Elsie hung her head beyond the backrest of the sofa, an ice pack pressed to her mouth. Beside her, Miklaus sat with an ice pack pressed to his eyes. His chest heaved and fell with patient breath intakes as Elsie gulped to swallow Mr. Polin's verbal disappointment.
"The kitchen never dispensed a maid to serve tea," the butler clarified after ranting his woes about 'Poor Young Miss' and 'Tragic Young Master' being so coordinated together, even in distress.
"It must be one of the kids," Miklaus exhaled, much to Elsie's surprise.
"Ah-ha! Why did I not think of this before?" Mr. Polin questioned in rhetoric, his hazel eyes brightened with the prospect of a culprit in mind.
"Do they not like me? Is this a form of familial hazing?" Elsie snorted as she spoke with her mouth half open and lips parted, avoiding stinging contact.
"Oh, Young Miss, the kids are a little hard on strangers but they're absolute sunshines. You will love them once you meet them!" Mr. Polin chirped and clapped the tips of his white glove covered fingers.
The silence in the living room was deafening. The imperial windows on her left caught the setting sun in a hue of pinks bleeding into the orange sky. The flowers in the garden swayed left and right, as if disagreeing with Mr. Polin's comment.
There was something surreal in the feeling of her burning mouth, as if it were a tangible confirmation of all the news she soaked up in the past six hours. Being seated in the Aureiless drawing room with a fiancé sprawled beside her and some cunning kids plotting retribution within the walls — Elsie ginger was not built for such main plot stuff. Maybe if it were Elsie Richardson, the kids would have never pranked her and she wouldn't be inconveniencing Miklaus at such an hour.
"I don't think she can do it, Mr. Polin," Miklaus tsked, breaking the silence with his drawl.
"Now, Young Master, have some faith in our Lady's choice; she's yet to make a wrong decision in her life," Mr. Polin retorted proudly, addressing the deceased Lady Aureiless, "May she rest in peace," he whispered under his breath.
"Then why did she abandon me for so long...?" Elsie spoke up, catching the other two off guard with the hollowness of her tone.
"Trust me," Miklaus said as he stood up and swung the ice packet in Mr. Polin's direction, "It was better that way." His words held a seriousness that betrayed his nonchalant persona.
Mr. Polin caught the packet against his chest and audibly agreed.
It was easy for people around Elsie to say that life was better at Lily Orphanage because they did not know what she had to overcome each day. It was easy for Mr. Polin to say a few words and pretend that the last twenty-three years did not happen. It was easy for Miklaus to sweep into her life and shake its mainframe just enough to suit his needs before he dilly-dallied away. It was always easy for the onlookers to pat her on the back and say—
A finger crooked under her chin and raised it to meet a frosty gaze within bloodshot eyes. Elsie's eyes widened at the sudden proximity of Miklaus' face scrutinizing her with the mere icepack serving as containment over her lips from splurting something offensive.
"What's a good day to be a bride?" He asked, holding her gaze.
Her breath hitched, nonetheless, "Thursday?" She blurted without a thought behind her eyes.
"Tomorrow, how clever," Miklaus scoffed slightly and stood up straight. He pulled his hand from under her chin and folded it behind his back but her face did not move an inch, continuing the burning contact. "Meet you at the altar then," he stated through the minutest semblance of a smile escaping the side of his lips.
"Wherever that is," Elsie whispered hoarsely as Miklaus walked out, waving a hand.
"Congratulations Young Miss! I cannot believe that I have lived to see this day!" Mr. Polin sniffled as tears brimmed in his eyes, "You will be a bride tomorrow! There is much to do! You could have been a little kinder on me and chose another day, you know. All of your family is supposed to greet you tomorrow, but of course you must marry before that! I shall see to the preparations as soon as possible!"
The word, 'meet your family,' snapped Elsie out of her hypnotic state. She shot up, exasperated and asked, "Wait, hold up, meeting the family? There's more than the kids?!"
"Why of course! Your grandmother married into the Aureiless family but the business is a Aureiless—Bellator conjoined effort, of course," Mr. Polin explained briskly, "I'll send in a maid with a few books I had assorted for you. Until then," he curtsied and took his leave.
