While we were quietly sipping tea, a strong stench of blood assaulted our nose for a second and disappeared. Sebastiene came back a little while later with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Done?" I asked casually.
"Without a sound, my lady." His eyes glint with joy.
"Eldest sister, please tell your not to ruin my rest." Athy frowned.
I ignored my sister.
"Seb, when are mother and the others be done with their shopping?" I asked instead.
"Replying to the lady, they are on still in a shoe shop ordering stockings. They plan to go to another dress shop to order the servant's uniforms." Sebastiene informed.
Athy let out an annoyed sigh.
"I'm glad I stayed behind here." She stated. "My feet would have been swollen by now."
I chuckled. She was right though.
"You should have brought Anderson with you." I referred to her personal knight.
"He's on day off." She closed her eyes, clearly annoyed. "I don't want to ruin his plans of going home to his family."
I almost forgot that Anderson was married. We have never met his wife and he was always carrying Athy that I got so used to seeing him around her.
"Had he ever spoke about his family to you?" I asked.
"Yes. I would ask him about his family when I'm bored. He would also refer to them when we talk." She answered.
"How many kids does he have?" I asked taking a bite of the strawberry tart in front of me.
"Wow, this is good!" I exclaimed.
"It is." Athy nodded. "You should try their chocolate chip brownies. I know you'll like it."
We continued to praise the snacks when Madam Cheska came up.
"Lady Castellan, she is done." She bowed.
"You do realize that there are two Castellans here, right?" Athy glanced at her, expressionless.
"Uhh.." Madam Cheska was slightly baffled by her words. "I apologize to the youngest lady, I was ordered by the eldest-"
"No need to apologize." Athy cut her off. "Next time you can just refer to us by our names."
What Athy said made everybody there dumbfounded, especially the knights. They were not even given permission to call the ladies they swore loyalty to by their names yet the owner of this small tea house was allowed to. They thought it was unfair!
Madam Cheska remained silent for a moment before she nodded.
"Does the madam know our names?" Athy asked.
"The eldest lady is lady Melody and the youngest is lady Athanasia." She replied.
"You can refer to me as Athy, Athanasia is too long." Athy told her, dumbfounding the others even more.
"T-thank you, lady Athy." She bowed.
"So, who's done?" Athy asked.
"Bring her here." I told the madam who in turn nodded and went to the stairs to call someone up
A lady with short red hair and straight bangs came up the stairs. She was wearing a brown dress looking like a sweet young lady with commoner background. Her catlike eyes looking more docile than before.Her bare face was pretty and younger looking.
The lady bowed down to us. She did not look anything like she did earlier. Miss Bloom looked like any normal girl without her overdone make up.
"You look good miss Bloom." I commented.
"Thank you, my lady." She blushed.
"Aspez, Elaheh, come here." I called on the siblings who hesitantly walked towards me. "Is she still recognizable?
The siblings looked at miss bloom with fear and miss Bloom looked at them surprised.
"Poison Ivy?" Miss Bloom stared at Elaheh.
"You are looking at my personal maid, Elaheh. I you dared to call her any derogatory names, be prepared to lose your tongue." Athy warned coldly.
"She is calling me with my code name, my lady." Elaheh explained. "I was called Poison Ivy among the Black circle."
"Black circle?" I frowned.
"The Black circle is what Farciel calls his group of assassins." Miss Bloom explained.
"Elaheh was a part of that group as the poison creator, but she quit making Farciel go batshit crazy and ordered for her to be thrown to the whorehouse." Aspez explained. "We ran away after that and you picked
"Black circle huh.." I smirked. "Seb, how long until the others finish shopping?"
"With their pace, about three more hours, my lady." Sebastiene answered.
"Good, the three of you, sit down and tell me everything you know." I motioned for the three.
"Then I shall prepare more tea." Madam Shalit excused herself.
"Knights, go and sit on the lower floor make sure no one comes up." I ordered the knights who went down without question.