I've made some changes to the previous two chapters, because I forgot that Rein should only know about the picnic in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Yours Faithfully

"A letter to you, m'lady."

Rein looked up. She was sitting in the garden with Fine, chatting as Graysole watered the plants. The sun's heat was weakened by a pleasant gale, and the Soleil twins thought that such a day should not be wasted. The servant who spoke fidgeted, awaiting an answer.

"To me?"

"Yes. It says Lady Rein. The maid from the Bijoux household gave it to me." Graysole eyed the messenger. "Didn't Camelot ask you to buy dinner? She didn't tell you to walk around chatting with friends, right?" he asked.

The servant blushed. "I'm sorry, sir."

"No need to call me sir. Run along to the kitchen."

When the servant had left, Rein reprimanded, "That was too harsh, Graysole. She's only a young girl."

Graysole chose to ignore her. "Who wrote that letter, m'lady? A secret admirer, eh?"

"I'll tell you who it isn't from. That man who stole Fine's necklace." Rein glared at her sister. Fine scratched her head, embarrassed. Rein had chastised her last night when Fine told her about the necklace, but agreed not to tell Elsa in case she, in Rein's words, 'threw a fit'. Instead, they trusted Graysole to tell the police. "Fancy having it stolen in broad daylight!"

Graysole frowned. "Didn't the Duke's men tell you to beware of East Bijoux?"

"I said I'm sorry. We'll get it back, right?"

"That depends on how efficient the police is. Scatterbrain," Graysole shook his head. "There are a lot of bad people in the world, Lady Fine, you must be more cautious."

Fine apologized red-facedly once more, while Rein cut open her envelope. "Who's it from?"

Immediately, Rein flushed and stood up. "It's private." With that, she ran back into the house. Puzzled, Graysole asked, "What's with her reaction?" Fine grinned. "Her secret admirer." Then, she ran after Rein.

Although Rein left first, Fine was the faster runner, and she soon caught up with her sister. The two rushed into their bedroom, and collapsed on Rein's bed, Fine giggling, Rein blushing. "Go away, Fine. I told you it's private."

"It's from the Bijoux household," Fine cooed. "It's from him, isn't it? That Bright fellow."

"He's not any fellow, Fine, he's Lord Bright."

"But you don't really say the 'Lord' bit, don't you?"

Rein felt the corners of her mouth lift up, and her face reddened with joy. Her sister rolled over to lie on her stomach. "Come on, Rein."

"It's just…Bright," Rein whispered timidly, and Fine shrieked with excitement. However, before she could utter any lucid comment concerning her opinion of Bright, Rein shoved her away and hid in the bathroom.

Only then did she unfold the letter with retrieving hands. It wrote:

Dear Rein,

It feels strange writing to you. We have only met yesterday, but I feel as though we understood each other instantly. Every worry I harbour seems to vanish when you spoke, and with you, I believed in the words of poets, with their descriptions of beauty only worth of the gods.

Art thou mineth star that God pick'd from heaven?

How frivolous I appear! Do forgive me, as my emotions have flooded me, and tricked me into writing such silly nonsense. But this is not nonsense! It is true that in my eye, the secular is unworthy of you.

How can a man proclaim that the love of his life is a woman he just met? Yet, I have faith that my feelings have not gone unnoticed, and I hope that one day, it will be returned.

If I asked you to have a picnic with me this Saturday (also with my sister who must tag along), would you say yes? I would love to learn more about you. And if yes, what food would you want me to prepare? When would you like me to arrive an escort you? I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Faithfully,

Bright

Rein reread the letter once, twice, until she was almost certain she could recite it. Bright's words were fancier, more elegant, and his intentions were obvious. If it weren't for his constant need to appear rigid and gallant, he would've summed the entire first half of the letters in five words:

I am attracted to you.

Rein sat in front of the bathroom door, holding the letter to her face, trying to breathe in its scent. It didn't matter that Fine was pounding at the door. All that she cared was the possibility of being with Bright. "Bright…" she visualized his sun-kissed hair, his gentle eyes, his thin lips. His lips! Rein giggled nervously, chastising herself for thinking that far. Unconsciously, her lips brushed the edge of the letter.

When she finally left the bathroom, Fine asked endless questions. "What did he write? Was it funny? Was it rude? Did he say he likes you? Or hates you? Come on, Rein, say something."

Rein turned, smiling. "First, we must ask Mother."

