Story : A Touch of Color in Gray

Book 1 : Shading the black .

Date : December 25, 2017, corrected on 10/10/2021

Beta: Lyra (2017) and Lucky (2021)

Fandom : D Gray Man

Disclaimer: No, I do not own D Gray Man and I am not making any profit from this story.

Summary : Estelle wakes up in the 19th century without really knowing how. Following the movement, she finds herself working as a housekeeper for the Kamelots but this fact spotted by the hostess and becomes her companion, learning in the process that she is in DGM.

Triger of the chapter : Religion and the ignorance of Eve on this subject. Also, the condition of the woman and miscarriage mentioned.

Chapter 3: For Whom the Death Ring Tolls

Sunday January 11, 1885

"Knock, Knock" Knocked someone on the door before Clarisse poked her head through the opening. "Get up Eve! I'll leave your meal for you on the table. Also, Louise asked me to tell you to come to the kitchens this afternoon if you can. " she added with a smile before closing the door, barely waving a hand when I shouted a quick thank you. Moaning, I fell back into bed, still savoring the soft warmth of the blankets for a few moments. Admittedly, the mansion was pretty well insulated and the fire had been burning all night, but we were still in the middle of winter.

And it was cold.

And it was early, too.

So yes, 7am was better than 5:30 am, but not by much. Sighing, I sat down and ran my hand through my hair. The brushes from that era did a miracle for my long tousled ends, I had never seen my hair so smooth and manageable! I was a little missing my pretty waves though but I assumed it was a small price for a painless comb passage ... Besides, speaking of combs, I really had to think about buying myself this kind of convenience, I couldn't stay with borrowed items much longer! So I had planned to go to town to buy some everyday items and a pen this afternoon. Sheryl had lent me one the day before, and I had used it carefully, along with the writing paper Clarisse had given me but I really needed a notebook to organize my notes and if I could get rid of Sheryl's pencil as soon as possible, that would be wonderfull. Fortunately, I had plenty of time! Tricia surprisingly feeling better for the past few days, the couple immediately took the opportunity to book tickets for the Opera the same evening. From what I understood, it was a couple outing to celebrate Sheryl's birthday which was somewhere next week. Tricia being too afraid that she will feel bad on D-Day, she had preferred to do this as soon as possible.

Burying my feet in the carpet, savoring its softness, I stood up and began to prepare for the day. Having been careful to leave the basin of water near the fire the night before, I quickly washed myself in lukewarm water and put on a simple dress from Dolores. It was a bit wide and somewhat washed out, but I still didn't care much to Tricia's dismay. Quickly pulling my hair up into a bun, as I had grown accustomed to since I first came into this world, I quickly put on some somewhat large boots for myself and walked out the door to the hallway. Pushing the clapper, I took two steps outside to pick up the breakfast tray that was resting on a small table near the door. The small table was originally next to the opposite door, but I had moved it the day before precisely in order to put the tray there and it worked well. It's not as if it would be a problem to move a small table aside. I hurried to gobble up my meal before bringing the tray back outside and knocking on the next door.

" Come in !" Tricia's soft voice answered me.

Pushing open the door, I entered the master bedroom before suppressing a grimace and shifting to the side, my head lowered. Surprisingly, this morning Sheryl hadn't left yet. He gave me a quick look, kissed Tricia and walked past me with a polite "Miss Campbell" as he stepped out into the hallway. It was always a bit awkward to bump into Sheryl in the morning but luckily it was only the second time that this had happened. I always had a little trouble reconciling in my mind this warm man with his wife and cold with the servants with the colorful man I remembered in the manga.

"Hello Tricia, are you feeling well today?" I asked as I approached the bed.

"Hello Eve. Yes, I'm quite alright today" Tricia smiles as she gets up from the bed. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly stopped when she saw my outfit. "Eve! you don't plan to go there like that, right?" She said with a distressed look.

Blinking in surprise, I wondered vaguely how she knew I was going to be in town this afternoon while muttering, "I have nothing better to wear."

She looked at me confusedly before clapping her hands and giving me a beaming smile. "I'm going to lend you some clothes, you're going to be radiant!" She said as she walked over to a very large cabinet at the back of the room near the door to the bathroom.

