Chapter 238 Heart’s reflection

Music Recommendation: Watching Ulla- Alexandre Desplat

—

When the carriage returned to Skellington, Eve asked Mr. Briggs to stop the carriage near the local carriage stop of the town.

Mr. Briggs pulled the reins of the horses to stop it, and Eve stepped down from the carriage with her belongings. Before Mr. Briggs closed the carriage door, Allie said in a small voice,

“I will miss you.”

It was because Eve had an off day from her job the next day, allowing her to take time for herself. She offered a smile to the small vampiress, which had a hint of sadness as she said, “Me too, Allie. Please take care of yourself.” The small vampiress quickly nodded.

Eve’s eyes then fell on Vincent, who, like her hadn’t spared a word after getting into the carriage. His eyes met hers as if he had been watching her for quite some time. There was no humour in his eyes but a seriousness that she hadn’t expected to form between them.

It seemed like she had proven him right. A woman and man couldn’t always stay friends, as one of them was bound to like the other one day. It made her question why it was easy with Noah but not with Vincent.

She was thankful to him for finding her mother, letting her see her mother and bringing a rose back in the cemetery. She offered him a deep bow to appreciate his help and stepped away from the vehicle. The coachman closed the carriage door, climbed on the driver’s seat and rode the carriage into Skellington town.

When the local carriage arrived, Eve paid the fare for it and got inside, travelling with two other passengers back to Meadow. A day had passed since she confessed her feelings to Vincent, but she could feel the awkwardness between them, creating heaviness in her chest. She doubted these feelings would disappear anytime soon and wondered if it was feasible to work in the Moriarty mansion anymore.

Her eyes had sought to look at him the moment she had stepped into the Moriarty mansion this morning, and she doubted it would change. She would continue to look for him anxiously, while her feelings for him would only grow.

With her mother buried properly, Eve had nothing holding her back from this place. She could keep Lady Aubrey and Eugene from being exposed that they had been sheltering a mermaid all these years.

When the local carriage arrived at Meadow, Eve started to make her way toward her home. But when she walked through the streets, some women, who often greeted her with a smile, stared at her as if thinking something, making her wonder what had happened.

The rumour about her among the women had already started to spread, and a few watched Eve’s back as she walked past them.

One of the women whispered to another, “One would think she’s the epitome of purity and character?”

The woman next to the first one leaned in to whisper, “Did you hear about it too?” Her nose scrunched with disgust at the new information circulating for a few hours now. “I thought she wanted to be a governess which is why she decided to be a spinster, but who knew that the reason was far from it.”

The first woman clicked her teeth, “I have to agree to your words. It was only a few days ago when I was talking to my husband, and we wondered if she was a witch to not marry.”

“Witch?” The second woman raised her eyebrows and laughed, “She does look beautiful than any other in this town. We humans have a certain limit in appearance. But she’s been with Aubrey for so long, and Aubrey was once married, wasn’t she?”

“She was,” the first woman nodded, watching Eve disappear at the end of the street. The lady then looked at the other woman and said, “She is a witch because of her immoral deeds,” she shook her head in disappointment. She then continued, “Mrs. Humphrey was still willing to take the girl’s side after all these things, it’s a pity that Genevieve would refuse to marry Patrick.”

“Why would she, when she’s earning quick money from sleeping with different men? It was just a few days ago, when I saw this posh carriage arrive at noon to pick her up. The servant carried these baskets that appeared to look like gifts,” the women continued to whisper among themselves.

When Eve entered the gates of her house, she noticed Mrs. Edwards sitting outside the patio of her house with four apples that hadn’t been peeled. The woman’s eyes met hers before starting to peel the apple.

“Good evening, Mrs. Edwards,” Eve offered her greetings to her neighbour, who looked startled as if she hadn’t noticed Eve until now.

“Uh-good evening,” Mrs. Edwards responded while keenly looking at Eve’s appearance.

To Mrs. Edwards, the young woman looked tired as if someone had kept her up all night, which wasn’t completely untrue. She questioned Eve, “Has there been any news from your aunt?”

Eve shook her head, “Aunt Aubrey said she would be writing to me once she reaches halfway of the journey.”

“That seems quite a lot of time, hm,” Mrs. Edwards offered a small yet tight smile.

On seeing Eve enter the house, Mrs. Edwards dropped the apples to the side and quickly headed out to meet Mrs. Humphrey. Reaching the house, Mrs. Edwards knocked on the door, and the woman of the house opened it.

Mrs. Edwards informed the other woman, “Aubrey and the servant aren’t going to be coming back anytime soon.”

Then this was the right time to punish the adulterer, Mrs. Humphrey thought in her mind and said, “Keep an eye on her. I will take care of the rest.”

In Dawson’s residence, Eve got herself into the bath with the bath salts for the second time in a row. Because of the size of the bathtub, her translucent, feathery tail rested on the edge of the bathtub while her upper body was immersed under the water. She stared at the wooden ceiling, remembering the closeness she had shared with Vincent.

Last night, he was only a breath away from her, and now there was distance between them that she doubted could be reduced. Her feelings towards him had increased so much that it had ended up burying her, and it was hard to breathe without feeling an ache in her chest.

Eve placed her hand beneath the surface of the water, gently running her fingers as if trapped under the water.

Once she was out of the bathtub, she dressed and sat in front of her desk. She pulled a clean parchment from the drawer and a quill and ink bottle. For a few seconds, she stared at it before she started to write–

‘To Mr. Vincent Moriarty,

I would like to thank you for hiring me to be the governess of your little sister, Miss Allie Moriarty. It has been a great pleasure and opportunity to teach a precious girl like her, who has now exceeded her studies in such a short time.

Unfortunately, my time has come to leave the job for reasons you are already aware of. I hope you can accept my resignation as the governess of the Moriarty family. I have decided to move to Berkshire with the hope that I will get a job there. You gave me the job when no one else did, and like many other things, I cannot express how grateful I am for it. I will always be indebted to you, and if you could offer a letter of recommendation to me, I would appreciate it more. If not, I can understand.

Forgive me if I have made a mistake while I have worked for the Moriarty family.’

Eve stared at the last line of the letter. There were a lot of things that she wanted to tell him, that she would miss him terribly. She felt a moment of weakness, wondering if she should throw away the letter and continue working in the mansion. But that would only lead her to have unrequited feelings and may one day cause bitterness.

This was for the best. This way, she would carry only the good memories from here.

She signed at the end of the letter before folding it and pushing it inside an envelope.