All things may happen in such contrast: with joy comes with sadness, love comes with hatred, and respect comes with scorn. As the ladies talked and laughed freely along the market, they inevitably reached a small plaza right before the center of the village - the White church. The plaza is a place where the ladies and men interact while imitating nobles as a means of prestige and a way of allure. Shortly after, the two were surrounded by men, with clear motives.
"Look what have here! A fair maiden and a withered old fox. May we humbly ask, where you are headed my lady with the emerald coloured eyes?" Asked curtly by a man with brown hair and eyes, light skinned, and with a medium build while wearing a brown bowler hat, white linen shirt with high collar, black waistcoat, brown covert coat and trousers with suspender belts.
"We're heading for the White church... But, would you mind moving, please?" Edea asked in a polite manner and a calm tone.
"How about you give that basket of yours to that old duckling and be on her way? Why not hang out with us gentlemen for fun?"
Edea smiled blankly but a nerve on her head started to swell. "L-let us pass or I-I'll tell sister R-Rebecca." Rosemary interrupted and insistedwith a warning to the man.
"Oh look the chicken started to B-Bo.. BOKAWK! HAHAHAHA!"
"Will she be able to finish h-her s-sentences or will the s-sentences f-finish her i-instead?" Followed up by another man, mocking Rosemary's speech impediment while laughing, almost to tears.
Shortly after, a woman wearing a habit and in her late fifties approached the men from behind. They were unaware that a nun from the White church was listening from the commotion.
"... And what is it that you find so funny, Ethan Hill?" The nun calmly spoke with a visible frown.
"S-sister Rebecca! I didn't know you were here! I'm sorry! P-please let it go just this o-once!" Ethan pleaded as if speaking from a trauma caused by the strict sister.
"See ladies, look at how a man turns his tail quickly when faced with a woman he cannot disobey. He became the very chicken he mocks... Hmp! Have some balls, will you Ethan?"
Edea, amazed by sister Rebecca became a fan of such demeanorand her annoyance towards Ethan becamewoa for the sister instead. Rosemary however, felt humiliated. She silently approached the petrified Ethan and let a charged swing of her right foot from her hip to toe - reaching Ethan's family jewels with a pop! The goons winced in pain when Ethan whimpered like an animal in distress.
"You should have balls of steel if you wish to mock a lady! Hmp!" Edea added trying to mimic sister Rebecca. Then Rosemary closed the incident with her eyes squinted and toungue directed at Ethan.
"Hehe... That's my girls." Sister Rebecca mumbled to herself, amused by the ladies trying to match her energy.
But along the way, the sister began to feel ashamed."If I may... I sincerely apologise on behalf of Ethan. I raised him well but he turned out to be a bum and a headache of mine."
"I-it's ok s-sister... It's not y-your fault but h-his for messing w-with us." Rosemary answered.
"Oh thank you darling for understanding. Being the aunt of such is indeed an embarrassment. I may be a nun but I'm second to being an aunt."
"If only my sister were here to raise him. I wonder how he would've turned out."
"I'm sure you did your best, sister. Seeing him have fear of you might as well have worked in more ways than one." Edea added.
"Thank you, really. I might as well agree that he's a gentleman in his own way."
"Come, let's head inside and eat breakfast first before we start the arduous work in service. In here you'll learn alot about religion and the importance of us nuns and priests. I hope you are both prepared as helpers."
"Yes sister." Both the ladies replied as they followed the nun inside the church.
On the side of Layne and the two siblings, Amelia and Layne prepared the table for breakfast and reheated the potato stew they ate the night before. True to his name as the lord of the house, Anthony was still asleep even after the rooster has crowed.
Amelia knocked on the door of Anthony with a wooden sign that says "KEEP OUT" but she brushed it off. "Anthony it's time for breakfast. Come on down and eat."
"Five more minutes." Anthony replied while still half asleep.
"Fine... sleep more if you don't want your share be given to Blue."
Hastily, Anthony sat on his bed and wiped his droopy eyes. "Ok! I'll be there in a moment."
As Anthony walked down the stairs, his strides were uneven and therefore tumbled on the way down. It damaged the loose studs of the stairs and most fell apart - making the second floor inaccessible. Surprisingly enough, Anthony only grazed his left arm and some minor bruises due to his fall.