I raised an eyebrow at that. Even though she was sick, actually, maybe because of it, Tricia was as thin as a model. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she was wearing cloth in 34 ~ 36. For my part, I waddled more towards 38 ~ 40… And let's not even talk about the difference in breasts, I'm going to be depressed… What would I not do for her small chest! But hey, we always wanted what we didn't have, didn't we? Even if why people longed for the source of constant back pain and painful weights at the slightest effort was beyond me...

"Tricia" I began carefully, dragging behind her. "I don't think I can… um… fit into your clothes." I answered stumbling over the word, not sure if it was a word old enough for a 19th century woman to understand but not having any more coming to mind at the second.

"No sense." She replied, opening the closet overflowing with colorful dresses. "I have a few larger dresses that Sheryl gave me when…" She began, frantically rummaging through the clothes before stopping dead and resuming more slowly. "Anyway, I think they should be fine with you." She finished quietly before suddenly uttering a cry of joy.

"Ha! Look at this one! She said, pulling a blue dress from the wardrobe before looking at it with wistful eyes. She was simple but still very pretty. The high collar looked like a pleated shirt and a blue lace pleat highlighted the chest, extending into puffed sleeves. The dress continued, tight around the waist, before flaring into a wide skirt that made me want to turn quickly on myself. A little skeptical about the size, I quickly returned to my room to put it on. Indeed, it was a little tight at the level of the chest and the belly, but it was not untenable. Looking at myself in the mirror, I twisted the dress a bit before smiling slightly. It was just like when I tried on my younger grandmother's ball gown, the same excitement of having a glimpse of a bygone past… well, not so long gone here.

And I guess… I was rather pretty.

Blushing at the strange thought, I turned from the mirror to return to the Masters bedroom. Tricia was even more excited when she saw me shyly coming back to the bedroom, suddenly deciding that I absolutely had to put on some jewelry and that's when I got the strange realization that I had my ears pierced! My parents had let me do it in the memory gap? Wait, I didn't even want to do it, how could that have happened? In any case, she put on me a set of diamond blue stones with silver before she took care of my hair.

Rosina and Clarisse had arrived in the meantime but they were of no help to me, letting their mistress play with dolls while they prepared her clothes. Woe to me, Tricia discovered that my hair was long and that it was pleasant to play with. After a crown of braids and a slightly more complicated bun, she finally left me alone and I helped her and Rosina to prepare herself in a very pretty red dress which highlighted her brown eyes. Finally, around 9:30 am Tricia and I were ready and I was really wondering why it took so much effort just to get into town.

"You are beautiful ! She exclaimed, looking at our reflection in the standing mirror in her bedroom.

"You are very pretty too, Tricia" I replied happily, smiling. I had always liked dressing up and the whole event looked more like a preparation for a con' or a theater show than anything else.

"We are really going to be the most beautiful ladies of the mass. »She concludes happily.

"Yes, I think so t-…" I started to say before her words caught up with me.

Hold on a second.

Mass ?

With my head resting on the glass, I looked gloomily at the landscape.

I really didn't want to go to mass.

But obviously, it was Sunday, and I had forgotten that at the end of the 19th century, a large majority of the citizens were fervent religious. Sighing, I watched the people in front of me, still surprised Sheryl came with us. I didn't know if he was really so in love with his wife to the point of worshiping a God that he… well actually believed in, seeing as he was fighting him… or if he was just trying to mingle with the mass of noble religious of the time. After telling me where we were going and without listening to a word of what I said to her, Tricia eagerly dragged me to the small living room to chat a little more before our departure at 10am. At the appointed time and still having no success in my attempts to escape, I finally had to resolve to get into the cab with Sheryl and Tricia. Sheryl only raised an eyebrow when I arrived and after an appraising glance at my dress that left me far too self-aware, he met his wife's gaze. The couple had one of those silent conversations impossible to understand from the outside. Seeing an overly innocent smile on Tricia's face and her hand on my shoulder preventing me from running away, Sheryl finally sighed and held out his hand to each of us to help us get into the cab. I was infinitely happy that the departure was not framed by an army of servants for once ...

