"What's with your face? You look like you're the one who got hurt." The girl casually joked, but her affected tone collided with Leon's cold face.
***
Some time ago.
Sitting in his office, Leon nervously tapped his pen on the table while massaging his temple. He couldn't concentrate. His mind is still on that conversation with Veronica. Something was bothering him a lot, but he couldn't figure out what.
"There is no reason to worry." Those words sounded too fake.
The guy even imagined what kind of face she could say that with. Was there a smile on her red lips? Was there a cold gleam in her purple eyes?
Leaping from his seat, Leon grabbed his jacket and ran out of the office.
***
Bursting into Veronica's office, the guy could barely catch his breath. He caught a strange scene. A torn book on the floor, fragments of a glass vase with drops of blood. Veronica stared blankly out the window. She was staring at nothing and didn't react to anything at all. Deya was bandaging her arm. Seeing the newcomer, the maid jumped up, bowing her head.
"Welcome back, Lord. I'm sorry, but my lady isn't in a position to receive you right now."
But he completely ignored her, slowly approaching the girl.
"Veronica?" He called her carefully, without looking away.
"Welcome back, dear."
Veronica looked at him with a glassy stare. Leon's pale, worried face was reflected in her dilated pupils.
"What's with your face? You look like you're the one who got hurt." She grinned and straightened her hair behind her ear.
"You said there was no reason to worry. Then what is it?"
An empty laugh escaped her pale lips. She stood up and took the guy's face in her hands.
"How gentle you are, though. Worried about me? I'm pleased, but you shouldn't forget yourself."
"Do you take me for an idiot?" He was getting angry for no reason. Frowning, he took her by the wrists. "Do you think I should sit still when something like this happens to you? Do you take me for that kind of person?"
"Exactly." She snapped coldly, pulling her hands away. "You better stay cool, dear. Don't jump over your head and don't take on more than our agreement suggests. It's none of your business."
It sounded strange. The words she had heard so often about herself now came easily from her lips, but she didn't experience the supposed pleasure she was supposed to get from putting a man in his place. The father looked extremely smug when he poked Veronica. Or is she doing something wrong?
"Oh, so it's none of my business?" A nervous laugh escaped him. "Are you out of your mind?"
The guy involuntarily raised his voice, and the girl trembled.
"Lord..." Deya tried to defuse the tense situation somehow.
"Am I in my right mind!?" For no reason at all, she flared up, glaring at the guy.
"Everyone in that fucking family is out of their mind, so why the hell are you trying to get to me!?"
She swung her fist at his chest. There was absolutely no strength in her hands, and tears were gathering in her eyes.
"You're the same!! The same! You're mixing me up with the shit you look at with disgust that sticks to your shoe! I don't expect anything from you! Nothing, damn it! So why..." rising tears squeezed her throat, "why is the price of freedom so high?" She muttered, burying her face in the guy's chest.
Leon was afraid to move, much less say anything. He held his breath. The girl seemed so fragile and nervous that even a light breeze would irrevocably break her into small pieces. Leon didn't understand the reason for her pain, which made him blame himself even more.
He should have been the first to arrive.
If it wasn't for Deya, Veronica would have started grabbing everything and indiscriminately destroying the room. After apologizing to lord, the maid escorted her mistress to her chambers.
***
The head was spinning.
Veronica tried to focus her eyes on something. After talking to Eric, everything is in a daze. Her arm ached unpleasantly. Thrusting small feet into favorite slippers and tightening the robe around her waist, the girl left the room.
Running her hand along the rough, cool wall of the corridor, Veronica didn't know where she was going. Pausing at the window opening, she glanced at the moon. Bright stars decorated the night sky. Her pale face was reflected in the perfectly polished window. Cold purple pieces of glass. The slight hope she had gained after marriage was blown to the wind by Eric's visit. Was there any point in all this then? She couldn't answer that question right now. Doubts squeezed her chest.
Sighing, Veronica trudged on.
A dim light came from the slightly open door of Leon's office. Standing on tiptoe, she quietly crept up and looked in. Leaning on his fist, Leon nodded off, bent over the papers. He could barely hold the pen in his hand.
"You're the same!! The same! Mixing me with shit that you look at with disgust, sticking to your boot!" The echo of words in Veronica's head was her own voice.
The temple has been badly struck.
She must have done something again.
Her tongue is her enemy.
Veronica slowly opened the door. Taking off slippers, the girl on her toots sat down to the table. She wanted to look at these documents in one glance.
