The ceiling could never get any emptier – was her very thought, staring at the said thing for the last hour. Her body, which had burned up for physically engaging reasons, now lay alone underneath the bed sheets, perhaps longing for a certain company. It had been a good couple of hours since Lelouch had left the place, but the image of his furious eyes when he hurriedly left was still burned in her memory. So furious was he, it was hard to miss that glimmer in his eyes despite the shadows veiling most of his face.
"That must be some strong sibling rivalry," she murmured, turning to her side. How empty the space next to her was. "I have never seen a sibling fight so worse it could stop a man in the height of his desires."
She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, now feeling her annoyance building up the more she brooded about him. C.C. knew it was her frustration talking this time, but she would let the words fall out of her mouth. It had to be told, because how else should she handle yet-another-failed-attempt of what-they're-supposed-to-do.
She had a deadline and demand to meet, too. Perhaps that added more to her stress at the current emptiness next to her. While she pondered more on her sexual frustration, her gaze darted towards the view from the window—a view of the tree from the outside, trees swaying gently under the moonlight. Somehow, the view calmed her mind. It didn't take long for her to hear the gentle breeze—the wind itself making the leaves somehow chatter among themselves in a hushed manner. Fixated to the calming scenery from the window, she tried to blink her eyes to keep them from drying… however, there was something with the quiet murmurs of the breeze and the leaves, the faint stream of water, and the soft moonlight that managed to make the simple act of blinking rather difficult.
"Lelouch locked the door, did he not?" C.C. tried to talk to herself once more, this time acknowledging the fatigue washing over her. She seemed to recall despite Lelouch's rush to leave—she swore he looked apologetic for a second—he promised to be back and that she would be safe during the night alone in this place. Before she could answer her question, she had dozed off.
Scooping a palm of cold fresh water from the stream, C.C. proceeded to splash her face with the water to wash away traces of her tiredness. The coldness of the liquid did a good job bringing her to her senses. Soon then a pair of feet were dipped into the stream, and she watched her feet submerged into the crystal-clear water.
It was a nice morning, for she woke up with the sounds of nature. It brought her back to her days with her tribe. Her mind still adrift to the thoughts of her life in the higher lands, wondering how her sibling could be faring now. She sat at the bank; the hem of her dress pulled up around her knees so that it wouldn't get drenched as she washes her feet at the flowing water.
This morning, she woke alone expectedly. There were no signs of Lelouch having come back at night to check on her, nor any messages from one of his many messengers what he is planning with her now. There was barely any food as well, just a few slices of bread and a glass of milk from yesterday. It was quite fortunate that there were plenty of fruit trees around.
She sat there, still and unmoving. It was quite the experience of sitting on the green grass by the river again, directly under the wide blue sky. Unlike the gloomy paintings of people in Lelouch's grand house, she preferred the colors of nature—simply breathtakingly beautiful; vivid and yet surreal.
What was left there to do is wait for Lelouch to come back. Not to ponder about them stopping when things are getting excited, not him leaving immediately. All she had to do was to wait like an obedient woman she was expected to behave.
The stream murmured on her feet; a school of little fish seemed to have passed by. Her thoughts calmed once more when the wind blew on her face.
Her fingers raked through her partly wet fringe, combing through the ends of her long locks. The young lord did not say anything about him coming back, but he should come back…right? Somehow, being alone in the open made her dread her long-desired freedom. Perhaps not freedom, but she found her current solitude rather lonesome.
Well, it did not take long for the stillness of nature to be disturbed. C.C. heard footfalls—horse thudding to be more precise. It painted a smile on her lips, happy to know that her very worry was just resolved. She stayed still on the bank, closing her eyes to anticipate Lelouch's arrival. Her mind came up three possible witty things to say to him already.
If it were just a passerby, then she would pretend to be a commoner lazing around the river.
The sounds were growing louder in her direction. The way the horse ran sounded elegant, not rushed. That wouldn't be a soldier. That would be Lelouch, she affirmed herself and kept her eyes closed, bathing in the sunlight through the leaves of trees next to her.
When the horse finally stopped behind her and the rustling of the clothes of someone unmounting the horse was apparent, she knew it was the young lord. Smirking, she said:
"I thought you have forgotten me, my lord."
"I'm afraid I won't forget a beauty as remarkable as you, my lady," it was a different voice, much gentler than Lelouch's. The stranger's voice made her open her eyes in urgency.
A handsome smile was painted on his lips as he stood closer to the cabin, guiding the horse to a rack. Standing in long white coat and boots, he was tall and graceful. His corn-silk platinum blonde hair shone brightly under the sunlight, as if he was not a being from this plane. When he turned around, C.C. was met with pale purple irises, making her gape in awe.
It was the handsome man from the portrait among the ugly portraits hanging on the walls of Lelouch's residence.
