Звездопад / Starfall: Глава 4

Chapter 4

Camrad_RIP 30.01.23 в 21:52

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Camrad_RIP 30.01.23 в 21:52

Unlike Taer, who was distinctly sluggishly picking at her plate, the butler turned out to be a good fellow. When he got the invitation, he didn't flinch, and in a minute he was already eating something, and there was enough food on the table to feed a crowd of hungry students, and the three of them would certainly not manage it until late at night.

Camrad_RIP 31.01.23 в 05:39

The snack had been going on for about an hour, and I wondered, philosophically, whether eating that pastry now would be hunger or greed. Suddenly Barra's face became serious and focused, his right palm pressed to his ear, which appeared to have a communicator headset speaker.

Camrad_RIP 31.01.23 в 05:39

"When will she be here?" Hearing the answer from the unknown person, my 'Chapaev' frowned and got up from the table:

Camrad_RIP 31.01.23 в 05:41

"My lord, Baroness Rionale has learned that you have recovered and is on her way here to check on you. The servants can no longer stop her, so she'll be here in about a minute and a half," Barra managed to speak and command the droids as they cleared the dirty dishes from the table and put out new ones at the same time.

Camrad_RIP 31.01.23 в 05:42

"А кто это?"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:42

"She is a distant relative of yours."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:43

"And what is she doing here?"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:43

"When you had your accident, almost all your relatives came here to support you."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:43

"And to be close in case the distribution of the inheritance suddenly begins," Taer added with a sweet smile.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:45

"Well, that's the way it is," I snatched the pastry as a moral reparation for my impending contact with my family. Then the door opened, and I almost choked on the ill-fated pastry.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:46

The girl who walked in was so beautiful that she reeked of something unreal.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:46

The loose, night sky-colored long dress emphasized her height, and the wide sparkling belt accentuated her slimness. Her shoulder-length black hair glistened with interwoven jewels. Her perfect white skin, which seemed to glow from within, contrasted with her almost completely black eyes. She walked forward and sat down in a chair carefully pushed aside by Barra. A wave of freshness gradually enveloped the room, the scent of her perfume reminiscent of a summer garden after a thunderstorm.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:47

"Alessie, I'm so glad you're all right! Can you imagine how worried I was about you? I was gone for two years, and before I could even fly in from the Capital, you were already lying poisoned!" The Baroness's voice was melodious, with velvety notes.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:48

"Er... Thank you for your attention, Baroness. I'm veryhappy I've recovered as well."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:49

//What the hell am I saying? Calm down! Haven't you seen pretty girls?

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:49

"I guess I wasn't fooled about the memory lapses. When did I stop being Kay and become a Baroness?" She arched an eyebrow meaningfully.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:50

//Wow, looks like we were close friends. Or maybe even more than friends. A very interesting theory, I cheered.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:50

"Yes, Kay, I do have a memory lapse. I don't remember anything," he smiled and shrugged guiltily. The Baroness smiled back. The effect was amazing.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:51

//A couple more smiles like that and I'll melt under the table. Come on, get it together! Maybe it's a childhood friend and you have a fond and undefiled brotherly bond... or sisterly?

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:53

"Nothing at all?" The girl asked with a playful wink.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:53

"Well, thou... you are absolutely impossible to forget," I tried to pull my chivalry together, but it wasn't coming out so well. "And there's something in my heart when I look at thou... you're admiring. I think it's trying to awaken my memories of you..."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:55

"Tell me you've been bored for two years," she laughed.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:55

"Horrible, just now realizing how much I've suffered all this time and you weren't there!"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:55

"Well, I'm sorry, you know I've been called up to the onstum twice in a row," the Baroness said.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:56

"I don't know, I've forgotten everything," I said. "I don't even know what onstum is or why you were summoned there... I don't remember."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:57

"Onstum is the Emperor's annual call for the most worthy nobles to serve. They are summoned to court and serve the Emperor for a year," Kay recited as if reciting from a textbook. And then she added after a moment: "Well, serving is an overstatement... it's just some sort of courtly sinecure."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 08:58

"So you spent the last two years in the Emperor's court?"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:11

Yes, imagine that, twice in a row! In theory, it's a great honor to be at court and be given a court position, so they try to make sure that there is an equal number of representatives from all the powerful families, from every house, so as not to offend anyone. Either there was no one else in our family, or someone in the Imperial Office liked me so much, but I was honored twice. I had to be bored for two years in the capital!

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:12

"Well, you could not go, If everything is so bad."

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:13

Hearing this, Baroness Rionale looked at me like I was insane. //I'm betraying myself without a break. But then she seemed to remember that I was, indeed, insane (well, at least memoryless) and softened.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:15

"Alessi, it's onstum! The Emperor's call cannot be denied!"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:16

Then I was flirting with Kay, and she was flirting back and telling the court gossip. Barra, who, as it turned out, could become completely invisible by disappearing into the setting, made sure the glasses were always full. Taer, on the other hand, looked at us with those surprised eyes as if I'd grown a second head. She apologized a little later and then walked out, claiming she was busy.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:17

The Baroness and I had been chatting for about forty minutes when I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. My head felt like it was filled with lead, and it was hard to think. I could see reality as if through a gray film. Kay's voice was distant, asking me something, and I was so apathetic that I wanted to agree to everything just to get away. I tried to pull myself together and get back to reality.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:18

Then, after muttering some vague apology, I went to the bathroom.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:19

