This time, the chapter isn't that long. I still did a ridiculous amount of research though. For the last chapter I was studying Welsh dishes, Welsh tales, simple sentences, stared at pics of Welsh scenery... Looked up if sign language already existed in 1847, read a lot about sunstrokes and the difference between it and a heat stroke (and hopefully successfully inserted symptoms/triggers for a sunstroke in the chapter)... And much more. I even searched for Welsh feasts and slightly changed the chapter's set-in-date, so Cloudia and Cedric could celebrate Lammas - only for it being ultimately cut. But, I think, nothing will outmatch the fact that I actually looked up the distance between Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Botanic Garden and the average speed of a carriage, so it wouldn't be an odd rendezvous point.
Whatever.
This time, I had fun looking up clothes and more clothes - and reading about flower language. Or Italian addresses. (I even looked through the Italian Wikipedia for that.) Or Welsh tales. (It won't leave me anymore.)
Whatever.
I hope you will enjoy the last chapter of the "Inner London Murders Arc"! :)
Chapter Nine:
The Countess, Meeting the Queen
"You couldn't meet one Queen without meeting the other one."
London, England, United Kingdom ‒ August 1847
The moment Cedric and I returned to my townhouse in London, we received a letter from the Queen. I had to fight my urge to immediately destroy the message, go straight back to my manor and tell the Queen, if she asked why I didn't do what she had requested from me, that I simply hadn't received it. That it had got lost before it reached me after my return.
But, of course, she would know that if I lied to her, so I didn't even try. I took the letter from Newman with a sigh. I would read it later.
"Did you have two enjoyable weeks in Wales, Lady Cloudia?" Newman asked after Cloudia had taken the Queen's letter. He and Lisa had awaited Cloudia and Cedric in the townhouse. Originally, they had wanted to pick them up at the train station, but Cloudia had told them that they didn't have to. Now, Lisa and Newman were standing in the otherwise empty entrance hall and welcomed their mistress and her investigative partner back. A few other servants had taken Cedric's and Cloudia's luggage.
"Surely, Newman," Cloudia answered him politely. "The weather was wonderful; such was the scenery. The cottage's cook was a brilliant man, and the landlady was very friendly too, even though she was very talkative. Overall, I spent two very nice weeks in Wales, although the Duke nearly got me killed on one occasion. I wished that you and Lisa had accompanied me. You would have liked it too. I regret my decision not to take you with me.
"But I promise that I will take you two with me when I revisit Wales."
Newman bowed in front of her. "You are a true lady of benevolence, Lady Cloudia."
Behind Cloudia, Cedric struggled to hold back a laugh.
Lisa looked suspiciously at Cedric like she did with every man she didn't get to know better. Every man who knew about the true nature of the Phantomhive family and its head, of course. As a maid, Lisa could never look like that at some ignorant man. However, she surely scowled at such ignorant men in her mind.
"Duke Underwood attempted to murder you, Mylady?" Lisa asked, not taking her gaze from Cedric. She was remarkably beautiful with her shoulder-long light brown hair and her dark green eyes. But her lovely emerald eyes could also pierce someone in an eerily easy manner.
"He invited me to a picnic. However, I got a sunstroke, and was bed-ridden for a couple of days," Cloudia told her. "It wasn't like he tried to stab me while I slept."
Cedric giggled a bit. "Only when you didn't notice it, Countess."
Lisa's gaze got sharper, and Cloudia could see Cedric swallow. A small impish grin sneaked on her face when she saw this.
Apparently, Cedric was only exceptionally polite to Lisa because he wanted her to like him – and to get her to stop mapping out the perfect murder plan to get rid of him every time they met.
"Well, I am tired from the long travel, Newman. Would you be so nice as to prepare some tea for the Duke and me?" Cloudia asked her butler who bowed at her in response.
"Of course, Lady Cloudia." Despite his stature, Newman managed to be as silent as a cat, when he turned around and headed towards the kitchen.
"Lisa," Cloudia said to her maid. "Please be so kind and unpack my luggage for me. When you are done, you are free to do anything you want until I give you another request."
Lisa curtsied in front of her. "Yes, Young Mistress," she replied, quickly taking a final look at Cedric before heading towards Cloudia's chambers.
"I still want to know how you found these two odd fellows," Cedric told her when they went to the townhouse's drawing room.
"Not now," she waved aside. In the middle of the drawing room was a round table with a few chairs around them. Cloudia sat down at one of them.
"I am too exhausted to tell you such a long story. Two long stories."
Cedric sighed. "Very well. But someday I will get you to tell me these stories, Countess. You can count on it." He sat down too. "But now, tell me: what did the Queen write to you today?"
Cloudia opened the letter with a paper knife which had lain on the table. Newman had probably placed it there – after receiving the letter, he would have known that she wanted to open it while taking a rest in the drawing room after her arrival. He was as courteous as always.
Cloudia read the letter and sighed deeply when she finished it. "Prince Albert has to stop her from writing any letters while pregnant," she said grumpily and handed the letter to Cedric. "She's always too silly for anyone's taste when she's pregnant."
"'My dear Cloudia, I hope that you spent two enjoyable and refreshing weeks in Wales'," Cedric read the first sentence of the letter and already giggled.
