Soon, the lecture (one-sided on my part) came to an end. Sir Ferris excused himself and the other boys promptly launched into a conversation of the latest battle equipment and magic spells while I just watched them amused, giving a few noncommittal comments and answers every now and then. Their childish enthusiasm was refreshing.

This is how I spent months going back and forth between the palace and the Verne townhouse while dropping in at Verne house every now and then to check in on and play with Ronnie. Verne house was way too far away from the capital to commute, a fact I used to my advantage.

I spent the rest of my time accompanied by the servants and Ronnie, and I already had a plan of how to get myself and her out of the clutches of that man.

I was, however, considering if I should just come up a believable excuse to put us under the care of someone in the capital. Claire probably wouldn't even notice we were gone.

The person who I had in mind was none other than Remus Rain, the royal guard captain and Pochi's (Shinobu's) father.

He has a personality just like his son, only far less brash and definitely wiser. I'd already met Remus and found that he was an honest oji-san and a very good friend of my father, seeing as they were both from commoner backgrounds. He told me I was welcome to stay anytime while clapping me on the back so hard I thought I was going to hack up a lung. This was where the Kaoru from "The Magus' Romance" used to live after all, but I also needed to bring Ronnie who was currently embroiled in noble children tea parties and making Claire look good, so I was still uncertain of how to force Claire's hand on it. It was still up for debate in my mind. I was beyond frustrated at my inability to do anything about it right away, and I got the feeling that it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

'... It sucks.'

As much as I hated to admit it Aphrodite was right. The change from a capable, powerful businesswoman to a frail young child at the mercy of his guardians was jarring to say the least.

I was used to having my life in my own hands as opposed to being nigh powerless as I now was. It reminded me too much of my time living in the main house in my past life, struggling to keep a hold of my freedom. Only, now I also had Veronica to look out for as well.

Things simply refused to meekly go my way, and I had to constantly avoid that disgusting man... it was INFURIATING!

'No matter.'

Just like in my past life, I'd find a way to clear my path by any means. I refused to live my life this way forever... even if it really did mean offing Verne.

'...'

The Fallout (Part 2)

Call me a pessimist, but when I plan, I'm always looking for something to go wrong. There are always uncertain variables that could throw everything off course.

That "something" going wrong was in the form of heavy snowfall that popped up on the very freaking start of winter.

I wouldn't have minded too much if it was simply that, but this surprise snowstorm decided to sneak up on me on one of the rare days I was at Verne house!!! There was no way a carriage would make it through that white oblivion either.

I was stuck.

I'd been avoiding this place more often lately ever since the atmosphere became... strange. It seemed that the "happy" couple were close to dropping all pretences now that they were out of the public eye. Or at least Verne was tired of pretending. All the grass had been cut and the snakes were plainly visible. It was not the best time to be there... Hey miraculously here I was.

'What the hell?! Did I walk under a whole bunch of ladders or something?!!' I made a noise between a sigh and a groan as I released the curtain letting it drop back to cover the view of the never-ending snowfall on the other side of the glass. The universe refused to let my plans go through without a hitch it seemed.

I slumped back onto the fainting couch in Ronnie's playroom.

Right when I was on the verge of implementing my plan this happens...

I sighed again as I watched Ronnie playing tea party with a myriad of unfortunate jam and tea stained stuffed toys.

I was even planning on bringing Ronnie along with me when I left for the capital this time. I didn't need her getting caught in the crossfire. It was already snowing when I arrived in the fief, but I didn't think it would turn into this by the next morning leaving me no choice but to postpone everything.

Unfortunately, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Maybe if I wasn't so concerned with not implicating Veronica and myself while making things as clean as possible, I could have avoided the drama that came next, but there's a reason it's called "hindsight".

When the playroom door opened slowly, I completely expected it to be Maddie or Tish. The voice that greeted me, however, gave me no small amount of shock.

"Kaoru, darling, come with mommy please." Came a d soft, sickly sweet voice from the doorway.

I snapped my head around so fast I swear I almost dislocated something.

There, standing, in the playroom doorway in her usual finery, was Claire Verne; smiling sweetly in my direction no less.

You must understand my shock. Ever since she moved us to Verne house this woman has never set foot in the playroom, much less given us the time of day when not pretending to be a caring mother for the public. Sometimes I think she forgot she had children. It was the same way back home in the Onyx fief but to a lesser degree. I suspected it was because the Onyx estate was too small for her to completely avoid us and pretend we didn't exist.

You could blow me over with a feather. I didn't think she even had a clue where the playroom was, so her sudden appearance immediately put me on high alert. What was with that sticky sweet tone of voice? If anything, it made me even more wary of going anywhere with her.

I considered raising hell to draw attention and one of the servants here to make sure she wouldn't try anything, lest I have a good reason to drag her reputation through the mud, but doing so would probably put Verne on high alert as well, and I would hate to have to put his comeuppance on hold any longer.

I was not keen on finding out what she had in store for me though so I might have to risk it.

In the end I decided to go along for a bit to determine the threat level. Keeping my face completely neutral I stood from the fainting couch and walked towards her in a steady unhurried pace. Ronnie looked away from her game curiously and a little worried, but I just patted her head on my way past.

Claire's dark waist length hair was loose and falling down her back and bare shoulders. Her hair and dark green, embroidered dress contrasted sharply against the string of marble sized pearls resting at the base of her neck. Her heavily made up face and deep red lips were set in a disturbingly serene smile that did nothing to ease my apprehension.

Once I was in front of her she gave me another shock by reaching out a pale hand full of slender fingers with crimson painted nails to grasp my own smaller equally pale hand. It took all my self-control not to flinch and snatch my hand back. Instead I levelled her with my most innocent, childishly confused stare. She just continued to smile as she led me through the door. Stealthily I snuck out a hand to yank the same hidden cord really really hard.

When Claire lead me along a certain wing of the mansion I began to suspect where we were going, but kept quiet all the same, taking some comfort from the slight weight in my right pocket. If this situation was what I thought it was then I just might have a use for it.

Just as I suspected, we stopped in front of the doors of the master bedroom.

Their bedroom.