Vincent's feet shuffled in, though he had no memory of telling them to do so. The door shut loudly behind him, making the man nearly jump out of his skin in startled state. From the corner of his eye, he caught Juliette come out of her state and flinch so hard that he was afraid she might have broken another bone. But, from the other corner of his eye, he could see Belle. And there was a slight smirk on her features as her brown eyes flickered to him. That woman, Vincent swore in his mind, trying to keep himself from smiling.
"Juliette?" Belle's soft voice broke through Vincent's thoughts. He watched as his wife easily glided over to where the orphan teen was, and sitting on the side of the bed. Her gentle voice was a far cry from the annoyed one she'd just been using. "Sweetie, it was just the door. Nothing's going to hurt you." Slowly, Juliette's arms lowered from their position on her head. Her head raised up cautiously, green eyes searching around the room, before they fell upon Vincent. It would be lying to say the girl's pulse did not quicken at the very sight of him.
"…I-I tried…I really t-tried…sir. B-but…your right. I'm…a…a good f-for nuffin'…stupid or-orphan." Keeping her head low, Juliette made sure that she did not make any eye contact with the king. The king! The man who was running her country, the man who could easily sentence her to death for doing a headstand, the crème de la crème in the upper class, was in front of the orphan!
Vincent and Belle both blinked, before sharing a confused look with one another. Belle opened her mouth to speak, but her husband beat her to it.
"What are you talking about?" It was Juliette's turn to blink now. Her head lifted up slowly, green eyes looking at the king, before hurrying back down to stare at her hands. Didn't he know? He was the king. How could he not? Was he just doing this to make the girl feel worse than she already did? That could be a possibility. Men were forever a cruel race.
"I…t-tried not to be a…a…p-problem no more for…you and Belle. But the wolf g-got me…and I couldn't…couldn't even d-die…right. I'm s-sorry." Juliette's voice was still considerably soft, unable to go much higher. And her words were spaced out, proving the fact that she was exhausted, but like always, she was pushing herself to her very limit. Tears stung her green eyes, though she refused to cry them. What good did crying do now?
"J-Juliette…you wanted to die?" Horrified, Belle turned her full attention on the girl, her features paling at just the thought. Juliette gave a thick, slight nod before a cough exited her lips.
"If I was…g-gone…there'd be no…fightin' 'bout m-me. You'd all b-be…happy." Juliette strained herself on that last word, forcing her lips to move and forcing her voice to pronounce it. That word…it cut the girl so deep that she was surprised her heart was still beating. Happy. She'd only ever caught fleeting glimpses of what that could be like for her; she'd seen more of it with the royal family. They deserved to be happy; they'd earned it. As for Juliette? Well, what was one miserable orphan? Just another lost soul in the world, that's what one miserable orphan was.
"So that's why you left. You wanted to please everyone else, but yourself." Belle managed to give a hollow, shaky laugh at that thought. All Juliette ever wanted to do was to please people. If someone asked the girl for her arm, she'd probably hand it over to them without complaint. She just did things to make others happy. But she never once tried to give herself the same chance.
"And what about the children? You purposely let yourself be attacked by a wolf—oh yes, I know all about that—so that they could be happy? Is that why you did it?" For reasons unknown to her, Belle just had to know. She had to know if this is why her Arabella and Alexander were safe with only a few cuts and bruises, while Juliette looked like she'd been trampled by a dozen horses.
"K-kind…of." Juliette whispered, not at all liking the pressing tone Belle used with her. "B-But…I did it too 'cause…'cause…it was my fault…they l-left. They f-followed…me. I'm s-sorry." Again, Juliette repeated her sorry's, still making sure that her head was low so no one could see her tears. The children could have gotten hurt because of her stupidity. It was a wonder that no one had thrown in a dungeon for that by now.
"It was your entire fault?" Vincent's halting voice asked, and Juliette acknowledged him with a slight, miserable nod. "Tell me, Juliette, did you wake the children and tell them to follow you?" Head shake. "Did you know they were behind you?" Head shake. "Did you tell them to stay when the wolf would attack you?" Head shake. "Did you purposely walk away from the scene, let them be attacked, and never once look back?" For the last time, there was a head shake from Juliette. Her head was starting to tire from doing this.
"Juliette…I'm the one who owes you a sincere apology. For what I said. It was my fault that you left; had you not heard any of that, none of this," Here Vincent motioned towards the girl's injuries, "would have ever happened. I'm…I'm…" Vincent closed his eyes tightly and finally uttered those two words. "I'm sorry." It stung his pride and his ego, but it was worth it to help make a young girl understand his point.
"N-No…it's my fault." Juliette insisted, making Belle groan and bury her face in her hands. Of course the teen wouldn't just let this go. Of course she wouldn't; she was too selfless.
"How is this even remotely your fault, dear?" Belle wondered in a tired voice, already at her wits end with this going-nowhere-conversation.
"'Cause…I'm an…or-orphan." Juliette acknowledged, letting her head rest down again. Vincent shook his head at the girl, taking a step closer to the bed in the process.
"That's not an excuse, Juliette." The man answered, his voice tender with emotion towards the girl in front of him. "I was an orphan once too you know; I still am, if you want to look at it from that perspective. I know what it's like."
"N-No you…don't." Juliette answered back, her voice softer than a wind chime on a windless day.
"Yes, I do." Vincent acknowledged with a slight growl in his voice. Juliette decided to leave the subject at that. There was no point in arguing with the king. He'd always win.
"B-Belle?" Belle looked up at the girl, who still didn't meet her gaze. Poor girl was probably dead tired, and yet, she still tried to speak. She pushed herself to the very edge, and never once did she complain.