"You are not dead, unbelievable." She rudely muttered, garnering a hearty laughter from the blonde.
"Is that the new rumor about me? Or perhaps is my brother thinking of assassinating me this time? I'd rather not have him taint his hands because of his hatred towards me."
Brother? Assassinating him this time? C.C. wondered what he could be talking about. Does that make him Lelouch's brother? Now that she thought about it, she never really asked Lelouch about his family.
Then again, this man and Lelouch hardly resembled each other at all, as if they were lights and shadows. One thing is for sure though, they are both incredibly appealing.
"You shouldn't stay long sitting with your skirt up by the river, my lady. I am afraid, you might be giving passersby a wrong impression." He laughed awkwardly, walking in her direction. When he reached her side, he kneeled and offered her a hand.
She reluctantly took his hand, while helping herself out of the river. She did not stand, but rather pushed herself off to make space as she try to remove her feet from the cold stream.
"Have I given you the wrong impression, sir?" she spoke, but perhaps she should have apologized first for her rudeness. She wasn't sure. The etiquette in lowlands is confusing her Highlander brain.
C.C. made a mental note to lessen her brazen behavior, for so far it proved to encourage the opposite of avoidance among the men she met.
He smiled handsomely illegal (she thought) and spoke, "I'd say my imagination was quite not of a gentleman that moment. I am rather rude admitting that, am I not?"
He assisted her to put her shoes on, but she wondered if those aristocratic hands should be touching her lowly-slave feet at all.
"Stay still," he beckoned, keeping her sitting on the bank. He pulled a handkerchief out from his pocket and dried C.C.'s feet, eliciting a blush on the maiden's face. This action yet again added to the things she wondered about: should that handkerchief touch her lowly-slave feet at all?
What a presence, she thought this time, allowing him to finish what he was doing. His touch was so gentle, as if he was used to doing this. She wondered (again), perhaps he is a lady's man? She remembered among her tribe members, that there was a man popular among the females because of his kindness. While she never noticed the so-called lady's man from her tribe, the rumors tend to be exaggerated and well-spread.
She took a closer look at his face—he is as impossibly beautiful as Lelouch. His hair seemed like spiderweb as strands, fringe covering his forehead. While she was occupied with the thoughts of the handsome siblings, comparing how one's beauty is radiant, the other mysterious and dark, she was taken aback when he lifted her foot to his lips before sliding it to her shoe.
He smiled as if replying to her gasp of surprise.
"I am Schneizel el Britannia, my lady. What is a noble lady doing here, alone by herself?"
Noble lady? C.C. realized she was wearing a dress befitting of one. Her looks and her clothes led him to such conclusions. However, her manners should have given her real identity away already—that she is not of noble upbringing.
"I could ask you that myself," was her immediate response. She should really stop being haughty these days, or else she would find her tongue walking her to the guillotine. "I was invited by Lel—er, the young lord, Sir Lelouch, here."
There was a strange glint on his eyes upon hearing her response, but it was gone before she could analyze what it was. He helped her up, and while she dusted off her clothes, he did not let go of her hand.
"Are you a paramour of my brother?" he guided her towards the cabin, "Or is he your paramour? I doubt a lady of your beauty is not yet betrothed."
"I would not answer your queries, but does the answer matter to you?"
He chuckled, glancing down at her. "No, it does not. I am being nosy, I apologize, my lady." He kept quiet for a while as he let her climb upstairs to the porch before letting her hand go. "But if I were to court you, then it will be of matter to me, since I would like to know who my competitors are."
His dashing grin is bright and untrustworthy, but C.C. could not deny his appeal. He was just like Sir Weinberg, an unwarranted sunshine blinding her. The only difference would be, Weinberg's radiance is enveloped with genuine interest towards her; and Schneizel's glow is concealing sinister. Somehow, she started to appreciate the comfort she shares around the awkward so-called ruthless young lord, Lelouch.
Schneizel remained standing at the bottom of the staircase, as if waiting for her response. "Well," he begun, looking at the distance, "seeing how my dear brother brought you here as if to keep it a secret, I shall openly declare my interest towards you. May I inquire your family name?"
She gulped. Just what is wrong with these noblemen? They raise their women to be obedient and kind, graceful and elegant, and for some reason two of them seemed smitten by my brazenness. Knowing how alarmed Lelouch was at the announcement of his brother coming, she should not give further attention to Schneizel. There could be a good reason as to why Lelouch was avoidant of this man.
Right, rejection should be it.
"None that you should know. I am but a passing entertainment for Sir Lelouch, and once he loses interest with me, I should be of no importance to you. I will not be an important piece to play around with your brother, Sir Schneizel."
"Ah, right. Of course, it will come across that way. I apologize, my lady. I should lecture my brother first about cherishing ladies better instead of toying around them. As an older brother, I should indeed have raised him to be a better man." That smile again. "I am serious. I shall correct his behavior first. Then I will ask for your name again, my lady."
