LTSV - Lost & Found 24 (Patreon)

A few seconds later, her younger sister flew down the stairs and Mira found herself in another hug, this time gardenia-scented.

“I’m sorry!” Cecily broke into a sob and it became clear that she’d been stewing in this feeling since they’d parted ways at the hospital and now it had exploded. Her blue-green eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks like crystals. At least she was a pretty crier. “It’s all my fault!”

“There, there. It’s no one’s fault.” Mira soothed her and stroked her back. “It just happened.”

Cecily shook her head. “No, Nanny told me to wear a veil in case his highness was around and I-I said n-no because I thought there was no way he would be hanging around the hospital, but then! Then!” Her lower lip started to wobble again. “If Mister Adelram wasn’t there, I don’t think I could have suppressed the seizure until the doctors came!”

“Why didn’t you want to wear a veil?” Mira asked. She didn’t care about whether Cecily wore one or not, but was curious.

“The n-netting scratches me,” was Cecily’s hitching response and she finally covered her eyes. “I-I should have p-put up with…”

That was the second time Cecily had mentioned having a problem with textures. Sensitive skin was a very common trait for heroines so Mira supposed this was in keeping with her character, but she was also a firm believer in not ‘putting up’ with anything ever.

“I would have done the same,” Mira chuckled and laughed outright when Cecily looked up at her in surprise. “See, I’m fine and even if I wasn’t it wouldn’t be because you didn’t want to wear a veil. Why don’t you show me the sitting room? We can talk more there.”

Cecily’s cheeks went pink. “I accosted you as soon as you got inside the door,” she whispered, covering her face again. “What’s wrong with me? Come look, Nanny made us a family room on the second floor away from Vesper’s office area.”

Mira let herself be led upstairs to a nice little sitting room with soft chairs, a salamander grate, and excellent light that was enhanced by several more wall mirrors. It was a nicely informal space with plenty of room for as many as six people to sit comfortably in the evening with their hobbies.

“This one is yours,” Cecily said as she showed Mira to the one nearest a low bookshelf. There was an electric reading lamp next to it and Mira discovered that the seat extended a bit to support her calves, a bit like a chaise with better lumbar support, although not quite a recliner.

“Very comfortable,” Mira agreed. “Now, tell me about what’s got you upset?”

Cecily brought over a floor cushion and sat on the floor next to Mira’s lap, much like she’d done with Vesper in the hospital. Nanny excused herself to fetch tea without being asked so something must have happened. Colvin didn’t even pretend to not ignore Nanny’s hint that he should leave too. Instead he went and stood by the wall just out of sight so they could pretend he wasn’t there.

“I met our father,” Cecily explained quietly. “He–he was very unhappy on your behalf; about the rumors, the Fenbys, and then Andrei seeing us in the street. He wasn’t unkind, but…” she trailed off and Mira could fill in the blanks. An older man was upset and Cecily was looking for reasons why it could be her fault. She looked up, startled, when Mira stroked her head.

“...but it wasn’t the reception you were hoping for?” Mira guessed.

Cecily dropped her gaze and shook her head. “No, I suppose it wasn’t,” she admitted and leaned into Mira’s touch just a little. “I don’t think I would have been any happier if it was, though, for a different reason. Are you really feeling better?”

“Much better,” Mira reassured her. “We can try another meeting with him when things are more settled. I’m sure it will go better when he has fewer fires to put out.” It sounded like things could hardly go worse.

Cecily nodded again. “I’m glad you’re back,” she said softly.

“Are you girls in here?” Vesper called from the stairwell. She let herself into the sitting room and Mira could actually read relief in the slight lift of her brow when she took stock of Mira’s good color and bright eyes. “Good. You’re looking much better. Do you see, Cecily? She’s recovering well.”

Mira smiled and felt something settle in her chest like a tumbler falling into place as Cecily nodded, but with her cheeks puffed again so Mira had clearly missed out on something and she was surprised to find she was actually a little disappointed about that. It always took a while for her new lives to feel like they belonged to her and sometimes her new family never did feel like they were actually her family, but this time… this time she’d gotten lucky, hadn’t she? 

000

Mira didn’t stay lucky, of course.

She got an entire day to tour the house, meet the new staff, and arrange her study before one of the love interests figured out where she lived. 

The study was actually divided into two sections so that Colvin was able to handle his personal matters while still attending to her and hers. They’d divided the room with standing screens so that Mira’s reading wasn’t disturbed when a Bowler Hat arrived to drop off papers or have a whispered conversation with their employer. 

It was a bit reassuring that she wasn’t Colvin’s sole concern, in some ways. Although, now she did wonder if the crown princess was using her home to shelter some kind of budding crime lord or, worse, her personal spymaster. Vesper certainly wasn’t paying him enough to keep that many people on a payroll and Mira had counted five Bowler Hats so far, all alike in stature with matching underbites. 

Either something was going on there or the Bowler Hat family women all threw remarkably similar children. 

So, Mira didn’t bother looking up when the study door opened. She’d learned her lesson about arranging herself so her bad side facing entrances and exits, but the Bowler Hats were busy that day.

This time, however, it was little Delia who let herself in and she looked nervous.

