Story: A Touch of Colour in the Gray

Book 1: Shading the black.

Date: 25 November 2018, corrected july 2022

Beta: AxZi (2018) and None T^T (2022)

Fandom: D Gray Man

Disclaimer: No, I don't own D Gray Man and I'm not making any money on this story.

Summary: After landing in the 19th century, Estelle soon realizes that she has been hired by the Kamelott family, basically the villains of DGM. Taking the name Eve, she then becomes Tricia Kamelott's lady-in-waiting and helps her with her daily tasks. Now that her life is a little less chaotic, Eve reflects on her arrival in this world and decides to make up her own mind about the people in this new world despite her knowledge of manga. However, she soon becomes aware of the social difference between women at that time and starts to fear for her future, especially when Road and the twins arrive...

Chapter trigger: Depression

Enjoy your reading!

Chapter 14: Embarrassing discussion

Saturday 11th April

"Say, Eve…"Jasdero asked shyly as he pushed his food onto his plate. Curious, I put my fork down to give him my full attention, waiting patiently for him to elaborate. "I think you're a little... weird lately, I mean, you're not your usual self," the boy muttered.

Frowning, a little puzzled, Jasdero stammered out an explanation. "Not in a bad way! I don't know, you're... uh..." The young boy gave his brother an imploring look, who looked up to the sky but spoke the words his twin was desperately seeking. "Yeah, you look happier," Devit said, Jasdero nodding furiously beside him.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, surprised at the remark before giving it serious thought. "Maybe it's because I've finally come to terms with my grief..."

"Your... what?" mumbled Devit, crossing his arms and looking quite unhappy to admit his lack of vocabulary.

"Grief is when we finally accept the death of a loved one." I explained, choosing my words carefully. "Before you get there, they say there are five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance." And boy, did that remind me of Majora Mask... Urgh, no, I could never finish that one either! Uh, but wait, when did I even start it? Frowning as I tried to remember, I was pulled out of my thoughts by an innocent question.

"And you've done your 'grieving' now? Is that why you look happier?" Jasdero asked, genuinely curious.

At these words, I could not help but smile sadly. "I think, or at least I hope so. It's been months now, it's time to move on a bit..."

Jasdero nodded, seeming to consider my words. Catching Devit's gaze, I raised an eyebrow when I felt him hesitate. "And who have you been mourning?" he finally asked, and this was where you could see how much progress they had made in the last few months, for it was with a certain care, awkward but present nonetheless, that he asked me the question. Two months earlier, I would have had a barely intelligible question grunted in my face.

"My family." I answered softly, and saw him give Jasdero an unreadable look. Could he imagine what it would be like to lose his brother? "But, as I said, I think I've accepted it. That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt, and I'll probably be sad from time to time... But I have another family now, quite different from my first one, to help me!" I said and both twins blushed at the implication.

"Pfft, like I'd want you in my family." replied Devit, crossing his arms, chin high.

"Ho, really?" I say with a teasing smile before putting my hands over my heart in a very exaggerated pose. "Alas, I'll just have to go back to being depressed..."

"No!" Jasdero shouted as he leapt to his feet before blushing in embarrassment and sitting back down more slowly. "Before, even though you were smiling, your eyes were sad... so, I'm glad you're okay now," he murmured and I felt a bubble of emotion burst in my chest.

"Thank you so much Jasdevit, I'm so happy to have met you." I whispered as I grabbed Jasedero for a hug with one hand, the other waving Devit's hair who grunted but didn't hit my hand for it.

Progress, I tell you!

The rest of the morning then passed without much happening. Compared to last week, I mean. On the Monday after my new birthday, Ernest Impleton, the steward who had welcomed me to the manor, had retired. It was quite sudden for me, but apparently the idea had been on the table for some time. Jean told me that Eliott had been apprenticed to him for two years to become a steward. I'm not sure how I felt about this... To be honest, I didn't get on well with any of the footmen. Alphonse was too much of a show-off and looked at me with disgust every time he saw me in the kitchens and Hilton seemed to be constantly mocking me with Marie. And Eliott... well, how can I put it... If I had to bet on one employee in the whole manor being an akumas, Eliott would be my first choice, hands down. He was cold, mechanical, precise, efficient. His sense of empathy seemed to have gone out the window a long time ago, and I'd never seen him show any emotion other than mild annoyance. I know that the akumas were often colourful from level 2 onwards, or at least from what we had seen of them in the manga. Eliade, Chomesuke, the gravity akuma, the akuma 4... But I refused to believe that a being so robotic could be human.

