Valerian Empire

Music Recommendation: Elisa's Theme by Alexandre Desplat

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A small rabbit hopped on the ground, while a little girl who was going to turn six tomorrow followed the rabbit earnestly. Her small hands tightly caught hold of the front of her dress and maybe lifting it a little higher than necessary, letting one see her small bare feet that quickly walked and paused on the rabbit's command.

Inside the Delcrov mansion, Lady Katherine, wife of Lord Alexander made her way through the corridors while speaking to the maids on what had to be done with the stairs as they appeared to look bare compared to the other decorations of the mansion.

"Maybe some white and pale pink colours after every four stairs would be nice, Dorthy," said Lady Katherine, her voice polite and her gesture calm.

"Yes, milady," Dorthy bowed her head, "Matilda and the others are in the kitchen, and there are others who are working on the ribbons," informed the maid, who was also a friend of the lady when Lady Katherine was young and had been given shelter in the Delcrov mansion by the Lord of Valeria.

"That's wonderful. Thank you, Dorthy," Lady Katherine appreciated their help while going to speak to the other servants of the mansion to make sure everything was right. "Have you checked the candles on the chandeliers? Please double-check it so that none of the candles is going to fall nor its wax. And yes, we need to get the tables moved out from the inside halls."

The servant's bowed their heads, obliging the lady of the mansion. In time a young boy, who appeared to be around in his teens, walked towards Lady Katherine.

"Good afternoon, mother," the young boy wished his mother. His hair black and his eyes dark red that he had acquired from his father. "It looks like everything has been prepared for tomorrow."

Evan was at the age of eighteen, and he had returned home after making a trip to the nearby villages and town to collect the information from the magistrates to assure everything was going well. The same would be presented to his father, Alexander Delcrov, who wasn't in the mansion and had gone out on work.

Lady Katherine kissed her son's cheek, "Good afternoon, Evan. Most of it, yes, but I need to take a look at the kitchen. Your father has invited people from the other three lands, and it includes the people from the council. There will be a lot of people, and we need to make sure that we can accommodate everyone without much hassle."

"Don't we have the number of invitations that were sent out?" asked Evan, and Lady Katherine nodded her head.

"We do, but we don't know the extras who would be making their presence tomorrow," replied Lady Katherine, and she then asked, "How was your trip to the towns and villages?" she asked, giving her son equal importance as her daughter's birthday that was being hosted tomorrow evening.

"Same as yesterday, mother. Everything has been going smoothly. It is all thanks to father's," both the mother and son started to walk away from the start of the stairs, making their way through the long corridors. "I was going through some of the old files and found many details to be missing in there. The files were nearly a century old."

thoughtfully.

"The Artemis case?" questioned Evan.

"I am surprised they still have it stored," murmured Lady Katherine. "It must have been during the same time when your Uncle Damien and Aunt Penelope had come to visit Valeria," she said thoughtfully.

"The Artemis case?" questioned Evan.

As Evan was the son of the Lord, he had taken a keen interest in his father's work, while going through anything and everything while preparing himself to be part of the council.

"Yes, that's the one," Lady Katherine nodded her head, "Things are much different now, and we have more control over what is going in Valeria." Her thoughts went to the time when everyone had fought the black witch named Ester Norman. Those were some quite difficult times, and since that incident years had passed.

Lady Katherine then looked around the place, and she said, "Evan, dear, can you search where your sister is? I asked one of the maids to go find her in the room, but she's not there." Though she knew her daughter wouldn't go anywhere far and was in some part of the mansion, she still couldn't help herself but be worried about her daughter, who was always up to some mischief.

Katherine had stopped counting the years she had spent in this mansion, and both she and Alex had made their own family, filling up the mansion with more memories. They had two beautiful children, Evan and Josephine. While Evan had taken after his father when it came to things with a serious attitude and demeanour, they always found their daughter Josephine doing something or the other that often got her into trouble. She raised her hand, scratching her neck, wondering if luck was passed on from her to her daughter when it came to finding trouble.

"I will find her, mother. I know all her hiding spots," Evan bowed his head with a polite smile on his face, and Lady Katherine nodded her head. Both Evan and Josephine were years apart, and in the beginning, it had worried her if there was too much gap, but Evan was patient when it came to Josephine.

