Never Change

Giselle immediately stormed in and plopped by Lucien’s other side. She pulled his arm into an embrace and jerked him to her side, frowning as she glared at Lucien and Clara alternatively.

Lucien blinked at her in confusion.

“Lady Benois, please touch your own fiancé,” Giselle said with a snarl at Clara.

It took a second for Lucien to register it in his head.

“Your Highness! I was the one who touched her, not the other way around!” he said in a fluster. Clara snapped to her senses and quickly shook her head.

“No, Your Highness, it’s really not what you were thinking! Lu—I mean, Lord Renand—was only trying to cheer me up!” Clara said.

Contrary to their intentions, what they said was making Giselle’s face turn even more sour instead. The frown between her brows looked like they just creased deeper and her lips were jutted further out. She didn’t say anything and just tightened her hold on Lucien.

“O-Oh! I just remembered that I have somewhere to be!” Clara suddenly stood up, prompting Lucien to look up at her in alarm. He shook his head at her as his eyes begged with all his might for her to not leave him behind, but she just mouthed him “Good luck!”

As if she was running away from something, Clara immediately sprinted towards the door as soon as she gave Giselle a deep bow. The maid hurried after her to escort her out.

Some friend she was, Lucien lamented as the door closed as gently as possible. He couldn’t believe the bride-to-be herself would just bail out like that. He was now left alone with Giselle in the room. His gaze then shifted towards Giselle, who suddenly released her arms from his and grabbed him by his collar.

“I can’t believe you! I only left for a second and you’re already doing that!” Giselle hissed while pulling on his collar. Lucien flinched at her sudden movement, but quickly regained his composure and glared back at her.

“Doing what? If you would please spare me of your delusions, Your Highness—” Lucien stopped himself from talking. He knew that it wouldn’t be pretty if he said more. However, he still kept his glare on Giselle as long as she still did the same to him.

Giselle was the first one to break eye contact. She let go of his collars and leaned back on the sofa with a thud, her face still looking as sour as it was a moment ago.

Lucien rolled his eyes while fixing his collars.

“...Your Highness, I just don’t understand why you’re so insistent on this matter,” Lucien started complaining. “If it is really as you say, then that means a lot of things have already changed from the ‘original novel’. What reason do you have to keep an eye on me still? Wouldn’t the future have changed too?”

“No.”

Lucien was slightly taken aback at her firm response.

“People just don’t change. I’ve been doing things differently ever since I remembered my past life, but Siegfried and Clara still fell in love at first sight,” Giselle said. This was her very first time calling Clara by her name, Lucien thought. “...And I’m still viewed as an evil lady.”

Giselle looked a bit down when she said that last part. It was starting to make Lucien feel guilty.

“May I know how old you were when you remembered?” he said in an effort to keep her from dwelling on it.

“I was… six?” Giselle said, looking unsure herself.

Six? Lucien blinked. He tried to imagine six-year-old Giselle suddenly remembering having a past life one day. He couldn’t really picture it. In the first place, he didn’t know what Giselle looked like when she was that young. He took a glance at her and she raised an eyebrow at him when she noticed the frown on his face while he was looking at her.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Lucien cleared his throat and turned away, making sure his expression had returned to normal. He tried to continue the conversation the best that he could. “That’s really young. What happened that triggered it?”

When he got no answer, Lucien turned to face her again. His eyes widened when he saw Giselle freezing in place, her eyes glued onto the coffee table in a daze and her lips pursed in a straight line. Before he could react, however, she had quickly regained her composure and returned to her usual self.

“I just remembered I got a letter from Lord Karron,” she said, seemingly reminded after she looked at the documents Lucien left on the table. “Let me go grab it.”

Giselle stood up and walked towards the drawer near the door. Still confused, Lucien just watched her from behind as he tried to figure out what just happened. She looked completely normal right now, but Giselle’s reaction was definitely strange. Judging by how she wouldn’t answer his question, he wondered if she didn’t want to talk about it.

He wouldn’t mind if she didn’t want to, he wouldn’t push it—but the short second when her expression turned into one of emptiness… kind of worried him.

Lucien gasped when he realized what he was thinking. He shook his head in an effort to shake his mind off it. Him, worried about Giselle? Outrageous. What for? She was probably just spacing out and didn’t hear his question.

Giselle’s past life memories… probably just got triggered because she hit something on her head while she was frolicking around. It was normal for a child that age to get injuries or two. Even Lucien still had scars from that age, and he was said to be one of the best-mannered children around according to his parents.

He nodded, satisfied with his conclusion. When he took another glance at Giselle, she was already walking back with a letter in hand.

“Lord Karron said that all preparations are set from his side and that we can go there anytime we want,” she said while tossing the letter onto Lucien’s lap. He raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn’t say a word and just took the letter.

“So I already replied that we’re coming to the north next week.”

“Hmm—Wait, what?” Lucien put down the letter he was skimming to read just now. “We? Next week?”

“Yes? It’s better for us to look at the venue itself so we can make better plans.” Giselle looked at him like he was the crazy one. “What? You have a problem?”

Ah, yes, this was the usual Giselle. Lucien felt stupid for even worrying about her for a moment.

“Obviously! Did Your Highness not consider that I would have something else to do?”

“But you don’t, do you?” Giselle said. “I know your father is still refusing to give you work. What else can you even do?”

“I—”

Lucien was rendered speechless. It wasn’t as if he could deny any of that, because she was right. He would probably be lazing around in the house since his father wouldn’t give him anything to do after introducing him to the Garet mine. Hold on, he thought. How did she know that?

“I know because your father did the same in the novel.” Lucien went wide-eyed at Giselle answering his question before he even asked it. She gave him a look along with a scoff. “Has anyone ever told you you wear your emotions too much on your sleeve?”

Lucien gasped in disbelief. No one ever told him that. In fact, the very reason he wasn’t that close to any of his peers back at the academy was because they deemed him too hard to read with that perpetual smile on his face. He really couldn’t help but feel that Giselle always managed to bring out the worst in him.

“No,” he sighed, exasperated. He didn’t even feel like arguing anymore, for fear of turning more into someone he didn’t like. “No one has.”

***

Sometimes, Lucien wished his parents would be a stricter type.

They were generally very accepting and supportive of their children’s endeavors, and although that had worked in Lucien’s favor all this time, he almost wanted them to not be so supportive this time.

“Don’t forget to pack up warm clothes,” his father said with a thumbs up.

“I’m still worried, but if Lord Karron is there, I guess it’s fine…”

Even his mother, who he thought would be opposed to it since it was still around a month until the engagement ceremony, was strangely accepting of it.

“Can you buy the north’s specialty for me?”

His sister, Cecile, wasn’t of any help either.

“Aren’t you coming to the north for the ceremony anyway?”

Cecile wagged her finger and shook her head like he just asked the silliest question ever.

“You don’t get it. When else can I get you to buy something for me?”

And with that, Cecile walked away while tossing her hair backwards triumphantly. Lucien could only watch with a dumbfounded look as she walked further away.

“Crazy woman…” he muttered to himself.