‘Oh no, what now?’ Mira wondered at the same time that Colvin shut his ledger with a snap.

“There’s a guest downstairs for Miss Cecily,” Delia explained. She was holding a little copper tray with a card on it. “I told him that she’s not at home, but he is insisting to wait for her.”

‘Please don’t be Andrei,’ Mira said a brief prayer to whichever gods occupied this reality. Vesper had put an end to Cecily’s house arrest that morning over breakfast, now that the article was out and her place in society was sorted. If Baron Rousseau approached her, Cecily could call for help and be believed so she was free to go out like a normal girl now and do normal girl things —so, of course, she immediately went out to the library. “Bring that here.”

Mercifully, it was not Andrei or Bryn. They likely already knew where Cecily was, but Vesper’s presence in the household would make it hard for them to just show up however they pleased. It wasn’t the other two more troublesome love interests either. The card read ‘Randall Zorander.’ Of all the options to show up uninvited at her house, he was the least awful.

Randall was Cecily’s best friend while growing up, until they got old enough that her stepfather decided she shouldn’t be spending so much time alone with an unrelated boy and put a stop to their relationship. They weren’t reunited until they landed at the same secondary school and it was hard for them to bridge the gap after so many years, especially when Randall no longer saw her as his cute little sister.

The Zorander family was a magical lineage and most of their children served in the military at one point or another. Sir Rousseau used Randall’s time at an army preparatory summer camp to break off his friendship with Cecily by stopping her mail and sending a letter to Randall’s father that implied Cecily didn’t want to talk to Randall anymore.

Because of that, Randall suffered a bit from Secondary Male Lead syndrome—in that he wouldn’t actively pursue Cecily and preferred to be a quiet, supportive presence in her life so she had no idea he had romantic feelings for her. That sounded nice, but in practice boys like that tended to be predatory ‘nice guys’, although Randall was willing to support Cecily in whatever route she chose without resentment.

Mira tapped the card to her lips as an idea started to form in the back of her head. 

The Rousseaus were going to be a problem eventually. The Baron had thrown Cecily out of his house in a fit of pique because of how the newspapers were talking about her and, by extension, him, but Mira knew that he was out looking for her within hours of calming down. Guardianship laws were especially strict for non-blood relatives. He’d be legally culpable if anything happened to her and it wouldn’t stop at just a fine. It was just Cecily’s own blessed luck that he didn’t find her before she went to the Temple district and that he never thought to look for her there. Like most abusers, Sir Rousseau needed Cecily, resented it, and took that resentment out on his stepdaughter.  

The Rousseaus and Zoranders were old allies, but that alliance had gotten shaky during the tenure of the current Sir Rousseau. The game didn’t say it outright, but Mira thought it was likely that Randall’s parents had been encouraging his relationship with the heroine in order to one day poach the good talent of the youngest generation of Rousseaus when their traditional friendship could no longer be repaired. 

Cecily’s magical talents outshone her stepbrothers even at a young age, before she learned to downplay her own accomplishments to avoid agitating her family, so there was no way that the Zoranders didn’t know she was a bright star or that she could one day be ripe for the picking to anyone who treated her well.

Mira smiled.

Actually, Randall’s route was the one Mira liked the best. He wasn’t as passionate as Andrei or as protective as Bryn, but he was the love interest who handled the eventual revelation that Cecily’s stepfather and stepbrothers had been hitting her the best—in Mira’s opinion, of course. 

In the game, he comforted Cecily, took her somewhere safe, fed her, and waited for her to fall asleep. Then he went back to Rousseau house and set it on fire. He created a magical tornado of flame that couldn’t spread or be put out until the Rousseau family seat was incinerated all the way down to the wine cellars. 

He got in trouble for it, of course, but the Rousseau family affairs were no less devastated and the Zoroanders didn’t like them well enough anymore by that point to try and make amends. The worst Randall got was a light slap on the wrist for letting himself be caught and some community service.

“Please show our guest to a comfortable place and serve some light refreshments,” Mira instructed Delia. “Let him know that Cecily is out at the shops and does not have a walking crystal. It may be some time before she gets home. I will be down momentarily to greet him. Take the card to show Cecily when she gets home.”

“Yes, miss!” Delia said, bobbed a curtsey, and then bounced off to execute Mira’s orders, only to be stopped at the door by Colvin.

“Allow me to break the news to our guest about his long wait, Delia,” he said, catching Mira’s eyes. “Just bring the refreshments.”

“That’s fine,” Mira said, before the child could get confused by being torn between two directives. “Go on.”

Colvin waited until they were alone before he turned to her. “What may I do to support you?” he asked.

Mira laid a hand on her bosom and projected her best aura of innocence. “What makes you think I am doing anything that requires support?” she asked.

One corner of Colvin’s mouth lifted in a wry, but slight smile. “Your expression while looking at our guest’s card was very telling, miss. Please don’t leave me out. You look like you’re about to have fun.”

“I’m just going to try and make a friend,” Mira said, batting her lashes. “Shouldn’t I be nice to my sister’s associates?”

He cocked a pale eyebrow at her tone, but nodded anyway and held out his hand to help her up. “I will endeavor to be welcoming, in that case.”