"Aurelius died," she wipes her eyes, turning to Laura, "thank you for the handkerchief." She turns back to Amistad, "I had to sell the house to pay his debt. I just need a live-in position, until I save enough money to get a place."
Amistad turns to his wife, "Wife, what do you think? Can we use her as a maid? I think we have an open room?"
She raised an eyebrow at Amistad. "You still haven't told me who she is…."
"Ah," He nodded understandingly, his wife was a jealous woman. She was even jealous of the people who made deliveries, so normally he treated everyone like air, so his wife would be secure that his affections were only for her. "This is my childhood friend, we grew up together. She is my little sister. And she's married.." He smiled at his wife and said he would gladly clean up all misunderstandings. He knew his wife was a generous soul. She would definitely let his sister stay. Then he turned "-Wait dead? Aurelius died?"
Meiri smiled through her tears, "Yeah... he overdosed,"she sobbed again. Laura frowned. Overdose again. This was happening more often. This issue with drugs in the city was becoming a problem, even in the northern part of the city where the nobles lived. She wrapped her arm around Meiri to comfort her momentarily out of pity, and Meiri broke in Laura's arms. Meiri stayed holding on to the hand of her son and cried deeply in Laura's arms. Laura looked wide eyed at her husband, who looked just as shocked, and he shrugged his shoulders. The boy saw Violetta looking at him from the doorway of the workshop. He stared back at her. He cried once for his father, he didn't feel the need to cry again yet, even though his mother sobbed in the arms of some strange noble lady.
"Why don't you come with me and tell me what happened," Laura hushed Meiri, leading her down the hall toward the kitchen. Amistad followed.
Seeing they were disappearing down the hall, Violetta frowned. She wanted to know what was going on, but she didn't want to come out of the workshop. She knew once she came out, her mother would make her bathe, put on a nice dress and meet their guests. She wasn't nearly at a stopping point yet. In spite of wanting to know more, she could not follow them. She sighed and went back to her circuit board.
By the time she finished welding the tiny pieces on, it was dinner time. She had skipped out on lunch because she had been hyperfocused on finishing her "little" project. She hadn't even noticed that she had not been bothered until now. Normally someone comes in and interrupts her, and makes her wash and eat and then she has to learn her nobility classes with her mother, then after dinner she is able to return to the workshop. She walked out of the workshop wondering what was going on that no one had made her eat.
"Violetta," her mother said, surprised, running into her daughter in the hall. "Where have you been? You're a mess! Go wash quickly and get changed. It's time for dinner." Her mother quickly walked away leaving Violetta a little frustrated. As much as she hates being interrupted in the workshop, normally her mother makes sure she eats.She frowned a bit and stomped upstairs not realizing why she was suddenly upset. 'Where was I?' She angrily exclaimed in her mind, 'Where was I!? Where do you think I was? Did you eat lunch without me and not even realize I wasn't there!?'
She fumed as she washed and changed as quickly as possible. She was still angry when she came down to dinner. She decided she wouldn't say anything to anyone for as long as it took them to realize their mistake. She was a little spoiled princess. This was the very first time in her little life that she had been left to her own devices, and was ignored. As much as she appreciated that she was able to finish her motherboard circuit, she did not appreciate being ignored. She saw a new maid bringing out their diner. It was the woman from before. Meiri. 'This was her fault. They went off with that Meiri lady and forgot all about me!'
She did not like the new maid. She had an evil thought come in that as soon as the maid put her meal down, she would throw it in such a way that the maid would be blamed for it. But the food came closer, and she remembered her hunger. She deliberated whether it would be worth destroying the delicious smelling food. As she deliberated, the food was set before her. It was put down so quickly and skillfully that she didn't have enough time to react. She side eyed the new maid as she started to walk away. Violetta started to eat. She had forgotten to eat lunch, so now she was really hungry. She decided punishing the new maid was not worth going hungry after all as she ate quietly. Once again reinforcing the fact that she would not speak until she was apologized to.
Violetta ate in silence, not noticing the atmosphere between her parents had gotten strange. The entire dinner was silent. The boy sat in the kitchen, peeking in on the family. He saw the constrained atmosphere, and felt a little bad for the girl as she ate being ignored by her parents.
…
…
Side story 1 - The False King
Once upon a time there was a kingdom that lived in peace both within its borders, and with its neighbors. The Queen and her husband had a son. The young prince would one day be the king. He had everything he could ever want and more. And he would one day rule the kingdom and make sure his people lived in plenty.
But one day before the young prince could grow to an adult and claim his throne, an evil man came from beneath the feet of the Prince. The evil man did not like that the Prince would soon have everything, while he was left with the young prince's scraps. The evil man gained power in secret. And before the Prince could grow to be a king, he killed the Queen and her husband. He tried to kill the Prince, but the Prince escaped with his life.
The evil man put on the Crown, and declared himself to be king. But many of the people knew he was a false king. He placed rules on the people, and let a sickness spread through the land. The people thought the prince had died. And they mourned in secret. Because of the new rules, they could not mourn in the open. The False king was a bad man.
The Prince had escaped, and grew to an adult, but no one would believe that he was the prince, because the prince was said to have died. The Prince married a beautiful woman, and they had a child The child grew up, and learned the way royalty should.
The child grew up, and realized the sickness in the land had come from the false king sitting on the throne. Thus the child decided to end the sickness the only way they could. They would take back her throne. So the Child set out, and gathered power in other places. He got strong warriors from other kingdoms. The child came back, and destroyed the crown of the False king. Under the new rule of the young king, the peoples lives returned to normal, and the sickness plaguing the land disappeared.
The people cheered, and joy returned to the land once again.