At first I thought we would go to the small village nearby but when we drove past it without even stopping, I assumed we would go to London. Which was neat, I guess. I had never seen the London of that time after all and it could only be interesting especially since I had not left the Manor for two weeks. The problem was, the Manor was about an hour's drive away. And sixty minutes in a jolting and narrow cab with the masters of the house for only company was a long time. Very long. Fortunately for my sanity, we didn't spend the whole trip staring each other in the eyes. Sheryl had taken some paperwork to read and he was almost forgettable beside Tricia's tweets. I wasn't saying much on my side. Even though I understood everything well enough, I still found it difficult to speak in well-constructed english sentences and I didn't feltl like testing it in front of Sheryl. So I was mostly silent, just helping Tricia continue her monologue by making attentive noises every now and then or adding simple questions. It was in the middle of a conversation about one of the friends she had seen last week that Tricia suddenly asked Sheryl when a certain Lucie was coming back from France. It immediately caught my attention because well, France on the one hand and on the other hand, it was far from the first time that Tricia spoke about this Lucie since the week that I knew her. And I wasn't jealous, okay? It's just, well… from what I understood, she was Tricia's best friend, barely a year her junior and the exact cliché of the elegant and refined French woman. And I was… well… me.

"With the sudden death of her husband and now her father not feeling well…" Tricia sighed worriedly. "Maybe we should go and help her directly at her manor? Organizing a succession on your own should not be easy… "

"Don't worry Tricia, the kids keep Adam company and Lucie is more than capable of taking care of family matters. After all, it was she, and not the late Baron Belle, who ran them. " Sheryl replied with a dismissive look at the man's name before going back to his paperwork. Tricia didn't seem to quite agree but she held her tongue, worried before suddenly lighting up.

"We have arrived ! Look up, Eve. " She said happily, not even giving me time to consider their conversation. Indeed, a huge steeple was sticking out of the houses in front of us and, soon, the coachman (Barenton or Brenton or something like that ...) stopped near the church. Sheryl, just as smartly dressed as us, helped Tricia and I down, before giving his arm to his wife to guide her through the cold wind. The church was quite far away, though, and it took us a little while to get there. Walking behind my employers, I watched the people flocking to the imposing building with curious eyes.

Oddly enough, all social classes mingled in a confused movement. Ho, of course, you could make out the nobles, strutting about in the middle of the square leading to the Church, as if they were better than everyone else. There was also the bourgeois, who tried by all means to separate themselves from the commoners and attract the attention of the nobles to propose here, business, there, to unite their families ... And then, the common people, who thronged around to find the best remaining places.

Paying more attention to what Sheryl and Tricia were doing when I almost lost them in the crowd, I sticked close to them and followed them into the Church. I had little, if not to say none, religious education. I had certainly been baptized, my sister had spent her first communion and my brother had also done catechism, but I had nothing. My mother had said that she didn't agree with the philosophy of the officiating priest or something like that when I asked her why the three of us had such a different religious education.

But anyway, with all that, I just had the basics that you could learn by combining two, three weddings, church visits with my father, and Civic Education. Well, it was still more than what I knew about Islam, Judaism or Buddhism… I really should have inquired earlier, I thought darkly, staring at the stone basin in front of me. Dipping two fingers in what I thought was holy water, I made the sign of the cross following Tricia. Except… is it the left side or the right side first? Letting go of my gaze hoping to find the right answer by divine grace, literally, I met Sheryl's who raised an eyebrow when he saw me stop in the middle of my gesture. Hurrying to finish, I saw him smile amusedly before shaking his head and walking after Tricia.

Oops

Look like it was the other side ...

A little red with embarrassment, I followed them in turn and sat down next to Sheryl, himself next to Tricia who was looking impatiently at the altar. It had not started, and I was already eager for it to end ... I was not against learning about the thing but the hardwood benches and large stone walls that did not protect anything from the February cold weren't the most charming, it must be admitted. Amid the chatter of the faithful, I let my mind wander, trying to distract myself from my shivers despite the heavy cloak that Tricia had lent me. The Church was large, we felt that we were in a beautiful part of the capital. Gothic in style, it was very bright and colorful thanks to the large stained glass windows. To my surprise, it was while staring at the priest who had just appeared that I noticed the large cross, which I naturally associated with the exorcists, overhanging the altar. Was it like Hakkenden or 07Ghost and that cross was actually the official symbol, or did Sheryl have the nerve to walk every Sunday (where Tricia felt good) in a church ruled by the Black Order? Sending a furtive glance at my neighbor Noah, I tell myself that he was clearly capable of it...

