Vera
It's 8 in the morning already so she must be arriving soon enough. I look through my window to see if a carriage has arrived but still no luck. She isn't usually late. What is taking her so long? I look at the clock again and hear a carriage arriving at my doorstep.
"Finally" I run downstairs and give my best friend Amelia a hug. "I have been waiting since morning what took you so long?" I ask with joys "I arrived in London late last night so I overslept a little hence the delay" She says and I forgive her. "I missed you so much. How was the visit to your Uncle?"
I ask and she smiles "It was amazing, we had a lot of fun and I got some new dresses and Jwellery" She says while backing off and doing a little gesture to show the new dress and jewellery she is wearing. "It's fabulous, your golden hair go perfectly with the yellow dress" I say and she giggles. "What about you? I heard there was a ball yesterday so did you find any suitors?" She asks and I divert the attention towards Cecelia "not me but Cecelia here found a good suitor. Lord Henry. He also sent her some gifts and jewelleries this morning" I say and Cecelia smiles.
She doesn't like Amelia for some reason and I don't understand why, I used to ask her the reason but stopped asking when she never gave a proper answer. "That's amazing Cecelia" Again Cecelia just smiles in response and says a quick thank you. "What about you? How is the Novel writing going so far? You said you were about to finish it so have you?" Now that's the part I did not want to talk about
"I'm so sorry" Amelia says while giving me a hug after I just told her what happened with my Novel. "It's fine" I also told her about the new Novel I'm going to write and everything I heard yesterday at the ball and she also seems interested in the case but only to a certain level. I didn't tell her that I'm planning to get closer to that Lord Vulcan in order to find out more about the case ofcourse. She would think I'm out of my mind which I quite frankly am but at least my curiosity would be fulfilled.
"I wish you luck for the Novel Vera" She says and we spend the next 2 hours chatting and playing chess. It is not normal for most women to play chess but my father has always encouraged me to learn it so I did and I also taught Amelia but her Mother doesn't know that because she would be absolutely against it just like my own Mother. "Checkmate" she says smiling in victory and I laugh.
"The student has outdone the teacher it seems and I couldn't be more proud" I say and she smiles and looks back at the clock. "I suppose it is time I leave" She says dishearteningly and I am in low spirits again. "Hold on a moment" I tell her and go to my mother to ask if I can go with Amelia and be back in few hours. She says no at first but agrees once I mention that she is back after a month and I missed her a lot so after a little bit more of nagging she let me go.
Amelia stops in between the way to her home for shopping some Crockeries and I follow her into the shop. Her coachman keeping us accompanied by standing outside the shop gate. She is from a wealthy noble family so it's a given that they care about her safety.
There are a few ladies in the shop and Amelia takes her sweet time buying Crokeries so I take a stroll outside the shop while she does and as I am about to pass over an alley I hear something "this investigation is getting pointless" The voices sound familiar.
"Like I said we should drop this case as a mysterious death because that is all it is. We have tried our best but there are no leads whatsoever. What would Lord Vulcan even do? He can't make some evidence appear out of thin air. I say we drop this case" I take a peek at the people.
It's two men smoking and talking about that case from yesterday and by their voices I can tell they're the same men I heard yesterday. Again I'm not evasdropping. They're just within my ear shot. No they can't just drop such a mysterious case like this one are they out of their mind? "Listen mate I know you're frustrated but We must let Lord Vulcan have a look at the case. Even if he can't solve it. He might provide us a different perspective on the case. He can provide some of his intellect and we can learn a lot from him"
Yes please do not drop this case it's important for my Novel. I murmer to myself. "I sent a letter to Lord Vulcan and he said he will be visiting us tomorrow at that bakery near the church at 12 noon" One of them says and the other one scoffs "a bakery? To talk about a case? Is he okay in the head?" Well to be fair the man is right, who chooses a bakery for discussion of a potential murder case "All these genius detectives are never okay in the head" The other one responds and well he is also correct.