There was no right or wrong answer to him so far. It quite irked the brazen lady.
This time he bowed; his grace unparalleled. C.C. started to wonder if he is a prince. He bid her a goodbye, took his horse, and went to the direction (perhaps leading to Lelouch's residence).
Then again, why did Schneizel go here instead of the residence? Was he expecting his younger brother here instead? Questions C.C. wouldn't know the answer to until later.
"Sibling fights are terrifying."
It was not a smooth ride back to the cabin. Lelouch did not get as much rest as his horse did, nonetheless he was dashing across the fields just to get back to the lady whom he had let down again. This time, their interests aligned. He knew it—he yearned her just as much as she yearned him. If it were not for Schneizel coming back to visit or to stay for longer, who knows, he could have had her.
Oh, how he dreamt of claiming her, keeping her in his arms that night. He had envisioned a morning waking up next to her wrapped in his embrace, slumbering in peace as if the previous night did not break a sweat on them. The feeling of her bare body warming him up through the night fueled his desire more to see her. He wanted her, no denying that.
As he raced straight to the cabin, he came to wonder again why Schneizel did not arrive yet at the residence. Lelouch went back in the middle of his important business just to prepare for his brother's arrival, and yet the guest was nowhere in sight. It was the fear of getting further criticized by Schneizel that pushed him to leave that evening.
The scenery around him faded in background as he sped up, eyes fixated on the man on a white horse, coming from the direction where Lelouch's cabin is situated. There were not a lot of noble people who would take a white horse in these lands, so somehow the sight of one made Lelouch anxious.
Could it be him? Did he meet her?
The distance between them shortened and as Lelouch and the person approached the middle point, he need not to slow down to know. Lelouch sped up more, the horse running full speed ahead to where the cabin is. He knew it. He saw it. Those malicious pale purple eyes and that slight grin.
Without any acknowledgement of each other's presence, Lelouch raced to his destination, while the other went the opposite way.
Did Schneizel try messing up with him again? Did he purposively visit the cabin first, attempting to corner him if he refused to greet him in person? Of all times, he thought.
"C.C.!" he hopped down the horse, letting the animal ran straight to the stream to take a drink. Lelouch went straight to the pretty lady with lime hair seated at the top of the steps, her chin on top of her folded knees. She looked like a noble lady who ran away from home.
"I apologize for arriving late. Are you unharmed?" he went down on a knee before her, a palm stretched out, waiting for her to take it. She did look up to him, those amber eyes looked brighter in daylight. "Have you come to meet my brother? Did he do anything strange to you?"
"Does getting hit on by noblemen count as strange? If yes, then yes."
His face paled. "What did he—"
"He dried my feet and kissed them," she stretched out, saying so nonchalantly. "I should say I am not liking how these aristocratic people in your circle treat me. But who am I to complain."
Well, that made him livid. How befitting of Schneizel, coveting to a stranger – was his thought. But of all strangers, what an unlucky time to stumble upon a precious one.
"Say, young lord. Does the nobility feel unsatisfied with the standards they have set on how women in aristocratic society behave? It seems to me that, that rather than punishment, all I get for my behavior is more attention." It was a complain. She might have it rough, considering she was coerced to coming down to the lowlands by a noble, gifted to a noble, desired by a noble, and well, desired by yet another noble.
"Or is it all about loveliness of one's body and face?" she added as if to complete her spoken pondering.
Lelouch smiled shortly and replied, "For some reason, it is your charm." He offered his hand once more, to remind her he is waiting for her to take it. "And to respond, I have heard stories of old men having affairs to women—or men, really—and it seems that breaking the convention gives them a thrill."
"O-ho?" she chimed, putting her hand on his. "I must have been thrilling to you, my prude lord." She smiled teasingly, following his lead downstairs. The events from the previous night started surfacing, lacing her thoughts with steaminess.
"We are far from being prude now, aren't we?" he kissed the top of her hand the moment they were on an even ground, eyes lingering on her as he worked his kisses up to her arm. "I think I owe you a lot of apologies for last night."
"I am ready to experience a plethora of your ways expressing this so-called apology," she chuckled, reversing the grip he had on her hand, surprising him with a slight pull making him stumble closer to her. "You made me wait long enough, your highness. How about a horse ride and a tour in this beautiful scenery?"
He smiled, leaning to place a kiss on her forehead. She seemed surprised receiving a friendly peck, but it painted a smile on her lips, nonetheless. Lelouch just arrived, but somehow his presence calmed her unabating thoughts.
He took her head, loosening her grip on his cravat, and led her to his stallion.
"Well, I'd rather tour you around instead of going back to the mansion anyway."
Author's note:
My sincere thanks to all who kept reading and still waited for an update. After a five years of cockblock - er, writer's block, here is a brief update. I will try to write more regularly now.