Chapter IX


Vasile was right, Rose had to admit: the Diamonds did have an extensive library. And—she was loath to admit—the place was beautiful. Sure, it was unnecessarily posh, but it wasn't so decorative that it was… Oh what was the word Alfred used...overkill? She could have done without the high vaulted and painted ceilings, the random fireplaces, the marble floors, the tall windows, the plush velvet chairs, and the mahogany and gilded lining everywhere… But somehow, she didn't mind them. Somehow, they all managed to blend together nicely enough that it didn't detract from the beauty of the place.

Rose explored the first floor. (For reconnaissance purposes, of course. It's not like she genuinely appreciated the beauty of this French place. That would be absurd.) The strangest thing about the library wasn't the aura of magic—because old Kartojian buildings usually did—nor was it the enchanted swords on the wall—again, old building. No, the strangest thing about the library was the way it was organized. It wasn't some eccentric setup that made sense only to some *ahem* …creative mind. Nor was it organized by something arbitrary like color or the number of pages. No, the kicker was the fact that it was organized at all.

And then, as she explored further, she figured out how it was organized. Children's stories were downstairs, teenage novels were upstairs, and adult books were behind closed doors in a separate room upstairs. But regardless of age group, fiction was in the front half of the building, and nonfiction was in the back. After that, it was organized by topic, then alphabetically by author. And then each author's books were organized by publication dates, rather than by title. That way, if the author had written a series, then the series was in order. And on top of that, taped to the shelf next to every series was a laminated card with a list of the whole series in chronological order.

All in all, it was a convenient system. A very convenient familiar system… Wait a tick, it was exactly how the Spades library was organized! After all, it was Rose—well, Arthur, technically—who invented the system for the Spades library… But what was that system doing here? Francis hated Arthur and everything he did…didn't he?

But all of that left Rose's head when she heard immensely distressed thoughts. A child's, she could tell, from the sheer lack of coherent words. Older people were easy to figure out because they were capable of thinking to themselves. With children however… It was more like being able to sense their emotions, but they only made sense in context. But no matter what the context in this case was, she had to see if this child was okay. After all, there was an overwhelming sense of feeling lost… Why was this child lost in a giant library? Who in the hell was irresponsible enough to lose their bleeding child?! (And no, no she did not take this personally because of sympathy. It had nothing to do with the fact that her older brothers had lost her enough times. No, of course not—)

There, in the middle of the princess part of the children's fiction section, was a small girl in a pink pea coat, her pretty blonde hair in a crumpled-looking bow that hung loosely on one side of her face. Her glasses were smudged with tears, and she was miserably looking around, squeezing a hairbrush and… For God's sake, was that a box of bobby pins?! But the little girl had horribly tangled hair, as pretty as it was. And Rose immediately pieced together the source of the little girl's frustration. She was looking for someone to do her hair.

And before Rose realized what she was doing, she was on one knee in front of the little girl. "Hello there," she said gently.

The little girl quickly went from teary and scared to…well, even more teary and scared. And scared little thoughts began bulleting throwing her brain. Fortunately, Rose—well, technically Arthur—had lived with Alfred since forever, so she'd had more than enough experience with a quick brain. And this little girl was panicking. Not because of stranger danger, no of course not. Because this girl was French. And she spoke only French. But then again, this was the Diamonds kingdom. And this was only a little girl…

Rose sucked up her pride and said, "Comment t'appelles tu?"

The little girl stopped sniffling. According to the poor poppet's memories, strangers only ever talked to her in English, which she hardly understood…. "Je… Je m'appelle Marianne." There, nicely and politely, just like her big sister. But then nervousness set in again when little Marianne realized that her big sister wouldn't have stuttered…

Rose was mad all over again. The poor thing was so young, and she was already comparing herself to other girls! Rose had been down that road before… So she saved the poor thing from her own thoughts. "Marianne," Rose repeated, and in French she asked, "What seems to be the matter?"