Finally, the mass began, and there followed for an hour an alternation of sitting / standing and singing / listening phases. In the end, it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be. Ho, it's true that I clearly would have preferred to do something else, but it was nice to sing after almost a month of abstinence. Even though it was yogurt. Well yes, I didn't know the lyrics at all and I didn't have songbooks like some, so I basically imitated the sounds and caught up with myself by singing the "Hallelujahs" and "Amen" loudly at the top of my lungs. But even though my imitation fooled most people, I was very aware of Sheryl's flickering smile at my side. And it wasn't just my imagination as I vainly tried to make myself believe, because after about half an hour he borrowed Tricia's book with a whisper and handed it to me, still his stupid smile at the lips.

Again, I wasn't sure if I should be upset or relieved.

Choosing positivity, I thank him with a whisper before digging my face into the old pages. And then, the dreaded moment of the Eucharist arrived. That moment when the faithful have to eat the body of Christ… what was… a little morbid? In the few weddings I had been to, the priest asked those who wanted to come and take the host because he knew very well that the number of Christians was no longer as unanimous as before, especially in France. However, we were now in this "before" and I was really freaked out about what to do. On the one hand, discovering myself in church or silently listening to the preaching was just respect for a religion that was not mine. I would have done the same if I had been in a mosque or a temple. On the other hand, participating in the host was more disrespectful for me, because I was not a practitioner and it was the symbol of faith for Christians. However, as everyone above ten stood up, I didn't really feel like I had a choice to sit still. But taking the host and throwing it away seemed even worse ...

"Eve, are you all right?" Tricia asked me, standing next to me, when I wasn't moving. I was about to get up to reassure her, but Sheryl spoke before I could even make a move.

"I think Miss Campbell is not feeling well, I will stay with her while you get the host." He said to Tricia in a voice that didn't suffer from contradiction despite its gentleness. She looked even more worried but nodded and walked past us to stand in line with one last look back. Alone with Sheryl, I told myself uncomfortably that I shouldn't have been thinking so hard and pretending to go get him while joining the crowd.

"It's funny to think that with a first name like Eve, you are not a Christian. Sheryl said, breaking the heavy silence.

"Um yeah, thanks for apologizing to Tricia." I answered, avoiding the point. Seriously, but what made me choose that name? Me and my nutty private jokes… obviously that was going to play tricks on me.

"I knew that secularism had grown a lot lately in France, but from there that you have no religious education ... Or maybe you support another religion? He said casually as if the answer didn't matter to him. But if that was really the case, then he wouldn't ask the question and it was this sudden surge of interest that put me on my guard.

"Well, I was raised in the secular spirit…" Hi public schools of the 21st century. "But I think I'm more of a deist. I believe there is something, but I really can't say what." I replied uncomfortably. Sheryl had the art of making me feel bad with a look ...

"So why a name like Eve?" He asked genuinely curious.

Well..."Because that sounded good?"

And hop back with a surprised look and then an amused smile. Were these the only emotions I elicited in him? I guess, as long as it wasn't murder, I had to consider myself happy.

"You know, I have a daughter, Road. She's a little younger than you, but I think you might just get along." He said after a few minutes of silence.

I narrowed my eyes in response. But why was he bringing it up now? "You think so ? I've never seen her, is she in boarding school?" I asked carefully.

"No, she's staying with a friend of ours, Duke Campbell, with my brother." He said, scrutinizing my reaction.

Duke Campbell? he was talking about the Earl, wasn't he? But wait, in the manga everyone called him the Earl and they never said his name was Campbell! I just took the name because it was Mana's name but… Ho boy, would Mana be the Earl? No, it goes all over the place, I have no information to prove it! But seriously, what took me to go in the past when the manga had finally started over ?! Ho no, Sheryl was not taking his eyes off me, he was waiting for a reaction? Maybe in relation to the name since I had taken the same… What should I do? Well, when we don't know what to choose between the left and the right, you take the middle so ...

