Chapter 109 - Her Rendezvous [I]

The carriage came to a halt in front of a store labelled 'Zabell&Glace'.

The coach came around to the door and helped Yvonne off the two brass steps till she was standing on the pavement. Yvonne had expected for the coach to drive off and leave her be, but he waited expectantly by her side.

"Won't you leave?" Yvonne asked, her back facing the boutique door.

The coach's forehead wrinkled in confusion, as if he couldn't believe what he was asked.

"Of course not, Your Highness," he answered. "It is now my job to make sure your visit is safe, seeing that you brought along no guard of your own." 

"Hmm..." Yvonne wondered how she could get rid of him so she could trot off to the pond by herself, but it seemed that the man was in no hurry to leave. 

"Alright then. You may wait by the door while I browse inside," she ordered airily as she turned elegantly on her heel. With those parting words, and not leaving him any time to protest, Yvonne casually strolled inside.

She made sure she didn't make a huge show of it, and that her hat was lowered over her face at all times, as she went near a rack of hung dresses and fingered through the array of patterns. Even though many of them appealed to her, dress shopping was not her intention today. 

Yvonne pulled out a random dress and headed to the dressing rooms by the guide of the pointing signs up ahead. When she was well away from all eyes, Yvonne abandoned the poor dress and went in search of the back door, since every store always has one.

Eventually, after pushing at each door, Yvonne finally came to one set farthest from the rest of the store and as soon as she pulled the handle, she knew she had made it.

The chatter of commoners was like music to her ears. Like a free bird, Yvonne walked amongst the rest of the locals, for once not being afraid of being chased after by lustful men. 

She was new to the Empire, so she barely knew all the directions. But there were signs at all corners of the streets, presumably pointing tourists to the pond's direction.

The Pond of Divinity.

Yvonne had only ever read about it in books before, so she didn't know what to expect. But the clean, blue water and the atmosphere of lingering magic made it feel truly like a structure straight from heaven. 

Yvonne didn't even need to look for Aspen; he was the first one to approach her.

"M'lady, might I trouble you for a moment?" he said in a gentlemanly manner, as he bent low to catch a glimpse of Yvonne's face under the sun hat. Startled, Yvonne stepped away to protect her face. When she finally recognized the voice, she let out a breath of relief and turned back to him with a small smile on her face. 

"You may trouble me all you want if it means I get my questions answered by today," she said with an air of royalty. Aspen smirked. 

Yvonne noticed that he was wearing a plain brown tabard over a white tunic, looking as if he could easily hide amongst the local crowd. 

"You seem to have a load of questions for me," Aspen commented as he raised his eyebrows. "I didn't really think you'd turn up so early in the morning, actually. I was just about to leave."

Yvonne chuckled as both of them started walking.

"I'm not one for standing people up." She eyed the large stone slab in the middle of the pond and winced as she realized its purpose. "Shall we go somewhere safer to sit and talk?"

"You've read my mind. That'd be best, especially considering the amount of spies the Emperor has scattered all over his land. Controlling, much? So, where to?"

Yvonne thought about it for a moment. "Any bar would do."

Aspen nodded and led her to a nearby pub. Yvonne didn't wait to read the name and followed Aspen straight inside. It was a warm atmosphere, where people (mostly middle-aged men) sat along, gulping jugs of beer. 

Yvonne and Aspen settled in a table in the very corner of the room and turned away a server before he had even approached the two of them. 

"On second thoughts," Aspen muttered as he called back the young server, "I think I'll have a drink. Anything for you?"

Yvonne nodded. It had been a while since she had the freedom to consume proper alcohol, so she felt excited to try it again. Or was she just feeling giddy because it was the first time she was all alone, out in the wild like this?

The server came back with high hopes.

"Bring over an iced mead."

"I'll have a sherry. Any kind would do," Yvonne ordered, nodding at the server boy who blushed as he caught sight of the pretty lady.

When the server was out of earshot, Yvonne turned to Aspen. 

"Why mead?"

