𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 ✔

Chapter Twenty-Six

"This surely cannot be real, are you sure you heard him correctly?" Justine was practically bouncing as she tried to keep her voice down. It was obvious she was overjoyed even though she attempted to pretend otherwise.

"If you do not believe me, here, see for yourself." Sebastian reached into his inner jacket pocket, pulled out what seemed to have been a letter and then handed it to her. "I just came from his room, he was so eager when he confided in me about it, that I told him I would just bring it to you myself."

"Thank you, Your Grace. I will not forget this kindness you have done me." She curtsied looking down to hide her smile. "I am in your debt."

"You certainly are. I do hope it all works out for you." He nodded smugly. "Oh, might I be bold as to lend a word of advice?"

"Of course, Your Grace, please do." She replied impatiently as she looked down at the letter in her hands.

He leaned with a diabolic grin on his face and whispered something into her ear which in turn made her blush. "That will surely secure his affections. I shall see you at dinner Mademoiselle Tessier, good luck."

"Yes, again, thank you very much." She watched as he left the hall through the double doors, then quickly looked around before she hungrily opened the letter to read its contents for herself.

Justine held a hand over her mouth as she read, gasping and giggling to herself after every other word. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes wide with excitement. Not long after she had started, she folded the letter and then quickly opened the door to her room and ran inside for a moment. She left the door open so the sounds of her shuffling around in there bled out into the halls. It went silent and then she slowly appeared in the hall once again empty handed. She looked around as she gathered up the bottom of her dress and hastily made her way through the double doors at the end of the hall. Leaving me to absorb everything that just happened.

I had a bad feeling about what I had witnessed. I was bothered by what I had heard, though without context I hardly knew the gist of it, but I was more bothered by what I had not heard. I needed to see the letter to understand what was going on and I knew it was wrong of me to snoop and pry into another's business, but when it came to Sebastian, I felt sick even thinking about ignoring it.

I was unsure if he had actually done something terribly wrong, or if he was simply being nice and just delivering a letter to Justine, though I was leaning more towards the former. I chewed on my lip for a second as I nervously went back and forth with myself on whether or not I should get involved. It didn't take much to convince myself to at least take a peek.

Once I heard her start down the steps I quietly rushed over to her room, thankfully in her haste she left it unlocked. I quietly opened the door and started to look for the letter trying not to waste any time. Thankfully, however, it was laid out in the open on the vanity that sat not too far from the door, making it easy for me to find.

"Dear Justine,

I have found myself thinking about you for quite some time now and I think I may have fallen deeply in love with you.

I know this is something that should be said in person so, if you would, come meet me in my room on the fifth floor of the west wing, four doors down on your right, and we can further discuss how you would like to proceed after hearing all I have yet to say.

With love,

Adam."

My heart would have surely broken in two if the letter had actually been written by Adam. However, Sebastian's attempt to copy his handwriting was quite good, but the 'with love' at the end was a dead giveaway for myself. I was sure if I went to my room and grabbed the scrap of paper Julianna had dropped, the two would have matched perfectly.