Chapter 4

It was a rather long and tiring ride to the Argent Estate. It really did take several days to travel from the village to the estate. This bastard must've been rushing to get the insignia and the beast taming flute as soon as he heard of my parents' deaths.

The old man tried really hard to get information out of me. But really, being a child is quite convenient. You can lie to adults face without a second thought, and if they don't believe your gibberish? They just assume that you're speaking nonsense and leave you alone.

And after the horribly long, and interrogative ride, we arrived at the Argent Estate. Lines and lines of servants awaited us. "Welcome home, Your Grace. Welcome home, Young Master Alfred, Lady Mireille."

I get off the carriage and take a look around. I walk beside Alfred while copying his mannerisms. A woman awaited us as soon as we got to the house.

"Welcome back." She smiled.

He kissed the woman on the cheek, "I'm back." He then turned Alfred and me, "Alfred, do you remember your Aunt Iris?"

"Yes, it has been awhile Aunt." Alfred bowed, crossing his arm and placing his hand on his chest.

"And this child is Cordelia's youngest, Mireille D'Argent."

I guess that in this situation I should curtsy? I lower my head, and curtsy to greet the woman. "It's nice to meet you Aunt."

"No, the pleasure is mine." I look up to meet an empty stare, one that was almost disdainful. The Archduke lead us into the mansion having us brought up to our rooms to change before dinner. The maids grabbed me dragging me off. Boi- don't touch me!

"Release me!" The maids continued to disregard me. I let them drag me into the bathroom where they bath me, using all sorts of fancy soaps and essential oils. Then!! They drag me out the bath and force me into a tight, frilly dress. Y'know, the type that you'd see rich nobles would wear in ye olden days. And then there's the hair yanking as they do my hair. All in all, my hate for this house is growing with each passing second.

Afterwards they escort me down to the dining room where Alfred, the Archduke, the Archduchess, and three kids that I don't recognize. They're probably the Archduke's children, seeing how the two girls resemble the Archduchess, and how the boy looks pretty close to "The Signature Argent Look," the only difference would be his blue eyes.

I sit down next to Al, politely sitting up.

"Ahem." The Archduke cleared his throat, "Tonight, we're going to have a feast to celebrate the reunion between family!" He turned to me and continued, "Mireille, these are your cousins, Vanessa and Vivienne are twins and Emil, he is the eldest."

I smiled at them. "It's nice to meet you, I hope that we'll get along." The two girls seemed to ignore my very presence, while the boy smiled back. The entire meal was filled with awkward conversation fillers. I just kept quite through the entire meal, while Al made nice with the rest of the family. However, I feel as though I've seen Emil somewhere, sometime. I just can't put my tongue on it...

After dinner I was escorted back upstairs, where the maids got me to change into a night gown and tried to put me to asleep. Keyword: tried. I faked sleep for a little bit and as soon as the maid leaves the room I can hear Al'd voice echoing through my head.

"Mireille do you have the insignia?"

"Mhm. Claude D'Argent won't be able to get his hands on it unless he tries to kill me." After all, only the owner of a dimensional storage device can access it. No one else can without the permission of the owner or unless the owner dies.

"Tomorrow I'll send a letter to Aunt Evelyn." I could hear the distress in Al's voice, he's really trying his best to protect us... Well, the worst thing that could happen is that we'll have to live with the Archduke until we become of age.

"Don't worry Al, I won't let anything happen to us." And then we stopped talking and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning the maids are barging into my room and urging me to change. I lazily get out of bed and let them dress me. They then lead me downstairs to an office like room where I see Claude D'Argent going through stacks and stacks of papers.

"Master, Lady Mireille has arrived." The maid bowed.

I curtsy as my mother taught me and greet him. "Good morning Uncle, I hoped you rested well last night."

He looked up from his papers and smiled again. "Ah, Mireille. Come and sit down." He gestured to a chair near his. I take a seat, and watch as the maid leaves. After a prolonged awkward silence he finally speaks up.

"You truly do look like your mother." He sighed, almost sounding melancholic.

Well no frickin' duh. My magic is pretty great. But I don't say that obviously. Instead I smile and reply to him again. "That is because I am my mother's child."

"You may be your mother's child but you are not your father's."

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Bro wut. I cocked my head to the side, still confused. Honestly, I don't even know if I heard what I heard.

"Mireille D'Argent." He stopped moving his hands, and put down his paper work. "You are not the child of my brother. You are not the child of Cedric D'Argent."

I could only stare at the Archduke blankly. Is he kidding me? Even though I changed my hair color, I still have my father's green eyes. "But uncle, people say that although I look just like mother, I still have father's eyes. It's impossible that I am not father's child."

I can feel his eyes on me, it was neither frightening or cold. I looked up to him only to meet a pair of green eyes that were accompanied by silver hair. His gaze was endearing as if he had just found something that he longed for. It couldn't be. I looked away from those eyes. I can't accept it.

"You are my child." I could only continue to stare at him blankly. I was shaken out of shock when I heard a knock on the door.

"Iris, come in." He said, welcoming in the Archduchess. As she opened the door I saw the cold look on her face. It was as if she couldn't even tolerate my presence. Before I had simply thought that she was a more taciturn person but as of now I could clearly see that she didn't welcome me in her home.

I smiled at her brightly, ignoring her cold stares. "Good morning, Aunt Iris."

"Mireille, you're younger than the other children by a lot so it may be awhile until you're able to enter the magic academy. So as of now I'll hire a private tutor for you and your aunt will supervise your etiquette lessons."

"For the first few days I will over see your lessons, soon a tutor will take over." She paused to look at me, and continued. "Follow me."

I hop out of my chair and follow her. "Have a good day Uncle." I scurry out of the room behind the Archduchess as fast I can. The thoughts still echoing through my mind. I couldn't be the daughter of Claude D'Argent, even if it was my hatred towards him won't waver. Whatever connection he has to me will not change it.

As I follow Iris D'Argent down the hallway when we bump into the silver haired boy that I had met earlier. Emil D'Argent was it?

"Good morning, Mother, Mireille."

And suddenly it all came back to me. The Argent family, Emil's face. Everything.

"Good morning, cousin." I smile, hiding everything.

The entire reason Emil D'Argent is so fucking familiar is quite simple. I know him. I know everyone in this house. Why? Because they're characters in an otome game... And Emil and my brother are capture targets.

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