"Vera where have you been? I've been searching for you" Amelia calls me and I shush her. "What are you doing?" She says and I take her hand and start walking like I was just passing through this place. I don't turn my head to see if the men saw us because I can not risk them seeing my face especially when they're having a meeting at the bakery tomorrow and I plan to be there.
I just keep walking while holding Amelia's hand and once we are inside the carraige I let out my breath. "What happened? Did you get in trouble?" Amelia asks in a concerned tone. "No I was just listening to some gossip" Amelia looks at me like I'm so silly for overreacting like that over hearing a gossip and honestly it does seem silly from her point of view.
We spend the rest of the day at her home and her Mother treats me extremely nicely but I just have this feeling that she doesn't want me to be friends with Amelia. I don't say anything of course.
It's almost 6 in the evening when I finally reach my home. Amelia was kind enough to send me home in her carriage and as soon as I enter the doorstep my Mother starts again with the lecture and I sigh. I wish I could go far away from this place where no one would nag me. I do not react to anything she says and go straight to my room take out my paper, ink, quill and start writing.
It was hard to begin but once I got a hang of the story I did not realize how many hours I spent writing. I look at the clock and it's 11 now. I look at my work and revisit the pages, I ended up writing 2 chapters only so far but the story seems to be working well. I am not worried about it afterall I will be getting more inspiration and information for the Novel tomorrow anyway. As for reaching the bakery near the church. I talked Amelia into going there with me. So I will be there.
This Lord Vulcan really seems a little cracked in the head because who holds meetings like that in a bakery. Good for me though. I strech my body and yawn. I'm so tired I want to fall asleep immediately. And I swear to Christ if that dunderhead is there again messing with me I will not let him go today.
To my surprise he actually wasn't there in yesterday's dream and it was peaceful like it always has been. I loved it. Really. Although I do wonder why he wasn't there. It's just I want to know what happened all of a sudden. "Vera won't you be coming down for the breakfast?" I hear Cecelia shout from downstairs. "I'm coming" I shout back and immediately finish getting ready for the day and go downstairs.
"Mother, Amelia said she found this great bakery nearby church and wanted to treat me." I say while taking my seat and she glares at me. "We also wanted to visit the church of course. It's been awhile since I've been there so we would be visiting the church and then going to the bakery. You wouldn't deny me visiting the church now would you Mother?" I say and take another bite. Before Mother can say anything my Father enters the scenario and immediately gives me permission to go whereas Mother glares at both of us yet again which I am used to by now.
Amelia arrives shortly at 11 and I leave with her to the bakery. Of course we are not going to the church that was just an excuse and May lord forgive me for it.
We arrive at the bakery quite on time and order some cake but I do not see the men from yesterday here at all. Amelia talks about another one of the potential suitors she's been talking to lately and I feel bad for not giving her my full attention as I keep searching for the men from yesterday.
"Lord Vulcan it's a pleasure to finally meet you"I hear a voice from the table behind us. Of course I couldn't see them because they were sitting behind me the whole time well that's just great. At least I can hear what they're saying. " You seem rather tired Sir" One of the men from yesterday says. "What can I say Mr. Douglas I have been working on the case the whole night" Lord Vulcan replied and as soon as I hear his voice, there is something about his voice that I can not put my finger on.
"I visited the location and just as people said..... " He suddenly lowered his tone so I bent backwards a little to hear. "there is nothing to be searched upon, it's like the man just dropped dead out of nowhere. The doctors said his body was healthy at the time of death so it couldn't have been a health issue. I also went to see his dead body last night to find any clues but nothing "
He says much to mine and the other two men's disappointment. "which only points to one thing" He continues "If it is a murder then either the murderer is extremely smart or-" He stops "Or what?" The other two say together. "The attack wasn't physical, it was mental" He says and the other two probably make same expression as me.
He is actually quite not right in the head. "What do you mean by mental attack?" One of them still asks him despite how ridiculous it sounds. "You know attack on the mind or consciousness of a person." He says casually like it's the most obvious answer. The other two are probably looking at him like he is out of his mind right now.
