Cecile (I)

Cecile Jade Renand was an ally to all women.

That was also the reason she refused to be the heir to the Marquess of Renand position despite being the firstborn. She left that task to her responsible little brother because she wanted to work somewhere else that could help create more opportunity for the women in the world.

Cecile thought it was her calling as the lady who held the greatest power in high society.

Such a person was now reading the document on her lover, who turned out to be a complete douchebag and a menace to all women, with Clara by her side looking horrified.

Lucien was surprised to find Clara there with Cecile when he got home earlier. This was her first visit in a while, but Lucien couldn’t even genuinely be happy about it because the current situation required more attention.

“Where did you get this information?” Cecile finally said after a while. Her expression was calm, yet her eyes were glaring at the document.

"Princess Giselle," Lucien said. Cecile nodded at his answer.

Lucien couldn't figure out what Cecile was thinking. He couldn't tell if she believed what the document said or not. He imagined it would probably be difficult to change her perspective about the one she loved all of a sudden, so he expected that she would be in denial.

"This is really horrible…" Clara muttered, her eyes stuck on the document. She kept glancing at Cecile as well, like she was being wary of her reaction.

"What… are you going to do…?" Lucien asked Cecile carefully. Both he and Clara felt like they were treading on thin ice, yet Cecile didn't look affected in the slightest.

"What else? I'll cancel our appointment for the ball, obviously," Cecile said as she gestured at their butler to bring her a pen and paper. The butler then promptly prepared them on the table for her to use.

Lucien widened his eyes at his sister’s swift decision. He thought she would resist it a little bit more.

Cecile sat down in front of the table and began to write the letter she was going to send to the Nomal residence. With a furious look in her eyes, Lucien might add.

I guess there are things I don’t know about my sister after all, Lucien thought. He would hate it if she had to look sad because of Cheshire Nomal, so this was evidently much better.

Clara scooted closer to Lucien while they were watching Cecile write the ‘letter of apology’.

“Is she going to be okay…?” Clara asked in concern.

Lucien nodded before leaning in to Clara to whisper, “I believe so.”

Clara didn’t look completely convinced. She still looked worried as she watched Cecile writing the words My apologies… without looking apologetic in the slightest.

“What are you doing here by the way?” Lucien looked at Clara and asked her the question that had been in his mind since earlier. Clara finally looked up at him as well.

“I was going to take Cecile to the boutique for one last fitting… But I guess she won’t be able to now,” Clara said as she sighed and shook her head. “I can’t believe that Nomal guy turned out to be that kind of person. He looked like he was such a… docile guy.”

Clara tutted while resting her cheek on her palm. Lucien crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. He had only seen Cheshire Nomal once, but that was also the impression that he got from him.

He was already a son of the Duke and one of the most eligible bachelors in the empire, so what exactly would he gain by trafficking women? Lucien couldn’t even begin to fathom that.

“What have you been doing? It’s been a while since your last visit,” Lucien changed the topic. He had a feeling they were going to be there for a while, judging by how Cecile kept crumpling the papers she was writing into a ball and tossing them aside for the butler to catch.

“I’ve been busy preparing for the ball and… my engagement ceremony,” Clara said in a bashful voice. Lucien furrowed his eyebrows when he saw her acting bashful about her engagement. For some reason, it made him feel weird inside.

“Really? Judging from your reaction, I guess you’ve been getting along well with Duke Karron,” Lucien said with a smile. His hand was about to reach towards Clara’s head to ruffle her hair out of habit, but he held it back and clenched his fist. It wasn’t appropriate for a gentleman to touch a lady who was betrothed to someone else.

However, Clara didn’t say anything and just shifted her gaze to the side. Lucien tilted his head, about to question her reaction…

“How about you? How is it working for the Princess?” Clara quickly asked back, as if she was in a hurry to change the topic.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s been an interesting experience, but it’ll most likely end after the ball. More importantly, you—”

“There,” Cecile said in a loud voice, distracting Lucien and Clara from their conversation. She stood up and handed the letter, already inside an envelope, to the butler so he could send it to the Nomal residence.

“Cecile,” Clara said as she left Lucien’s side and went to Cecile. She held Cecile by her shoulder and gently tapped on it to comfort the older girl. Cecile then smiled and squeezed Clara’s hand in reassurance.

Meanwhile, Lucien watched the butler’s back as he hurried out to deliver the letter. He inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, his sister would not be involved in this matter anymore after this.

***

“How is Lady Renand doing?” Giselle asked Lucien the very next day, breaking the silence between them after almost half a day. He was beginning to wonder if she would give him the silent treatment for a whole day. She did look pretty annoyed with him when they last went their separate ways yesterday.

“She took it better than I expected,” Lucien said as he tidied up the papers in front of him. “She did look furious, but that was about it.”

It did surprise Lucien a little that Cecile’s reaction wasn’t as big as he expected. After all, he thought that she was totally head over heels for the guy because he had never seen her expressing her feelings for someone as much as she did for Cheshire Nomal.

Giselle nodded. She looked as disinterested as usual that Lucien couldn’t tell whether she was asking out of concern or just out of formality. He waited for her to say something else, but it seemed like she was back to giving him the silent treatment..

Lucien shook his head. It wouldn’t do him any good to overthink, so he decided to just go back to work. He figured that Giselle would surely tell him right away if she had anything new to inform him.

He was about to do just that when Giselle spoke up again.

“Please ask her if she still wants to go to the ball. I can arrange something for her if she so desires. I know she had been looking forward to it, so I would hate for her to not be a part of it,” Giselle said as her hand kept moving to write something. That was probably the longest she’d ever spoken to him in one go that it made Lucien blink in surprise.

Lucien didn’t know how to answer that. On one hand, he felt like Cecile would have too much pride and would probably not want to go to the ball because of it. On the other hand, he also thought that such scum shouldn’t get in the way of her enjoyment. Cecile did love to socialize above all.

“I’ll make sure to ask her,” was all that Lucien could muster to say.

“Surely you didn’t forget that you have to escort me tomorrow at the ball?” Giselle asked again, this time putting her pen down on her desk and directing her gaze at Lucien.

Ah, Lucien thought. His pupils were shaking, but he was hiding it pretty well with a smile. It wasn’t that he forgot… Or maybe he slightly did with everything that happened these past two days, but still.

He gave her a nod.

Giselle squinted her eyes in suspicion but didn’t say anything, to Lucien’s relief.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

“Your Highness, this is urgent!” the voice from outside the door said.

“Come in,” Giselle said, followed by the sound of the door being opened. The person then entered Giselle’s study and took a glance at both Giselle and Lucien.

Lucien recognized this guy. He was pretty sure that this guy was one of the knights Giselle had dispatched to the Renand household this morning. Lucien stood up in alarm. He had a bad feeling about what this knight was going to say.

“Your Highness, Lord Renand,” the knight began. He was obviously trying to keep himself calm, but to no avail. “Lady Renand… has been kidnapped.”