Chapter 21: School Continues
Translated by XianPiete
It had been two weeks since the tragedy of the campus murders and the great fire in the women's dorm. Life on campus quickly returned to normal as midterm finals quickly approached. Due to the chaos of losing the dorm, the exams per pushed back, but soon after things returned to normal with the opening of the temporary women's dorm, the exam schedules were posted and the students went right back to the grind of learning.
Even inside the Order of the Rose dining hall open books and serious concentration were seen on all of the faces, including Olivier. Madeline would steal an occasional glance at Guy and chuckle as she looked up from her books. Guy himself was buried in his own books. When he did look up, he would glance at Madeline, lately for some reason, he would look at her chest more often, he would think to himself that she didn't look bad, why was the Doctor so critical? Alicia would watch them all, because she never felt the need to study so hard. She read the book once and heard the lectures in class, why try so hard? Olivier felt embarrassed for the Kingdom as he studied. He thought to himself, 'Will I be the stupidest King in Pays De Abrutis history?'
Sir évreux suddenly spoke up and broke the Silence, "I'm sorry for asking this, but could someone explain fractions to me?"
Claude smirked and said, "Fractions, you really are behind." Claude thought to himself, 'Oh thank the stars, I thought I would have to ask and sound like the dumb one. Hopefully Lady Alicia will explain it and not Lord Molester or Madeline. The two of them have no patience for teaching.'
Alicia who was smiling away started to describe fractions and give example problems with solutions as Olivier, Claude, Lady Leon and Sir évreux looked like people dying of thirst being given a drink of water. Madeline looked over at Guy and caught him staring right at her chest. She looked down thinking she must have spilled something or had something out of place. She was confused enough to ask out loud, "Is there something on my chest Lord Molester?"
Guy tried to play it cool and smiled, "Sorry, I was just thinking about a problem. Also, it's Montfort" He thought to himself, 'Just act cool, don't act like you are guilty.'
Everyone looked up and stared at Guy until Alicia said, "He was looking at your boobs. Men do that all the time, haven't you ever noticed?"
Madeline tried to remember men doing that and couldn't remember a single time, so once again she said out loud, "No, I don't think that's something that happens to me."
Lady Leon said softly so almost no one else heard, "It's because she doesn't have a large chest, Alicia."
Alicia made an embarrassed face and said, "Oh, dear, I hadn't thought of that Doreen, sorry Madeline, I should have considered your feelings before saying anything."
Madeline looked down at her chest and suddenly felt very self conscious.
Guy cleared his throat and then gave his own explanation of fractions drawing everyone's attention once again. Olivier asked Alicia to continue her explanation, for Sir évreux's sake, after Guy's short terse explanation. Guy decided not to look up from his book for a while. After dinner was over, the group moved over to the Library. Once it became too dark to see without candles, they all found their way back to their own rooms.
*****
A dark black carriage arrived in front of a small country Inn just before dark. The coachman flashed a lantern at one of the upstairs rooms. A few minutes later a young lady and her servant came out to the carriage. The servant opened the door and helped the young miss inside, closing the door behind them and standing by the door outside of the carriage.
"We weren't able to kill the man or the woman, your highness." The fake Lady Harcourt said in a calm tone.
The man sitting on the opposite side of the carriage smiled and waved his hand, "It wasn't important to kill those pawns. My goal is only to get little Andre and little Olivier to break father's rule against killing each other." He laughed and then said, "Go to Wütendes Menschenreich and provoke little Andre. It just has to be linked back to little Olivier."
She nodded and said, "Yes, your highness." She smoothed out her dress and said, "Norris." The door to the carriage opened and then he helped her down. Once they were clear of the carriage, the coachman cracked his whip and the black carriage sped off toward the capital. She said, "We leave for Wütendes Menschenreich in the morning, prepare my winter clothing."
"Yes, miss. Shall I prepare some savory snacks this time?" He asked.
She thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, also, pack some of the black tea for the road."