"Lord Vulcan as much as we respect you, we do not have time for the jokes. I must say that we take this seriously" One of them says and I can not see what face Vulcan is making right now but I'm sure it isn't good. "Gentlemen have you heard of something called hypnosis?" Vulcan says and for some reason I keep feeling like I have heard his voice somewhere. "Vera let's get going or our Mothers will be furious if we're late" Amelia says and I love her but I wish she would shut up right now. "Can we stay for a few more moments I crave more cake, you know since it's the time of the month I'm craving more sweets" It's a lie of course but it works and she looks at me with sympathy and orders another cake.
I lean back again to hear more only to find out that they left within this short period of time. This is bunkers. How can they leave without discussing it further? On the other hand what that Vulcan man said might have sounded ridiculous but it is a good idea. I could use something similar in my Novel.
I eat the extra cake Amelia ordered for me and we leave the bakery together. She drops me home and my mind has been stirring up the next chapter of my Novel during the entire ride to home. I can not wait to put it on paper. I give Amelia a hug and enter my house only to find another nightmare.
Lord Henry has visited our home. I do like the fella but I don't trust him enough yet to let him have Cecelia. I greet him politely and my Mother asks me to stay in the hall until he leaves because apparently it's rude if all family members do not attend the guest which is extremely ridiculous if you ask me. Him and my Father talk about business and I couldn't care less about it. I can not wait to write the next chapter of my Novel.
It feels like forever before Lord Henry finally leaves and I let out a sigh of relief. "If we are fortunate our Cecelia would be engaged by next month" Mother says in a cheerful tone and I am happy for her but I have not approved of Lord Henry yet. I smile and leave for my room immediately and pick up the paper and quill.
After finishing one and a half chapter of the Novel I think it's all I can do for today because my motivation and the ideas are suddenly gone which happens a lot but It will be fine as soon as I get my motivation again.
I look at the time it's 10 at the evening already. I skipped dinner but I do not regret it. I'm surprised Mother didn't yell at me for dinner though. I hear a knock at my door and say come in. I see Father entering with a plate full of food in his hands. He smiles and brings it to me. "How is the Novel going?" He asks and I smile. "Fantastic" I say. "Here Cecelia made this for you" He says gesturing towards the plate and I smiled because I knew she cared deep down but I still would've appreciated her not letting mother burn down my previous Novel.
Today's dream seems rather unique as I find myself in the bakery again. I know I can change the scenario of the dream as I like but for now I would like to let it play out. I look around the bakery.
"M'lady may I ask why you chose this scenario today?" I hear a voice and a small smile comes across my face. I turn around to find the dunderhead sitting at a table behind me "I went to this bakery today" I said and his demeanor suddenly seems different than usual. The way he is acting isn't like his usual self at all. "You did?" He says in a low tone. "I went with my best friend Amelia to eat cake. It was really delicious" I say remembering the taste of the cake.
"You bet it was" He said under his breath but I heard him. I don't point it out because I am used to it now. "Why? do you not like this scenario?" I ask and he makes an awkward expression like he's uncomfortable. "I do M'lady. It's just it's so different from what you usually do in your dreams" He says but I feel like he is hiding something. "Can I tell you a secret?" I ask him and he smiles and it feels so genuine. "Anything M'lady" He says so I tell him about how I went there only to listen to what Lord Vulcan has to say. After I finish telling him, his reaction is not quite what I expected. He looks frozen. "So did You see this Lord Vulcan?" He asked and I furrowed my brows "of course not, like I said he was sitting right behind me so I could only hear his voice. He disappeared before I could see his face" I say and he looks like he is feeling relieved.
"Too bad though. I thought If I see his face I might try to talk to him at the next ball I meet him at. Surely he is a prestigious person and must get invited to balls all the time" I say and he looks amused. "Why would you want to approach him M'lady?" He asks and I have a Wicked smile on my face "Why you ask? so I can seduce him into giving me more information about the case" I say and he looks like he is trying to suppress his laugh.