After three minutes of struggling with the tap, I finally stuck my face under the icy water. It helped, but not much. //That doesn't sound like me. I've gone completely off my head. Has there been a relapse into poisoning? The water treatment did not bring tangible relief but spurred my mind enough to remember that I had a specially prescribed chemical in my pocket, which was supposed to help. Fumbling for the jar, I scooped the capsules onto my palm. The little blue spheres sparkled on my wet palm like glass. I crinkled my nose and popped the first one into my mouth. It didn't have much effect. After the third, my thoughts started to run faster, and the gray shroud fell away. After two more capsules, which were chewed up just in case, my thoughts became unnaturally clear and sharp, and my memory sharpened so much that I seemed to be able to remember what was happening at any given second. The sensation was quite unusual. The world seemed brighter and clearer as if I had switched to an HD widescreen.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:23

Feeling ready to socialize again, I found a mirror and cleaned myself up. In the mirror, my wet but satisfied and slightly flushed face looked back at me. //Yes, the thing after all! And where were that Professor Ayuyun and his chemistry when I was studying for my exams? Tidying myself up, I thought about what could have caused such an attack while at the same time replaying the conversation with Kay in my head. And something was wrong with it, something familiar about it that shouldn't have been there, like the tune of an old song being sung in a new arrangement.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:26

I remembered again what the Baroness had told me and how she had said it, which was no problem now, and stood in front of the mirror with my mouth hanging open in amazement. During the conversation, Kay was quite professionally anchoring me to her name in a positive way. Damn NLP! But that didn't make me feel so bad, did it? Something was not right. I was almost drooling at her. Why would she put positive anchors on me as well? Or was it just a coincidence? Eh, no, a normal person wouldn't twist words like that. Okay, screw the anchors. It's not the anchors that make me sick, maybe, she used some dope to fortify the result. Why not? They seem to be big fans of poisoning around here.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:32

//I'll have to hint to Taer to check the food. I walked out of the bathroom with that in mind, vowing to be vigilant and not to relax at the sight of pretty girls. The security specialist appeared to be standing in the corridor that connected the dining room with the bathroom, leaning against the wall and folding her arms across her chest, her face serious and preoccupied with something.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:35

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Chapter 5

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:35

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Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:35

//Finally, overwhelmed with emotion, they could no longer restrain themselves and threw themselves at each other, swirling in a fiery whirlwind of passionate sucking... or kissing?// Taer amused herself by mentally accompanying the conversation between the Lord and Baroness with quotes from love affairs novels. The two cooed like schoolboy lovers... or were they lovebirds? What was going on was reminiscent of a love affair. //And a love affair of the lowest kind. Something really trashy, like Flame of Everlasting Love or something. Even though she's not an expert on romance novels,// Taer added mentally. //Ah, your lips are like scarlet rose petals...// The stock of quotations was quickly coming to an end, and the pair kept on going. //I never thought I'd regret not reading enough romance novels. Maybe if I'd read more, I wouldn't be tempted to giggle.// No, nothing really wild was going on: //Their passionate impulses were restrained only by the presence of witnesses.// There was nothing unusual about the flirting itself... if you ignore who was flirting with whom.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:41

Taer was just carefully pretending that she didn't want to eat at all and was only sitting at the table by the Lord's orders when she found out that Baroness Rionale was on her way, despite the heroic resistance of the servants. She was already mentally prepared to prevent or clean up a full-blown scandal. With broken dishes, mutual insults, and everything else, a full-blown scandal should have been. But things suddenly took the exact opposite direction.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:42

// Alessie, I was so worried about you! the girl mentally mocked the baroness. The Lord had always hated being called Alessie rather than Alex, and he disliked the Baroness, to put it mildly, and as far as she knew, had disliked her since childhood, considering her a nuisance and a naughty girl.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:46

All their meetings at family gatherings inevitably ended in scandals. //You... you, it is absolutely impossible to forget. - no, Alex could be understood, he had, after all, forgotten everything and saw before him just a pretty girl, but she remembered everything! The dislike of Lord Cassard and Baroness Rionale was entirely mutual. She disliked him too, to put it mildly - considered him a spoiled and scandalous individual, denigrating House Fyron, whose reputation she regarded with excessive maximalism even for a Guardsman. //And here's the change - she's flirting with him all over, making eyes at him, and she's got a dress with a... with a plunging neckline. She hadn't worn one before, as far as I remember, not when she met the Lord. Well, I'll grant you, it's the capital's fashions. But everything else? Did she miss her third cousin so much after two years?

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:50

It was clear that the Baroness was up to something, but it was unclear why she was doing it. Well, yes, the Cassard family was shamelessly, mind-bogglingly rich, but the Baroness was not one of the impoverished gentries. Nor was she keen on exorbitant sums to pave the way for them with her "breast"... and through whom? Alessandro Cassard, with his reputation! //There's obviously something wrong here, but what?"

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 09:52

She was pulled out of her reverie by a distinctive tingling sensation under her communicator bracelet - someone was calling on a secure line.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 10:26

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I'm sorry, but I have to leave. It's an urgent matter," Taer said as she bowed out of the cooing couple. She walked briskly, practically running, to her room, where the secure communications terminal was located.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 10:26

She ran into the room, flopped down in her chair, and, switching on the suppressor, was finally able to respond to the inviting blinking light on the communicator panel. A sturdily built man in his forties with tenacious light grey eyes and a powerful chin appeared on the screen. Immaculately shaven, wearing a light brown business suit.

Camrad_RIP 01.02.23 в 10:27