So, yeah, I was terribly disappointed to see Ernest Impleton go.

Not that I'd seen much of him before, but Tricia was increasingly sending me to talk to the stewards to give her permission to use such and such a place setting for such and such a guest, or to inquire about the menu for those other. And since the housekeeper, Eudora Landless, seemed to think I was stupid, I didn't want to have to deal with Eliott (the possible akuma) on top of that.

Besides... well, I don't know what I would have become without Ernest's kindness. I don't know if it was a cosmic fluke or what, but even with the recommendations of his sister Dolores, he should never have hired me. But either way, I was there and I had saved myself a possible career in prostitution as a bonus. So it was with a gentle smile that I said goodbye to him in the company of the other employees, asking him in passing to greet and thank his sister once again.

The rest of the week with Eliott at the helm went smoothly and that's how we got to this point, this morning, with the twins. Then, as usual, I joined Tricia in her room and helped her get ready for the day. Unfortunately, she seemed even more tired than usual and we didn't do anything exciting. In fact, we spent our entire morning in the small living room, her half asleep in a comfy chair and me reading aloud from some book of poetry. Hey, in my defence, she insisted! Telling me that reading poetry would help me improve my English. Well, yes, that's true, but it's still pretty tiring to stumble over every word because of the archaic vocabulary. She could have given me a poem in Latin and it would have been the same catastrophic result. Fortunately she was far too tired to really listen to me...

As soon as the clock in the living room struck noon, I quickly slammed my book shut with a sigh of relief and got up to wake Tricia. A little out of sorts, it took her several minutes to wake up properly before I could guide her to the dining room. There, the twins and Road were already having a quarrel and Tricia hurried over to them to calm them down.

You might have thought it odd that the twins would come willingly and on time to a family event, and you would have been right if you had made that assumption a few weeks earlier. However, since the twins had been seeing a tutor, they took every opportunity to get out of his clutches. So, instead of hanging around their rooms until I or an insistent maid made them come to the table, they practically jumped out of their classroom as soon as the first gong on the clock sounded.

"Oh, Eve, could you go and fetch Tyki? He's probably still absorbed in his novels." Tricia asked me, one hand on Road's shoulder, another on Devit's head, physically (or at least seemingly, because it wasn't Tricia who was going to stop two determined Noahs...)preventing them from throwing themselves at each other's throats.

"Yes of course." I smiled and headed for the library, the first place I thought I would find it. On my way up the stairs I passed Rosina, Tricia's personal maid. She was holding the day's mail in her hand, which she had not been able to give to Tricia at breakfast because she was so tired. Exchanging a few quick hellos, I left her to continue to the library and knock on the door. There I found Tyki in a comfortable chair by the window. Looking up as I arrived, he glanced at the clock before rising with a sigh. "I've lost track of time again, it seems..."

"Oh, yes, it's far from the first time and I imagine it will be far from the last." I replied with an amused smile before holding the door open for him. Walking quietly down the stairs in a comfortable silence, we finally arrived at the dining room where there was a very different bustle than a few minutes earlier. Indeed, as soon as I stepped into the room, all eyes converged on me. This in itself was not really surprising, everyone looked when someone entered a room. No, what was strange was the length of the gaze but also the nature of the gaze. Tricia's looked guilty while Jasdero's was filled with confusion. But it was Devit's mischievous look and Road's innocent face that put me on the defensive...

"What's going on?" I asked abruptly as I took two small steps in the direction of the group, ready to run at any moment... though I hoped this wasn't the start of another pitched battle between the twins and Road... I'd gotten pink paint in my hair last time and it'd been a real pain in the ass to remove. I vaguely noticed that Tricia was standing next to Road. It was strange, because she had been feeling so tired since this morning that I had to support her all the way to the dining room.