"Please continue," Cloudia mumbled and massaged her temples. Her headache was starting again.
"'Hopefully, the cottage and the servants I provided you were after your fancy. Surely it was not bothersome to take Duke Underwood with you? My greatest wish would come true if you were able to spend two lovely weeks in Wales, far away from any civilisation. And my second-greatest wish would become reality if you let me meet this young man you are always speaking of.'"
He looked up and raised one eyebrow. "You're always speaking of me, Countess?"
"Just continue, Undertaker."
"'While writing this letter, I came across the thought that you have not visited me in quite a while now, Cloudia. You reported to me the outcome of the last four cases via letters and did not tell me about them in person. The Underworld never sleeps. Thus your work never ends – but is it not possible for you to visit me in Buckingham Palace for a cup of tea like we used to do so often when you were just a child and I merely a young, inexperienced queen? I can still remember your cute, childlike face. You were so incredibly adorable as a child, even though, I have to admit, you wore the same grumpy expression back then which you wear now.'" Cedric chuckled, and Cloudia groaned.
"'But I do not intend to write a novel about our lovely tea parties, which are, sadly, now part of the past. I intend to invite you to Buckingham Palace, and tell me about Wales – and whether Mr Owens is still adept at cooking meals like directly brought from heaven? My beloved Albert wants to see you again too, and Vicky, Bertie, Alice, Affie, and Lenchen miss their dear 'Aunt Lou.' Also – you have seen Lenchen only once, have you not? You need to see her now; she has become much more precious after growing out of her baby phase.'" He looked up. "'Aunt Lou'?"
"The Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales started calling me like that when they met me for the first time. They were just little children and had problems pronouncing 'Cloudia,' although my name is rather not difficult to pronounce. However, they started calling me 'Lou,' and have completely forgotten that it isn't my actual name. Later on, the two told their siblings that I am their 'Aunt Lou.' Thus Queen Victoria's and Prince Albert's numerous children keep calling me that, no matter what I do," Cloudia explained to him grumpily.
Cedric chuckled. "How old are they by the way?"
"Right now?"
"No. I want to know how old they would have been in 1666 during the Great Fire of London if they had been immortals born during Augustus' reign."
Cloudia scowled at him before she said: "Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, is six; Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, is five – and yes, they named their first two children after themselves –; Princess Alice is four; Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, turned three today – and Princess Helena is only one year old. And next spring there will be another royal child to list."
"They have a lot of kids," Cedric pointed out.
"I keep telling her that all the time. But they just continue having more and more of them. Queen Victoria probably just does it to have more children, who can annoy me by calling me 'Aunt Lou.' And now, continue reading this ridiculousness of a letter."
"'How about you visit me in a week – on Saturday, the fourteenth? I guess, this should be fine. I look forward to seeing you again, my dear Cloudia. Your old friend, Queen Victoria. PS: It would be splendid if you were able to bring Duke Kristopher Underwood with you.'"
Cedric burst into a short, bitter laugh when he finished the letter, which was quite unusual for him.
"The Queen wants me to come too?"
"See? She's being silly," Cloudia said and sunk into her chair.
"Also... apparently the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland considers you an old friend," Cedric remarked and giggled. "You're such a liar, Countess. You do have friends after all!"
"Queen Victoria is not my friend. She is the Queen and my employer. I can't help it if she's a ridiculous person by nature. Pregnant women do not invite people or go to invitations, by the way. Her request is absolutely inappropriate."
"Well..." He put the letter down on the table. "Will you go?"
"I have to," Cloudia groaned and sat up straight again. Her head was beginning to feel numb. "She will send me a million letters otherwise. And if I weren't her personal assassin, she would surely put out a contract on me." She rubbed her eyes. "Also – what I want to say is that you will have to accompany me to Buckingham Palace."
"No way," Cedric said automatically. "I will not meet the Queen. I am dead, I am a supernatural creature, I was never of any high class – not when I was alive, and surely not now. I cannot meet her."
"That does not matter, Undertaker. Victoria wrote 'splendid' in bold and with a different pen than the one she used for the rest of the letter. A different pen with a thicker point. She is serious. If I come to Buckingham Palace without you, it will be the end of us. And do not underestimate the Queen. She will find you and punish you if you skip her little tea party – no matter if you are a Grim Reaper or not."
"I don't want to go. I know a lot about the etiquette, but not enough to meet a queen. And I don't want to have another one of your murderous teaching lessons."
"Don't be a baby, Undertaker," Cloudia said. "It will be fun. The lessons will be fun; the tea party will be fun. Perhaps the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales will come up with a fancy nickname for you too? 'Uncle Kris'? 'Uncle Krissy'? 'Uncle Woody'? 'Uncle Topher'? 'Uncle Glasses'? 'Uncle Toph'? And how about 'Uncle Tophy'? Or..."
"Just stop it," Cedric interrupted her.
Newman entered the drawing room – two porcelain teapots, a sugar bowl, another bowl, two silver spoons, two tea cups, a plate with biscuits on it, and a honey dipper on the tray which he was carrying. He put the tray on the table and placed the cups in front of Cedric and Cloudia respectively.
"I am sorry for being late," Newman said. "Miss Agatha had problems with the laundry and asked me to lend her a hand."