"... Well that settles it. This house needs to be fixed" Layne spoke as he intends to do so for the children to be safe at their own home.
"Grab a soap and wash the cut. Let's apply ointment after eating, my hunger cannot wait for you any longer." Amelia commanded while preparing Anthony's side of the table.
"Fine. Come on Blue... let's eat." Blue barked in affirmation and approached him slowly until it suddenly tried to lick the wound due to curiosity.
Amelia, with the instincts of an elder sister swiftly grabbed Blue by the collar before reaching Anthony. "Blue! No! Don't lick the wound! It might get infected... Sir Layne, would you mind getting me - "
"Holloway's ointment or Mentholatum Salve. For natural remedies use Liniments - a combination of herbs specifically myrrh, arnica, and camphor. Or if there's a Fir tree, use it's resin as a balm." Layne shadowed the words of his late father in his mind when he himself was injured when he was young.
The two were stunned at Layne's knowledge in medicine, as they only follow the words of the elders on what to use.
"May I see what medicines you have at this house?" Layne added.
"It's on the bottom drawer of the utensil cabinet. We store it there because we often use it but it itches where we applied right after."
Layne rummaged at the stored medicine and found out that most of it were already expired. "Amelia, do you know how to read?" Layne asked suddenly.
"I know how to read and write but I don't know much about numbers, only the basics."
"I see... I'll teach you both when we have the time, as so to avoid using expired medicine and harm yourselves in the process. It will also come in handy if you're to haggle or barter in the market."
"Understood, but after breakfast I'll be off to work at Meat and Beer. Will you be able to accompany me, sir Layne? I can introduce you to our village chief along the way."
"Then I will do so on your behest." Layne Agreed with a nod.
After eating breakfast, he asked Anthony for a favor. "Master Anthony Taylor, may I ask for your benevolence and acquire these things for the house of rags?"
"Will you stop it already, Layne? I'm not a kid anymore to be gullible as you may pressume." Irritated, Anthony spoke with a visible frown on his face.
"Okay, okay... May I ask for your help in acquiring these things on the list then, Anthony?"
"...Fine." Anthony answered while his eyes went round.
Layne then reached around his left rear, trying to feel his coin pouch but it was never there to begin with. And so sweat slowly began to shoot like bullets on his face, and convulsed with laughter as he recalled that he might have left it at the cave or he may have dropped it along a foreign mountain side.
Layne, weakened by the thought of losing coin began to drop his posture."P-postpone that request. Anthony, you like treasure hunting, yeah? let's go back to the cave where my treasure lies."
"What treasure are you talking about?"
"...M-my coin pouch?." Layne spoke with a quivering voice on a tuned down volume.
Anthony pressed his palm on his face in exhasperation but agreed to follow anyway. And so Amelia headed off to work after patching Anthony's wounds and then the two with Blue, went out with a rusted bucket and a shovel; hoping to find Layne's coin pouch with money enough to last them for months.
It took them hours to reach the cave but in those hours, it made the two grew a little closer. "I know it's sudden but may I ask what happened to your family?"
"... I don't want to talk about it." Anthony answered with a dulled expression.
"Then how about we exchange stories? Mine for yours? And let's keep it to the both of us, man to man." Layne then pat Anthony's shoulder but was shrugged off. However, Layne told his story nonetheless.
I was born to a commoner family with a father who worked as an apothecary and a stay-at-home ailing mother. She had the most unique features out of all the people I've met so far, but they deliberately hid it from others. She frequently dyed her long silver hair with charcoal to compliment her tanned skin and wore a monocle on her left eye with its lense shaded in black - hiding her wondrous starry stained pupils like a mirror of the night sky. (Asteroid Hyalosis).
"Why hide it if she's that special, perse?" Anthony asked curiously.
"My parents knew that attention would lead to complications. If we look at the White Church, they would deem her a heretic. With her questionable history, physiognomy, her
practices of strange prayers and worships a different god than the All Father."
"What do you mean by questionable history?"
"Well, my father bought her from a slave merchant. He needed manpower but instead bought himself a wife." Then Anthony chortled mid sentence.
