Chapter 73 - The Task in the Capital (Part 2)

The necklace had a silver gleam and a brooch-like pendant with a snowflake. The round lavalière clearly had something inside it—possibly a picture. Faustina did not check or opened it, however. Due to her respect for the duke.

She had been twirling the necklace for a while, slipping it on her finger, gliding gently like a snake slithering across the ground. The duke told her when she arrives at the capital, particularly the restaurant, the lead will come to her. Though she had been observing for an hour or two regarding whether or which would be the possible 'lead' or 'clue,' or even the mere sight of Owen. She was worried, of course, having her first assignment. She knew she must carry it to completion.

Faustina easily skidded across nobles, with Maddie constantly following her—almost hysterically, as a mother worried about her child getting lost on the crowd. It did not suit Maddie being the mother-figure due to her being only a few years older than Faustina, yet almost just her height.

"M'lady, seriously, you keep on disappearing." Maddie huffed. "I thought I lost you! You might faint or collapse suddenly if you tire yourself up."

Right. Faustina thought to herself, crystal clear that the magic overworked its effect. She shouldn't have doubted the ability of such magic.

There was a name for a disease that would let the latter collapse due to combined factors of stress, heat and the crowd. It had a name, Eula told her, but Eula was weird—she named diseases of her own vocabulary. She often called it 'Sleeping Beauty' and the villagers adopted her habits and due to the mere exposure of the witch-doctor in Nebel, they got accustomed to Eula's novel ailment names.

Faustina had deep regards for Eula, but she wondered if the village folk would be at a disadvantage due to her master changing the names of diseases. She asked, 'what if there would be a doctor, a real doctor, who would ask for the illnesses of the villagers?'

'Nah, impossible.' Eula simply answers. 'This village is isolated. No one would go here. We're the only ones giving them the courtesy. Don't stress ya self up, champ.'

Now that Faustina had thought about it, why was Eula so sure of the village being so isolated. Is it because the village was on the mountainside? She only had vague pictures of Nebel—but she was certain it was a rather antiquated village. They had way poorer and limited resources, compared to the capital, for obvious reasons.

Well, she never even knew what other villages would look like.

Faustina was startled as she found herself bumping against the back of a person due to her being lost in her own thoughts. She rubbed her nose, preparing to apologize to the person she bumped to. Again, she probably lost Maddie because of her endless wander.

The person turned.

A waiter—but he had an air that spoke of something different. He did not smile nor gave a hospitable aura, on contrary to his 'profession'. Faustina and the waiter stared at each other for a while, the waiter obviously observing her with a blank gaze.

"Lady Faustina," he says. "How may I help you?"

'The lead will come to you.' The duke saying on the back of her mind.

"It can be quite snowy on the capital, no?" Faustina exclaims, smiling—there was no snow, they would need an approximate of two months for that. "I think I would need a warm cup of coffee. In a silver platter."

The waiter's eye gleamed for a second, and then his stare was blank again.

"Certainly." He says.

Faustina slipped her hand to the necklace in her pocket once more.

A task is close to completion.

Or so it seems.