And Marianne's lip was trembling all over again. "I couldn't find my big brother to help me fix my hair!" she exclaimed in rapid French. "I know he's always busy, so I thought I could do it by myself! But now I look horrible, so I thought I could find him somewhere, and I… I…" And Marianne dissolved into tiny little sobs.

Rose moved toward her slowly. She tapped the hairbrush. "May I try?"

Marianne looked at her with wide hopeful blue eyes… And Rose's heart jumped; she was suddenly reminded of Alfred… It must have been the glasses. But Marianne shyly gave her the brush and turned around. And Rose set herself to work, relaxing herself in the familiar task of untangling hair. She untied the ribbon and gently loosened knots with her fingers first.

"You have such nice hair," Rose commented.

Marianne sighed. "But it's so messy…"

"Maybe right now," Rose gently allowed. After all, polite saccharine lies were the worst, especially at such a vulnerable time. "But we can fix it," she continued quickly. And because she couldn't help herself, she added, "All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust." And, holding the little girl's hair in one hand and discretely conjuring a small spell in the other, Rose tossed a sprinkle of glitter into the air around Marianne.

Her mind surged with amazement. "How did…? Is it true then? Magic really does exist?!"

And that surprised Rose, and thankfully, she didn't suddenly jerk the brush in Marianne's hair in surprise. But still… Sure, there were people who definitely hated magic… All those "accidents" all those years ago proved that much. But it was a general consensus that it at least existed at some point, most people believing it dead or rare due to technology. But magic practically built Kartoj! For a modern Kartojian to deny the existence of magic was like giving a tour of Paris without mentioning the Eiffel Tower: you could do it, sure, but why would you?

…blood and thunder, did she seriously just compare magic to the most French city in the world? She made a mental note to check her temperature, read Shakespeare or some Victorian era novel, and drink a lot of tea later… All this French was getting to her head.

But, back to the present. "Who said it didn't?" she couldn't help but ask. At this point, all the tangles were gone, and she could run the brush smoothly through Marianne's hair.

"My big brother said that people would be better off without magic," Marianne sighed, and confusion filled her young mind again. "But my big sister said that someone close to him got hurt because they thought she was a witch."

Rose blinked. Well, that made sense at least. The last witch hunt and burning was only five years ago… "But what do you think, Mademoiselle Marianne?" Rose asked as she parted Marianne's hair for a braid.

And Marianne was amazed again. Apparently, only her family ever asked for her opinion. No one else cared to ask what she wanted… "Well, Teacher says magic is important to our history. Magic was for helping sick people and staying safe. So I really don't understand why witches have to be scary."

Cute and smart. Rose was really starting to like this girl. "People are just scared of what they don't understand. Or of what they can't control." Rose began to braid Marianne's hair. In a French braid, of course. This was the Diamond kingdom, after all.

Marianne's brain bloomed with a little bit of understanding. "Oh! It's like how I used to be scared of the dark because I couldn't see anything. But then my big brother gave me a nightlight! He also reads me bedtime stories since my big sister is usually with her friends!"

Rose paused in her braiding. Typical Frenchie. Partying too much to spend time with such an adorable little sister… But that older brother…

"I thought he was always busy?" Rose couldn't help but ask as she continued the braid.

"He always makes sure he has time for me. I can tell that he's tired sometimes. He works a lot, but we always cook together on Saturday mornings! And he always likes singing with me, and I love it when he teaches me how to dance like a lady," Marianne smiled fondly. "I love my big brother. Very much."

"He sounds like a good older brother," Rose commented. Nothing like her own older brothers. Then again, no one in her family was very touchy-feely besides their mother, not even Rose herself. Even she was a horrible older sibling: leaving Peter with Timo and Berwald because she knew she couldn't care for him herself… And despite knowing that her older siblings could never care for her either, she still resented them for not being there, so she knew Peter would only feel the same way…

"He is a nice big brother!" Marianne was saying. "I just wish he could help me with the ribbon part," Marianne sighed. "He usually just ponytails my hair and ties the ribbon around it. 'Just like your big brother,' he always says."

