Chapter 4: Chapter 4: The Letter

“Give me a minute to prepare myself,” I called from the bed as I made no clear movements to actually get up. It was time for the letter. And I really didn’t want to think about what that meant. Annalise was after all still on the run. There were some overhyped gestapo type medieval thugs out secretly scanning the countryside for her right now. The letter was innocuous enough, asking if anyone had seen a sheep or young woman or something. It hadn’t directly related to Annalise, but the individuals it meant were about to show up at Victor’s door were going to be not so subtle about looking for her.

I was supposed to woo Victor through another interaction enough while we were in the garden to convince him to send the first group away. After we nearly collapse together later on the bed he was going to entertain a search party over dinner and ultimately end up protecting me. It’s one of the early moments in the story where you even question if Victor is the ultimate villain.

I was debating if staying in the bed would change the plot. Maybe if I didn’t see the letter I wouldn’t have to deal with the whole garden and gestapo thing. Another knock convinced me to finally get up. I sloshed myself to the doorway to crack the door and come face to face once again with a bear. I would have recoiled had he not reacted first with an “Ah!”

He jumped backwards as I tried to figure out what the fuss was about. “Your… hair,” he said with a shutter.

I did not want to deal with this. I patted Annalise’s curls to discover I had indeed puffed myself into oblivion by laying on the bed. I had no idea how to maintain curls, so that wasn’t entirely unexpected. “A mirror would help,” I replied.

He continued to observe me in horror as I idly looked around the hallway. “Victor wanted to speak with you,” he said at last, “he’s in his study.”

“Should I go to his study?” I replied.

The bear shuttered as he shook his head, “no.” He indicated towards my hair as I took the hint. I couldn’t go unless I was book perfect Annalise.

I tried to reason what that had all been about as I headed back into to try and find the small silver brush Annalise was known to use to constantly nervously brush her hair. It played a major plot point later in the story. But right now it just seemed to be getting constantly tangled in my puffball of curls. I spent a good 5 minutes doing my best to at least get things slightly flattened before I attempted to pull it all back with a hair tie. I guess I was going to need to figure out how to do this with wet hair. But right now I needed to figure out what it was Victor wanted. He was supposed to bring me the letter himself and hold it over my head with some banter. Instead I was now trudging down the hallway trying to figure out where his study was. Somehow despite having no idea where I was going I ended up right outside of it.

Victor was sitting in what appeared to be deep thought in an arm chair. He had his shirt half unbuttoned and his hair lightly tussled like some kind of cheesy male lead in an overtly sensual romantic film. But his facial expression betrayed him. He looked completely morose. I was debating my plan to approach him when I saw it. Sitting on the corner of his desk half opened, was the letter. Victor looked towards the doorway as I realized he could probably very clearly see me peeping through it from the hallway.

“Your bear… butler, house person? Said you wished to see me?” I asked cautiously.

Victor blinked at me in disbelief as he remained flopped in his seated position. “Who?” he replied.

“I wasn’t sure of his name,” I replied.

Victor blinked, “oh.”

He didn’t say anything further as I proceeded to push the door open. I waited for him to comment on my hair as well. Or to say anything at this point since he seemed completely out of it. I reached up to realize in horror that the silver brush was actually stuck on the left side of my head. “Just a minute,” I said as I turned around and tried to pry it out of my hair. I turned to see Victor still completely unfazed by the reaction.

“There’s a…” he started as he pointed towards the letter, but then he sighed, “I’ll speak with you at your room.” I realized immediately he meant he’d have the conversation at my doorway like we were supposed to according to the plot. We had veered off once again by me approaching him. Now I was wondering if all of the characters in this world sat depressed in chairs when they didn’t have an action sequence.

I had started to leave when my stomach began to audibly grumble. “Oh, food,” I said before turning to ask, “do you happen to know where I could…”

“I can have some lunch brought to your room. Or you can eat in the dining hall,” Victor replied. He didn’t even bother to make eye contact as I offered a wave and headed off. I was pretty sure I could hear him audibly whisper, “I strayed too far.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I was debating if the thought whispers were supposed to be some vehicle to move the plot forward or if he actually meant for me to hear them as I stumbled back into the dining hall. Two large bird arms were pressed against a very normal human body as I was immediately quizzed, “yes?”

“Do you happen to know where I could get a bite to eat?” I asked, “oh and what’s your name?”

She looked shocked as she mumbled, “Robin.”

“That would make sense…” I said as she offered me a confused expression and disappeared off into who knows where. I was tempted to follow her as she reappeared with a stack of bread and what looked like a fruit and sausage. I didn’t question it as I smashed a piece of carb-y goodness into my mouth and headed off with what I could only guess was an apple. Victor was still in his chair as I passed back down the hallway. He looked towards me in confusion as I offered him, “bread?”

He seemed to be looking past me as he offered no reply. I darted back up to my room as I tried to pretend I hadn’t passed him at all. Now I really needed to get the plot back on track.

