To Love, Once Again

"Save us, M'lady!"

"Please, save us!"

The brunette woman, plain features looking even younger with the lack of makeup, grasps Sera's hands, her eyes pleading.

"What-"

Many of the women kneeled before Sera, some with their hands clasped together as if they were praying to her. What was going on!? The proud nobles would never, ever do something like this usually. And in such a rough state too, as if they'd come straight from their beds to the castle.

Clearing her throat, Sera tried to ask them what was going on, but it was impossible to be heard above the begging pleas of all the ladies.

"Excuse me-"

Some of them begin to wail, holding silk handkerchiefs to their eyes as they bemoaned their fate.

"Uhm-"

Sera's voice was completely drowned out by their cries, while others tugged at her skirts. Goosebumps rose on Sera's skin, seeing the women so wildly distraught with hair flying everywhere. But with the way things were now, Sera wouldn't be able to ask the women what was going on.

Craning her neck behind her as Sera looks to Fawn, Hilda, and the other maids for help. Though some of them entered the fray to prevent the women from completely overpowering Sera, the best they could do was support the nobles. Fawn had her hands full trying to calm an older noblewoman who was leaning towards the hysterical, with great, shuddering sobs. The way she was crying reminded Sera of one of the actresses in the operas Lucien took her to, heaving her shoulders up and down and blowing her nose in the handkerchief Fawn offered her.

Hilda had given up on trying to get the noblewomen to calm down, instead arranging for more maids to prepare some more fresh tea.

More tugging on her dress makes Sera look back down. "Lady Sera! Haven't you heard what happened in the capital last night! Please, save us!!"

Sera was on her own. None of the maids, not even Hilda, the Head Maid, could help her. If this was Sera before, she would have waited for the noblewomen to calm down, speaking to them in warm gentle tones as was proper of a lady.

"Lady Sera!"

"Ladies-"

"Help us!

"Let's take a deep breath-"

"Lady Sera!!"

That was it. Lucien had said Sera no longer had to be bound. She had the authority to do as she saw fit. And Sera did not have the patience to wait for each and every single woman in this room to come to their sentence in their own time.

Wrangling her fingers out of the firm grasp of the noble lady in a blue nightgown, she brings two fingers to her mouth-

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

A sharp, piercing whistles out between her lips.

Every face looks up at her in surprise, frozen mid-cry.

Clank.

Even Hilda, who had been arranging the fresh pots of warm tea from the kitchen freezes, accidentally dropping a spoon.

Withdrawing the fingers from her mouth, Sera's lips curve in a soft smile as she gestures over to the long table.

In a warm, soothing tone, "Ladies, now that I have your attention, may I suggest we converse over some warm tea?" Sera asks.

As if brought out of a spell, the women dry their tears, faces reddening in embarrassment as they get up from their positions on the floor.

"This way, m'ladies."

Sera sends a grateful look towards Hilda, who leads the maids in guiding each kneeling noblewomen up from the floor and back to their seats.

"Now, what seems to be the issue? And why are you coming to me for help??"

Taking her seat at the head of the table, Sera smooths a hand down the hard boning of the corset she wore, the yellow silk fabric embroidered with beads in a sun design pricking into her fingers.

At her right hand, the mousy woman in the blue nightgown sits, hiding her face in her teacup as she sips. With a trembling voice, "Lady Sera, I'm sure you haven't heard yet.....Last night, His Majesty conducted a raid on our Houses. Many of us here had husbands and fathers taken away."

Sera wasn't surprised. She could guess now, that this was what the ladies came for. Especially as she recognized the faces belonging to the Anti-Queen and neutral factions. Not one noblewoman related to a House already supporting Lucien was here.

"Lady-?"

"Damar. We met over tea, when Lady Amelia.." the young woman grows quiet, reddening. Sera searches her features, trying to remember her. But she didn't remember any brunette girl with plain features sitting at the table when Lady Amelia had poured the tea over her head.