Rose tied off the braid and huffed. "Well, he's not not very creative, now is he?" Typical man… Rose glanced up to see a portrait of Lili, the Diamond Queen. Inspiration struck, and she knew what to do with the ribbon. "I think it's time you try something new," she said to Marianne.

Marianne looked curious. "Something new?"

"Turn around, s'il vous plait," Rose asked gently. When Marianne did so, Rose went out on a limb and gently removed Marianne's glasses. As she cleaned them of the earlier tear stains, Rose looked the little girl straight in the eye. "And oui, something new. After all, you are beautiful, you are special, and you deserve something different from your siblings." She gently placed the glasses back on Marianne's face and smiled softly. "Now, may I see your ribbon?"

Marianne shyly handed her the ribbon, watching as Rose tied the the soft material into a bow. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Box of bobby pins, s'il vous plait," Rose replied. Marianne gave them. "I'm pinning the ribbon to your bangs." Finishing with the girl's hair, Rose leaned back to inspect her handiwork.

Marianne looked at Rose nervously. "How…how do I look?"

Rose smiled. "Well, I think you should see for yourself." Rose stuck her hand in her pocket and quietly a mirror. She pulled the mirror out and handed to Marianne.

Marianne gasped. And for a while, she was speechless. But Rose knew from her thoughts that she was overjoyed with the results. "I…I'm so pretty!"

Rose shook her head. "You were already pretty. I just helped you to see it too."

Marianne looked up from the mirror and looked at Rose. "M-merci…" And suddenly, Marianne ran and hugged her.

Rose gently hugged her back. "De rien, petite."

Marianne pulled away, giving Rose a grin, and Rose noticed that some of her teeth were missing, and she even had tiny little baby teeth growing in. Goodness, she was adorable.

"I need to show this to Miss Emma!" And suddenly, Marianne was running excitedly in the direction of the front desk, where Bram's sister had a dayjob.

Rose smiled, watching the little girl go.

"That was very nice of you," someone said. Now this voice had startled Rose: a rare thing to do, what with her telepathy. But then again, the owner of this voice was a different kind of witch entirely.

"Don't go around telling people, LaFayette," Rose scowled, turning around to face her. "I have a reputation to uphold."

"Not really," Rebecca reminded her gently. "However… If you'll walk with me?"

Rose accepted, relieved to finally switch back to English. As they walked upstairs, Rose couldn't help but ask if she couldn't do some work at the Academy, seeing as Bram would probably check her story for authenticity.

"You're more than welcome to interview with Gilbert," Rebecca replied. "And I assume you're going to continue posing as someone else entirely. Which makes me want to ask something, if you'll pardon me doing so…"

Rose's scowl softened. "What is it?" Rose coaxed gently. Because for all her accomplishments, Rebecca LaFayette was still quite young. Alfred's age, actually. And Rose often forgot that the Academy Headmistress, with all her control over her students and her staff, was actually a very shy person, always extremely polite and afraid of offending someone.

"Well…how long do you plan on keeping up this cover?" Rebecca asked, eyes glued to the floor. "I'm just worried about you is all. I mean, so soon after the witch hunts…"

Rose sighed. "I'm going to pretend to be a Fairchild for as long as I can. After this whole magic disaster blows over, maybe I'll come clean. But for now…"

Rebecca shut her eyes in resignation. "I was afraid of that…"

Rose was surprised. "Why? This isn't my first time lying, you know."

"I do know," Rebecca replied. "You know I know what it's like to live a double life." Rose glanced down. Rebecca was wearing her gloves…

"I know you do," Rose said. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Because like my double life…" Rebecca began carefully. "Well, you'll now have to account for a soulmate."

Rose blinked. "How did you—?"

Rebecca gave a rare—if small and shy—smirk. "Your words are red."

