♚♚♚
“…DO you believe him?” Phoebe asked Ebel in a hushed voice when they stepped into the hallway.
Ebel looked thoughtful as he answered, “I don’t think there’s any room for doubt right now.”
“It could all be an act. There’s a chance he’s a quick thinker.”
“Of course, I plan to keep an eye on him for a while.” Ebel met Phoebe’s counsel with a small smile. “But I’ve a greater hope that he will become a valuable source of information.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.”
Rock watched Phoebe flash a similar cunning smile with an odd sense that things had changed between them. Her father seemed more relaxed around Ebel, and Ebel also seemed to respect his opinion.
Looking at them interact like this reminded her that Phoebe had stayed at Mateus Manor the entire time she was gone. As imprudent as it was, she was mighty curious to know how things had gone with them living together.
Shortly after sunset, they insisted Lord and Lady Alexis return to their own home. Part of that decision came from Ebel’s determination that they were unlikely to obtain any more useful information from them.
However, the Alexises seemed like they still weren’t done apologizing for everything. Placido, who looked particularly worn down, kneeled at Phoebe’s feet and bowed his head.
“I know I’ve committed an unpardonable crime by snatching away your precious daughter…!”
“Yeah, you definitely did.”
Phoebe seemed to struggle with how to react. Placido had taken his hand and held onto it with an iron grip, so Phoebe couldn’t shake him off even if he wanted to.
At his wits’ end, he looked to Rock for help.
“Uncle, please hear me out.” Rock stepped between them. “I believe it was due to the werewolf curse that you kidnapped me. We understand you weren’t fully in control when it happened.”
Rock would also struggle to answer if she was asked whether she could forgive them or not.
She was scared to death when they kidnapped her. Her father and Iniel were both involved in a horrible accident because of it. Every day wore away at her psyche as she longed to go home but couldn’t until it nearly pushed her to the brink of stupidly accepting the werewolf curse.
But she also understood that the kidnapping wasn’t entirely Placido and Lauretta’s fault.
It was a hard line to draw. Human desires are bottomless, and the werewolf curse amplifies them tenfold with reckless abandon. While their crimes could never be erased, both what drove them to it and their memories of it had vanished.
How should they condemn them for something so complicated and supernatural?
Rock didn’t know the answer to that, so she made what she did know clear.
“I will never become your child. I have a father.”
Phoebe quietly nodded along, and Placido and Lauretta stared at Rock in silence.
“But it is the undeniable truth that I am your niece,” she stated, then continued with reservation, “So, if you ever need me to—if my presence will make you just a little happier—then I will be happy to visit as your niece next time.”
After making that declaration and finally smiling ever so slightly, Rock turned toward Phoebe.
“I hope you’ll allow my father to accompany me then.”
“I have to go too?!” Phoebe cried out hysterically mid-nod. He probably didn’t expect to get dragged into the conversation like that.
Catching Ebel cracking up out of the corner of her eye, Rock also placated her father with a laugh.
“You’ve got more recent stories about Mother, Father. I’m sure Auntie would love to hear about the good times.”
“I mean…yeah, I guess…” Phoebe mumbled, sounding unusually unconfident. His blue eyes darted away from his daughter and in-laws.
Lauretta, her cheeks stained with dried tears, quietly walked up to him.
“Fredericks Berwick.”
Phoebe jumped when he was called by his full name. He wasn’t so rude as to keep his eyes averted, but his whole face tensed.
Lauretta continued to address him regardless of the uncomfortable look he gave her.
“I’d always believed that you stole my sister from me. That my foolish sister betrayed me and my family because of your wicked seduction… I even convinced myself that you were at fault for her early death. I thought myself in the right for taking my niece—for taking Roxy back, by justifying everything that way.
“But Valencia…she left because she wanted to… Not because you seduced or tricked her. She left home and chose you because that’s what she truly wanted. I knew that…and yet, I was the true fool for seeing things through clouded eyes…!”
She stopped there and buried her face in her hands. Placido wordlessly rubbed her back.