"Hahaha! Yeah... I had that same reaction too, kid."
Going back to my story, there was a time when I was around your age that I took over my father's stall in the market. A lower bracket from the City of Dannan, just above the slums. Our products were not selling well at the time due to the rise of cosmetics and so I thought to myself: why not make my own? Coincidentally, I saw some leftover Atropa Belladonna of the nightshade family - a deadly poison and used it as the materia prima.
By my father's teachings and my mother's unusual practices in alchemy, I was able to procure a tonic for the eyes and called it Tears from Heaven.
"Ugh.. your naming is terrible." Anthony spoke while his nose wrinkled.
Layne then smiled towards Anthony. "What? I was young at the time. Close to your age at least."
"Young and naive, if you might say." Anthony added, teasing Layne while maintaining his stern facade.
"Okay, Mr. Smart pants, what do you know that I don't?"
"Uhm.. that you're a big dum dum (Dumb)?"
Layne swiftly grabbed Anthony by the neck and rubbed his knuckles on Anthony's crown. "Yeah, yeah, alright I'm the dumb one for losing his coin pouch." They then laughed like brothers for the first time and with Anthony starting to soften.
"If you're from a commoner background, then how are you a noble now?"
"...Long story short, I was initially taken in by the Marquess, Bernard Sinclair for my genius on apothecary and alchemy. Do you want to ask how?"
In his curiosity, Anthony asked away. "How?"
"When I sold medicine on my father's shop, I increased the price by half while introducing my tonic as a takeaway product. My father scolded me for it but it gained recognition after a few days."
It sold surprisingly fast in a couple of months and there I made other products to cater for the nobles and commoners alike. Others tried to replicate the products but they couldn't produce the right mixture; even for the great Sinclair house. By the time they knew of my ailing mother and her unknown sickness, the Sinclair house hoarded Morphine - a painkiller that was effective in suppresing her hysteria and we had no choice but to follow in accordance - paying more than what we bargained for.
"What was their reason for doing so?"
"At first, they wanted my formulas that controlled nobility through cosmetics as it sells faster than their products combined. But a crisis striked at Sinclair estate and they eventually wanted me for other reasons."
In doing so, they gradually increased the price while secretly adding dosage and until eventually replaceing it with Fentanyl - a stronger and a more addictive medicine. When we became in dept after months on end; they presented us a contract. To create a cure for the White Death (Tuberculosis) in exchange for business opportunities and be paid with inclusions of Fentanyl; but it was impossible from the start as it was a developing sickness with no formal study at the time. Day by day, they pressured us - believing that a miracle may happen; and in their favor it came true. However, it was too late as the sickness already took the young master and the lady of house Sinclair - the very reason they pressured us into submission.
Devastated, Marquess Bernard Sinclair grieved and blamed us for being too late. In his fit of rage, he killed my father, locked my mother away and hazed me like a madman. By the time he regained his conscience and laid his eyes on me, it somehow convinced him that his son, Layne Sinclair was alive and there lie in front of him. So in days of no end, he shaped me in his image while I began to forget who I really was. But even so, he couldn't break my familial fortitude.
"Then you're not really Layne, but a fake?"
"Yes, but I became him nonetheless. It's vexing how I cannot recall my real name and that my mother withheld in telling me so. Though I understand now that it was a means to protect me from the hands of house Sinclair."
News were kept in close ears and many believed in the Marquee's lies during the funeral of his late wife. Many said their condolences but a few struct needles behind my back, especially those of the branch family that harboured suspicion. Months passed and house Sinclair was steadily on the rise with medicine and cosmetics as their forte. The Duke, William De Garde - a vassal of higher rank saw it as an opportunity and formally proposed an arranged marriage for Layne and their daughter, Caroline De Garde.
As the meeting of the two houses came and commenced, I quietly proceeded to my mother's abode, located at the eastside of the estate and along the rose garden of the late lady of the house. When I arrived at the door front, what surprised me were boisterous voices coming from the living room and so I barged in - thinking that my mother was in danger. It was then I saw a young lady dressed in cyan garb with her hair painted in gold and eyes coloured in emerald which glittered like diamond. There she laughed with teary eyes and along side her, was my mother with a grin on her face.