"...oh…" And to think she had just made fun of Vasile for the same mistake…

"But you know what else is funny?" Rebecca mused. "You're afraid to meet with him again, but—"

In the distance, Rose heard a now-familiar French voice shouting. "Big Brother! Big Brother!" And despite her better judgement, Rose looked down over the balcony, just in time to see Marianne running into the arms of King Francis Bonnefoy himself.

Oh shit.

And Rose found herself turning and running away again.

Rebecca sighed. "I hope you find what you're looking for…" And the Headmistress began to walk back downstairs.


When Francis woke up today, he didn't exactly expect to have an existential crisis. Aside Antonio getting engaged (You're getting what?!), his morning was relatively normal: teaching his little sister how to cook breakfast, dropping her off at the library so she could have her lessons with Mademoiselle LaFayette, dealing with some paperwork… All in all, a boring morning.

But Francis walked towards the Diamond library, his mind kept turning back to Antonio's engagement. So soon after Romano disappeared? It couldn't have been good for Antonio's state of mind: marrying someone he didn't even know so soon after someone he loved disappeared. See, Francis had always had this theory that Antonio loved Romano in some capacity. It wasn't quite romantic: Antonio was too friendly to settle down with a lover. But Antonio's behavior with Romano… It was about as close to romantic as Francis had ever seen him. Romano was special to Antonio: that much was clear. But now Romano was gone, and Antonio would have to bottle all his mourning for Romano just to make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch. But Francis was understandably concerned for his friend. It wasn't healthy to bottle grief. Francis knew that from experience.

A familiar voice broke into his thoughts. "Big Brother! Big Brother!"

Francis instinctively dropped to a crouch as his little sister ran to hug him. "How are you, Marianne?"

Marianne grinned her adorable grin with missing baby teeth. "Look at my hair, Big Brother! Isn't it pretty?" She even twirled, the adorable girl.

Francis gasped. "Mon Dieu, it's beautiful! Did Mademoiselle Rebecca do it?"

"Nope!" Marianne smiled. But then it dropped off her face into a look of horror. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Big Brother! I know you know you told me not to talk to strangers, but she was so nice! And she spoke French—"

"Marianne, it's okay!" Francis soothed. "You're not in trouble." But Francis couldn't help but think that this was weird. Who on earth was this French-speaking stranger who had been so nice to his little sister? Most of the flirts that tried to get to Francis through his sister spoke English…

It was out of Francis's mouth before he could stop it. "What did she look like?"

"Well, she had blonde hair in pigtails and the prettiest green eyes," Marianne described. "And she had glasses, just like me!"

And Francis's heart stopped. No. It couldn't be…

"Oh her?" a voice inquired, and Francis looked up to see Emma. "Bram just texted me about her. According to her papers, her name is Rose Fairchild. She just moved, and she plans on seeking a job with the Academy. For now, though, Vasile is showing her around, but since he's in a lesson and she's looking for a job with the Academy anyway, Rebecca went to go find her."

Now, Francis tried so hard not to sound desperate, but he couldn't help but ask a barrage of questions. "What?! You saw her?! She's here?! Where?!"

Poor Marianne looked panicked now. "Big Brother? Are you okay?"

Francis suddenly realized what he was doing. "Désolé, it's just that… She's my soulmate. And I have to know why she walked away from me! Is she not as excited to have me as a soulmate? Was she disappointed? I don't get it!"

"Maybe," Rebecca interrupted. "She's scared to meet you? So perhaps she's decided instead to focus on getting that Academy job...?"

Unfortunately, Francis wasn't listening. "Why do I feel a need to go in this direction...?"

And off he went in the direction of the staircase.


Now, when Rose had finally calmed down, she easily found what she was looking for. It was a section way in the back: the "adult graphic content" section. And since most people were too embarrassed to publicly walk here, she didn't even have to worry about anyone seeing her break into the locked office behind it. She supposed that, considering where the dark locked office was, most people assumed it was a place for lovers to escape if they couldn't make it home. But Rose knew the real reason that most people subconsciously avoided the room. The artifacts inside naturally exuded magic, so most modern Kartojians, unfamiliar with the sensation of magic, tended to avoid the weird feeling it gave. And while it saddened Rose that they ignored their natural magical instincts… At least magic wouldn't end up in the wrong hands.