Phoebe seemed even more lost for words, but after giving Rock another look, he settled with: “I’ve got plenty of stories about her.”
And then he offered her an awkward yet true smile.
“I hope you will let me visit with my daughter to talk about it someday.”
“…Please do. I would be honored if you would tell me about my little sister.”
Lauretta nodded, her face wet with tears.
She really does look like Mother, Rock thought, her heart aching as she watched her aunt and father interact.
✦ ✦ ✦
♚♚♚
AS the sun went down, everyone gradually left Mateus Manor.
Guido and Michaela left for home shortly after the Alexises and Danilo. There was nothing gloomy about their departure as the siblings boarded their carriage with a smile.
“Let me know if you find anything else out.”
“I’ll come right over with my brother when you send the word,” Michaela said after Guido, then followed up her comment with a devilish grin. “Of course, we would be happy if you send word of good tidings as well—such as your engagement announcement.”
“PARDON?!” Rock squeaked.
“You will be the first to know.”
Ebel’s response was the definition of calm, directly contrasting Rock’s panic. A smile blossomed on Michaela’s lips when she heard, and Guido warmly took in his sister’s joy.
Around nightfall, the last visitor of the day appeared at Mateus Manor.
The doctor, a man held in high esteem for his skills within the imperial capital, grimaced after examining Krister and his busted leg.
“It looks like the leg was left unattended for quite a long time after the injury occurred. He’ll need to use a cane for the rest of his life.”
Rock was shocked by the news, but Krister looked like he’d already accepted that fact before being examined.
“I struck gold just by surviving my ordeal,” he said frankly with a wry grin.
It was such an oddly admirable thing to hear from the greedy man who used to put profit above all else.
“Did you ever think we would hear such a philosophical line from Krister, Roxy?” Phoebe remarked, shrugging with exasperation.
At any rate, it was also a fact that they’d safely rescued him. And since they had, there was one person Rock wanted to let know right away.
“I want to tell Nisha as soon as possible.”
Nisha was likely still waiting to this day for Krister to return to her in the slums. There was no way she’d give up after continually investing so much time and money in finding him. Rock was positive it’d make her day and year if she heard the good news.
“That’s a brilliant idea, Roxy.” Ebel clapped his hands together and happily suggested, “I’ll send a messenger out to invite her here first thing tomorrow morning. Krister still needs more medical treatment, so it’s best if she comes to him.”
“You want to bring her here?” Phoebe looked around the fancy guest room Ebel was letting Krister rest in, worry edging into his features. “I sure hope she doesn’t lose interest in you after getting invited to a nob’s house.”
“Nisha ain’t that kinda girl. She’s a much better human than me,” Krister argued, taking Phoebe’s joke seriously.
Rock found his reaction funny, so she decided to tease him a little more.
“You’ve gotta wonder why such a fine lady fell for somebody like you.”
“Hey, you’re one to talk, Rock, you’re—” Krister stopped mid-argument as he realized an important fact. His eyes cruised Rock’s figure. “Hold on, why’re ya still wearing that?” he asked, confused.
Rock was still wearing the blue and gold embroidered dress Lady Alexis had prepared for her. Although she was covered in dust from everything that had happened at the ruins, no one would mistake Rock for a man right now.
“That’s not all either…” Krister’s gaze drifted to Ebel and Phoebe, who were standing on both sides of her. “Why are His Excellency, Phoebe, and even Lord and Lady Alexis calling you Roxy?”
Anyone who heard that name would think it belonged to a woman. Even if it sounded a little similar to the tailor living in the slums called Rock, no one would ever connect the two.
“Maybe Father rubbed off on me,” Rock said with a laugh, deliberately not telling him the truth.
“My kid took after me in the weirdest ways,” Phoebe added with a chuckle, which seemed to make Krister even less convinced.
“That part of you is definitely similar, but… Whatever. You’re a weird family.”
“But you won’t find a closer family anywhere in the capital,” Ebel added, sounding a little envious.