Disclaimer: I do not own KWMS and P&P... and I think I never will be...

Sorry guys for the veeeeerryyyyyyyyyyyyy late update... I was terribly busy, especially during our intramurals I have so much to do, and after that were our final exams, and then our semestral break! :D

Dedicated to orbunion55, my dearest friend who kept on reminding me to update... as well as one of my bday present her (though it's still a month to go for that)

For those who waited, here I present...

Chapter 28


The butler walked briskly towards the young mistress' room. He was in the kitchen preparing for breakfast, but suddenly, he heard the lady's daughter shouting his name very loudly.

He knocked at her door and the young lady permitted him to come inside.

"Good morning madam. May I ask why you have shouted my name very loudly?" asked Louis, "You could have just rang the bell."

"I'm sorry, I thought you were still asleep, considering it's still half past five in the morning," Miss Angelique Chevalier defended.

"I have to say madam, despite my age I always wake up at four o'clock," Louis said, "I am highly concerned of Lady Chevalier, as well as the guests and now of your voice. Pray tell me what's the matter, ma'am."

"Oh, I deeply apologize for what I had done," Angelique said the laughed softly, "I have to say that I am used to waking someone up like that when I went into hiding, even though I spent my entire life here. By the way, other that yourself, is anyone awake?"

"The servants, madam."

"No one else?"

"None."

"Ah, I see," Angelique said, "Louis, kindly also prepare the finest tea you have done and also prepare tools for excavation or something like that, and also attend to our guests' needs, especially Ms. Ayuzawa."

"Are you going on a trip, madam?" Louis asked.

"That I do not know."

-0-

By six, Angelique was already dressed up for the day, although her outfit was entirely different than those ordinary days; she was wearing an attire like that of an explorer, with those brown boots and hat and everything, from her head down to her feet, she looks nothing like a respectable lady of an old noble family.

She went out of her room and inquired one of the maids of Misaki's whereabouts, in which the maid said,

"I think I saw her somewhere here in the house earlier, madam," she said and then left.

It was not a very clear answer, considering Misaki's character. A normal woman would have been inside the house, whether in the library, parlour, or her room, but Misaki was never such a woman, but she was rather, as Usui would put it, unique.

"Where she might be?" asked Angelique to herself, "That Usui might have done something to her..."

Then at the corner of her eye, while she was descending the stairs and through the large window, she saw Misaki in a small pavilion in the garden, drinking tea.

She hurriedly went to Misaki, and as she as she went nearer, she saw Usui in the pavilion with Misaki, who sat across him.

"There you are, Misaki," Angelique said, "I was worried where you might be, so I came looking for you. I was really glad that I found you, yet my worries came back again when I saw you with that man (referring to Usui). I trust he didn't do a thing to you?"

"Actually, I was about to do something to her, had you not interrupted," said Usui, then turning towards Misaki, caressed her cheek as he said, in a deep seductive voice, "Now, where were we, Ms. Ayuzawa...?"

In a matter of few seconds, Angelique had flung Usui to the floor.

-0-

"Why, I am very much sorry for misinterpreting the situation, Misaki," Angelique said, "Although I haven't felt any regret of what I have done to Usui."

"You can't be more heartless, can you?" said Usui, then he sipped his tea.

"What's the point of my action when you recover oh so fast, Mr. Usui?" Angelique said in a somewhat annoying way.

"Well, it is my fault for not saying anything," Misaki said.

"Misaki dear, you hadn't done anything wrong,"

"But I think I had done Mr. Usui inconvenience. He was just asking to accompany me in my morning walk and had..."

"None of that, Misaki," Angelique said, "Now, you promised me last night that you'll make this matter as clear as crystal."

"Yes, I did," Misaki said, "But I planned to wait for... oh, here she comes."

"I am sorry for the wait, Ms. Ayuzawa," Lady Chevalier said after they all curtsied; along with her was Mr. Louis.

"No, please do not apologize," Misaki said as they all took a seat, "Have you brought the book?"

"I have," Lady Chevalier said, "Louis, if you may."

Louis placed the book on the table. The book was dark blue in color with a gold outline of a rose on its cover.

"Before I'll go back to what I had talked about last night, have you ever thought why Raven, or let us say, The Society, only had interest with your ring?" Misaki began.

"I fail to understand," Angelique replied honestly, "Maybe because they want to?"

"If I, a master thief, found an opportunity to enter a house where a very rich family lived, I had stolen plenty; jewellery, money, or any things with great value. What Ms. Ayuzawa was implying is that why an infamous group of master thieves only got great interest with one small object," Usui said.

