and think the Festival of Lights is more important...

"reille...!"

"Huh?"

"Geez you zone out too much..." Al sighs.

I chuckle awkwardly. "Uhh... Sorry? What were you talking about?"

"I asked if you wanted to go into the city. The Capital's a big place unlike the little town we lived in before. It would also be useful to take you around the Argent's territory but that a little far from here."

"Sure!" I jump up excitedly! Whatever Al's intention is it would be extremely beneficial if I were to tour around the Capital.

"Mmm... We should go after your injury heals. It'll be bad if something happened to you."

"Come on~ Let's go tomorrow!" I whine, banging my head against his shoulder pitifully. "Pleaseeeee."

He glared at me. "No."

"Fine." I sit up straight, pouting a bit.

"My lady... The young Lord is just concerned for your health, besides you and the young Lord would need to ask Lord Claude for permission to leave the estate anyway..." Reuben explains, trying to convince me to stop bothering Alfred about this matter.

"'Kay," I stand up dusting off my dress. "Let's go for a walk."

We walk along the garden path's chatting with Reuben following far behind us as we requested.

"Since when has the famous Leader of the Argent Knights begin following you like a servant?" Al whispers.

"Well... Claude D'Argent sorta pushed him onto me." I confess. "But that's not important, what's important is whether or not he's a spy." I loop in front of Alfred and begin walking backwards. "You seem familiar with him, do you think he's trustworthy?"

Al expression suddenly tightens up, he walks as he thought about his answer. "When father was still here he was his right hand man. But you can never be so sure..."

I guess we'll have to resort to magic after all. "Oh well." We continue to walk until Reuben urges us to go inside, as it was getting dark.

A week passes and I'm pretty much 100% better and my tutors has finally arrived, meaning I don't have to aimlessly read books anymore!

Iris D'Argent still oversees the majority of my education, and she personally selects the tutors, and they're all great teachers, and she's much nicer to me than the twins at the very least but she's always sorta standoffish. But it also seems that she's not really that close with Claude D'Argent, she always speaks to him formally and keeps her distance.

My divorce senses are tingling...

What? It's Claude D'Argent fault for raping my mother anyway!

Anyways the only reason I'm talking about this is because I'm currently being forced to sit very awkwardly with Iris D'Argent and apparently I have to talk to her over tea for more etiquette lessons.

"I think it would be nice if we were to hire a magic tutor for you and the other children." Iris D'Argent says as she puts the teacup in her hands back onto the its saucer.

I nod, agreeing to her. "Yes, I think it would be good as well. Especially since Alfred and Emil will be entering the military academy in four years time." I put my hand's in my lap and smile politely.

As we finish up with the tea party, Iris D'Argent calls for the butler to clean up the table and very ruthlessly points out what I did wrong and corrects me for next time. I simply curtsy to thank her and quickly take my leave.

As I leave I stumble upon Emil again who also insists on making conversation. "Mireille! I heard that you and Alfred are going into the city sometime soon."

"Yes, Alfred thought it would be good if I knew a bit more about the capital since I've never been there before."

"I'll come with you! I know a bunch of fun places to visit!" He smiles excitedly, practically jumping up and down at this point.

How does one decline a jumping eight year old boy? I simply smile and say thanks when Iris D'Argent appears and says that I should take Emil with me, since Alfred hasn't been to the capital in along time either. And simply because she appeared all possible escape plans have closed down, forcing me to bring Emil as well.