Cloudia scowled for a split second before she nodded, smiling at her butler. "Very well. You are excused."
He lowered his head. "Thank you, Lady Cloudia." He straightened up and raised one can. There was a beautiful flower pattern on it.
"I prepared Earl Grey tea," Newman announced and filled Cedric's cup. Then, the butler put the can down.
"Do you want to have any sugar with your tea, Your Grace?"
"No thanks, Alfred," Cedric replied politely, and Newman raised the other can and poured hot milk into Cloudia's cup.
"I saw the pained look on your face, Lady Cloudia. Therefore, I prepared hot milk with honey for you."
Cloudia smiled tiredly at him. "Thank you, Newman."
Newman was a true treasure. Every pirate would put him in a chest, and bury him in some desert island far away.
Newman put honey into the milk. "Do you need anything else, Lady Cloudia?"
"No thanks, Newman. You are dismissed," she said. Her butler bowed in front of her and silently left the drawing room.
"Alfred is really creepy," Cedric said after Newman was gone, and put a biscuit into his mouth.
"He is just observant," Cloudia replied, and took a sip. She could taste the sweetness in her mouth, and the warmth filled her belly and the rest of her body.
What would people do without hot milk with honey? She honestly did not know. Cloudia already felt her headache decreasing.
"How did you meet him again?"
"We already spoke about this topic," Cloudia reminded him. "And I hope you are not becoming senile?"
"I don't become senile. I just wanted to exploit the fact you are having a headache to try getting this story out of you."
"You are not sneaky enough for that, Undertaker," she stated and stood up after she had finished her hot milk with honey. "Seven months are not enough to learn to be sneaky enough for anything."
"And how long did it take you to become 'sneaky enough'?" Cedric wanted to know.
Cloudia stopped in the doorway and looked at him over her shoulder. "I am a Phantomhive. Being sneaky and wicked is in my blood. And now, excuse me. I am tired and want to go to sleep. Eat as many biscuits as you wish. And please, do not bother my servants. We will start the preparations for the Queen's tea party tomorrow. Good night, Undertaker."
With these words, she turned around and left the drawing room.
"And why exactly do we need to get new clothes?" Cedric asked innocently when they drove with the carriage to a tailor's shop the next day. It was a bright day outside – and the English gentry hurried to prepare as many parties, soirées and similar social events as they could before this year's Season ended. Because Cloudia was "Lady Phantomhive" for the public, she received a lot of invitations for these events. Even Cedric, who slowly became known as "Duke Kristopher Underwood from America who is always at Lady Phantomhive's side," obtained a few invitations. As nobles – or a noble and an impostor – they had to attend at least one or two of these events per Season. From May to the middle of July, Cloudia and Cedric had been drowned in Watchdog work. The last few weeks of July and the first days of August, they had spent in Wales. Thus they hadn't attended any party until now.
As a consequence, they would have to go to one of those "last-minute" Season events. Cloudia fairly wasn't looking forward to them. And, surely, Cedric wasn't too either.
However, they had to think of another, more important thing now: the audience in Queen Victoria's drawing room, or simply "Victoria's little tea party."
"We are going to meet the Queen of the United Kingdom," Cloudia told him in annoyance. "There are specific rules to follow for such an opportunity. We need to get certain clothes, for example."
"What kind of clothes?" Cedric asked suspiciously.
"For you, an elegant uniform – and for me, a pure white dress."
"A white dress?"
She nodded. "It's regulation. I will also have to wear my hair up."
"You always wear your hair up, Countess."
"I will have to wear my hair up in a different style." Cloudia sighed. "It's a very loose style, and absolutely inappropriate for fighting. I don't like it very much."
"I don't think that you will have to fight while attending the Queen's audience." He chuckled.
"Generally speaking, of course. Also, I will have to wear a veil. I always feel like I'm getting married when I visit the Queen."
Cedric burst into laughter. "How do you even intend to get married?" he asked after he had stopped laughing. "You are engaged to a fictional Earl, after all."
"Don't worry about that," Cloudia waved aside. "I thought about everything just before I was decorated. I was the one who came up with the usage of a fictional 'Earl of Phantomhive' after all." She leaned back. "Someday, I will just have to create myself an Earl. Like I created 'Duke Kristopher Underwood.' On that day, I will turn that lie into reality."
"I think you read Frankenstein far too often, Countess."
"I read Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley only twelve times," Cloudia replied. "Also, I do not intend to build myself a husband."
"Only twelve times? I think you don't know the true meaning of the word 'only,' Countess."
"Is twelve times very much? I read Oliver Twist at least fifty times, and Emma around seventy times. I also read all eighteen volumes of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia twenty-seven times each, and all twenty volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica around nine times."
"How the hell did you get so much free time?"
Cloudia shrugged. "I read them so often before I became Watchdog."
"You were a lonely child, weren't you?" he asked and sounded surprisingly sad.
"I was trained to become the Watchdog ever since my sixth birthday. While skipping classes and running away from my teachers and maids, so I could read and teach myself everything on my own, I was not visited much by my cousins. Prior to my father's death, they used to visit me a lot – and I visited them a lot. Later on, we only saw each other at birthday parties, or when it was Easter or Christmas. It was nice, though. I liked being on my own. However, after I was decorated, Constantia and the others started visiting me more often, albeit not as much as in the past," Cloudia explained to him.