She hadn't been in the group that had laughed at Sera, then. Sera remembered the faces of every woman laughing at her that had sat at the table in the Royal Gardens. Gazing over the table, she could pick out a few of the debutantes that accompanied Lady Amelia amongst the faces. Most of them looked down when she met their gazes. When her eyes met one blonde girl's, she immediately looked down with an expression of-anger? Hurt pride?

It was too far away to tell clearly.

A few of the girls hadn't laughed then, hiding their expressions behind fans and teacups. Lady Damar must have been one of them.

"Lady Damar, I am quite aware of what Lucien did last night. Every House Head that was taken was involved in crimes against the country."

Sera's response invited another uproar from the noblewomen.

"That can't be! My husband would never-!"

"Poor, poor father! Our House has always been loyal to the Crown!"

"To have a House's loyalty questioned like this..It's a tragedy!"

Many of them withdraw handkerchiefs from the breasts, pressing it under their eyes as the cacophony of wails starts up again.

Click.

Sera sets down her teacup firmly, making the dark tea in her cup slosh around. The whole situation seemed fake. Coming to her in the morning, when it wasn't even early, in their nightgowns and with barely any hair and makeup.

"I refuse to play this game."

They were trying to go with the pity route. Too bad Sera was not the soft, sweet, pushover girl she'd been before.

Unsettled by her confident demeanor, the women grow quiet when Sera raises an eyebrow.

"You do know His Majesty would never act without any evidence to support the claim."

The room grows silent, save for the sound of Sera pouring some more milk into her tea. She wished she had some sugar to sweeten the bitter flavor. One of the things she missed about her old world was the sweets. The desserts here were plain, as there was no sugar here. No sugar at all!! And no chocolate either! Sera remembered wanting to cry when she first understood this fact.

Cookies for tea were flavored with dried fruits and berries, using only the natural sweetness. For someone with a huge sweet-tooth like Sera, it took a lot to get used to.

Maybe she could try to make sweets from her world for Lucien and Leo. They would like that. Sera smiles at her reflection in the teacup.

With her mind focused on her family, Sera doesn't notice the glances the women send each other. Most of them were already unsettled that things weren't going the way they had envisioned. The Summoned One was supposed to be happy that the noblewomen were coming to her for help, throwing themselves at her feet. With a few tears and shows of friendship, it should be easy enough to convince the former Queen to sway the King into lessening their families' sentences.

But no. The Summoned One sat at the head at the table, hair settled in beautiful, shining coils down her back, lips painted in a soft spring pink hue, her warm yellow dress shining gold in the sunlight. A pretty picture she was, sipping on her tea as if she was on a jaunt in the gardens. While they wailed and moaned, surrounding her looking like they'd lost their minds in their nightgowns and un-styled hair.

The very picture of a regal Queen. And what were they, background characters that made her look even more ravishing in their state of undress.

"This is ridiculous!"

The blonde girl that had glared at Sera stands up, pushing her braid over her shoulder in anger.

"Where is the evidence then!! How can the King suddenly barge into our home late in the night and kidnap his own nobles!!!"

Knock-knock.

Without waiting for a response, the painted doors of the Blue Room swing open to admit Icaros into the room, while the women gasp in surprise.

It was not done, for a knight, or any man, to enter a noblewomen's meeting. A few of the younger ladies blush when Icaros sends a wink their way, enjoying the view of the ladies in their nightgowns. Now this was a sight you didn't see everyday.

Sera rolls her eyes when the women titter and blush under the handsome Captain's wink. Always the joker, Icaros was.

Pounding a fist to his chest, he kneels at Sera's side.

"Your Majesty,"

Icaros speaks over the shocked gasps that resound at the title he addresses Sera with.

"The King has tasked me with bringing this to you" He presents her with a neatly rolled scroll, marked with Lucien's strong handwriting.

"House Coulmond. House Aguerdieu. House Clarisseau. House Polaril. House Lomanet. House Maissac..." As Sera continues to read off the list of names on the scroll given to her by Icaros, one woman, and then another, straighten their backs, growing pale as they hear their names called.

Tapping at the names on the scroll, Sera looks up at the women, mouths open and frozen in shock.

"Your names were found on the list of those having transactions with a few..unsavory characters. Would you like me to go through the evidence for each ruling? I have it all here."