"What? you think I can't do that?" I ask him offended and he bursts out laughing. I kick one of his legs but of course it doesn't hurt him since it's a dream "No offense to you M'lady but I think he has enough self control that he would not be seduced by a woman so easily" He says still laughing "I very much take offense to that because I can very seductive if I try" I say getting up from my seat and changing the scenario of the dream into a ball whereas my dress has also changed into something more seductive. He looks around the scenario and then looks at me.
"Want to see?" I say while covering most of my face through a fan and only making my eyes visible. He doesn't say anything for a few moments and looks like he is frozen yet again but for a completely different reason.
"M'lady you don't have to prove anything. I believe you can be very...seductive" He says the last part in a low breath. "Come on now don't be so shy, it's not like it's real let's just enjoy a little" I say and take his hand. We start dancing and I try out some of the tricks and charms I have learned from reading romance Novels.
While we're dancing I start noticing some of his features which I haven't paid any attention to so far. Like his chocolate brown eyes and his height. He certainly seems at least 6'1 and his brown hair that compliment his brown eyes perfectly. His facial features are sharp and rather attractive. No wonder he isn't real because no real man would look like this. I think my mind did a great job when it comes to his looks.
We dance until the song is finished and I do not let him break eye contact the whole time and I performed some more subtle moves here and there. Honestly the only reason I can do it so confidently is because it's my dream. I doubt I could be so confident if it was reality. By the end he looks speechless.
"You See I wasn't exaggerating when I said I could be seductive" I say proudly and he gives me a strange look. He looks at me intently for a few moments before turning away. which I do not understand why. Did I do that bad? Even if I did it badly my self respect can not take the hit so I don't ask why he turned his head away "Indeed M'lady, I'm sure this Lord Vulcan holds no chance against your charms" He says still not looking at me. "Are you being sarcastic?" I ask and he immediately looks at me "No M'lady of course not" He exclaims but suddenly the conversation takes a turn to him seriously lecturing me.
"But M'lady I must say you shouldn't be Evasdropping on people" He says and my immediate response is "Is it really Evasdropping if they're just within my ear shot?" I say and he chuckles. "Now that you have confirmed that my charms work I can try those on Lord Vulcan next time I see him at a ball" He hums in response "I'm sure he would be delighted to be experiencing your charms." and in between him saying that something hits me "but you are a figment of my own mind so of course it worked on you but how can I be sure if it will work on him? What if I make a fool of myself" He looks relieved for some reason.
"This is why I must warn you M'lady do not try those charms on any other man" He says the last part extremely seriously "of course I wouldn't, why would I ever want another man near me, it already baffels me that I have to do it with Lord Vulcan let alone any other man" I get a cringe just thinking about it.
"Do you think Lord Vulcan can actually be helpful? From what you have said He sounds like mind my language a moron" He asks and I find myself defending him. "What he said may sound stupid to others but I respect his opinions and his boldness to say something like that out loud. Not many speak their mind so easily, I respect him for that" Everything I said is true and I am grateful to him because afterall he did give me an idea for my Novel.
"You really think so?" He asks me with an almost sad expression. "Yes. Not to mention he has a reputation of a genius in solving mysterious cases so I do think he's a brilliant and bold man, a little silly but then again all genius people are a little silly" He smiles at that and this time I notice his smile compliments his face rather well.
I wake up to Cecelia telling me she got another gift from Lord Henry and I'm happy for her. She is admiring the dress he has sent her and looks rather enthusiastic. "I am going to wear this at the ball next weekend" She says and that catches my attention "Another ball? next weekend?" I ask and she turns around and nods.
"Yesterday we got an invitation to a ball hosted by another Noble family. It seems at Father's last business trip he made rather good connections with the Nobels hence we are invited" She says looking back at her reflection yet again. It's like God is on my side. This is the perfect opportunity to get close to that Lord Vulcan but I have to wait till next weekend. It will not be a problem because I may not look it but I am very patient person.