"Nothing!" Road replied too quickly and I felt Tyki cough behind me to hide his laughter. Raising an eyebrow, I crossed my arms and assumed my I-know-you're-lying-to-me-it's-in-your-interest-to-answer-me-promptly pose that had surprisingly worked on several occasions. However, I didn't even have time to hold it for a second that Tricia was already answering.

"Road, darling, please give her the letter," Tricia pleaded with her before placing a hand on the table hurriedly as a dizziness overtook her. However, before I could fly out to meet her to enquire about her welfare, Jasdero had beaten me to the punch and now seemed to be helping the lady of the house back to her seat.

"The letter?" I asked, curious while still keeping an eye on Tricia.

Road sighed theatrically before pulling a letter out from behind her back and pouting, "You've never received a letter since you came here! I wanted to know what it said..." she whimpered as Devit grabbed the letter and grudgingly handed it to me. He too was apparently curious... I, for my part, wondered if it was a mistake. After all, I didn't know anyone in this world except the people in this manor, so who could have sent me a letter?

Ah.

I am stupid.

"Maybe it's the kid?" Tyki said curiously as he moved closer to me to read the letter over my shoulder. And wasn't that excessively rude? Merlin, my bad manners were rubbing off on Tyki, Sheryl was going to have a heart attack...

"Yes, it's him." I replied when I saw the cursive writing. Surprisingly, despite his slow reading, Allen had very nice handwriting... Feverishly, I tore open the envelope as neatly as I could before extracting the letter and looking at it with a smile on my face.

"Ah, he is asking how I'm doing" Tyki exclaimed, a smile clearly recognisable in his voice.

"So? Who is it? What does it say!?" Road asked clinging to my dress and standing on her tiptoes to try and read the letter. However, even so, it was still too small and I could keep it out of reach without any trouble.

"He's a friend, Road, you don't know him." I replied absentmindedly, still looking at the letter with a smile on my face.

"How does Uncle Tyki know about him, then?" She asked, tugging at my skirt to get me to pay more attention to her. I usually had a lot of patience for children, but I had to admit that Road was fraying my nerves. I only wanted to read that letter and she knew it, but as she couldn't know its content, she was doing her best to prevent me from doing so too.

"Eve introduced me to him when you were at school." Tyki replied as he grabbed her hand, stopping Road from pulling my skirt off. Oh, thank, this guy was wholesome! Anyway, technically, he was right. But if the situation was correct, albeit very light on explanation, the whole street and vagrant thing momentarily forgotten, Road would surely assume that the meeting had taken place after my official date of meeting with him, which was when Tyki had returned to the mansion.

"But why didn't you introduce him to us afterwards! You could have brought him back to the manor, we could have all played together!" complained Road, crossing his arms over his chest.

And I, in my mind...

NOP

Presenting an innocent thirteen year old Allen to Road?

Ahah,

As if.

Just the word "play" reminded me that Road had... well, no, she hadn't yet, hé? Anyway, she would stab Allen in the eye.

And then she would kiss him afterwards.

Before riddling him with candles again...

And then to give him a big hug to calm him down.

Two or three times.

"It's decided, we are having your friend over for tea this week!" said Road, clapping his hands, effectively bringing my attention back.

"Oh yes, I'd love to meet your friend!" nodded Tricia, having regained her colour.

Looking my most sorry self, I gave them a heartbreaking sigh while inside I was almost crying with relief... I had almost sent the storyline of the manga into the toilet and it hadn't even been six months! "Oh, I'm so sorry, but that's not possible. He's abroad right now, that's why he's sending me a letter."

"He? Is he a boy?" exclaimed Tricia, coming up to me, her eyes glistening with... something I really didn't want to know. AH! Indeed, speaking in English all the way, gender hadn't come up until now... Suddenly, Road let out a high-pitched scream, causing the twins to clamp their hands over their ears, and elbowed Tyki in the stomach so that he could let go of her and grab onto my dress again.

"Is he cute? Did he court you? Is he of high birth? What did he offer you? Did he..." Road began to chirp at full speed before I could place a hand over his mouth. It may not have been the right etiquette to maintain with his employer, but it was effective so...