"You were lonely," he said again, his voice strangely soft. "I didn't have a wonderful childhood – but I was never lonely until the very end."
She stared at him with thin lips. "My childhood ended when my father died," Cloudia said dryly, turning towards the carriage's window, and thus ending their conversation.
Donna Antonia Rossini's tailoring wasn't a very well-known business in London, as it was just a tiny shop in a side street of this big city. However, it was a very charming place due to its vivid owner, and the way she had decorated it. And Donna Rossini was a true genius when it came to tailoring. But because she didn't want to do advertisements for her shop, or move into a larger building in a livelier area, her wonderful work wasn't well-known. Only those who got lost and stumbled upon her tailor's shop like someone would stumble over a treasure of gold, or her close friends knew about Donna Rossini and her creations, which could be easily labelled as "true works of art."
At age thirteen, Cloudia Phantomhive had gone to London during 1843's Season with the old butler of her father, Theodore Clifford. He had served her well until she found Alfred Newman and let him go into retirement – something which Clifford had definitely earned. However, when Cloudia had walked with Clifford to a bookstore to buy Past and Present by Thomas Carlyle, they almost encountered Constantia Matthews and her maid, Maria. To prevent Constantia and Maria seeing them, Cloudia ordered Clifford to escape with her through some side streets – and eventually, they took shelter in Donna Rossini's tailoring.
Antonia Rossini had been very friendly to them after Cloudia had explained the situation to her and even offered them tea and sweets. They had talked and chatted, while Donna Rossini grew fond of Cloudia and adored her tall, slender frame, her ivory skin, and her raven hair – telling Cloudia that she was every dressmaker's "dream-model." From that day on, Cloudia got almost all of her dresses made by Antonia. Many noblewomen complimented Cloudia's dresses, and asked her who the tailor was; however, Antonia Rossini's motto was "If it happens, it happens," and thus did not like advertisements, so Cloudia never told anyone where she got her clothes. Besides, it always amused her how enraged the noblewomen became when she kept refusing to tell them her tailor's name, no matter how long they asked her for it.
Their carriage stopped in front of "Sartoria Rossini." Newman opened the carriage's door and helped Cloudia out. Cedric got out of the carriage by himself, and he and Cloudia headed towards the dressmaker's shop while Newman stayed by the carriage.
Cloudia opened the door and a little bell rung.
Sartoria Rossini smelled heavily like lavender. The whole shop was cramped with Baroque furniture and paintings; the brown wallpapers featured a light brown, symmetrical, "rolling" flower pattern, while a big aubergine carpet with black and golden flower borders graced the floor. From the ceiling hung a little chandelier which illuminated the shop in warm, golden light. Elaborately crafted vases harboured dark blue irises, orange marigolds, deep red cannas, raspberry red peonies and light pink hollyhocks. Their different scents somehow harmonised perfectly with the heavy smell of the lavender.
Although the shop always seemed to explode from the ridiculous amount of Baroque furniture, everything was always in order, and overall, the store was very neat.
"I heard customers!" Donna Antonia Rossini's voice sounded from upstairs. The following moment, she stepped downstairs.
As always, Antonia Rossini wore very colourful, but simply tailored clothing which did not underline her physique. Her shoulder-long black curls framed her round, rosy face in an unordered manner – they were just untameable. Her eyes were dark green and shone with vitality.
"Contessa Claudia!" the Donna said joyfully. "I have not seen you in a while!"
She hurried towards Cloudia and hugged her lightly.
We knew each other for four years – and unlike Constantia, Antonia Rossini was actually able to learn from mistakes.
Antonia let go of Cloudia and held her at arm's length. "You become more and more beautiful with every passing day!"
Then, Donna Rossini finally noticed Cedric.
"Mamma mia! Who is the young man you have brought with you? Is it your mysterious promesso?" The dressmaker scrutinised him.
Cloudia shook her head. "This is Duke Kristopher Underwood. He is a good friend of mine from America."
Antonia Rossini laughed and headed towards Cedric. "You're a very tall and slim young man, did anyone say that to you?" She poked him in the chest with one of her long fingers. "The clothes you wear are certainly made of very little fabric." She chuckled at her own little joke.
Then, suddenly, Antonia put a hand over her mouth, and her eyes widened. "Mamma mia! I have almost forgotten to introduce myself! I am Donna Antonia Rossini, a humble tailor, Vostra Eccellenza."
Cedric giggled. Probably he liked the way Antonia spoke. "I am Duke Kristopher Underwood, Donna Rossini. It's an honour to meet you, even though you are a humble tailor."
Donna Rossini giggled too. Cloudia rolled her eyes.
Perhaps, I should have brought Cedric to another tailor and gone to Donna Rossini on my own.
Cloudia cleared her throat. "Donna Rossini, the Duke and I will be meeting Queen Victoria in her drawing room on August 14," she said, guiding the conversation towards the reason for their coming to Sartoria Rossini. "It will be the first time that the Duke meets the Queen. Therefore, we need some suitable clothes for this special occasion."
Antonia clasped her hands together. "Mamma mia! An audience!" She patted Cedric's back. "What a lucky man you are, Duca!"