"Ho, you have a brother?" I asked as innocently as possible.

"... Yes, a brother, younger by eight years." He said, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, are you talking about Tyki?" I'm sure you will get along very well with him, Eve. Tricia said behind me. She had come back without Sheryl or I noticing. I stood up to let her through and she resumed her seat next to Sheryl.

" You feel better, Eve ? "

"Yeah, but I think ... the wind ... um ... the fresh air would do me good." I replied with a smile, stumbling over the English. Fortunately, this is a sentence Tricia had used often.

"It's almost over, we could go for a walk in the park after the ceremony, what do you think? It would be wonderful, honey!" Tricia said looking at her husband.

Sheryl seemed to hesitate for a few moments before asking her if she was sure she was feeling good enough and at her stubbornness, flexed and agreed to my surprise. He really seemed to like her. Yet in the manga ...

No ! I said I would make my own opinion!

Caught up in my moral dilemma, mass then ended without further hitch and I followed Tricia and Sheryl outside. However, as we walked down the steps leading to the Church, my employers were approached by an immaculately dressed couple. The man holding the hand of a boy who did not appear to be more than two years old and the woman appeared pregnant.

"Marquis Kamelott! ! " The woman almost shouted as she approached us. She immediately struck me as unfriendly, my impression reinforced by Sheryl's stiffness and Tricia's frozen smile.

"Mr. and Mrs. Drebber," Sheryl began with a sweet voice and a flirtatious smile that surprised me. I had never seen him make such a wrong expression before.

"We haven't seen you since the birth of young Maxime I think, how are you? "

Hearing Sheryl, Madame Drebber completely let go of Tricia, approaching him with the look of a hungry hyena plastered to her face.

" Very well thank you. As you can see, I am expecting my second child, surely another son!" She said proudly as she glanced at Tricia who might have passed as discreet if we had all been blind. Tricia looked even more uncomfortable then and looked down to the ground in embarrassment. Okay, surely there had to be some misplaced jealousy story there. Sheryl quickly watched his wife decompose before giving me a pointed glance that might or might not have asked me to intervene.

Not really knowing what to do to put the cackle down on the shrew, I raised my eyebrows in his direction and he closed his eyes as if he was thinking for a few seconds before opening them again and placing his hand on my back to push me forward a bit. Oh no, no, no… it hadn't even been two weeks since I arrived in this world, I had absolutely no idea how to navigate this social circle! What if I said something wrong ?! Sheryl was going to kill me… But ready or not, he left me no choice, I was already at his side and the couple turned their gaze to me. Remembering everything my more than ten years in the theater had taught me, I stuck a pretty, incredibly fake smile on my lips, preparing to improvise. But before I could do anything, my back straightened on its own, my smile tightened, and my shoulders relaxed into a pose that I regularly saw Tricia take. What the… was… was Sheryl using his power on me ?! Panic starting to rise in me, I tried to move my fingers as my face remained impossibly relaxed. To my relief, I could still make a fist, or move from one foot to the other and small movements were even possible on my face but it was as if the orders from my brain took hours to reach my limbs and lost strength along the way. But as soon as I noticed it the feeling was gone and it was a miracle I didn't lose the position Sheryl had forced me into. Well, I thought it was Sheryl… it had been so brief that maybe, I don't know… I just dreamed it?

"Congratulations are in order! Ho, Mr Drebber, Mrs Drebber, you surely do not know Lady Campbell, the daughter of one of our very good friends." Sheryl said, pressing down hard on the Mister and Madam. Their lack of nobility was sure to be a painful affair then, good to know. Sheryl pushed my arm, forcing me to choose between a perhaps sloppy curtsy or extending my hand like I had seen Tricia do several times with their guests. Choosing the last option, I straightened up, gained a few good inches and took on the air as superior as I could achieve without falling into parody. I reached out my hand in Mr. Drebber's direction, without the slightest embarrassment snubbing Madame Drebber, who immediately narrowed her lips.

