"I really hate carriages," I muttered as I looked out the carriages window. They are just too uncomfortable and too bumpy.
I lifted the curtain to look outside. It was really bustling out here.
"I didn't know that," I heard Calix say. I let go of the curtain and turned to him.
There is alot that you don't know my guy.
"My insides might mix because of this," I said casually. I am used to cars, of course carriages were not anything near comfortable. Plus, Astoria also hated them because she would get sick. How would he not know that when he is 'in love' with her? Anyways.
"Why?" he asks.
"I get road sick," I state simply, looking away.
"It's okay," he says, patting my thigh. I can't count how much this dude had been touching me since I met him. Was he this generous with skinships? I could not see them kissing in these memories, they just hug. Maybe it's because she never removes her veil? But all in all, I took his hand off my thigh.
"But am happy you took the initiative to go out with me," he added, putting his hand on mine.
"I was starving," I say, letting his hand stay on mine. I somehow feel bad for him. The woman he loves actually died before he could save her. The one he is holding hands with right now is just another soul in that body of his loved one. "My family is punishing me for surviving."
"You should let me get you out of that house, agree to marry me," he suggested and at that point, his eyes glimmered with excitement. I had no answer for him. I wanted to say yes for my self, but marriage? That's too much of a deal for me to just agree to just because I wanted to leave my beloved family.
"We are here, Sir Calix."
Is this the traditional way of saying saved by the bell? "I'll give you an answer tomorrow," I tell him, and I was planning to.
I just to weigh everything before agreeing. I have no interests in living with those people that Astoria call a family, and I had no interest in avenging her. I have no interest in making any of them pay. If I have to live again, I'll have to live for myself. It's that or nothing.
"Good enough for me," he smiles at me.
He is the only person I saw smiling at me when I came to this era. Besides, he is handsome. And I might be a sucker for good looks. Too bad I never noticed any cutie to stir up my heart.
"Will you come to my ball tomorrow? You can give me the answer then," he asks. I wanted to laugh, how will I even make it? Sure of course I would love to see the ball parties but who was I? The locked up ugly thing in Count Edgar's estate.
"I wouldn't be sure to make it, so I won't make any promises," I say with a shrug.
I had ate in the most funny way possible, below a veil! Leave alone Astoria, I was getting worked up with this feature!
"But am still happy you took the initiative though," he says after I had been done with my meal, his eyes smiling with him. I did not know how to react to that, I was using him to eat, not actually asking him out. Besides, are dates a thing here? I highly doubt, it's either marry or marry.
Walking back inside the mansion was like walking inside a lion's den, with everyone giving me the stinky eye.
"Stop where you are!" Father looked really mad, like raging mad that I could feel the Astoria in me fainting. I hesitate in my steps, Astoria's actual fear dominating my soul.
"How dare you?" Myrcella was more angry.
"I thought father wouldn't be around lunch hours," I say casually, burying the fear in my heart. Astoria, why are you so afraid of this baldy?
"Don't call me father! Such a shame you brought upon my name is something no one can do!"
"You won't worry about that soon," I state, just so I could mess with their minds. "I won't be here for long," I add with a shrug. Taking their silence as my chance, I walk past them to my room and closed myself in.
I was going to that ball, whether they like it or not. Maybe the best way to phrase it is, whether they find out she sneaked out or not.
I walked past the bed and saw a book that immediately made me emotional. I immediately guessed why.
'Art of seduction'
It was obviously not a book to be kept inside an unmarried girl's room, or even a lady's room at that, but Astoria kept it because it was the book mother, Shireen, read. Who did she read it for? Of course that undeserving bald bastard. I mean, I get who he doesn't want a prostitute in his house, but why would he even bring her here in the first place? Isn't that the highest level of being shady?
I found myself dancing to something I could see in Astoria's memory. Something she had always seen Shireen do. She would practice this certain dance especially, among the other. This was a dance she loved the most, because it was the only dance she didn't do for the baldy. As much as this may sound weird that Astoria knows, Count Edgar likes kinky things, like being danced for in a seductive manner.
It was a realisation when Shireen always practised in this room, in front of Astoria.
I found my self dancing to this with no worries, it was as if it was muscle memory. And while I was dancing, tears rolled down my cheeks.
She is gone forever, and so is part of her daughter.
The daughter she tried her best to protect and shield from the world actually died a year after she died. Her daughter was the only precious thing in her life, but now all her efforts were in vain. They are one unlucky pair of mother daughter.
Just like how my whole family had been.