With a quick unlocking spell, Rose slipped into the room, silently shutting the door behind her. It was dark, but the room sensed the presence of a magic user, so the lanterns along the walls lit up. It was way larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside: structurally, it resembled a lighthouse, with bookshelves spiraling up as far as the eye could see. (Which wasn't very far. It was still kind of dark, even with the torches.) But neither the eerie environment nor the grand spectacle really fazed Rose. She only felt exhausted because she had a lot of books to look through. She sighed, walking into the center of the circular and mentally summoning a notebook, a pad of sticky notes, and a pencil from her desk in her apartment. Then she spied a broom leaning against a nearby bookshelf.

Well, this makes things slightly easier. Concentrating, she summoned the broomstick and had it float parallel to the floor. She then sat on it, balancing carefully. Once she was sure she could stay on the broom, she made the broom fly up towards a top shelf. Now, she could technically have made herself float upwards herself, but that would take more of her energy than telling an inanimate object to carry her. Besides, she needed to read and carry multiple books, not to mention take notes: all with her telekinesis. And she was drained enough as it was…

Oh well. No rest for the weary.


Was it hours later? Rose could feel herself start to sway…

No. She had to keep reading. Especially since she had finally found what she was looking for in the library. At the moment, she had several books floating around her, each open to the same magical creature. She was also telekinetically writing her findings in a notepad, all while maintaining her broom-chair… Normally, using her telekinesis to multitask would have been child's play. After all, between the Fae blood in her veins and the fact that the Kirklands were once one of the most powerful magical bloodlines in Kartoj… Rose, by every account, was one hell of a powerful witch. But she was still essentially human. And the fact that she hadn't slept since she had turned back from being Arthur…

No. She had a job to do…

But why can't you work from that desk in the corner? a voice nagged in her head.

Because I haven't had the full access of my powers in years, she shot back. I need to get back to pushing my limits. That is how I got this good with magic.

Still. This seems a little excessive

But the sooner I get done, the sooner I get to go home and shower. My hair is getting gross, and I can't just keep summoning clothes from home. And all the laundry I keep sending home… I'm going to have to it at some point…

…great. She was arguing with herself, when she had so much to do!

You know what? Fine. I'll get down. You win. And so, still with her telekinesis, she marked her pages with the sticky notes, shut her notebook, and slipped her mechanical pencil in the spiral binding. Then she mentally summoned a backpack from her apartment, packed her backpack, and slipped it onto the broom handle. Then finally, finally, she carefully began to lower the broom to the floor. And yet with all her power and magic ability, only now did she begin to feel her energy truly draining.

Just a little more… she thought to herself. And she pitched all of her concentration towards her descent. She was wobbling a little…

Steady…steady…

See, pushing herself so much meant that she knew her limits. And she knew that she was starting to get to the point where she had to keep all of her focus on maintaining the spell. If anything, anything, broke her concentration, everything would shut down.

Al…most…

Almost to the ground or almost to her breaking point? She couldn't tell anymore…

Suddenly, the door flung open!

How did my telepathy not pick up their presence?

And at the sight of the person at the door, her brain froze.

Her concentration broke.

The broom, her bag, and she started falling…

And suddenly, the world was black.


A/N: Okay, first of all, italics in quotation marks are the characters speaking in French. Pardon what little French I actually write.

Marianne is Monaco. I have a different name for Fem!France, who may or may not show up.

As for Rebecca... She's an OC. And I know most people hate OCs in this fandom, but she has a purpose. I swear.

But I know. I didn't spend too much time with Francis, but I hope to write more with him in the next chapter. Rose and Francis will finally have a real conversation in the next chapter. I hope...

On a final note, I'm surprised no one caught the tiny Hamilton reference in the last chapter...