Aspen shrugged as he looked around at the decor of the pub. "I'm not too good with strong alcohol. I sure do hope their mead is worth my time, though."

As soon as their drinks arrived, the two started talking. 

"So," Yvonne began first, "how's the Duke this morning? I hope he wasn't too unnerved by my thoughtless comments last night."

Aspen smiled as he gulped his honey flavored drink. "Well then, I'll have to disappoint you. He was cursing you out as soon as we were on our way in the carriage. Had to keep my mouth pursed the whole time, or else my laughs would have had me sacked."

"Lovely," Yvonne muttered quite happily as she carefully sipped from the lean cocktail glass with her sherry, which was decorated by a red cherry. "Mind you, I only almost tattled on him because I disliked the way he acted so high and mighty. Entitled middle-aged men get easily on my nerves. Anyways, it's good that he knows not to mess with the Royal Family, or else he'll lose support from all sides. Where else can he go, anyways?"

Aspen sighed, his black eyebrows crossed. "I'm aware. Pity that the only man capable of taking over the dukedom died. He was the public's favorite, really. That's why so many people have taken his passing away to heart."

Yvonne put her elbows on the table and leaned forward, interested. 

"You said previously that the previous Marquess died in suspicious circumstances. What else can you tell me about it?"

Furiously, Aspen gulped down half of his drink and slammed the jug on the table. Whilst everyone else turned to him in shock, Yvonne didn't flinch.

"His name was Olyver Huxley. Olyver, truth be told, was a gentle soul. He was kind to the people, he was soft-spoken and even the smallest of his gestures brought him praise from all sides. People thought that naturally, his younger brother, Parr, would follow in his footsteps. Even though Parr tried his best, he still had this inferiority complex that he could just never get over even when I sat down and talked to him about it. But then one morning, he was found stabbed in his chamber."

Yvonne let out a soft gasp. "No..."

"Yes." Aspen gripped the handle of his jug so firm that his knuckles turned white. "That was when all hell broke loose. Someone claimed that they had last seen the younger brother exit his brother's room with blood on his clothes, someone blamed the Duchess for killing Olyver since he was the son of Lucan's mistress, others blamed the Duke himself… It was pure chaos, I tell you. The protests spread like quick-fire once many of the servants were severely punished for blaming the Duke's family for the alleged hate crime, but not providing sufficient proof for it."

Yvonne winced as she gripped her unfinished glass of sherry.

"And that's not all!" Aspen laughed as if he couldn't believe it even himself. "Notice boards across the Empire became covered with leaflets, calling all abled men to join a secret assassination team to kill off the Duke's family, to avenge the death of their beloved Marquess. And before you ask,"- he held up a hand to stop Yvonne from saying something- "yes, I was tempted to join."

She scoffed. Was what she was hearing even real? She had known even before she had come to Wisteria that some riots were going on in the Lands of Sovia, and that's how she had used her limited knowledge to bait the Duke. But what she was hearing was totally different from what she had imagined!

"I can't believe it," Yvonne said, her voice almost a whisper. 

Aspen nodded wisely. "As someone who was just playing the part of a side character in the life of the Duke's family, I was there to witness it all. From the discovery of the dead Marquess to the flaming of the rampage, I was everywhere. And did I ever do anything to stop it all even when I perfectly knew how to? I didn't." Aspen let out a laugh. 

Yvonne sipped her sherry once more as she released her shoulders from their tense state. "I understand everything, except why the new Marquess was here to marry. I heard he held a Selection ball not too long ago."

Aspen popped his knuckles one by one as he thought about it.

"It's a custom for the Duke's family," he replied after a moment. "An old codicil or something. It says that no man, whether the direct descendant of the duke, shall inherit the dukedom prior to marriage. It's a daft will, but who am I to judge?"

Yvonne  nodded slowly. This was a lot for her to take in. But what was she going to do with this open chest of knowledge? Yvonne stared at the man before her who chugged down the last few inches of his drink before wiping his mouth with his sleeve. 

What was she to do?