He presses his thumb on the point between his eyes. His fingers ran through his blond hair rendering it disheveled. He leaned back and rested his head on the chair's backrest. No matter how many times he reads the reports and documents, he doesn't seem to be able to understand a word. His head is full of only one thing: Elise.
After sometime, he straightened his back and grabbed a file. It was the investigation report that Harold, Nickolas's butler, has given him about Princess Elisabeth. He reads it for the ninth time since the afternoon then tosses it down on the desk.
He heaves a long sigh then pulls down the rope hung on the wall near his chair. Some moments later, a knock was heard and in entered Charles.
"You asked for me, Milord?" asked the butler with a bow.
"I can't concentrate." replied David in a tired voice, leaning his back on the chair.
Charles, bewildered, curled up his thick reddish brown brows. It was the first time he saw such an expression on his master's indifferent face. "Yes?"
Truth be told, Charles, who is eighteen years old, wasn't a tactful person. He got the job just a couple of months ago as a butler to take care of the mansion. Since then, the duke visited just once and stayed for two nights only. And it was Jackson who served him mostly. So, Charles didn't get to know the duke's character that well, or how to interact with him without getting on his nerves.
Looking at the perplexed butler in front of him, David heaved a sigh. He was growing tired of this naive servant of his, but decided to tolerate him a little longer.
"W-Would you like some coffee, Milord?" asked Charles nervously when David glared at him. Unfortunately, the glare seemed to intensify, breaking the poor butler into cold sweat.
A knock saved Charles from the suffocating atmosphere.
"Come in." said David in a stoic cold voice. The door opened to show Jackson still in his outdoor clothes.
"Good evening, my lord." greeted Jackson with a bowed head, and the lord greeted him back. Lifting his head up, Jack noticed how Charles kept looking at him as if he was an angel sent from heavens to save him from the devil. Looking at David, he saw how annoyed he was and deduced that Charles must have done a mistake. Again.
So Jack asked: "Did you need something, my lord?"
"Well, I couldn't concentrate on my work, so our smart butler thought of preparing me some coffee. Brilliant isn't he?" said David sarcastically with narrowed eyes, making Charles gulp.
"I think he must have gotten confused and forgot that you don't enjoy coffee because of the accumulating work in the mansion, my lord." soothed jack, then glanced at the butler, gesturing for him to bend and apologize, and so did the young man.
"I think he must be a block-headed man. I told him how I don't like coffee just this morning's breakfast, and yesterday's, and the previous one. Yet he keeps on asking me the same question over, and over again. Maybe Mr.Thoren just doesn't want the job anymore." said David angrily.
The butler's face paled at the thought of losing his job. The work wasn't tiresome, and it pays generously. It's like a dream work for an orphan commoner young man.
"N-No your grace, of course I want the job. I was j-just c-careless. Please forgive me, milord." begged Charles.
Looking at the bowing young man, David heaved a long sigh then said: "Listen, boy. I am not a talkative man, nor am I lenient. So pay attention to every word I say. I'll forgive you this time but be sure that your mistake won't be tolerated next time." warned the lord
After thanking his master and taking instructions from Jackson on how to prepare the peppermint tea for the lord, the young butler left the study room leaving the two men alone.
"You must really like him, Jack." said David with a slight frown then waved for Jack to sit down on the chair in front of him. "I haven't seen you defending a servant that way before."
"Well, he somehow reminds me of my old self." replied Jackson in a low voice.
"I wouldn't dare say such a thing. You were such a capable person at his age. While him?" he shook his head with a click of tongue.
"He's still young. And it's not his actions what makes me feel attached to him. You know he's an orphan, right?" when David nodded, Jack continued "he is the son of a prostitute who worked at the crimson moon brothel. His father is a nobleman who had a liking to her and so took her in as a mistress. But lost interest in her not long after. She went back to the brothel but could not serve for long because of pregnancy. She tried to get rid of it with herbs but failed eventually. After she gave birth, she abandoned the baby and left him in front of an orphanage." he paused for a moment then said: "because of those herbs, the baby's growth stopped for sometime inside of her belly. And so, until now, Charles suffers a mental tardiness of three years."
David fell silent for some time. Only now did he understand why Jack so much sympathizes with the boy. It was because he had gone through the same as Charles. Jack also was born for a nobleman and a prostitute.
Prostitutes never like getting pregnant. It meant loosing time, unable to work and gain a living, plus, it takes a lot from them to reshape their bodies after giving birth. And even if one decided to keep the child, it was so hard to take care of and to provide him food and shelter.
So, like most of them, Jack's mother decided to give up on him and took a lot of medicines and herbs to kill the unborn baby. Unfortunately, the baby survived, but as an after-effect of the herbs, he was born with an undeveloped lower leg. Only when David got the title of duke did he get to walk without a cane thanks to his new prosthetic leg.
"I see. But why didn't you appoint him as a servant instead?" asked David, tilting his head. "Well originally, he was going to work as a servant in the kitchen. But seeing how good he is at dealing with the workers, I appointed him as the butler." replied Jack.
"Good at dealing with the workers? Him? With that trembling figure of his? I doubt it." David mocked, recalling how miserable Charles would be whenever he asked him for something.
"Well, even I would get chills with that scary aura of yours." retorted Jack.
"Nonsense. You wouldn't be this chatty if I were so scary as you say."
"You just happen to be in a good mood today. Did something good happen by the way?" at Jack's question, David's lips curled up into a boyish smile.
"You won't believe even if I tell you. You'll think I'm hallucinating again."
Jack frowned at the smile on his old friend's face. A long lost smile. His eyes fell on the files that David tossed towards him effortlessly, gesturing for him to read it. His frown deepened with every page he flipped.
"The hell is this? What does this mean?" he mumbled in a low voice, thunderstruck. "Is this for real? Really, how?!" he said in disbelief, his eyes wide open.
"She fell in the Dark Ocean. How in hell is she still alive?" Jack questioned, unable to digest the shocking news.
"She apparently survived that day. She was found in an inn working as a waitress by the grand chamberlain. He recognized her being of royal blood by the imperial family's unique light gray eyes, and so was presented to the blood test." said David.
"How can you be so sure that it's really her? I mean, that emperor has illegitimate children everywhere. What's the guarantee that she is our Ellie and not just a similar half-sister? You can't tell just from a report." probed Jack, and David replied: "I saw her myself. In the celebration party. You know I don't misrecognize people. I never mistake anyone for someone else. And I am saying she's Elise."
Jack exhaled a very long breath. He leaned back on the chair's backrest and squeezed his eyes shut. A couple of tears escaped his eyes. His lips trembled and more tears followed. For the whole six years after that cursed night, he blamed himself for the loss. Hasn't he been that useless and incompetent, he would have been able to save her instead of just standing up, doing nothing, while she sank down into the ocean.
Even without saying it out loud, David knew exactly what his old friend was thinking about. He thought about his past self. Oh, how naive he was. It was his choices and decisions that caused what happened. It was his stupidity what made him lose her. It was his fault. All of it.
A knock got those two out of their thoughts and in came Charles with a tray of tea.