She turned towards Cloudia. "Let me guess – you also need a new dress, Vostra Grazia?" Cloudia nodded, and Donna Rossini started to laugh again. "Naturalmente! I knew you would." The dressmaker closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again.
"Sì! Sì! I see it! Excuse me, please! Scusa!" With these words Antonia Rossini hurried upstairs, leaving Cedric and Cloudia alone in the shop. Tired, Cloudia sat down on one of Donna Rossini's lovely Baroque chairs. This one had a golden frame, cushions in a duller tone of gold, and no armrests.
"Donna Rossini is a very cheerful person," Cedric stated and eyed a gold and brown dresser with impressive and very detailed engravings. "However, I noticed something."
Cloudia raised an eyebrow. "You noticed something?"
He turned towards her, the dresser was suddenly forgotten. "Jokes aside. Donna Rossini called you 'Contessa,' the Italian equivalent to 'Countess.'"
"You know Italian?"
"No! But 'Contessa' is just too awfully similar to 'Countess' for me not to know."
"So? 'Proprio' sounds similar to 'proper,' however, it is the Spanish word for 'own.' The Spanish word for 'proper' is 'verdadero.' So your argument is not decisive, Undertaker," Cloudia countered and leaned back.
"But does 'Contessa' mean 'Countess'?"
"Yes." She brushed non-existent dust from her cornflower blue dress.
"I hate you."
Cloudia shrugged.
Cedric scowled at her and cleared his throat. "What I want to say is... Why does Donna Rossini know about your proper title?"
She rolled her eyes. "Undertaker – I told her about my engagement. She thinks my betrothed is an Earl, and, even though I am not married yet, Donna Rossini already calls me that, because that will be my title after my marriage." Then, Cloudia grinned wickedly and rested her head on one of her hands – an action which would have been a bit easier with a chair with arm rests.
"Did you worry that I just got you to meet one of my Aristocrats of Evil without telling you? One of the most devilish aristocrats in the United Kingdom? Were you ready to pee yourself?"
"I am a Grim Reaper, Countess. I don't pee myself," Cedric replied grimly.
"But you do sing children's songs to cheer yourself up."
"I thought we were done with this topic."
Her grin widened the moment before Antonia Rossini came back.
"I just doodled my first ideas for your special clothes!" she announced and took a measuring tape out of the dresser, Cedric had examined a few minutes earlier, in a fluent, fast movement.
"Vostra Eccellenza! I need to take a few measures! But first..." Donna Rossini batted one eyelid in Cloudia's direction. "Vostra Grazia! Contessa Claudia! Surely, you have grown since the last time we met?"
Cloudia rose from her chair and smoothed her dress. "Perhaps," she answered.
Antonia laughed. "You have always grown a bit when you visit me! You are such a bella e alta bambina, Contessa!" Joyfully, she linked arms with Cloudia. "Let's measure you, Contessa Claudia! And you are the next one, Duca Cristoforo."
While Donna Rossini led me upstairs, I heard Cedric almost choking on her words. Undoubtedly, he did not like it to be called "Duca Cristoforo." And undoubtedly, he would hear this address more often.
A grin sneaked upon my lips when I walked up the stairs, my arm linked with Donna Rossini's.
After we had wrapped up our business with Donna Rossini, and she promised us that the uniform and the dress would be ready on August 13, Cedric and I headed back to the townhouse. The following six days, I prepared Cedric for his first audience with the Queen. The only breaks I got during that time where when he was out doing Grim Reaper work. I also instructed him to somehow manage to get off work on August 14, or the whole plan would shatter, and Cedric would die once more. He nodded and said that he would just request a day off.
Exhausted and sleep-ridden, Cedric and I sat down in the townhouse's library and did nothing in the evening on August 13. In the last days, I had trained him even through the nights, but tomorrow was the audience, and we couldn't appear with dark circles under our eyes.
At exactly nine o'clock in the evening, Newman knocked on the library's door and told us that he had successfully retrieved the clothes from Sartoria Rossini. I had thanked him before he left the room.
Cedric and I talked for a few minutes before we just couldn't stay awake anymore. Using the rest of our strength, we said good night to each other and headed towards our respective bedrooms.
"I look silly," Cedric Rossdale said the next morning after Newman had helped him getting into Donna Rossini's hand-made uniform.
"It actually suits you," Cloudia Phantomhive replied from behind a folding screen. Lisa still helped her getting into her dress.
"You can't even see me!"
A few moments later, Lisa stepped out from behind the folding screen and narrowed her eyes at Cedric. You could almost feel the suspicion she held towards Cedric on your skin, and touch it with your bare hands.
"Lisa, please be so nice as not to murder the Duke today – the Queen will not be pleased. You may do it tomorrow," Cloudia said and stepped out from behind the screen. Immediately, Cedric's eyes widened at the sight of her.
"You... you..."
"Countess, may I speak up?" Lisa asked her mistress.
"You may, Lisa."
She lowered her head. "You are too kind, Mylady." Then, Lisa cleared her throat. "Apparently, the Duke is going to soak the carpet with his saliva – should I go and fetch a bowl for him, Mylady?"