"Thank you, Evan," Lady Katherine placed her hand on Evan's arm before a maid came to let her know the menu along with the ingredients had arrived in the kitchen.

Outside the mansion, the little girl continued to follow the rabbit's hops that went into the garden.

"Where are you going, Mr. Rupert?" the little girl asked the rabbit as if it would understand her.

The rabbit escaped into the bushes, and being small in size, Josephine tried to get through the bushes and the branches that tried stopping her from getting to her rabbit. The rabbit finally stopped, biting on a leaf while rubbing its face with its two front paws.

In an attempt to get closer to the rabbit, Josephine didn't realize her long brown hair had entangled itself in one of the branches, and when she was three steps away from the white rabbit, she felt the pull of her hair.

"AH!" she screamed as if a ghost had caught hold of her.

Her brother, who was looking for, heard her scream and he quickly stepped out of the mansion, making his way to where she was.

"Josie?" Evan called her and Josephine raised her hand that only resulted in the nearby thorn scratching her hand.

"Brother Evan! I think my hair got stuck!" Josie yelled loud enough for most people to hear her. The people in the mansion were used to the cheerful voice of the daughter of the Lord.

"So I see. How did you even end up there?" asked Evan with a serious expression on his face. He got closer to where she was, pushing the branches away from his path.

"Mr. Rupert needed help," the little one pointed her hand towards the rabbit.

Evan shook his head, "And now you need help too." Reaching where she was, he looked at her hair that had entangled around the branches. It seemed like his sister had tried to free herself but had instead only made it worse that it now reminded him of a birds nest. "I will need to break the branch. I think we'll need to cut your hair-"

"WHAT?! No brother, Evan!" Josie shouted, making Evan flinch.

"This is why mother and father say to keep yourself out of trouble, but you are too intent in wanting to be friends with it," said Evan and he broke the branch before showing her how her long brown hair had turned to a mess.

"I never said that," Josie's eyebrows furrowed and she looked at her brother as if she did no wrong before grinning when Evan continued to stare at her. "What do I do?" she asked him.

"Cut it," suggested Evan with a dull yet patience voice.

Josie stared at the branch from the corner of her eyes as she couldn't see the entire thing, "Bye bye hair."

Evan asked one of the servants to get scissors, and Josie was finally free from the branch.

The siblings started to walk away from the rabbit, while the little girl secretly promised to catch Mr. Rupert later. While they were making their way towards the mansion's entrance, Josephine's eyes fell on the blue roses.

"Brother Evan," Josie pulled Evan's shirt.

"Hm?" asked Evan, noticing the carriage that entered the gates of the mansion.

"Is it true that blue roses are rare in Valeria? Levi said it doesn't exist anywhere else," she walked closer to the rose bush, leaning forward to take its sweet scent and a smile appeared on her lips.

"They are rare. It is very dear to, father," replied Evan. "Grandma's memories live there."

The little girl pursed her lips, "Papa said that. He said he talks to grandma when he misses her. I didn't know people turn into plants," came Josephine's thoughtful reply to it. Taking a step closer, she whispered, "Grandma, are you in there?"

Evan's lips twitched, hearing his sister's question.

"Grandma? Do you speak to her too, brother Evan?" asked Josephine, wondering why her grandmother Isabel was not talking. While she had pressed her head close to the bushes and without a worry of being scratched by the thorns, a pair of footsteps approached where the Delcrov siblings stood.

"What are you doing there, Josie?"

Josie's eyes widened, and she pulled herself away. When her eyes went to meet the tall and dark-haired man, Josie quickly jumped into Alexander's arms, "Papa!"

Alexander picked up his daughter in his arms and Josie put her hands around her father's neck, "What happened to your hair?" he questioned noticing one long side, while the other was short.

"My hair got stuck in the branch," said Josie, pulling away and looking into her father's eyes that sent a disapproving stare.

Alexander asked, "Did you get hurt?" and Josie was quick to shake her head.

"Papa, grandma doesn't talk to me," complained Josie.

Alexander tilted his head and then looked at his son, whose eyes moved to the blue rose bushes. "It must be because you have been a naughty child." He caught hold of the tip of her nose that made her scrunch her nose face. Please visit 𝑓r𝙚ew𝚎𝚋𝐧૦ѵ𝗲𝘭. c𝘰m

"Really?" Josie asked with an oblivious look on her face, and Alexander chuckled looking at his daughter's expression.