He hastened to give me a hand kiss while complimenting my beauty. "Nice to meet you" I replied but it was obvious from my tone that I didn't mean it. A cold settled over the group and I could have heard the crows croaking. I didn't know what else to do but Tricia was still staring at the floor and Sheryl's hand was still on my back. The silence stretched, again and again, and it took all my self-control not to swing from one foot to the other. Unable to take it anymore, I turned to Sheryl, hoping it wouldn't make matters worse.

"Sheryl, shouldn't we hurry? We will be late." I complained, infinitely happy that I hadn't tripped over the words even though my French accent had to be obvious. Oh Merlin, it was the first time I called Sheryl by his first name out of my head… Hope my daring doesn't get me fired…

But I had no reason to worry, because Sheryl immediately followed in the same tone as me, making a great deal of looking at his pocket watch with his right hand, his other arm holding Tricia's who were watching us. now with a surprised look.

"Look at the time! You are quite right Eve, we would not want to keep the Duke waiting. Mr. and Mrs. Drebber, have a good day." He said in a cold tone before turning to the Fiacre waiting for us at the bottom of the steps and helping us up in.

As soon as he closed the door, the driver drove off and I relaxed, my back curving again rather than taut like a stake. Through the window of the Fiacre, I could see that Madame Drebber looked particularly in a bad mood and was looking at our cab angrily.

"Thank you very much for your help Miss Campbell, Mrs. Drebber is generally a… persistent woman." Sheryl said.

"Um, sure…" I answered vaguely, still not believing what I had just done, before focusing on Tricia who still looked a little uncomfortable. " Are you doing OK ? "

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired that's all. »She said still a little pale.

"It's okay, we'll go for a walk another time. I reassured her but she bit her lip, turning to Sheryl who seemed to immediately understand the problem.

"Don't worry dear. I'll call to cancel tonight's tickets, we'll go next weekend. " He assured in a soft voice. "Your health is more important." He insisted when he saw that Tricia was about to open her lips. The Marquise felt guilty and the rest of the trip was in dark silence, Tricia clearly not having the mind to speak and Sheryl having again pulled out some paperwork to continue working. An eternity later, the Fiacre slowed down in the driveway to the mansion and a few minutes in the future we were eating with Tricia in the small living room, Sheryl having left us a few moments earlier.

"Madame Drebber was one of Sheryl's suitors." Suddenly said Tricia. "Her family didn't have a lot of money but they were noble so they hoped to find a good match. However, she could not bequeath her title of nobility unlike me who is an only child so I married Sheryl in her place." She then took a deep, fragile breath as I looked at her unsure of what to say. "I got married two years ago, and got pregnant a few months later, you're wearing one of the dresses Sheryl gave me when he heard the news. But I always had poor health, and there were complications and I… lost the baby. She finished in a broken voice. "The doctor said I could never have children again, Eve." She sobbed "And a man like Sheryl needs an heir… I've been very lucky to marry a gentleman like him, but I can't even fulfill my role…"

"But you have a daughter, Road. I whispered as I hugged her, not sure what to say to cheer her up. I had never been too good at comforting people ...

"We adopted it. She is such a sweet child… but adopted children cannot inherit the title… "she replied. "Sheryl has been so nice. He could have rejected me and married someone else, but he kept me close to him and I feel so guilty… "She whispered, her wet face resting on the crook of my neck.

I shut up.

I really didn't know what to say to make things right. For me she was much more to be pitied than Sheryl and personally I knew I would be totally devastated if I lost my child. But the customs were very different and the woman did not yet really have usually any other role than that of "mother" in this XIXth century. So I just held her in my arms, wondering what kind of future I could hope for here, with this society firmly opposed to everything I believed in ...

The topic of religion is really difficult to deal with, especially nowadays :( ( Edit2021: chapter posted not far from the attacks in France ) I could not objectively ignore, however, so I did my best to relay my ideas , hoping I didn't cause a problem ... Like I said I didn't really have any religious education so I apologize if I have offended anyone in any way that it was out of my ignorance, that was not my intention. I hope you enjoyed it anyway :) I tried to make it a little cheerful, but Eve has to fall back to earth... the future prospects are not very good ( Edit2021: HUM HUM )

Think about the reviews and see you the 25th of next month!