“My my, what do we have here?

“I hope I am not disturbing.”

A woman appeared with chestnut brown hair twirled into complicated curls pinned to her head. Her slightly formal updo and her eastern features with light makeup paired with a simple yet flowy white dress gave a clean and elegant feel to her person.

“Good evening. I am Cinnamon, your hostess for tonight. May I know the names of my benefactors?”

“Did my lady get mesmerized by Lady Cinnamon’s presence? I will take it from here then.

“My lady prefers to be called Ciel, and I am her very passionate personal butler, Sebastian.”

“But that’s not— What are you—“

(；゜○゜)

“...?”

“D-Don’t mind him.”

“...”

“Please do take your seat, Miss Cinnamon.”

“Thank you, I will take you up on that offer.

“Champagne?”

After seeing the butler’s nod, Cinnamon popped a champagne and poured him a drink. The young woman already had hers so she let it be. “What brings you to J Country, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“My lady has always dreamt of going around your country and experience its rich culture. So when she turned 18, we flew here straight away.”

“Oh? What’s the hurry?”

The snacks then arrived and ‘Ciel’ distractedly grabbed a small green-colored cake with a thumb-sized green tea ice cream. Her eyes brightened up and she downed the dessert with the yellowish drink Vaughn ordered for her. It left her mouth with a goofy astringent taste. Cadillac wine was not a bad drink to have with this bittersweet dessert, in fact, she felt that they complemented each other well.

Seeing her satisfied look, Vaughn couldn’t help but grin knowingly. “It’s funny you should ask, Miss Cinnamon. There was actually another reason.”

“Hmn?”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted her to come here?”

“What are you talking about? This is the first time I have met these benefactors.”

“Is that so?

“Perhaps my lady would like to clarify this?”

(￢‿￢ )

“Why do you build things up and then throw a fast ball at me at the last second?”

(-__- )ﾉ⌒ ┻━┻

“Pardon?”

After putting on a serious face, the young lady muttered under her breath, “I received this postcard as a gift on my 18th birthday.”

She took out something from her purse that read:

Happy 18th birthday.

-Cinnamon

“We — I mean Sebastian, was able to trace this back to you. We went here in hopes of learning about an important person...” She hesitated as she was unsure how to proceed, she felt it would be weird to suddenly be ogled and questioned by a stranger who came in as a client.

”Father never spoke of my mother and made it seem like she never existed in the first place... so this card that mysteriously got sent to me — my gut tells me it has something to do with her.”

A champagne glass was shattered as it was dropped.

“It can’t be...

“Estelle?”

“Eh?”

“Is it really you?”

“Ehhhhh? You know my name?

“Are... Are you my mother, perhaps?”