Cloudia grinned but shook her head. "You don't need to, Lisa. The Duke will not soak the carpet with his saliva – right, Duke?"
Cedric needed a few seconds to answer. "Uh... well... yes..."
The two women grinned at each other before Cloudia sat down on a chair and Lisa started coiffing the hair of her mistress.
"Well, Duke, you do look quite nice in the uniform," Cloudia informed him while her hair got fixed.
He cleared his throat. "You look... marvellous, Countess."
"I changed my mind – Lisa, please go and get a bowl for the Duke."
"Yes, Young Mistress," Lisa replied, and was about to leave when Cedric cried out.
"Wait – no! I will not dribble on the carpet!" he protested.
"But, Duke, it is looking quite a lot like you will. Are you absolutely sure that you will not need a bowl?" Cloudia said mischievously.
Cedric scowled at the two women who grinned at each other devilishly. "I just complimented on your dress, Countess."
"While you were about to taint my carpet," she added, amused.
"Why am I even talking to you?"
"Because no one else wants to talk to you?"
"You're mean."
"And it is absolutely inappropriate, Duke Underwood, to stare at a girl like you want to eat her," Cloudia replied harshly. "I may be looking great, but that is no reason why you can act like that, do you understand me? I have no idea how life in America is, but you now belong to the English nobility. Therefore, you cannot act like a hormone-ridden fifteen-year-old boy."
Then, she added with a softer tone: "Of course, you can make compliments, Duke, but you should control the way you look like when you make them. Every other lady would have slapped you across the face with her reticule if you had looked at her like that. In the worst case, her husband or fiancée or father or elder brother – if applicable even in plural – is around while you do it. And then, you will definitely look like an overripe plum. Or I will have to collect your individual parts, sew them back together, and make you my very own Frankenstein's monster. You will be known as 'Phantomhive's monster.' And because no one seems to know the difference between Doctor Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster, you will actually be known as 'Cloudia Phantomhive.' People will wonder why you have a girly name."
Cedric chuckled. "You're so adept at giving advice, Countess."
Cloudia shrugged lightly. "I know. Am I not great?"
After Cedric and I had been fully dressed and ready for the audience with the Queen, Newman drove us in my most beautiful carriage to Buckingham Palace. We were greeted by the Queen's servants when we arrived, and Newman helped me out of the carriage.
I was wearing a lovely white dress with short sleeves, a roomy skirt and a dream of lace around the décolleté. The top of the dress was huddled tightly against my skin or better my corset. Around the ends of the sleeves, Donna Rossini had sewn a circle of thin, fine lace. The skirt was made of silk muslin and the top of satin. Also, a faint, golden pattern covered the dress' skirt.
I wore long, white gloves to the dress, and Lisa had curled my hair a bit before coiffing it into a chignon at the back of my head. She had also braided a few white flowers – begonias to be exact – into my hair and attached a veil with a delicate lily pattern in the part with the flowers. Around my neck, I had put on a silver and gold oval locket. On the front of the locket, a bird had been engraved which hovered over water lilies. It was a very simple necklace, but it was one of my favourites and fit perfectly with the dress. Usually, I wore the necklace with the skull-pendant which Cedric had given me, but today it would have been inappropriate to wear it alongside this wonderful dress.
Cedric, on the other hand, suited a deep red wool uniform with a buff collar, cuffs and a piping trimmed in a golden braid with silvered collar insignia. The uniform also had gold cord shoulder boards, and a gold and crimson belt made of brocade with a gilt and silver buckle. It even possessed a matching brocade sash with tassels and a gold and blood-red cord aiguillette with gold points. Along with the red tunic, Cedric wore black trousers, and polished, black boots with thick soles. His grey hair was neatly combed and gathered in a ponytail, which was fixed with a thin vermillion bow.
Cedric's strange – beauteous – chartreuse eyes glowed behind his polished glasses and looked even lovelier than usual in combination with the red uniform.
Donna Antonia Rossini had managed not to make "clothes," but "art" again. That was the reason why I adored her work.
Cedric and I were lead inside Buckingham Palace, and into the throne room where Queen Victoria sat.
Queen Victoria wore a colourful dress with short sleeves and a skirt made of various layers in different colours. One layer was white, but with two blue lines at the end, and red lace had been sewn on the rim. The second layer consisted of greyish purple lace. These two layers took turns in gracing the skirt.
The top of Victoria's dress was white, but her sleeves were of the same greyish purple colour as the second layer of her skirt. However, the sleeves also possessed a circle of red lace in the middle of the greyish purple material. Alongside the dress, the Queen wore a gold and blue brooch in the middle of her dress' décolleté, a necklace with a sapphire pendant and a golden rim, and a golden bracelet with another sapphire in the middle.
Victoria didn't wear a crown or a tiara on her head, but a floral wreath made of red snapdragons as well. She was very fond of floral wreaths, and usually wore them instead of crowns or tiaras. And, of course, she loved the fact that I was adept at making them, and always asked me to make her some.
Sometimes, she didn't act like a queen, but more like a little girl.
Oh, and did I mention that her belly already loomed under her dress?
Cedric and Cloudia approached Queen Victoria. He bowed in front of the monarch of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
"It is a great honour to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty," he said formally. "I am Kristopher Underwood, the Duke of Underwood."
