The carriage arrived in front of Duke Aumont's capital estate mansion. Olivier hopped down and opened the door for Madeline. Guy also exited the carriage and walked her to the door. Guy had the expectation of a kiss, being from the modern world originally, however, Madeline being from this world instead smiled and said goodnight slipping inside the mansion and leaving Guy pouting. Guy moped his way back to the carriage and said to Olivier, "No kiss."
Olivier laughed and then said, "What did you expect? Madeline is a proper lady, not a girl from a whore house." Olivier leaned in close and whispered, "I know a good one, shall we head there next?"
Guy frowned at Olivier and said, "I'll ride up top with you, let's talk about your brother."
Olivier smiled and replied, "Yes, lets. Just not here, the walls have ears."
*****
The next morning Olivier found himself in a very good mood. Even with his brother's transformation weighing on the back of his mind, what he was mostly thinking about was the girl he met the night before. He started trying to think about ways he could prove that he was who he said he was, grandiose entrances with palace guards, flowers and all sorts of pageantry. He shook his head and said out loud, "I'd scare the woman half to death. She's a commoner, she would be afraid to breathe if I overdid it. No, I'll just act normal, if she likes me she likes me, if not, then it wasn't meant to be."
"Maybe you should give her one of my love potions," Diggory said.
Olivier looked at First Mage Diggory for half a minute and then asked, "Why are you here?"
"Mage Molester said you found a new beauty, I want to see her for my research." He replied
Olivier thought for a minute and then asked, "What exactly are you researching?"
Diggory's bushy eyebrows wiggled and then he passionately said, "I am going to make a beauty potion that will allow any woman to look young and beautiful! But the first step in my research is to determine exactly what makes a woman beautiful! If I just make a woman's breast a certain size, for example, I might be missing an important aspect of beauty. Or if I make the eyes a certain color, I could be missing something important. Age, hair color, skin tone, height, weight, there are so many variables!"
Olivier stared at Diggory and then replied, "You just like ogling women, don't you?"
Diggory frowned and then said, "Obviously."
*****
Olivier went back to the little shop, he wore his usual Council of Magic uniform this time. He smiled as he walked in the door, he still had no idea what sort of business the girl worked at. As he walked in the shop he saw a number of musical instruments on the wall and an old man was busily working the wood to make a lute. He the girl he had helped the night before cleaning some of the instruments. Olivier smiled and then walked up to her and said, "Hello again."
She looked him up and down and then asked, "What are ye supposed to be, some kind of knight? Last night ye talked ye self up to be a prince, today ye come in tryin' to be a knight?"
Olivier chuckled and then said, "Actually, I am here to purchase a violin."
The old man stopped what he was doing and walked over, "Young man, are you really here for a violin, or just my granddaughter's good impression? My violins are not flowers, I only sell my instruments to those who play."
Olivier asked, "Well, then I suppose I should play for you both." He smiled his normal goofy smile.
The girl laughed and then said, "If'n ye can play one a these, I'll give ye my name, gov. A coachman playin' a violin." She snorted and laughed.
Olivier selected one of the violins from the wall and then asked, "Your bows?" The old man pointed to a bin nearby with a number of bows in it. Olivier walked over and looked through it before selecting one. He then plucked the strings one by one before putting the bow to the strings and playing a complicated piece he had obviously practiced well.
The old man and the girl looked shocked as he played. As he finished the last note of the piece she stammered, "I'm sorry, all ye've done since ye've met me is t' be kind and I repaid ye wit' attitude. M'name is Ella."
He chuckled and then asked the old man, "This violin doesn't suit me, do you have any made with cold weather spruce tops?"
The old man's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "You could tell that was lesser quality spruce?"
Olivier nodded as the old man went to the back of his shop and brought out a case, he opened it and then said, "This one is very expensive, please be careful."
Olivier went through the same process of plucking the strings. He adjusted one of the strings at the tuning peg before playing a different, even more, complicated piece with quick arpeggio runs. He smiled and then said, "I'll take it."
The old man looked at him in awe and then said, "Young man, I'm afraid you won't be able to buy it. This violin costs one hundred and fifty gold coins. A man who needs to work as a coachman could only afford the fifty silver violin you looked at before."
Olivier chuckled and then said, "I told your granddaughter this already, but I am Olivier de la Marche, Fourth Mage of the Council of Magic, third prince of Pays Des Abrutis. I was indeed acting as a coachman last night, but that was only to spy on my friends who went out to see the play." He turned and gave Ella a wink and then said, "Inventory." His voice had a strange echo to it and then he reached into thin air and started to pull out stacks of gold coins and set them on the counter.
The old man started to count the coins and then whispered, "The violin is yours... Your Highness."
Olivier chuckled and then said, "Please, it's Mage la Marche now, I have given up my claim to the throne to be a part of the Council of Magic." He picked up the violin case and placed the violin inside carefully before closing it up. He then placed the case into the hole in thin air before saying, "Inventory close." He looked at Ella and then chuckled and said, "I do have to be honest about something though, I didn't intend to buy a violin today, I only came to see your granddaughter, it just so happened that I got lucky and you weren't a women's shoe cobbler." He laughed.
Ella blushed red and then stammered, "Then... Then get out a 'ere ye sly bas'ard!"
Olivier gave her a gentlemanly bow and then walked out of the shop whistling the first tune he played for them.
The old man flopped down to the floor and said, "Ella, my Ella... We're rich. We sold it, we finally sold my life's work! The greatest violin I have ever made." He started to sob. He looked at her and said, "The Prince has his eye on you, your life may very well become even more complicated than you ever imagined, Ella. Take a gold coin and go buy yourself some new clothes with it."
She put her hands on her hips and frowned, she said, "If'n that prince likes me for who I am, then my clothes're fine. We'll take that gold and save it up fer a finer shop and some 'ired 'elp in 'ere to make better instruments. Didn't ye always want to make pianos too?"
Her grandfather chuckled and then said, "Then we won't settle for just one hundred fifty gold coins. I'll make a thousand, ten thousand and then we'll own our own factory!"
*****
Madeline took the playbill from the night before and put it into a special box she kept in her closet. She blushed happily as she looked at it once more before carefully locking the box. She put her hands on her cheeks trying to regain her normal emotionless look but was still unable to get the smile off her face. She decided to tell her mother about the restaurant Guy had taken her to the night before, she thought that her mother and father would also enjoy the 'soo she'.
Madeline started to dance around the room pretending she was dancing with Guy once again as she had at the last two balls. She knew the summer ball would be coming soon so she started to debate whether or not to come in uniform like Olivier suggested or just to wear a nice ball gown like the other women would be wearing, she quickly shook her head and decided to stick with the uniform since it would be unfair to Alicia.
From behind her, she heard, "It's true what they say, a woman in love is more beautiful."
Madeline slowly turned around and stared at First Mage Diggory. She icily asked, "Why are you here, in my bedroom?"
"Research." He replied offhandedly.
Madeline searched for her sword.