"W-who are you? What are you doing in this cabin?" I cautiously asked the young lady.
"...Ahem!, my apologies." She then stood with grace and bowed. "I'm Charlotte De Garde. Truly, I ask your pardon for intruding, but I find lady Hiraya's stories intriguing and even came to know a little about the young master covertly." Charlotte answered before tittering.
In my silence, my mother knew my awkward reaction even if she herself were already blind and suffers from dementia due to her illness; nonetheless, she still had the audacity to giggle in turn.
With my palm brushing my grimace, I asked. "May I ask how you met my mo- ..servant. She is to care for my mother's garden and not to entertain esteemed guests." I spoke with words directed at my mother.
"My apologies, young master. Dare I say I am honored to meet lady Charlotte and on the garden was where we met. So I ask for your pardon on this matter as it will not happen again." My mother answered in her stead.
But before we could continue, a disturbance at the door came knocking. The butler and head maid of house Sinclair asked for me and lady Charlotte to return to the main house at once. And when we left in haste, Charlotte gently whispered behind my ears: "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, Chubbles."
"Pfft! Chubbles?! Who gave you that nickname?" Anthony asked while laughing uncontrollably.
"Apparently it was my mother, and so what? I was very healthy when I was a baby."
"OH! Chubby was what you meant." Anthony added.
Alright, enough with the teasing. With my flustered face on the way to the main house, I was then called by the Marquess in his office. I anticipated his response and I surprisingly endured with Charlotte dwelling on my mind every so often. And so time went on and my engagement to Caroline proceeded. But gradually, I fell for Charlotte the more I knew her. With De Garde's formal visits, to no fail Charlotte came for my mother and I somehow grew accustomed to it; which may have solidified my feelings as no other would be kind to a slave.
Yet, unbeknownst to us and the Marquess, suspicion began to arise when the branch family investigated thoroughly and found it odd that I survived a deadly sickness and to have lived with only my skin darkening as a side effect. Those that were observant also began to notice the slight differences in my mannerisms and responses from the real Layne Sinclair. The Marquess dismissed such claims but word was already out and about.
Controversies began to circulate and my engagement to lady Caroline was halted due to legitimacy, but by then Charlotte and I began to realize our feelings. I suggested to marry her instead but was met with denial by the Marquess.
"Do you even hear what you're trying to say, Layne? Is this how you repay me for adopting you as my LEGITIMATE SON?! LAYNE SINCLAIR, THINK!" Marquees Bernard in his fit of rage, turned his table upside down with papers sent flying.
"DO YOU THINK MARRYING INTO A BRANCH FAMILY OF DE GARDE WILL OFFER THE SAME POWER AS THE MAIN HOUSE?!"
"No, my lord." I then answered with my head held high; only to be trampled upon by his fists before being sent back into his dungeon.
For a long time the Marquess tried to fix the proposal but damages were already there. With my legitimacy being questioned, even the servants gazed upon me with disdain and their treatment worsened. Some time after, the Marquess was given another choice: To adopt a promising talent from the branch family and is to marry Charlotte De Garde while I am to be locked away for further investigation. This was what they offered to save him face and in his defeat, he accepted. But I myself didn't. For months, they planned for the wedding while I prepared an escape plan while enduring torture. It took a while in doing so and my mother passed away not long after. I swallowed my grief and denied all accusations to buy myself more time. Then on the twelveth of February, I appeared on my lady's window at dusk. I asked for her hand and in turn she dragged me inside her room. When dawn of the thirteenth came, it was then we fled from our houses. Then the rest is history.
Anthony thought something was inappropriate in Layne's story at the end. "If I may ask, what exactly did you do in there to stay until dawn? It would've been alot easier if you both left by the twelveth at dusk if you ask me."
"I-it's a secret you'll know when you get older. Trust me, you don't need to know r-right now." Layne darted his eyes to the left while sweat began to flow on his cheeks.
"... H-how about you tell me your story, Anthony?" Layne, out of desperation switched topics.
"Nevermind that, we're almost there by the cave."
And so the two with Blue, carrying a rusted bucket and a shovel stood at their destination. With the man preserving his dignity and the innocence of a child.