Angelique was about to say something, but Misaki spoke first, "As what Mr. Usui said, it is very unlikely that they only had an interest on a particular object over all the expensive things inside the house, unless that particular thing held a greater value than those jewellery combined. Lady Chevalier, I reckoned you read the book several times, am I right?"

"Oh yes, Ms. Ayuzawa," she said, "This book is all about the family's history and legends."

"Legends?" said Angelique, "I never did remember anything like that in that book."

"It's because you always escape during our lessons, Ms. Angelique," Louis said. Lady Chevalier laughed.

Misaki smiled and continued, "Forgive me madam; I had read that book without any permission. I had obtained it from an apartment..."

"How did you trace that book, Ms. Ayuzawa?" Usui asked.

"Well, while I was gathering clues months ago when I first came here, I saw in Marie's, or should I say, in Raven's room, a letter addressed to Ms. Blanche Adamson, whom I speculated to be her accomplice, but it turned out that it was she herself; she apparently 'goes home' to the apartment as Blanche Adamson to obtain those things which was sent there, and one of them is this book," Misaki said, "But that's not the main concern; have you read the back part of book, Lady Chevalier?"

"I can assure that there's nothing found in the last part," the Lady said.

"Oh, but there is," Misaki said, and then she handed out a piece of paper which had burnt letters, "I deeply apologise for what I had done; I tear that from the book."

Lady Chevalier received the paper and read it; it was a short letter, in which it said:

To our dearest family,

To you I will give you everything we had. In turn, please take good care of those who will follow, as what we had done to you. Remember: take what you only need or else a curse will be brought down by the heavens upon you all.

~John and Lucille Chevalier

P.S. The answer lies at your hands.

"It's our ancestor's final words!" Lady Chevalier exclaimed, "How... what..."

"The words were truly hidden, Lady Chevalier," Misaki said, "Your ancestors must have used invisible ink to protect it from thieves; water mixed with vinegar, I reckon. "

"But what could they mean at the last part?" Angelique asked, "Ms. Ayuzawa, I am very sorry, but that didn't explain things after all."

"I thought you might say that," Misaki said, "Now, shall we talk about the treasure hunting?"

"Are we going to a mountain, or a forest, or a desert for the treasure hunting, Ms. Ayuzawa?" Angelique said.

"No, I think not. It's only around here," Misaki said.

"Can I come?" Lady Chevalier asked, though Louis recommended her to stay, "I will go with them in your stead, your ladyship."

"Then, I think we are quite ready," Misaki said, and then she walked towards the window in the pavillion, "Then again, I wanted to have treasure hunting, but where in the world would we get a genuine map... "

"You haven't organized your party, Ms. Ayuzawa?" Angelique asked.

"...I sure no one would sell such maps unless they are either pirates or they are just scamming. Should we just steal from a pirate or bribe him instead? Oh, I forgot to say this last night, your garden is shaped like a rose in a high view!"

"Ms. Ayuzawa is blabber... wait, I think I got it!"

"Got what?" asked Misaki.

"The answer lies in your hands!" Angelique exclaimed as she held the Blue Rose high, "Our ancestors said it, right? They were probably referring to this ring!"

Misaki smiled and said, "Well said, shall we proceed, then?"

-0-

Misaki, Usui, Angelique and Louis were now in front of the Rose Garden, one of the famous landmarks in their place because red roses grew abundantly there.

"My father instructed me in his last breath to maintain the garden, now I knew why," Louis said.

"Well maintained," Usui said, "but the garden is built like a maze."

"A good question. But I thought the answer lies in our hands?" Misaki said in a pretend wonder.

"So this ring, Blue Rose, is also a map?" Angelique asked.

"Why not try to use it? There's no harm in trying," Misaki said.

Then the four started to walk into the maze-like garden. It was a bit hard, but thanks to Usui, who volunteered to guide them using the ring, they found their way to the middle of the garden, which had only a dry stone well.

"So, what now?" asked Angelique.

"May I have the ring?" Misaki requested.

Angelique handed her the ring and Misaki continued to walk towards the well, knelt before it, and began to touch on its particular side. Then, she stopped; she placed the rose-shaped ring on a wall and used it like a key. A sound of some mechanism was heard; the well began to move aside, revealing a circular pit.

"How did you-"Angelique said, but Usui shot her a look to make her stop asking further.

"Then, shall we go inside?" Misaki asked, and then she descended. The three people followed.

They descended to the pit on a spiral staircase in silence. As they reached the end, Misaki used a lighter to light a torch, and all of them proceeded forward. After a few more minutes, Misaki began to speak, "Mr. Louis, would you mind telling us the legend of the Blue Rose?"

