A different world

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she heard someone coming in. She could tell it was Lily by the sound of her footsteps.


She greeted the girl without turning her head. "Good morning, Lily."


She grabbed her cup and took a seat at the table. "I haven't slept well, that's all." She gave her maid a little smile and look down in the coffee.


She didn't feel like doing much but sleep today.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Lily did not say anything. She felt that something was wrong but she did not feel to be privileged enough to ask thus she just continued to work. It was then when she heard footsteps from the hall and saw Ben enter. Silently saluting to him she continued to work.


Ben looked at the two girls with a sorrowful gaze, his eyes not meeting Emilia's for a moment so embarrassed he was. He just sat down next to her to the table, mumbling a " Good morning. " before he returned to just staring the table. Agonizing minutes have passed like this before he looked up.


" Lily, would you be so kind as to leave us alone for a minute? "


The girl nodded, hurrying away. Ben then looked at Emilia.


" Emilia I... " he started " I... I am sorry. "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia didn't look up when Benjamin walked in and didn't say anything when he greeted them.


She kept looking at her cup and took a sip every now and then.


When he asked Lily to leave, she looked up at him for the first time that morning.


"You should be."


She had a serious expression on her face.

 

[DawnAntalios]

He sighed.


" Never before in my life did I feel like this. " he said " I was always alone, minding my own business, learning, traveling, living my life. And then... " he paused " And then you came. "


He felt his heart beating faster.


" You have turned everything upside down, your very presence was something I could never predict it being. I don't know how is it possible but... "


He paused again.


" This... warmth. I always feel it when I look at you. When I think about you. I thought that something was wrong with me but... I think that it has its purpose. "


He frowned.


" I have acted like a fool. A selfish fool. You deserve a better master... a better fiancé. "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia blushed a little when Benjamin started to tell her how he felt. She wanted to forgive him, but didn't know if she should tell him about her feelings as well.


"It's not your fault, I.." She looked up to him. "I feel it as well."


She bit her lip and put her hands around the cup. "And I know that I shouldn't feel that way about you, you are my master after all."


Emilia sighed and turned her head to make sure Lily wasn't anywhere near.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben crossed his arms frowning.


" Frankly, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed. " he said " I am disappointed that you feel that way after all you have agreed to and all you have done. "


He looked away.


" I consider myself to be no-one's master. Even Lily, who is supposed to be our maid, I think of as a family member, like a little sister. " he turned to Emilia " You however... "


He leaned closer, now smiling.


" I consider you, my lady, as the love of my life. "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia looked down, dissapointed in herself that she had let Benjamin down. She nodded, agreeing with everything he was saying.


Suddenly she held her head back up, suprised by what he had just said. She slightly blushed and smiled back to him.


"You.. You do?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing, that he felt the same way as her. It made her incredibly releaved.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben smiled warmly.


" It took me longer than it needed before I realized it. " he said " But... I think this is how I feel and I want to deny it no longer. This is a charade no longer... this is reality. Know though that if you think that we shall have a happy life from now on you are mistaken, for we still have a small problem. "


He sighed.


" The de Lion family and my father. We might be able to fool my parent but the others will likely be mad. Very mad. " he looked at her, grabbing her hands " I want to know that even if something happens to me you will push on. Even if I fall you must go on. Will you do this for me? "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia gently squeezed his hand and nodded.


"Of course, but.." she looked into his eyes with a frown on her forehead "What do you mean 'if something happens to you?" She didn't quite understand what could possibly happen to him, but she was sure it wouldn't be nice.


"I don't want you to get hurt, Benjamin, not in any way."


She vividly remembered what happened when he went out to get her papers, and it still made her shiver.

 

[DawnAntalios]

His face turned dark.


" I know that you hate me being secretive... but I must ask you to trust me once more. It will not be an easy task which we have to accomplish but I will go to any lengths to assure we succeed. "


He looked outside of the window.


" No matter the cost... "


He leaned closer to her, smiling.