"What honey?" Using sweet language, Belle hoped that she could possibly speed this all up and get Juliette back under the covers very soon. There was something that bugged her about the girl pushing herself so much, though she couldn't quite place her finger on it.
"C-Can I…I'm r-recovered. I…sh-should leave." Recovered? Belle studied the girl's appearance for a long moment. Lifting up Juliette's chin with her knuckle, the woman got a clearer picture.
Bruised, broken, and beaten, Juliette seemed like the least person to be asking to leave. There was no light in her green eyes; there was only weariness. Her skin was pale and her breathing was just a bit shallow. Her features were sunken in, no doubt because she'd barely eaten in the past few days. Bones jutted out from odd places in her skin, but those places were usually covered by a blanket of injuries. Her dark brown curls seemed limp; even the splattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks looked depressing. Her head was propped up on two pillows, at first just to stop her cough, but now because the girl could not sit up on her own. But the very worst part of all this was the girl's body language. Her body seemed to be screaming how miserable it was, how hopeless this entire situation was.
Belle sighed, slowly tucking back an errant curl behind Juliette's ear. The girl gave a light jump when she felt the warmth of the woman's skin brush against her cheek. The beautiful brunette woman almost cried. All the hard work she'd put into having a relationship with this girl, all the countless hours she'd spent helping the child learn to read, write, and even act like a teenager…suddenly it was all gone. She'd given it her all, and she'd failed.
Looking over at Vincent for a moment, the woman realized that he wasn't even paying attention to her. He seemed to be studying the child as well, his blue eyes intently trying to make contact with her green ones. But Juliette was having none of it. She kept her chin up for only a minute more, before letting it fall and staring back into her lap. Both adults sighed this time.
"I don't want to force you to do anything you don't feel comfortable with, Juliette." Belle's hesitant voice started, her brown eyes conveying her sincerity. Then she took in a shuddering breath, wincing at the mere thought of her next sentence. "But the streets are hardly a place for a young girl…so…" Belle broke off again, this time painfully as she didn't want to say this. She was dreading this. This went against every maternal instinct in her body. But who was she kidding?
Vincent was never going to want to adopt the child; after all, they had three beautiful, biological children of their own. If they wanted another, they could have another. And even Belle was shaky on the whole 'adoption' idea. She liked it better than the option of Juliette being forced to beg on her knees for a coin, but it still wasn't a number one idea with her. After all…how could she be able to give a child that wasn't hers the same love and affection she gave her own children? Or if Juliette broke a vase, how would she be able to discipline the girl without feeling horrible because, one, the girl wasn't her daughter to begin with, and two, she'd already gone through so much. Then there was the fact that Juliette was a teenager, a terrifying creature that had no type of set values and regularly gave their parents hell. With an infant, a little boy, and a self-proclaimed "big girl", a teenager would be the one that tips the scale and send everything into an avalanche.
"So if you really want to leave then…then you'll be sent back to the orphanage."
It's quite possible that all the oxygen left the room in that very moment. Vincent took in a sharp breath, turning his head quickly towards his wife in shock. Belle kept her eyes on her hands, breathing heavily and forcing herself not to cry. And poor Juliette started to shake so bad that the nearly hysterical dry sobs coming from her lips seemed like the icing on the cake.
"Belle, you're not really saying that—" Vincent's stunned tone had an almost hysterical edge to it. Send Juliette back to that orphanage? A week ago he would have been the person who'd already acquire a carriage to take her there that very night. But now? Now he couldn't even dream of letting the child leave the palace…especially when she looked like this. Maybe in two or three weeks, when she'd healed more, when she wasn't so…so…scary.
"Pl-Please…Master Brys…e-e'll…" Juliette's desperate plea nearly cut Belle's heart into pieces. But what could she really do? Without a proper adoption, the girl couldn't stay, and because she was too young to work, she couldn't be a servant. Maybe a different orphanage might be better (thought the woman doubted it) but the thing was that…that Juliette had grown up in that orphanage. No doubt she knew the children, she knew how to avoid beatings, and she knew how to find better food to eat. To send her to a different orphanage where she'd have to relearn all that might be even worse than sending her back to her old one.
"Cane you, I know." Belle finished the sentence for the girl lamely. She tried to keep her voice emotionless, but it was hard to do considering that her voice cracked on the last word.
"'E'll…c-cane me…an-and then…and th-then…" There was something in Juliette's tone that made both Vincent and Belle sharply look at the girl. For a second, they shared a look with one another, before looking back at the girl. In that one second they looked at one another, they were able to determine that neither of them had a clue as to what would happen after Juliette got caned. And if their instincts were right, it wouldn't be anything nice.
"Then what?" Vincent asked cautiously, his words measured and precise. But Juliette was through talking. Already she'd said too much. The girl bit her lip, and looked back down at her lap, trying hard to stop the dry sobs from overtaking her. She managed to do so, though her sobs became hacking coughs instead.
"Juliette…if there's something you're not telling us…if you do we may be able to help you. Please. Just say it." Belle's almost begging tone caught the orphan teen off guard. Did the woman really want her to say it that bad? But…if she did…then what may happen to her? Master Brys had sworn that he'd…and it wasn't like it was one of the best days of the girl's life that she'd like to relive. Still, looking at Belle's pleading chocolate brown eyes, and Vincent's concerned blue one's, the girl took a deep breath.
Maybe they could help her if she spoke about it. Help her in such a way that she'd no longer have to go to the orphanage. Help her never go back to that place ever again in her life. While the girl was usually the very last person to call a favor of someone else…well, she might just have to do it in this case. At the very least, maybe if she told them they could tell her what had been going on. Or maybe they could make Master Brys leave orphans alone forever. That was the best thought of them all.
So, Juliette took in another deep breath…and started to speak.