Louis began to narrate. "Lord John and Lady Lucille Chevalier were actually master smiths; they moved from place to place to find a permanent residence, but they had little money in their pockets. One day, they went into a forest and decided to spend the night, for they cannot afford to live in an inn anymore. While they camped alongside a river, Lady Lucille found a small piece of gold. She urged Lord John to follow the river, for it might lead them to something more. Lady Lucille's instinct was right; though I forgot a few details here, but it was said that they found mountains of gold in a mine, then on the middle of the mine, they found, as they describe it, 'a blue rose'". Louis ended his tale, and then continued, "Since then, the family's insignia is a blue rose. Lord John and Lady Lucille got their riches and lived quite long. It was also said that they built their mansion a few kilometers away from the mine and, as what you have seen, the Chevalier Manor stood for how many years."

Then, they all stopped, for before them stood a wall. "All this walking for a dead end?" Angelique said.

"On the contrary, this might be the beginning," Misaki said, and then she used the ring like what she did onto the well. It was not a wall, but a door which had stood before them; as they went inside, Misaki lighted a torch which hung beside her, and then the other torches were lit. Inside, they found treasure chests containing shiny, yellow-colored things.

"Bless my soul!" exclaimed Angelique, "These were the gold that the ancestors found! Mr. Louis, look at these!"

"Mr. Usui," called Misaki, "I think you had mentioned to me that you had studied about metals. What do you think about this?"

Usui then examined the "gold", and after a minute, he said, "Pyrite."

"As I thought."

"What do you mean?" asked Angelique.

"Pyrite, ma'am," said Louis, "Fool's gold."

Angelique looked a bit forlorn. "But what should we do now?" Angelique said, "All of our efforts wasted, and then-"

"As what I had mentioned, this was only a beginning," Misaki smiled, and then she walked towards a wall . "This was probably made to protect the real treasure. See the structure of the room?"

"If I am not mistaken, the ceiling appears very similar that of an inclined plane with the highest elevation is the part where we had entered," Usui said, pointing to the entrance.

"That's right," said Misaki, "And if I am not mistaken, the treasury is just behind this wall." Misaki stroke the surface of the wall, then, a click was heard; the wall began to move aside. The party partly covered their eyes because as the wall moved, a golden light shone; as what Misaki said, mountains of gold were found inside. They went inside and explored.

Angelique placed some of the gold inside her purse and said to herself, "With this, our financial problems will come to an end." Mr. Louis smiled at the lady and also thought of him being lucky to have seen the legendary treasury of the Chevalier.

Usui, on the other hand, was not stunned with the sea of gold around him; instead, his gaze was upon Misaki, who staring at the two piles of gold in front of her.

"Ms. Ayuzawa? Is there something wrong?" Usui asked.

"Usui... I..."

"Misaki! I am ever so grateful to you, I mean, I cannot find the exact words to say how much thankful I am for you to save my family," Angelique said.

"There's nothing to it, but there's only one thing which interests me," Misaki said.

"What is it?"

"Blue Rose."

"What? You mean my ring, right?"

"No, the one mentioned by Lady Lucille in the book."

"But that's nonsense. Blue roses do not exist unless you dye a white rose..."

"No, it does exist," Misaki insisted, "and I am looking at it now."

She walked forward while saying, "In your book, Lady Lucille wrote in her memoir, 'And in the valley of gold lies a treasure incomparable to the great pearls of the ocean; the Blue Rose'; what she meant by that is not literally a blue rose, but this." Misaki stopped, stooped down and picked something up; as she turned towards her companions, in her hands lay a gigantic blue diamond.

"Behold, the legendary Blue Rose of the Chevalier family."

-0-

Before the evening, the party was already inside the manor; Mr Louis reported everything to Lady Chevalier, and the two, with the lady's daughter, discussed on what to do with the diamond which they left in the underground treasury. Misaki was left in the parlour with Usui.

The two felt very uncomfortable, for neither said a word to the other. Finally, Usui decided to break the silence and said, "So Ayuzawa, now that this matter has already ended, do you have any plans?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," Usui said, "I am wondering what you'll do to Ms. Chevalier."

"So suddenly you're concerned with your future wife?"

"Are you jealous?" Usui smirked.

"No," Misaki denied, "But regarding Angelique, of course I will tell her. She has to know."

"Hmmm, I see. But for whom are you doing this?"

"For Baron Patel, of course."

"Is it only for him? What about you?" Usui asked.

"I cannot see what it has to do something to me," Misaki answered.

"Oh, it has something to do with you," Usui said, "I believe you, rather we; will benefit a lot when Ms. Chevalier finds out about him."

