My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 2- Unexpected arrangement

Panic swallowed me completely. Shit...shit... fucking shit, he found out!!!!!

I started to walk around the room thinking how to best proceed with this problem at hand. It was imperative that I found a way to soften Gobbie's, angry heart.

Imagine if there is really a Temple camp! I don't want to go there!!

"How did he find out, Fanny? You never told me about any suspicions from anyone, except that with Jenni's, but that was some time ago..." I said as I stepped closer to her, hands moving scarcely to alleviate some of my stress.

"I don't know, My Lady... I was careful, but the Duke, your father, is very keen on the details. Maybe he got suspicious of my many assignments outside...." replied Fanny now more composed, though still with a trembling voice. Then something clicked on her and her eyes started to become wet."What if he punishes me, my lady?" She was again crying waterfalls, any pretense of calm out of the window.

"He would have done it right on the spot, Fanny. Don't worry, I will take the heat for it." I said in a reassuring tone as I embraced my ally.

No, the Duke would never wait to punish a servant. He never waited to punish those who had wronged him, that was the way of the Mountnero family. Yet, there was a curious thing about him... he rarely, if ever, punished the servants, unless they did something severe. For a person known as the cold-blooded snake, he was very relaxed with his employees.

To outside people, however, that relaxation was never brought to light.

"Fanny where is the Duke?" I asked in an urgent manner, surprising Fanny who looked at me with her eyebrows arched, as cleaned some of the tears out of her chin.

"He got a call from the emperor for an emergency... I am not sure when he is returning." She replied, now herself again.

At those words, I ran to my desk and took a small piece of yellowish paper from an old notebook I used for my studies. In there I scrabble quickly what I wished to and turn then to Fanny.

"Take this to the boutique owners." I extend my hand with the paper. "It's a warning saying we have been found out by the duke. Go fast and we may avoid a bigger problem." I  fold the paper and hand it to  Fanny's trembling hands, giving her a comforting grasp. "I will be counting on you. If you get caught tell them I forced you to do it, I will take the punishment. I have been strengthening my ankles anyway." With a forced smile, I let go of her hands.

Fanny didn't like my joke and that I was so carefree over such a serious thing, but she didn't expand on the issue and ran out of the door to fulfill her duty.

I passed the rest of the day in panic mode, trying to hide any books I had on the alchemy and ancient language. My strategy was denial and more denial, allied to cuteness, which was bound to soften the Duke's heart... I hoped... lucky for me the letter only had questions regarding the ancient language and not of the alchemy. I could use that in my favor.

In the middle of the afternoon, I was invited by Jenni to have tea in her room. I knew she had wanted to know for herself what had happened between me and Fanny. Someone must have told her that something was amiss between me and Fanny and that Gobbie had caught it.

She would for sure want to help us, however, it would only put her in a hard place. And in the end, it would be difficult for me to shield two people from Gobbie's cold rage.

Jenni tried to nab me for information for the most part of our afternoon tea, never believing me when I told her nothing was wrong. Seeing that she would get nowhere Jenni gave up and I got relieved.

By the end of the tea, we got interrupted by a gasping Fanny. It took her a long moment to recover her breath.

"The duke has requested that both of you make him company for tea right now." She said as she came forward to our side, helping us to get up.