Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

35. The Two Maids of Castle de Crivell.

Y/N came barging into Abela's room and shook her awake roughly. "Come on, get up get up get up!" She cried as Abela opened her eyes groggily. "What is so important that it could not wait until after breakfast?" Abela asked with a yawn.

"No time to explain, I'll tell you on the way!" Y/N exclaimed, pulling the other girl from her bed and tugging her out into the hallway. The blonde was dragged along through the cold hallways like a ragdoll as Y/N excitedly yelled: "I heard a carriage outside, that means that Alfonse is finally back! Don't you see, Alfonse is back?!"

"Who is Alfonse?" Abela asked, confused. It was far too early for all this type of shenanigans.

The pair of girls arrived in the entrance hall and Y/N through open the grand doors with gusto. They stood shivering at the top of the stairs that lead down into the courtyard for several minutes until a tall, spindly figure emerged from the stables where he had been busy unhitching the horses and giving them the chance to rest. "Alfonse!" Y/N yelled, running down the stairs to hug the coachman.

She felt the coarse ginger hairs from his beard scratch her face as he leaned over to hug her. "Goodness child, what were you thinking coming outside dressed like that?" Alfonse asked, absolutely appalled that Y/N was wearing nothing but a linen nightgown, and was standing in bare feet on the cold stone of the courtyard. "I want you to go back inside and put some warm clothes on, I'm happy to see you, but I'm not worth risking your health over child, do you know what Frosino would do if you got sick because of me, he would skin me alive, then Tola would bring me back to life just so she could get the satisfaction of killing me herself. Now, I don't want to hear any buts Y/N, you'll go inside, put some warm clothes on and get some warm food in ya, then I'll tell you all about the trip."

Knowing that she couldn't win the argument, Y/N slunk back up the stairs to where Abela still stood. In his haste to get Y/N back inside, Alfonse didn't even notice the second girl. The blonde had to hold back a snicker at the sour look on Y/N's face, as she let out a small huff, "come on, let's go get dressed."

. . .

Abela sat idly at the scrubbed table in the center of the cozy kitchen. She looked around the homey room with wonder, as Y/N and Tola busied themselves with preparing a hot breakfast soup. Y/N had put on a simpler dress, planning on doing some work later on in the day, and she instructed Abela to do the same in case she wanted to help. "Hey, Abela, would you like to help us make breakfast?" Y/N asked.

"Oh, I would," Abela shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "But I'm afraid that I have no idea how one goes about cooking."

"That's alright," Y/N replied, pulling the girl up from her chair. "I and Tola can teach you."

After that, the three of them worked together on breakfast. Abela was a fast learner and only made a few mistakes before she got a grasp on what they were doing. For some reason, Tola seemed to like Abela less than she liked everyone else, but Y/N tried to convince herself that it was just her imagination.

Just as the three of them finished preparing breakfast, Alfonse came bursting in through the door, his timing was so perfect that Tola chased him around, trying to hit him with her broom as she swore that he had been spying on them through the windows waiting for the perfect opportunity to enter.

Y/N noticed that Abela looked very uncomfortable at the display of violence from the housekeeper, so she leaned over to her and whispered: "don't worry, those two have been like that for as long as I have been here, it's just their way of being." Seeing that Abela still looked a bit nervous, she added, "maybe it is the only way that Tola can express her love for Alfonse."

Y/N did a dramatic post and both of the girls giggled at the thought of Tola being in love. "Come on littlen," Tola scolded. "Dish up the soup will ya." The two girls complied and filled four bowls with the steaming stew and settled themselves around the table.

Alfonse was halfway into his chair when he finally noticed that there was another girl sitting next to Y/N. He stared at Abela for a few seconds before he sprang up and ran to hide behind Tola's burly form. "A-A GHOST! SAVE ME TOLA!!"

The tall toothpick of a man was having quite the challenging time of it keeping himself concealed behind Tola, but that didn't prevent him from trying. The housekeeper picked up her rolling pin from the table, and without a change of expression, she cracked it over the ginger's head.

As the coachman clung to his head in pain, Abela stood and cleared her throat awkwardly. "I am Abela of the house of Biustanini, daughter of the late Dembocc Rosso Biustanini, and lady Ila Biustanini."

"Ah, so you're Ila's daughter!" Alfonse exclaimed. "That explains why I mistook you for the ghost of the late lady of this house. The Morocini sisters looked so similar, it is no wonder that you have such a likeness to both Stalla and Ila."

"You knew my mother?" Abela asked, taken aback. "Yes, I did," Alfonse replied. "I have worked for the house of Crivell for a long time. I still remember Archduke's Niccolio II wedding to Stalla like it was yesterday."  He lost himself in memory for a moment, then he said, "come on, we better eat breakfast before it gets cold."

The four of them ate while swapping small talk until the conversation shifted to the topic that Y/N had secretly been dying to know. "Well, the two boys and I arrived in Bocio in time for them to catch their ship. Poor Frosino, he hardly spoke a word the whole trip, and after he boarded the ship he just stood on the deck of the great vessel with his raven hair tangling in the sea wind, watching until the shoreline disappeared. Poor man, probably knew what he was in for."

"What do you mean?" Y/N asked as she leaned over the table, nearly putting her elbow in the butter dish. Alfonse chuckled at her question and answered her light-heartedly. "You see, Frosino has always been a rather picky eater, ever since he was a small boy, and one of the things he can't stand is seafood. Now, he packed lots of preserves to take with him, but the voyage will take at least three months, and there is only so much salted beef and strawberry jam a person can take before they start to go a little crazy."

Everyone got a good laugh from this, and after they all had a chance to calm down and nurse the stitches that had formed in their sides from laughing Alfonse continued: "Frosino promised that he would write to you as much as he could Y/N, but given that it takes at least three months for letters from The Empire Beyond the Sea to reach us, and that the mountain road to Castle de Crivell will be closed through the snow of winter for safety, it will probably be spring before you hear from him."

Y/N looked down at her lap and nodded silently. She knew in her heart that it would be ages until she would see Frosino again, but something about hearing it from the lips of someone else made it more real. Noticing the sad expression on Y/N's face Tola kicked Alfonse under the table as she cleared the dishes away.

Alfonse coughed, and quickly added: "Spring will be here before you know it, and think of all the things you will have to tell him about by next spring." Y/N sat up again and did her best to smile, Alfonse was right, she should do her best to stay positive.

A/N

Well, everyone is settling into life at Castle de Crivell without Frosino and Ilidoro, (but no one would ever admit that they miss Ilidoro.)

I know that the book has gotten slower again, and I apologize for the fact that we have yet to see any real romance. This story has always been about more than the romantic plot alone, which does make it a slower experience, but I am enjoying it, and I hope that you all are too.

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~