Chapter 160 - 159: The New Lady-In-Waiting

The door to Victor’s office didn’t so much open as get shoved open, the way Caelestis always did things when he couldn’t be bothered to knock properly. Victor didn’t look up from the stack of papers in front of him. He already knew who it was. There was only one person in this entire Lancaster mansion who walked like he owned the world.

"She’s gone," Victor said flatly, still not lifting his eyes. "If you’re looking for Eleanore, you missed her by ten minutes."

"I know." Caelestis stepped inside anyway, closing the door behind him with more care than the way he’d opened it. "I’m not here for her."

That got Victor’s attention, if only for a second. He glanced up, one eyebrow raised, before reaching for the folder at the edge of his desk and holding it out without a word. Caelestis took it. Victor went straight back to his paperwork like the exchange had never happened.

"These are the files from the Ashcombe deal," Victor said. "Go through them tonight. I need your notes by morning."

"Victor."

"That’s all. You can go."

Caelestis didn’t move. He stood there for a long moment, folder in his hand, watching Victor’s pen scratch against paper with a kind of stubborn, deliberate focus. The kind of focus a person only had when they were trying very hard not to look at someone.

"I said I’m not here for the files," Caelestis said again, quieter this time.

Victor’s pen stopped. He set it down, slow, and finally leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Then what do you want, My Lord? Because I don’t have the patience today. I have three reports due and a headache that started the moment you walked through that door."

"I want to apologise."

The words hung there. Victor blinked once, twice, and then to his own visible surprise he laughed. It wasn’t a warm laugh. It was short, dry, disbelieving, the kind of laugh that came out before a person had time to decide whether they meant it.

"You? Apologise?" Victor shook his head, rubbing a hand down his face. "That’s a surprise. Did someone hit you on the head on your way here?"

"I’m serious."

"You’re always serious. That’s the problem." Victor picked his pen back up, twirling it between his fingers instead of writing with it. "Look, I don’t need an apology from you. I need you to stop treating everyone around you like they exist to be walked over. That’s not something you fix with three words and a sad face."

"I know." Caelestis’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t back away from it, didn’t retreat into the sharp, cutting version of himself that usually came out whenever someone pushed back. "I know it’s not enough. I’m not asking you to forget everything. I just — I want to actually change something. Not just say it and go back to the way I was in a week."

Victor studied him for a long moment. There was something different in the way Caelestis was standing — shoulders less squared, less like a wall built to keep people out. It unsettled Victor more than he wanted to admit.

"Why now?" Victor asked, and there was no mockery in it this time.

Caelestis hesitated. His fingers tightened slightly around the folder in his hands. "Because I watched myself become someone I don’t like very much," he said finally. "And I’m tired of being that person around people who don’t deserve it."

For a moment, neither of them said anything. The only sound in the room was the faint hum of the ceiling light and the distant clatter of someone dropping a stack of files somewhere down the hall.

Victor exhaled, long and slow, and some of the sharpness drained out of his expression. "You’re not going to become a different person overnight, you know. This isn’t the kind of thing that gets fixed with one conversation. Moreover, I am not the one that needs that apology, Eleanore does."

"I know that too."

"Good. Because if you come in here next week acting like none of this happened, I’m going to remind you of every word you just said." Victor pointed the pen at him, but there was the faint ghost of something almost like a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Now, how about you try the same sincere apology with Eleanore?"

Caelestis nodded, turning toward the door, but he paused with his hand on the handle. "Thank you," he said, not looking back.

Victor didn’t answer. But he didn’t tell him to leave again either, and that, in its own quiet way, was answer enough.

—

In her room across the hall from Victor’s, Eleanore was going over resumes for the fifth time that week, trying to find someone, anyone, who could keep up with the chaos that had become her daily schedule. Most of the candidates blurred together after a while. Same polished answers, same rehearsed confidence, same carefully practiced handshake.

And then there was Winny.

Winny was in the messiest maid uniforms mankind knew off. Her hair had been running along and Yet she stood like she had the most confidence in the world. She looked at Eleanore with a genuine, true smile. "I heard my lady was looking for a lady-in-waiting." She says.

Eleanore smiles. "Indeed, Winny." She pauses, checks her profile. "You are a unique one."

It shouldn’t have worked. On paper, none of it should have worked.

But Eleanore had laughed, actually laughed, the kind that came from somewhere low in her chest, not the polite kind she gave out of obligation, for the first time in what felt like weeks. She looks up at Winny again.

"I like you, Winny." She gets up and walks around her. "I choose you to be my lady-in-waiting."

Winny was, without question, the strangest maid she had ever seen.

She was also, Eleanore suspected, going to be exactly what this mansion needed.

|| Mission 1, Phase 1: Change Caelestis Destiny. Has been successfully completed.

Phase 2: The Rebels

The Kingdom of Seraphine has been plagued by this organisation called Rebel. They are after the crown and want to kill the royal family, so that they can attain a complete dictatorship. These rebel groups also involve some of the nobles of the empire, who harbour hatred against the royal family of Seraphine.

In their madness for the throne, many innocents die, including you. Your death triggers Caelestis’ fate falling into darkness again and Hael turning against his dear friend again.

Chapter 1: The Woman Named Barbra

Barbra was known to be a very gentle and kind woman of the kingdom. She was always quiet and had no enemy. Until she fell for the wrong person and tried to win him over only to be trampled on completely by the queen of the social circle, Eleanore Sinclair (You)

Quest 1: Death Case Of Lady Barbra Fein

Task 1: Collect information on the relationship between Eleanore Sinclair (you) and Lady Barbra Fein

Do you accept the task?

Yes/No

Note: Reward: + 100,000 reputation

Penalty: -200,000 coins

Total Reputation: -100,000

Total Coins: +90,100||