"Still, I do not see your point," Misaki said.

"There you are," Angelique interrupted, "Usui, may I borrow her for a while? I really need to talk to her."

Usui rose and left the room, saying that he will go to bed.

Angelique dragged Misaki to the balcony and said, "Misaki, how can I thank you for what you have done. Not only you have saved my family from The Society, but you also indirectly protected my family's heritage, and save us from all of our problems..."

"But are you going to go through the engagement?" Misaki asked.

Angelique was silent for a moment, then she replied, "Even though I do not have any reason to be engage with Mr. Usui, it should be pushed through; it will be a great shame to both sides if it hadn't..."

"Is that really the real reason, Ms. Chevalier? Or should I say Mrs. Garner?"

Angelique looked at Misaki with great surprise. She couldn't believe that somebody else knew her little secret, and that she wondered how in the world Misaki knew of it. But before she could even ask, Misaki answered her question.

"Emile occasionally visits me during his day offs, and that he mentioned about you and your secret marriage; he trusted me not to tell anybody, but he also confessed to Mr. Usui about it," Misaki said.

"Ahh, so that man knew," Angelique said, "At least, that wouldn't be hard for me anymore."

"But what about Emile? Aren't you going to reconsider?"

"Emile's dead, Misaki!" Angelique exclaimed, then, in a softer, sadder voice, "My heart had already died with him... and every night I prayed that death would come at my door and bring me to him. But I have to do something to save my family's dignity, even if I have to sacrifice myself in order to do so. But like I said, he's already dead. That marriage will be void, and I am free to marry once again."

"If you insist," Misaki said, "Then, here's my wedding gift for you."

Misaki placed a small dark-colored velvet box on Angelique's hand and said, "I pray for your happiness, Angelique." Then, she left.

Angelique opened the box and was greatly surprised. Inside housed a golden ring with a small diamond on it. She recognized it at once, for she had worn an identical ring years ago; the ring was her husband's wedding ring.

Also inside was a small note:

'I will wait for you in that place where we met, where our love was declared and felt'

"This hand writing... it can't be..." Then Angelique held her skirt up and rushed hurriedly out of the manor.

-0-

Angelique ran to the corner of the street, where a great birch tree stood. As she came closer, she saw a man standing next to its trunk. The man was of the same stature as that of her husband. In her heart, she wished that it was her Emile who was standing, but when she approached the man, his visage was very different; he had a beard, in which Emile doesn't have, a complexion slightly darker than Emile, and looked very rich, contrary to the simple Emile. Angelique was a little bit puzzled; probably, she thought, that Emile did not yet arrive in their meeting place.

"Pardon me, milady," said the stranger, "I am looking for a place to stay, and I am a little bit lost. I am Baron Mikhail Patel, and pray may I know your name?"

Angelique caught her breath and said, "You... have you by chance saw a man here?"

"I was the only one," the Baron said, "I came to this spot because they say that here's the place where I could wish to find my future wife, for a love was declared exactly under this tree. Kind of romantic, isn't it? Well, I must be going..." Then, the baron turned to leave.

"Wait."

The baron stopped and turned towards Angelique as she moved closer to Baron Patel, "What a liar you are; the only ones who knew that were me and you, Emile."

Baron Patel turned to Angelique, smiled and said, "Well, I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me."

"Don't be silly," Angelique giggled, and then looked at him straight in the eyes, "You grew a beard, but you still have the same eyes, those eyes that I dearly love..."

Baron Patel wrapped his arms around Angelique and said, "You're still the same Angelique that I knew, that I fell in love with, and..."

He couldn't continue to speak further, for Angelique locked her lips to his.

-0-

"Then, I'll see you tomorrow, then," Baron Patel said, after he escorted Angelique in the main entrance.

"I'll meet you at the same place. They're probably looking for me, and I'll tell Misaki that I know everything," Angelique said, then gave him a peck on the corner of his lips. The two waved each other their goodbyes, but full of hope, for it will not be their last meeting.

The moment she was inside the manor, she searched for Misaki, calling her name full of enthusiasm. She couldn't contain the happiness inside her, and she wanted to pour her heart out to Misaki.

But no Misaki appeared before her.

"Probably she's chatting with Mr. Usui," she assured herself. She went to his room, but found it empty.

"Where could they be?" she asked herself. A maid walked by, and she asked her, "Have you seen Ms. Ayuzawa? Or Mr. Usui, perhaps?"

"Mr. Usui is in the balcony at the end of the hall at the back, madam, but unfortunately I haven't seen Ms. Ayuzawa," the maid answered, "Perhaps she is in her room..."