"Road, no, stop! He's thirteen, he's practically my little brother!" I replied, cutting her off. "And anyway, it's not like I want to get married now." Or never for that matter... but you never know, despite my prejudices, I might be able to find someone smart, funny, not sexist...

Aaha

As if...

"What? Why? You're old enough," Road asked, Tricia nodding at his words and the twins waddling uncomfortably behind. For the record, I was more likely to do what they were doing... Why were we talking about my future non-marriage, again?

"Maybe in the eyes of society, but personally, I certainly don't feel mature enough to choose someone to be attached to for the rest of my life." Because divorce is out of the question here. "And since I have a choice..."

"Well, technically, since you're an orphan, you're under the jurisdiction of your employer so... Sheryl." Tyki quietly taught me.

I... sorry?

Had I just learned that my future depended exclusively on a guy who, at the moment, didn't seem to have me in his heart because of my proximity to his brother, to whom he had a more than suspicious love?

Ahah

As if... well, no, I've already said that too much, let's change the register.

That was a joke... wasn't it?

Unfortunately for me, the girls nodded in the background.

"He wouldn't dare?!" I hissed and, yes, my voice was perhaps a little higher than usual.

"I don't know why you're so against it, marriage is wonderful! Look at me, I'm totally fulfilled." Tricia replied, the love talk apparently giving her strength. I had to bite my tongue to keep from answering that she might be happy, but that her family consisted exclusively of supermen who wanted to destroy humanity, so automatically, her too. "But I understand, it doesn't have to be right now... but keep it in mind." She added before giving Tyki an appraising look. "You're still young after all. Tyki, on the other hand, should start seriously considering it, he's the right age, and I'd dream of nephews and nieces to spoil."

Tyki, who had literally spent the entire conversation smiling stupidly at my misfortune, suddenly lost his grin for a painful grimace. Giving me an annoyed look that no doubt expressed that it was my fault for bringing up the subject, he turned his attention back to Tricia with a softer face.

"As Eve so rightly said, I don't feel mentally mature enough to choose just one woman to love for life," he declared with finesse. Oh the idot, he was trying to draw attention back to me. It was treacherous, and I let him know my displeasure with a hard look to which he replied with a curl of the lips that assured his smugness.

Before I could find another way to throw the hot potato back at him though, Road once again crashed into the conversation gracefully, "Ho, you have so much in common!"

Oh.

No.

She wouldn't dare to do that?

"You'd be so good together!" she added sadistically, practically hammering the word 'so'.

She dared...

I saw the enchanted look on Tricia's face and the devilish look on Road's one and I could not do anything else but exchange a panicked look with my companion in distress, Lord Tyki Mikk.

Oh, speaking of Lord...

"Come on, it's not possible, I'm clearly not of an acceptable rank to marry into the nobility, let's be reasonable," I replied hastily trying to catch Tricia's eye with my own.

"Yes, Road, don't be silly." Tyki added vainly.

But the damage was done, and even if it seemed impossible at the moment, Tricia had her ways...

After that, the meal passed in relative silence, barely interspersed with conversations of little interest between Road and Tricia. Personally, I had preferred to remain calm at this meal and not to say a word, there was no point in starting up the girls again after all.

Not surprisingly, Tyki had decided to do the same.

Finally, with nothing else to feed her hysteria, Tricia felt tired again and didn't take much longer when the meal ended. Taking our leave together without so much as a dessert (lemon pie, I wouldn't have wanted it anyway) I guided her, half supporting her, down the long corridors to her room where she sat down with a sigh of relief on her bed.

"Do you want me to read you something? I asked her as I approached the small bookcase by the window that held all her favourite books.

"Oh no, it's so nice outside, don't stay here, go for a walk! I'm not going to do anything but sleep anyway," Tricia replied as she sat down on the pile of cushions dotting the bed.

"I don't mind, you know," I assured her as I sat down in the chair ideally placed at her bedside.

"I know that..." She says with a tired smile as she takes my hand. "Oh I know! Why don't you go to the stables and get a horse?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not skilled enough to ride alone..." I replied doubtfully.