"It's lovely to meet you, Duke Underwood," Victoria replied with a gentle smile. Her round, rosy-cheeked face and the pale blue eyes gave her a similar calm and friendly aura to Cathleen.
"Welcome to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, my darling Albert is not able to attend our little tea party. I should excuse him as he has work to do," she said before one of her servants helped her to rise from her throne, and walking down the few stairs to the ground. Then, the servant guided Victoria to the drawing room, and Cloudia and Cedric followed her. They sat down around a little table. On the table, you could find lovely little cakes and biscuits like in some recipe book. The table had been laid for three persons. Victoria, Cloudia and Cedric sat down around the table with Victoria in the middle. The Queen's servants, and Newman, who had come with them. Even though he was very shy and possessed a misleading threatening aura, Victoria always warmly welcomed him inside; and Alfred Newman knew better than to refuse a queen's orders – stood in the corners of the large drawing room, far away from their respective masters.
Cloudia caught Cedric glancing at the cakes from time to time, and even Victoria noticed his incorrigible behaviour. However, she laughed heartily.
"You may take one," Victoria said with a light laugh. "They are not here for any decorative purposes, although they fairly look like it."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Cedric replied politely, and took one of the cakes and placed it on his plate. Then, he started to eat it as careful and dignified as he could.
"Cloudia has told me a lot about you," Queen Victoria said. "You are an old acquaintance of hers, who immigrated to England from America after inheriting your uncle's title and possessions, right?"
He nodded. "You are not mistaken, Your Majesty."
"And you do help Cloudia with her work as my Watchdog? As one of the Aristocrats of Evil?"
"I do, Your Majesty."
Victoria smiled and lifted her cup of tea to her lips. It exuded a wonderful aroma. "It is the first time that I am able to meet one of the Aristocrats of Evil – except Cloudia, of course. She always holds me away from her business. I only give her the cases she has to execute and get her report after she has finished it. I am not part of the process of her work." She drank a sip. "Perhaps it is better like that."
The Queen turned her attention to Cloudia. "My dear old friend," she said with a soft tone in her voice. "You look extraordinarily beautiful today."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"You do not need to be so formal with me, Cloudia. Did we not already talk about this topic, when you were in my drawing room at the age of ten? I am only eleven years older than you, my dear. We will work together for a very long time until one of us passes away. There is no place for formalities when you are tied to a person for such a long period of time."
Cloudia's lips were thin. "Of course, Victoria."
The Queen smiled widely. "That is better, do you not agree with me? Do you share my opinion, Duke Underwood?"
Cedric chuckled. "Fairly, Your Majesty. However, I personally prefer to call her 'Countess' rather than by her first name."
"Perhaps the time will come when you prefer 'Cloudia' over referring to her with her title." Victoria took another sip. "You will work with her for a long time too. I am certain of it, Duke Kristopher."
He chuckled again. "If you prefer calling people by their first names when working with them for a long time, and I will certainly be an Aristocrat of Evil for many, many years, I guess, it would be suitable for you to call me 'Kristopher,' Your Majesty."
"So mote it be."
One of Victoria's servants silently approached her and whispered something into her ear. She nodded after he had finished and straightened up.
"Please, let them in," she ordered him, and he went to open one of the doors to the drawing room.
Victoria, the Princess Royal, and her younger siblings, Prince Albert of Wales, Princess Alice and Prince Alfred, entered the drawing room with incredible dignity. A maid carried the youngest of the Royal children, Princess Helena.
Prince Albert's and Queen Victoria's five children all had brown hair and blue eyes, just like their parents. Victoria Adelaide and Alice wore short, finely-tailored dresses in the colours blue and flax respectively. The Princess Royal's dress was also decorated in clematis. Their brothers, Albert Edward and Alfred, were also clothed in dresses. The Prince of Wales' dress was of the colour of evening primroses, and Alfred's of the colour of Tropaeolum, better known as nasturtium.
"Hello, Mother," Little Victoria Adelaide greeted the Queen with a brief curtsy. "It is a pleasure to meet you again, Aunt Lou," she said towards Cloudia with a full curtsy.
Princess Victoria was the most intelligent of the Queen's and Prince Albert's children. Even before she turned five years old, she could even write and read. This reminded me a bit of my own childhood: since my father couldn't always be there to read to me, he had taught me how to do it when I was barely three. And afterwards, I had been unstoppable.
Cedric chuckled, and Victoria hid her face behind a fan. She was definitely smirking at her daughter's words; Cloudia could feel it.
"Did you have a nice journey, Aunt Lou?" Prince Albert Edward asked politely.
"How beautiful is Wales, Aunt Lou?" Princess Alice wanted to know.
"Did you meet the Warrior Knight? Or hear Princess Erilda's cries, Aunt Lou?" Prince Alfred asked with wide eyes.
A Welsh tale with the name "The Warrior Knight of the Blood Red Plume" exists, which was about a Warrior Knight and Erilda, Princess of North Wales. This tale was published in a very rare, little book of Welsh legends in 1803. I really wanted to know who told this story to such a young child like Prince Alfred.
Cloudia smiled politely, even though she wanted to hit them with a cricket bat or something similar for calling her "Aunt Lou" without mercy.