Receipts from tax collections, sales cheques, checks, checks and again. Huge number of reports. From annoyance she unwittingly pointed.
"Not what you expected to see?" Leon's voice sounded somber.
The boy straightened, his neck getting soft. The light of the lamp was streaming down his face, playing with shadows. He has lost weight and the bruises under his eyes have become darker.
"My work is quite boring. You shouldn't pay attention to it."
Just now the boy looked at Veronica. Still as pale. He frowned sharply, his eyes down. She was barefoot. Or is that not his business either? In the middle of the question, the guy stared at the girl, as if waiting for an answer. To ask or not? He was tormented by doubts.
Better not bring it up.
It's a little awkward. They look at each other in complete silence and as if through, each thinking of something.
Throwing his slippers on the floor. Veronica sat on the boy's thigh, putting her hand in his wavy hair.
"You look terrible, dear. When was the last time you looked in the mirror, m?"
Leon watched her with impenetrable expression.
"You work at home, you work at work. Do you have one job in mind? Do you ever get any rest? I told you to sleep well and eat well. "
"What did your brother want?" Ignored her bosom worry, the guy asked.
"What else could he want? Missed his sister? Because of the service, he couldn't even go out for my wedding."
It sounded like a pre-learned text. Leon quickly realized that asking about it was useless. He would never get an answer to that question.
"It's late. Go to bed." Suddenly he cast a fleeting glance at her cotton thin robe. "And you shouldn't walk around in such light clothes. In the evening it starts to get cold. Let's not be as cold here as in the north, but still not worth it. You will catch a cold."
That smile fell from her face in a moment. Veronica was irritated to the bitter itch.
"Are you serious?"
Leon was again startled. Did he say something wrong again? He couldn't understand the reason for such a sharp change. The cold hung from her. He was unwittingly tense.
"Ha?" - A laugh. She ran her hand over the hair with bandage. "In one evening your attitude towards me changed so dramatically. Did I become pathetic? In your eyes I'm also a defective, defective person? Hey!"
Veronica grabbed the man by the face, squeezing his jaw slightly. Steel shined in her eyes and a sneaky grin played on her chubby lips.
"How can a man below the status of a great family look at me like that? I gouge out your disgusting eyes that dared to insult me?"
The guy didn't react at all. There was a tense silence between them for a while and no one dared move. He didn't understand what was going on. How did they get to it? Yet he had to keep silent until the end. Whether she would catch a cold isn't his concern. Whether she will sleep badly isn't his concern either.
"«Everything in that fucking family is out of it.» Aren't you the words?" Leon knew he should have shut up, but his tongue was acting faster than his brain.
The girl's hand froze, and her eyebrow twitched slightly. She didn't understand what it was about. Leon took off her hand, which clenched his face with unexpected force.
"Heard about your fight with mother at breakfast and the incident at the tea party. Do you pretend to be crazy or are you? I'm talking about those rumors. There is no smoke without fire, Veronica."
Why does he say that? Why does he press? It's so unlike him. He doesn't usually care. His undisclosed desire to know this strange and unruly girl in front of him, completely shut off his head. Another person would have been nervous long ago and would have felt uncomfortable, but Leon was completely calm. At least on the outside.
Veronica burst into laughter. She stood up, having wiped away a tear that did not exist.
"You're funny. All these rumors are hard work of my dear father and beloved brother." She said calmly, putting on shoes. "Why?" She raised her eyebrow, glancing sideways at Leon.
Was Leon interested in the real reason? She didn't care. It was her monologue, in which she felt like the main character and could say anything and be believed. The most important thing - to mix truth and lie. People were not interested in the truth. It's not exciting.
"That no man would believe a single word of mine, which might come out of my mouth." She stood a pause, watching the reaction that did not follow. "Whoa... You didn't believe me, did you? Finish work and go to sleep. Spare me your mother's lecture that I can't take care of my husband."
Clap!
The boy, hard breathing, fell to the back of the chair. For a while he stared at the door through which Veronica had gone out. He was overcome by mixed emotions.
"You're saying don't mind your own business?" Leon said, puzzled. "Pushing me away?"
Leon caught himself thinking that he would have wanted her to tell him everything and share her experiences. The boy felt the intense movements of Veronica and the charged atmosphere around her with every cell of his body. Still, years on the battlefield have made their mark.
Interesting fact unrelated to story: Veronica gets used to the drugs quickly, so it change every year. Due to the huge amount of drugs she took, she developed a tolerance to poisons.