I was determined to fix the hair issue with the rest of my afternoon. I tried dousing it with water in the little washroom next to my bedroom and tackling it with the brush which only seemed to aggravate it further. Getting the whole mass of curls wet and proceeding to individually roll them myself was more successful, but left my dress soaking wet. I was cursing myself for not just taking a bath as I pulled off my dress and did my best to tie up what I could in a massive bun on my head. The slip underneath was fortunately not as damp, but now was aggressively pinned against my body. I went searching through the room for something else to wear when I heard the cursed knock at the door once again. “Why now,” I moaned as I went to prop open the door while trying to hold my chest in from falling out of the slip.

Victor was standing on the other side with a very sour expression. His eyes widened first when he saw what I was wearing, but his mouth dropped as I tumbled forward trying to open the surprisingly heavy door.

He seemed to be struggling to say his lines as I desperately tried to pull up the strap on my slip so that I didn’t end up bare chested pressed against him. I stepped backwards after successfully readjusting myself and tried to stand with some poise. But I quickly realized I needed to keep a safety arm over my bosom to keep it from popping out. I clearly wasn’t used to any part of this body, neither the comically oversized hair or chest.

“I was just freshening up,” I explained as I tried to force a smile, “did you need something?”

“An unfortunate group of our neighbors say they have lost their sheep,” he said. The line sounded unusually flat as if he were struggling to say the next part, “they have requested to search the property, but I wouldn’t want them to steal my lamb…”

“Oh, are we having lamb for dinner?” I replied. Why wasn’t my brain able to function properly. I was supposed to look aghast and provide witty banter about maybe he could be a better shepherd. He continued to stare at me wide eyed as the strap slipped down once again. I offered a “whoops,” and did my best the keep the girls in check, “I may need to find some better fitting undergarments.” I tried to save it, “my lord.”

The real Annalise had never so much as greeted Victor except in perfect condition. The me Annalise had clearly caught him off guard. He was doing his best to keep his eyes locked on my eyes as he grumbled, “you torment me Annalise.”

I felt a brief moment of panic as he dropped his hand that I now saw to be holding the letter and turned to leave. He didn’t seem to be that enthralled by me, and we were running out of time should the angry mob come by according to the plot. “Because I beat you in chess?” I replied, “fancy another game?”

He turned back to face the hallway as he chuckled to himself, “I can’t tell if this is my reward or punishment.” He was off script but certainly in character again.

The bear was staring past Victor with a stern expression as I did everything in my power to shut the door again. “If they come should I send them to its room?” I heard him ask. I shuttered as I didn’t hear Victor reply. I was really in trouble now.

I smashed myself back in the wet dress and tried to pat down my hair. I discovered I could tame it in a low side ponytail. That and a bath tonight were going to have to work some magic for the remainder of my time here. I snuck my head back out of the heavy door as I felt a new determination to sneak out and hide. To my surprise the bear was still right there staring. “What’s your name?” I tried to ask in a cheerful manner as I squished myself through the crack in the increasingly heavy door. It was as if the thing was getting harder to open by the second.

“Bearon,” he replied as he spelled, “B-e-a-r-o-n.”

“That makes sense,” I mumbled as I slipped past him.

He was still staring at me as I fled down the hallway. I didn’t give him a chance to question it as I tried to first pretend I was simply going back to the dining hall. Robin was waiting there once again holding some sort of mush in a bowl. She seemed surprised to see me as well.

“Where is lord Victor?” she asked curtly.

I shrugged, “not sure, but could I possibly have a small supper?”

I’m sure the panic on my face was evident when i heard the knock. Somehow despite being in the dining hall, the raps at the front door of the estate echoed through the hallways like a boom. Robin seemed nonplussed as she headed back into the kitchen. I started aggressively looking for a place to hide. I wasn’t sure if I should follow Robin or dart out the back door. I opted to try the back door to the garden first. I was surprised to find it locked as I went to grab at a window. It was as if every door and window had suddenly become super glued shut in front of me. I couldn’t even reenter the dining room. I crouched down behind a cabinet as the knocks continued. There was a loud echo of footsteps from someone walking down the hallway to the door. I wrapped my arms around my knees. So I was about to be taken by the mob now. I had reached a bad ending in not even a full day here.

I closed my eyes as I heard the front door creak open. “Ay are you the master of this castle? We’ve got written authority to search the local grounds for a lost sheep. If you’ll be so kind to let us in,” I heard a raspy voice say amongst some jeers from the doorway.

There was a loud sigh as I was surprised to hear Victor retort, “you don’t have my authority to be on the premises. Now go away, I’m tired.” He slammed the door and began to walk back.

I dropped my arms as I prepared to stand up myself. I’m sure I looked like I was in complete disbelief as he strolled past me. He paused for a moment as he turned and stared at me. He seemed to be processing why I was planted there behind the cabinet as he sighed and continued onwards. I was ready to try and explain myself when Robin suddenly appeared next to me holding a tray. “Shall I take this to your room?” she asked.

I nodded as I did my best to stand on shaky legs and head back upstairs. From the doorway I could hear some jeers yelling, “did you see the hairy thing in the window?”

“The bloodsucker has some weird tastes,” someone else laughed. I hated that I could hear them.

But it was hard to feel too offended when I was at least alive for now. I crept back up to my room and proceeded to grab the silver brush. I was surprised that for once I was following the events of the novel without trying as I sat there nervously brushing my hair. I wasn’t sure what was in store for me tomorrow in Victor’s abode, but I was on high alert that I was slowly eroding all opportunities to actually get in his good graces.