Fate Is A Cruel Mistress // Damon/Carina
It had been a while since Carina had been at such a loss. She was usually the one who was able to get to people; they often opened up to her because she made it clear that all she wanted to do was help. She had tried to bring her fiancée some food after he locked himself in his room, but it had been to no avail and she had not seen him for days. She had only been met with his silence and despite the fact that she did not love him; she still cared enough for him to be worried. He was going to be her husband one day, and it would been a strain on their marriage if he did not allow her to help. It was strange though, she had no clue what had made the Lord Castello react this way. Millie had not been in the mansion for days, the servants seemed to avoid going near his room and no one said a thing. She had tried asking some of the servants, but they had always found an excuse to scurry off before she had a chance to stop them.
All of this meant that everything was unbearable quiet and nothing seemed to happen. Her father had left to go on a small trip, he had almost closed a deal with some rich men in one of the neighbouring cities and had left to take care of that. With Millie gone, this only left the servants, the vineyard workers, Carina and Damon. The servants answered her when she spoke to them, but it was always short conversations because they were unsure what to say and probably worried that she would force them to tell the truth about the reason for their Lord’s behaviour.
She had found a way to make time pass though. The mansion was big and full of history, so she contented herself with adventuring through it. There were many empty rooms, but the servants took good care of them and they all looked clean and inviting. After a few days, she was sure that she had been through all of the rooms. Carina realized that she had been mistaking after a walking past a room with the door half open, she peered inside and noticed how clean it looked and how fresh it smelled. She could see the floor was still a bit wet, so it was clear to her that this room had just been cleaned. She remembered having past this room before, but the door had always been locked. The servant must have forgotten to lock it after having cleaned it.
She knew that she should probably turn back, but curiosity got the better of her and she entered the room. It was a light room, one that had obviously been used a chamber for someone important. All she could see in the room were white and gold; the bed had gold patterns engraved in the wood with white sheets, even the chairs were gold-touched with white cushions. There was one part of the room that stood out though; a wooden chest at the end of the bed. It was beautiful but did not seem to fit with the rest of the room, telling her that this had been a piece of furniture that had emotional meaning to its owner. Again curiosity took hold of her and she knelt down in front of the chest before opening it.
Its contents surprised Carina, though she had no idea what she had expected, but a bunch of old letters and some dusty baby clothes had not been her first guess. She picked up a white garment and marvelled over how tiny it was. She had seen babies before, but she had never held one and it had not occurred to her how small they really were. She put the garment back before picking up one of the letters. It was addressed to Lady Castello in a hand-writing she recognized as belonging to the late Lord Castello. She had memorized it because she remembered that feeling of dread whenever her father would receive one. He always forced her to go visit the Castello family afterwards, sometimes she was let off easy and he was contented with talking about marriage and her duties as a Lady instead.
As her mind wandered back to her childhood, she got distracted and forgot that she was meant to be on guard for servants returning. She only remembered this when the door creaked and her eyes widened as her gaze quickly turned to see who had caught her snooping.