"Oh yes," Angelique said, "I haven't checked there yet. Thank you!" Then she left the maid.

Angelique ran to Misaki's room, but then found it empty. She searched and searched, but in vain. She opened the glass door and went to the balcony, hoping that the person she was looking for was having her evening tea there, but no Misaki was found.

She entered inside again and was about to go out of the room and search in other rooms, when suddenly she heard a small creak coming from the closet. A silly thought was in her mind, though at some point she wished that Misaki was hiding in there, whatever her reason was, but only to find it completely empty.

"It cannot be... Misaki..."

She then searched for Usui in the place where the maid told her Usui was, and she found him standing steady like a statue.

Angelique charged and shouted, "Hey you! Why are you standing there instead of helping me... hey!"

Instead of walking towards Usui, she was pulled by Louis, back to the hallway and away from Usui, instead carried her to a floor above where they were standing. It was the room of Lady Chevalier, where the grand lady was having her evening tea.

"Mother?! You ordered Louis to do such thing? Why did you two stop me from..."

"Sometimes, you really have no clue to what is going on around you, my daughter," Lady Chevalier said.

"Did you mean Mr. Usui? What is going on with him? He's just standing there like an idiot, and I was about to ask him the whereabouts of Ms. Ayuzawa here in the manor. "

"Really now, can't you tell just by looking?" Lady Chevalier asked.

"Just stop with the riddles and get straight to the point, Mother," she answered.

"Very well, why don't you see it yourself?" Lady Chevalier said, with an outstretched hand pointing towards the balcony of the room.

Angelique did see for herself; beneath she could see the top view of Usui, who was still standing steadily. She noticed that he was as if staring at the far side of the narrow road at the backside of the manor. She thought that Usui was only thinking of going home and was about to go inside to tell her mother what she thought, but she caught a glimpse of something on the road.

That something looked like a raisin in a cookie, but when she looked harder, that something was actually someone who was carrying a luggage on the side and was walking towards the farther end of the road opposite to the manor.

It dawned on her of who that someone might be.

"That person... was that Ms. Ayuzawa?!" she said as she went back to the room.

"Madam, Mr. Ayuzawa expressed her regrets of not saying goodbye to you personally, but she asked me to send her regards to you before she left," Louis said.

"But why didn't you stop her?" Angelique asked, raising her voice. Both of them didn't answer.

"Well, but why didn't he stop her?" she asked again.

"My daughter," Lady Chevalier said, "there are questions which I cannot answer. You may ask them, but I think they, too, will not tell you."

"But..."

"There are instances which should happen, even though you don't want them to occur, or even have the power to control those instances, for they would face heavier consequences if they tried to stop it from happening," Lady Chevalier said, then after she took a sip of her tea, "I never have met such people who could restrict themselves in such extent..."

-0-

Usui continued to stare at the figure walking on the road. His face had not any emotions on it; even a statue can express an emotion even only one. But his face didn't reflect what he felt inside entirely, yet for her sake he took control of himself.

He then noticed that the walking figure suddenly stopped and turned to stare at his direction. He felt feelings of eagerness and a little bit of hope; he had hoped for her to change her mind and come back, but he knew that it was all in vain, for he knew how stubborn that person was.

When the figure turned away, he sighed, gave a little smile and said, "You really are a bad liar, Misa."

-0-

She was walking for a few miles now, and while walking, Misaki somehow imagined of what might happen of the meeting between Baron Patel and Angelique; she also did not want any companion as she walked, and somehow "predicted" that Baron Patel would be going home via other road, where she will wait for her ride home.

"They finally met, eh?" she said to herself, "Thank goodness for those two."

She suddenly stopped, turned towards the manor to "have a final glimpse of the place", a term she used.

Instead of a glimpse, she was staring at the manor for a few minutes, lost in her chain of thoughts. She then shook her head and, returning to reality, turned and continued to walk away. She smiled a little and said to herself,

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if that perverted idiot could see me this far."

_END_


Once again I am very sorry that I had not updated this story... so many things happened, and I gave you this long chapter, and I was still resting from a 13 hour travel... (I left the province 7 am and arrived home by 8 pm... though we had to stop over some places and we had a "round trip" on the way home).

I planned to split this one into two, but I didn't. It's nearing the ending (finally... and I didn't expect it to be THIS long...). And I made Angelique too trusting even without thinking of consequences...

Honestly, I don't know how to describe very well, that's why I want to extend my deep apology for this chapter. I won't promise to update this week, but I'll try to do the best I can...

Hope you'll still look forward to the end! And thanks for those who liked, read and supported me...

Lovelots!

~otaku911