Grégoire got out of the bath and saw Charlie sweeping with her foot.
Grégoire giggled softly and went up to her. He leaned down, picked up as much dust as he could, and threw it out of the window.
Charlie's eyes widened for a moment, and she leaned against the wall.
"Why are you doing that with your foot?" he asked
"I lost it when I went back upstairs. But hey. Listen, okay? So, I think I know what happened," Charlie replied.
"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow.
"They tried to steal from the manor."
"How come they haven't stolen anything?"
"We don't know that yet. Maybe they stole from a room not a lot of people enter regularly. And that's why the broom is missing." She shrugged, trying to put the blame onto the night's happenings.
"Yeah. I guess that makes sense."
"Your parents told us staff to be on alert though."
She walked off to the bathroom, and a few moments after entering, she came out holding the blood-stained clothes Grégoire had been wearing.
"What happened? Did you get mugged?"
"Oh. It's from last night. They cornered me and beat me up." He looked down, as if he was about to be scolded.
Charlie gave him a strange look and nodded slowly. She put the remaining clothes in a basket and left Grégoire to himself.
He headed to his room and fell asleep quickly.
A few hours passed. Then he heard a knock on his door.
A voice he'd heard before called out, "Yo, wake up. Breakfast is ready."
Grégoire stood up and opened the door, seeing the butler from last night.
"Hello," he said. He walked downstairs alongside the butler.
Finally they reached the dining room. As he sat down, Charlie stood close by.
William's father entered the room and sat down himself.
"I didn't see you yesterday. What's going on, buddy? Is everything okay?" Arno stared at Grégoire with a concerned look.
Grégoire looked at him for a moment, knowing he wasn't the person Arno thought he was.
Charlie lightly kicked the chair leg, signaling him to act normal.
"Sorry. I haven't been here since I made a new friend." He pulled on his collar nervously.
Arno's eyes lit up. "Really now? How is this friend like?"
"She's very nice to me. Even helping me out when she was working. I'm really glad I can have someone like her around." He looked down and smiled fondly.
"Really now? This isn't like you. I'm surprised you didn't mention her body." Arno chuckled.
Grégoire stared at him, confused. They continued eating.
As they finished, Grégoire noticed William's mother wasn't present. He excused himself from the table.
Arno went up to Charlie.
"I owe you a lot for helping with him. Thank you. I don't know how you did it, but I've noticed that he's been more kind these past few days."
Charlie gave him an awkward look.
"Yeah. No problem. I'm the best at putting people in their place, so this is no problem at all," she said proudly, knowing she wasn't the reason why Grégoire was acting this way.
[End of Prologue]