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Granger looked at himself in the mirror with an emotionless gaze. He would never look at his reflection for more than a second but because Guinevere was undressing behind him he couldn't resist.
"Are you still turning away?" Guinevere asked. She was struggling to clip her corset on that Granger forced himself to help her.
"Oh!" She gasped and instantly pressed the corsete against her chest as he clips it on.
"Have you gained weight?" He asked.
Guinevere tensed and nervously chuckled. "I guess?" He absent-mindedly pressed his hands on her waist. Never before have they felt so ice cold until now.
"Where's your bow?"
"I lost it back at the Celestial Palace, sadly." She replied. "No worries. I have this."
Guinevere walked towards the dresser, hoisting her hair into a ponytail as she ties it with a red ribbon.
"It doesn't suit you."
She sent a glare at him on the mirror. "How dare you."
"How about this?" He said, revealing a purple bow.
"You found it? Why didn't you return it to me earlier?"
"It's kind of like another part of you. It's been with me for years so it's as special as you are to me that I'm unable to surrender it so easily."
Guinevere felt warmth filled her heart. She pulled his body closer and moaned when he kissed her forehead. "I'm here now, so give it back to me."
"Fine." Granger sighed in defeat. "But I need something in exchange. I love this ribbon more than my entire life, you know. It's the reason I've made it this far."
"Alright, fine. Don't be so attached to an object." She huffed. After taking off the red ribbon, she ties it around his collar. "Surprisingly, it suits you." She giggled.
He spun her around, placing the purple ribbon on her hair. She could feel herself falling in love with him all over again as she stared at their reflection.
"I don't know what my parents are going to say of you," Guinevere said. "But if you find them upsetting, tell me at once and I'll make their deaths quick."
"I see I'm becoming a bad influence on you, love." He whispered in her ear.
Her body was fuming of lust. "Love. That's the first time you ever called me something else other than Gwen."
"I called you princess, but don't expect me to call you anything else again other than Gwen."
"Why so?"
"It makes me feel like a different person."
"You can be the same person and still call me princess, love."
He rolled his eyes, getting annoyed. "Enough with the small talk. Come here."
Granger hauled her up on top of the dresser. In no less than a second he was diving deep into her mouth. "Why is it that I'm not myself whenever we're alone?" He growled heavily as he plucked out of the kiss to breath.
"Shouldn't we hasten on packing? Lance and Oddette should be waiting for us downstairs already." Guinevere slowly said as she pushed him off.
"They can wait. I need a taste of you... real quick." He purred as he began unzipping his jacket.
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Jane Baroque looked upon her Palace gardens, appreciating the view with the sun setting on the horizon. The sky was in a rosy shade of color. Dusk was her favorite hour of the day and she would never missed one without seeing a sunset.
It has been perhaps the one-hundredth day after her daughter ran away. She had no child to take care of anymore. She understood why Guinevere would let her family's reputation be torn apart in exchange for the freedom she's always yearned for.
But what she never understood was how Guinevere would fall for someone such as Granger. It had not to be Gusion but him instead to capture her heart. How? What was so interesting in the orphaned Hunter?
Jane had always suspected the endgame would rather be Gusion and Guinevere. Her faith was so much as that she thought they would not only fall in love but also unite the two families into one, making them even stronger among the Land.
But Guinevere had to be such an unpredictable girl. Though Jane isn't mad about her daughter, she's grown tired of that. In fact, she's mad about herself for not knowing her true colors.
How she was not only a lady after all this time but also a fighter and how she favored freedom than order. It was as though Guinevere wasn't the same babe she always rocked and sang a lullaby to every night.
It was sad enough she had to think twice whether she really was her mother or not.
Both of her only children were now gone. The castle seemed empty and every meal the married couple would have had become stale. Life wasn't the same as it was before when Guinevere and Lancelot were still little. If only Jane could turn back time, to when she made the biggest mistake of her life, she would without hesitating so.
Sensing her husband had entered the balcony quietly, she spoke without turning around, "do you ever feel so lonely now that they're all gone? Because I do."
She had become so miserable that she was getting senile. There were baggages on her emerald green eyes that were not there before. It was the result of overthinking and lack of sleep. Her voice had gotten deeper and wavering as well.
Jane would become mistook by others as Guinevere's older sister. Now she expects no similar compliments would come in her way anymore.
"You are only feeling what is called melancholy. Tell me what you want and perhaps we can rid it in no time." Her husband responded.
She swallowed the lump in her throat before answering. "I want my children back." She said in shockingly only a whisper. Then after a second, she crashed her face in her palms and bursted into tears.
"We have no children anymore, Jane. They have left at their own will, taking our sacrifices for granted! We took care of them and expected none in return but the survival of our lineage. Lancelot was one idiotic son for disappearing without no say but Guinevere? She has to be the most ruthless child I've had yet."
Jane acknowledged the fact that they were not only her husband's first family. Factly, they were his second for his first all died in an ambush by demons when they were still living at Eruditio.
"No matter what you say, dear, they are still our offsprings. They are what they are now for we are to blame, can't you see?"
"Don't you dare involve me. You have only yourself to blame for producing such rebellious minds! I always knew your blood is bad."
"If you knew I carry toxic genes then why did you marry me off in the first place?"
Silence filled between the couple as though there was a massive jar between them.
Jane watched her enraged husband as he tramped off, dismissing himself.
She knew being married to a man a decade her senior wasn't going to be easy. But his money and title weren't the only reasons she married him. It might seem like it is now, but back then all Jane cares about her husband was his indomitable love for her.
Not power. Not climbing the social ladder. Only his love despite she was only his late wife's handmaiden back then. It had seemed Jane has forgotten who she really is throughout her years.
She wasn't born of old money and with royal magic blood. She was simply a mere mortal who was born into a peaceful village only dwelled of humans outside the Enchanted Forest. There was no magic she could wield but she had an enchanting beauty
She was more beautiful among any Elf maiden and men would surrender their power for her hand in marriage. She was rumored to be a human incarnate of the love goddess, and as an result, the love goddess blessed her a bright future ahead of her.
She went on to marry into one of the most entitled families of magic in the Land and bore beautiful and gifted children.
Criticisms about her past had become common after their marriage. She would often be scornfully mocked about being a gold-digger and a power-hungry trophy wife. Albeit both she was not even in her own husband's eyes.
Optimism was the only thing that prospered in the Baroque family. That is until Guinevere had seemed to have enough of being prepared for a successful morrow. Though Jane would take all the blame for it was her own mistake. She raised her daughter right. Only she didn't know her daughter all too well like a mother should.
Guinevere's birthday was nearing and Jane wanted nothing more than their family to be reunited again, even for a day.