Elsie's lips were numbed by ice so she stranded the packet on the sofa and walked up to the imperial windows. She did not even know if she was related to the Aureiless household from her father's side or her mother's. It felt so odd, associating the concept of 'father' and 'mother' to someone like her. She stared at her reflection through the window, her gaze locked on her left foot.
"It is a genetic disease, I believe. Have you always had your left as a weaker leg? Well, it cannot be helped much without the parents' medical records," the doctor tsked, shaking his head.
Elsie jerked her left foot and nodded in self satisfaction as it moved to her will. A smile graced her face, "Of course, I didn't need my parents to survive that. I can do better now, who cares as long as I have the money for my experiments," she nodded to herself.
A part of her mind irked her to explore the mansion and find the kids, soothe her curiosity and bond with them; but Elsie subdued that part as she walked out of the lavish rosy living room and into the foyer wherein she spotted a maid carrying her luggage upstairs.
"Excuse me, is my room up there?" Elsie asked as she followed the slender girl up the mauve spiral staircase.
"Young Miss!" The maid bent half for a curtsey, "Yes please, your room is upstairs. The Lady had been furnishing it for a while," the maid explained as she struggled to carry the bag up the stairs.
"A while...? This isn't a sudden thing?" Elsie frowned as she wrestled the carrier bag out of the maid's grasp, "Please, I can do it myself," she pushed her lips up in a practiced smile.
"Ah, no-no, please, let me help you! Please, I beg you!" The maid cried as Elsie ran up the stairs, skipping two at a time, with an exasperated maid in tow.
"Yes yes, you can help— me, uh, yes, now," Elsie exhaled as she placed the carrier bag on the landing and leaned against the banister, gasping for breaths. "Ugh, I should have exercised when Principal Jonah asked me to," she cursed herself.
"Please, Young Miss, let us always help you," the maid snapped the carrier's grip back in her hands and sighed a breath of relief. "Now," she tucked in her stomach and squared her shoulders, "Our Lady had been personally decorating your room for a while now. No one was supposed to enter so only the servants working on the fourth floor know about this. But it is common knowledge that our Lady held great affection for you."
Elsie frowned. It was strange learning that an absolute stranger had been 'decorating a room' for her with 'great affection.'
"That sounds unsettling," Elsie scoffed; the maid gestured Elsie to follow her and the ginger-head readily obliged.
"I would call it kindness," the maid shrugged and led them into a narrow hallway lined with pink, maroon and black floral wallpaper.
"Say..." Elsie started, fidgeting with her fingers, "I haven't had the chance to ask yet...but, you know, what sort of a person was gr—I mean, Lady Aureiless?"
The maid turned to pass a smile as she replied, "Extraordinary."
Elsie nodded, eyes wide, urging the maid to elaborate but when the woman turned and continued walking Elsie realised that she wouldn't be getting anymore answers.
"How did an extraordinary person chance upon a ginger rat like me," she scoffed under her breath as the maid stood at the end of the hallway. In front of them were two elevators, one a glistening gold and the other a deep mauve.
"That elevator is only used by family. Only the kids and our Lady used it, now, you should too," the maid pointed at the mauve elevator after pressing the opening button. The mauve doors parted open to reveal a glistening black interior. "Please head inside, I shall meet you on the fourth floor. I will be using the staff elevator, of course."
Elsie nodded and stepped inside. The doors closed upon her entry and the black interior turned translucent. Elsie's eyes widened as she could see the maid entering the elevator beside her. She flung a hand in the maid's direction but her palm merely met an invisible solid surface in between them.
'Initializing, user recognized, welcome Miss Elisabeth Aureiless.'
A robotic voice resounded within the four confines of the closed elevator and a digital numberpad popped beside her hand. Elsie gasped in awe as she backed away from the panel, mumbling, "What the fuck, even I did not know my full name and I have lived for twenty three years."
The maid's elevator was gone and all Elsie could see through the invisible wall was the elevator's mainframe. In front of her was the floral hallway and behind her, Elsie screamed as she saw a man pressed against the invisible wall with bright red eyes narrowed at her and an ominous grin enveloping his face.