Without revealing any further, she sped down the stairs with Fine following. "Mother?"

"She's in the study," Lulu, Camelot's understudy, helped.

"Thank you."

Elsa was staring at the walls when the twins burst in. Panting, neither noticed their mother's melancholy eyes. "Yes, Rein, Fine?"

"Brightinvitedmetoapicnic," Rein immediately spoke.

"What?"

Rein took a deep breath, and tried again. "Lord Bright asked me whether I could go on a picnic with him this weekend."

Elsa froze. "Him? The son of Bijoux?"

"…Yes Mother."

"But…but why you?" She realised that she may have appeared petulant, and hastily added, "I mean, as friends?"

"Y-yes."

Elsa had begun to tremble, and her brow furrowed. Finally, as if she had made a significant decision, she said, "If Fine and Camelot comes along, I'll allow you to go."

"What?! But…"

"No Buts. I would not allow you to go out with a young man without being accompanied by a chaperone. Now go and attend Camelot's lessons. She's been waiting for you."

Rein groaned. She had originally considered the picnic a time for her to know more about Bright, to become more intimate with him, but now Fine and Camelot would be in the way. She sighed. Better luck next time.

That night, a group of drunk workers sang raucously, as they stumbled along the streets in East Bijoux. One of them was particularly rowdy, and dished out flirtatious remarks to any girl he saw. Some smiled coyly back, while others hurried on.

He stopped abruptly. There, just at the corner, stood a young girl. She looked no more than eighteen (of course, it was difficult to see in the dim street), with orange hair and matching eyes, a small cap fitted around her head. Her dress was tattered, revealing suggestive amounts of skin. "Had a good night, eh?" she smiled.

Burping, the man drew closer, his breath upon the girl. "And are you here to make it even better?"

The girl glanced behind him. "And where are you from?"

"Nearby factory. Tried a new pub. It was shit."

Once again, she smiled. "I'm not the expensive kind."

"How much?"

"Usually two pounds; but for you, sir, one only."

"Are you good?"

"Better with my hands."

The man and his friends laughed. "I'll take it."

After winking back at his friends, he let the girl lead him towards a small alley. "A quick one then. Take your dress off."

Suddenly, a stick swung in the dark, and knocked the man unconscious. Without further ado, the girl searched his pockets. "F***. Empty."

A pair of hands reached out from the darkness. "Inside his dungarees. Check." The girls rummaged through them. "Several coins, coins, coins, coins," she stuffed them all into her cap. Then, she grinned triumphantly. "A sovereign."

"Let's go."

The pair of hands shrunk back, and the girl stepped over the man, hugging the cap. Although it was dark, she was familiar with the alley, and quickly escaped through a side door. Behind her, the man's friends began to grumble and shout, "What's taking you so long?"

Still, she continued to run, across a backroom, then down a pair of stairs. She sensed that her partner was in front of her, silent, nimble. Smirking, she descended down to the gutter, and felt the walls closing upon her. She crouched, but paced as quick as when she was upright, until she heard a rush of water above her. 'The sewers,' she thought, and soon enough, the girl peered out of another hole, to see a young man sitting beside a stream of filthy water. "Got it?" he asked.

"Yup." She poured the contents of her cap before him. The man smiled, counting them, before unclenching his hand. A golden ring sat in its centre.

"Probably just metal, but worth a little."

"And the gold?"

"Painted. His dungarees were bright yellow weren't they?"

She sighed. "So that means I'll have to share half of the money then, Eclipse?"

Eclipse laughed. "We made a deal, didn't we? I get the jewellery, unless there aren't any valuable ones."

"Trust you to know people in the black market."

"I've been in this town for quite a while, Lione. If you've stayed here long enough, you'd probably know people too."

Lione put on her cap. "Quite a lot money for a factory worker."

"It's the end of the month; of course he's going to flaunt his salary in people's face. Probably wanted to 'get lucky'."

Both of them laughed. "Well, he crossed the wrong people," she said.

"Another one tomorrow night? Or the night after?"

She tilted her head, then said, "Tomorrow. I think I could pull it off again. Besides, my brother's coming to visit after tomorrow."

"Don't want him to know what risky business you're into?"

"He thinks I'm a maid at a posh house, and I'd rather he think that way. At least one person in the family has to have a clean reputation."

Eclipse nodded absent-mindedly. "Of course."

Well, Shade still has Fine's necklace, and being impatient, Fine and Rein tries to find it themselves…