" I would forfeit my own life to see you safe. Let us hope that it will not come to that shall we? "


He now sat back, thinking. He had this plan in his mind for a while and if they could pull it off... everything would be fine. All would be revealed to her in time of course but for now he did not want to bother her too much. They had turbulent days behind them and he wanted Emilia to rest and relax for a bit.

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia frowned in a sad way, but then decided that it would be best if she'd just agree with him. "Alright, I won't ask you what it's about."


She bit her lip and put her hand on his cheeck.


"Try not to get into anything dangerous, please?"


Her voice was sad, desperate in some kind of way. She knew she couldn't bare to see Benjamin hurt, or even worse.. Dead. She shook her head to keep her thoughts from scaring her even more.


"So, what's on the agenda today?" she said stroking his cheeck.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben leaned closer to her.


" First I want to give you a present, one which is long overdue. Now close your eyes. "


He smiled as she followed his instructions and he got even closer to her. He then proceeded and softly kissed her as their lips met in a holy union. He smiled happily as he felt the warmth of her cheeks and then pulled back. This was but the first thing he wanted to give her but he owed her this kiss since a long while.


" Now it is quite a strange day today: since a noble mistress must be both elegant and commanding I wanted YOU to tell me what you wish to do. After all if you would just agree to everything we discuss it would not be too convincing now would it? "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia followed his instructions by closing her eyes. When she suddenly felt his lips touching hers, she blushed a little and got the warm feeling inside her stomach again, which she had felt many times since she had arrived here.


She nodded and thought about it for a second. What she wanted to do.. It was something that she wasn't asked a lot, which made it hard for her to answer him.


"Maybe we should leave the house, you can show me around. I would love to discover the town you grew up in."


She then softly bit her lip, not sure if her next request would be to early to ask for.


"Perhaps you could introduce me to your friends, I'm very curious to meet them." She smiled softly while raising her brows.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben was thinking about her offer. Meeting his friends? He had not thought about that before.


" An interesting proposal my dear. " he said, drumming with his fingers to try and figure out the best option for this. " You know I know a lot of people here... but there is a simpler solution to meet them - obviously that is more fanciful and it is up to you if you want something like that or not. "


He opened is arms wide.


" We could have a banquet here, inviting all the nobles who have been long term friends with my family. Of course that is the extravagant version, we can just simply visit them if you wish to do it more subtly. "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Her eyes began to shine when Benjamin told him about his fantastic idea. Emilia directly nodded in an enthusiastic way and put her hand under her chin while looking at him with huge interest.


"That's a great idea, we should definitely do that."


She smiled at him, thinking about what the banquet would be like, but most importantly what his friends would be like.


Since the moment Emilia had stepped foot into the mansion, Ben hadn't spoken a word about them. She figured he was too busy to maintain contact with old friends, or that he might not havy any at all. So the thought of a grand celebration in some way of course made her glad.


"And how many guest would attend this banquet you were talking about?"

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben frowned a little. He did not actually expect Emilia to accept this offer but now he smiled at it.


" Well it depends on how many would accept the invitation of course! " he said " I would say at least two or three families but one can never be certain. "


He stood up.


" Excuse me for a moment, I have to arrange the requests prior to the event. "


He said and walked out of the room, meeting with Lily in the secluded place of the grand hall. He looked firmly at her and so did she - then they started to discuss things, various emotions crossing their expression while doing so.

 

[Dropintheocean]

She nodded at Ben and quickly squeezed his hand before he left the room.


Emilia couldn't get the smile of of her face as she stood up to start today's chars. She looked around the kitchen to see what she could do, but nothing jumped to mind. Maybe she could relax for a day, a day to herself. She had been under a lot of pressure lately and it wouldn't be a bad idea if she releaved all of her stress.


First up she would take a look in the library to pick out a nice book.


Although she had grown up in a rather poor family, her mother had always made sure her children would be able to read, something that would be convenient later on. So from the beginning of her youth Emilia had had books to read.