"It is wonderful to be finally able to see you again after such a long time, Princess Victoria," she said. "And, thank you for the question, Prince Albert. I had a very nice journey. Wales is a very beautiful country, Princess Alice, and I wish that you will see it one day. Unfortunately, I didn't go to Rhuddlan Castle, Prince Alfred, but I promise you that I will when I visit Wales for the next time and tell you everything about the Warrior Knight and Princess Erilda."
All four children smiled at Cloudia. The servants brought another table and four chairs, together with more cakes, tea and biscuits so that the Royal children could sit together with their mother, Cloudia and Cedric in the drawing room. The maid who had carried Princess Helena handed her over to the Queen. Then, the maid went and got a baby's high chair for the little princess.
"Your dress is wonderful, Aunt Lou," Victoria Adelaide complimented and gently touched the fabric. "And your hair is so lovely!"
"Thank you, Your Highness." The young princess giggled at these words.
"Who is that man, Mother?" Prince Albert Edward asked Queen Victoria and eyed Cedric.
"This is Duke Kristopher Underwood, Bertie. A dear friend to your Aunt Lou," Victoria answered.
"Aunt Lou's friend?" Alfred repeated and poked Cedric in the side. Cloudia smirked. "Are you really Aunt Lou's friend?"
"We are business partners – we work together," Cedric told him.
"If you are a friend of Aunt Lou..." Alice started.
"... than you are our uncle," Victoria Adelaide stated with a firm nod.
"Uncle Rapunzel!" Alfred squeaked with glee. He had large blue eyes which lit up the moment he spoke up.
"Uncle Rapunzel!" they all repeated, and started to laugh afterwards.
For the first time in a while, Cedric clearly did not look amused. Cloudia's smirk widened.
"See? My suggestions weren't that bad," said the gaze she presented him with. He, however, just scowled at her.
"Cloudia," Queen Victoria said. "May I present you Princess Helena Augusta Victoria?" Her youngest daughter sat on her lap and looked up at Cloudia with big eyes. She had chubby cheeks and the same colouring like her parents and elder siblings. Helena looked like a puppet in her light green dress with the lisianthus pattern and her round baby-face.
"Say hello to your Aunt Lou and your Uncle Rapunzel, Lenchen," Victoria said gently to her daughter, but Helena just clutched at her mother's dress and pressed her little face against her chest.
Victoria chuckled. "I am sorry, Cloudia. She is still so small."
"It is fine, Victoria," Cloudia said and reached out to gently put one hand on Helena's head. "I am Cloudia. Your siblings call me 'Aunt Lou.' Please promise me you won't, okay, Princess Helena?"
The princess was too terrified to answer, so Cloudia took her hand away from her head. The other Royal children ate the cakes and biscuits with perfect table manners.
Why wasn't Cedric like that?
"Belated happy birthday, Prince Alfred," Cloudia said to the young prince after a while. "I am deeply sorry for not attending the party for your third birthday. Surely, it was great nevertheless."
Alfred nodded. "It was! I got a wooden horse to ride."
"Well, that is a fine present, isn't it?"
"It is! Do you have a wooden horse, Aunt Lou?"
"Unfortunately, I do not," Cloudia replied with a smile. "I never did, to be honest. But I do have an actual horse."
The prince's eyes widened. "Really? Is it big?"
She nodded. "It is really big."
"Does the horse have a name?" The little boy was absolutely excited.
"It does." Cloudia's smile widened. "It is 'Falada.' The horse is a he."
"'Falada' like the horse in the fairy tale The Goose Girl?" Victoria Adelaide asked.
"Exactly, Your Highness." The princess giggled again.
And while Cloudia talked with the Royal children and told them some stories, fairy tales and legends, Cedric secretly watched them while having a conversation with the Queen.
It's done. It really is done. I'm so happy.
While the last chapter had already been quite lighthearted, this one isn't really heavy either. But the last one is still the most lighthearted chapter in this story though. I already mapped out the whole story, and until now it still is. But things can still change. But right now, you're right, Emmanuel Park :). (And thank you SO much for always reviewing! :D It makes me want to go on with this story.) I had wanted Cedric and Cloudia to get to know each other in a different way than they usually do. And bam, "The Countess, Laughing Together" happened.
Now, the first arc has ended - and the second one will come.
I will put this story on hiatus for two to four weeks, so I can finish the second arc (and something else :) ) and look over it before the updating starts again. (And when it does, it will be the familiar weekend-update again.)
I'm so happy that people liked the first arc of this story - and hopefully, you will like the second one too! Although it will be totally different from the first one.
And because it will take a while until the second arc starts, have a little preview of the first chapter of it:
~Preview~
The man blinked at her in surprise, but then, he laughed loudly. "I am sorry, little one! You were so little when we last met, but I still thought that you would recognise me." He grinned widely. "I am Sir Barrington Weaselton, the former Head of the Order of the British Empire."
Cloudia's eyes widened, realisation coming over her. "You were a friend of my father – Barry."
Sir Barrington Weaselton laughed. "Only Simon was allowed to call me that." He smiled. "I am glad that you remembered me after all, little Dia."
~Preview~
Thank you all for your follows, favos and kind reviews!
See you in two to four weeks for round two of "Watchdog of the Queen"! :D