Governess

Driselle told them that her heart had yet to catch up with her mind. Then, it was no lie. Every word she told Jude and Milla was absolutely truthful. She was able to carry on through every busy day, too occupied to really dwell on how much her situation had changed. She simply had to keep going, day in and day out, and it wasn't too difficult to keep her mind occupied when there was enough on her plate for five governesses.

It wasn't until peace came that she found the reality and fatality of her situation sinking in. Now that she wasn't occupied by governess matters at nearly every waking moment, she had time to think about him, remember him. It left her with too much time lamenting the fact that she hadn't even been at his side in his final moments.

She left her brother behind to go shopping without a care or worry in the world. Though the political hardships to come were looming even back then, the thought never occurred to her that she wouldn't return to see him again after what seemed like the worst was over.

Now that she had fewer political duties to attend to, simply walking around the house made her memories of him seem all the more prominent. Time should have dulled them, but it seemed to be having the reverse effect.

It was easier for her to avoid stepping inside his room when she barely had time to lie down and sleep in her own. However, since those arduous circumstances changed, she found herself straying inside more often, too often. Every time, she felt as though she was intruding, even though he wouldn't be returning to his room again.

Some of the people of Sharilton questioned her decision to remain a part of Gaius' allied Rieze Maxia. They felt that Nachtigal's death was reason enough for Sharilton to return to being independent from Auj Oule and Rashugal and would even go as far as to say that her late brother would have taken the path of independence. Truly, she doubted that her brother would have tried to start trouble when literally the rest of the continent was allied under one man.

The discontent with her decision wasn't too widespread, but she was still very, very aware of it.

Regardless, Gaius seemed like a fair king. Sharilton hadn't faced any difficulty trading since he rose to power over both countries. She had tried to invite him to Sharilton to see the trade city and stay for a night, but the King of Rieze Maxia had yet to find the time. She couldn't blame him; the responsibilities of governing one city exhausted her at times, she didn't want to imagine ruling two countries reluctant to identify as one.

Elize was in Elympios and Rowen was goodness only knew where politics carried him. Their absences left Driselle alone in the house, save for the guards standing outside at the exits. She wandered down the overhead corridor and paused at the door to her room, hesitating before lowering her hand and walking farther down.

She stopped in front of her brother's door, staring at the doorknob. The metal used to be shiny when it was constantly being grabbed and turned, but disuse and sparse polishing from the new butler left the reflective surface cloudy. Instead of going inside, she leaned her back against the door and sank to the floor.

The solitude was lonely, but there were also some aspects of it that were relieving. She hugged her knees to her chest and let her head rest against them. She understood why she never saw she never saw her brother cry after he reached a certain age; neither a governor or a governess could let their guards catch up with them when anyone was there to see.

Author's Note:

Well…wasn't that cheerful? I started this very short oneshot over the summer when replaying Xillia 1 and coming across that subevent where Dirselle says that her heart hadn't caught up with her mind yet.

Then while I was at work, I was processing paperwork for someone named Klein and thought "oh, I should finish that miserable oneshot about npcs half the fandom forgot about!" The spelling may have been different from Cline but cloooose enough. =w=