She rushed to the library, excited to see what Benjamin would have in his collection.

 

[DawnAntalios]

" A banquet, you say? " Lily asked, frowning a bit. " That is a great opportunity indeed... yet dangerous as well. "


Ben nodded.


" I know, but there is nothing more we can do. " he said and they stopped speaking while Emilia walked to the library. He smiled at her while Lily bowed courteously before she vanished. When she did Lily's eyes became serious once more.


" Does she know? "


Ben shook his head.


" Good. " Lily nodded " There is no need for that now. "


" But I love her. " Ben blurted out.


" That is one more reason to do it. " the girl replied, walking away, preparing to clean the rooms. Ben stood there, torn between what he should do. Ultimately he decided to join Emilia in the library, seeing what she was up to.

 

[Dropintheocean]

When she passed Lily and Benjamin she smiled quickly and then walked into the library. It was huge, and filled with more books than she had ever seen before. Not knowing where to start searching, she took out a book from the shelf and inspected it with great care.


After going through many books, she finally found one that seemed interesting to her.


Suddenly Benjamin walked in, and Emilia greeted him with a big smile. "There you are, how is the whole planning going?"


She turned back to her book and read the cover. It was one she had never seen before, most of the books were, but this one had a beautiful cover, which made it seem like a nice story to read.

 

[DawnAntalios]

He gulped and nodded, smiling.


" Quite well I have to say. " he said " I have given Lily the task to invite all the guests in the vicinity. They should be answering the letters soon. "


He looked at her as she was inspecting the books.


" I see you like books. You love reading I presume? " he asked, trying to bring up something which was a pleasant topic.

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia nodded and continued scanning the book from back to front. "I like it, every now and then."


She put the book and the table and got up. "I've never had much time to read, but when I do I enjoy every minute of it." She smiled at him and sat herself down in the reading chair, standing infront of a window.


"Have you read this one yet? Do you know if it's any good?" She said while holding up the book to show him.


She herself had never heard of the title before, but she didn't know many of them to be honest.

 

[DawnAntalios]

He picked it up from her hands and stared at the title. He almost expected to immediately answer with a yes, he had read almost every single book he had in his library - yet this one she had picked up he never seen before. In fact he did not even remember if this book was in his library before she had showed him.


" Curious... " he muttered " I don't remember this one at all. Are you certain that you have found it here somewhere? "

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia shook her head and put it down on the table next to her. "No, I found it on one of the shelfs." she said while pointing at the place she had took it from. She crossed her legs and looked at Benjamin.


"So, what are you plans for today?" She smiled at him and looked into his eyes with great interest.


"Do you still need to arrange things for the banquet or will Lily take care of everything?"


Her mouth felt a bit dry, so she decided to go to the kitchen to prepare a fresh pot of coffee.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Ben stared blankly at the book for a while. It still eluded him how could it make its way into his library without him noticing it but he had no time wondering about it. He quickly put it back to its place and turned to Emilia.


" Well I thought of... "


" Excuse me for the interruption. " Lily walked into the room, bowing deeply before them " I would have a request. The banquet will be wonderful but we need to get a lot of different kind of food for our guests. While I would certainly do the shopping alone I think I will need a helping hand and - as embarrassing as it is - I would like to ask my mistress to help me. "


" Well I still have some planning to do so it might be for the best... if you are up to it of course. "


Ben looked at Emilia, waiting for her response. He was curious what would she decide.

 

[Dropintheocean]

Emilia turned her head when Lily came in.


She nodded to her maid and looked up at her. "Of course I'll help you, but I want to get some coffee first, if you don't mind." She forced herself a smile and hurried to the kitchen. When she was alone, she let out a silent sigh.


Today would've been a day for her to relax, but with the upcoming banquet they didn't have any time for themselfs.


She made her pot of coffee and poured out a cup for herself. She stuck her head out of the door and called for Benjamin. "Would you like some coffee as well?" She then turned to Lily and smiled. "And you, Lily?"