"Who said anything about riding alone, just go with Tyki, he's a very good rider, you know. He hasn't ridden since he got back, I'm sure he'd enjoy it."

I raised an eyebrow at this. I had a feeling she wasn't going to let go anytime soon... " I don't think that..." I started to reply before she cut me off as she saw Mary walk by in the hallway.

"Marie! Could you go and ask Tyki to join Eve at the stables?" asked Tricia without even listening to my complaints.

"Of course, Mistress," Mary bowed and then complied, glancing at me with disdain as she did so. Marie... didn't have me in her heart. She was Road's regular maid, but the little girl had completely abandoned her for me, according to what Clarisse had told me. I was trying to limit the damage by forcing smiles and offering to help her, but it didn't seem to help...

"You should change, Eve, you can't ride in that outfit! Take the one I lent you last time. You might as well keep it, it looks better on you anyway," Tricia began to chirp until she was finally exhausted enough to let me go.

There was no way of cutting it, so I put on the dress that was only slightly less impractical than mine and certainly unsuitable for any kind of sporting effort and went down to the stables. With all the time it had taken to change (in my defence, the dresses of the time were really not easy to put on alone when you got past the poor quality of the common people...) I was not surprised to find Tyki already dressed and ready to go.

"You know I had other plans..." he sighed as I arrived. Lovely. Well, I couldn't blame him, I'd planned to finish that portrait of Road that I'd put aside and I must have quite the grimace myself.

"Complain to your sister-in-law, I had nothing to do with this." I mumbled as I approached a stall containing the same horse as last time.

"Not a chance," he replied. "She'd tell Sheryl and he'd lecture me for the rest of the day." He said, rolling his eyes before shrugging with a teasing smile. "And anyway, it's not so bad, going on a horse ride, especially in pleasant company."

"Hoo, I'm touched." I laughed with a healthy dose of sarcasm to wash it all down. It was at this moment that Pierre, the young stable boy and son of Philippe the groom, brought our horses and I climbed on them not without the slightest effort because of these stupid dresses. Okay, they were nice to look at and nice to wear when we stayed at home, but to play sports with these monstrosities? Which were also supposed to be special clothes for riding?

Meh.

"Well, you looked a lot more resourceful when you were Robin." Tyki scoffed, already on his horse, as he saw me struggling to get on mine.

"Look, let's swap clothes and talk about it later, okay?" I replied a little curtly when I was finally settled. Patting the horse's sides with my heels and trying to be as dignified as possible, the horse started to move and walked quietly down the small dirt road to the forest. Behind me, Tyki made a little whistle and his horse trotted quickly up to mine.

In the end, the walk was quite pleasant. The air was mild for April and Tyki had a lot of inexhaustible anecdotes about the silly things his brother had done. So we laughed all afternoon at Sheryl's expense, our conversations barely interrupted by a few annoying low branches. After probably a good hour's ride, however, Tyki said he had something to show me and, abandoning our horses in a clearing, he led me through a thicket of particularly dense trees that I wouldn't have thought to go through otherwise. The further we went between the trees, the more difficult the slope became, so much so that we had to climb the last few metres.

But it was totally worth it, the view was splendid.

While the trees around us remained as tightly packed as ever, as if to surround this little corner of paradise, in the middle of the basin the situation was quite different. In front of us, the vegetation was nothing more than a sparse grove of trees sloping down to a small lake. Surrounding half of it, it was however quickly giving way to a field of wild grass. Only one massive tree, the only deciduous tree in the middle of the field, let its branches run over the lake and I had only one desire: to build a hut and jump into the water.

However, Tyki was present and I had to return to the manor anyway to help the twins with their homework as I had promised.

Turning away reluctantly, I thank Tyki and follow him to continue our walk.

But I promised myself that I would return as soon as possible.

AxZi note: Was a nice little bit about her moving on and also the Tyki part with the horseriding.

Ennael note: Special dedication to Kira for the "massive tree" ("What's this clue? We're in a FOREST!") I had totally forgotten about this chapter but I laughed when I read the part with Eve being in trouble 'cause of Road so i guess, i'm pretty happy with it even years later :)

Think about letting a review on your way out and see you on the 25th of next month!