Behind the glory

ruly unfortunate,

t the Parliament. Then, the Queen sent a slave to his estate, fol

himself to l

, worse than a bird's nest. Her skin was pale, her frame frail, even smaller than child

ce, she seemed you

hing; that piece of rag rev

ded with him, emit

of the inf

de hi

of anger, arriving at a d

go and take a bath

aking deliberately, with the standard aristocratic accent

od straight, respondin

already soaked

." Xavier rai

ing through her fingers the expression o

me,' Carine suddenly thought, 'Othe

y lowered

ving his cane, he addressed the servants as if shooing away flies,

d were relieved t

t, as their father must have discove

ols for their desires, but the H

ring them impure, believing that any relations

ornbird Manor, Carine wasn't

stence of a rebellious, lust-drive

e servants and locked in a

with a low roof, several claw-marked fu

ked the door and

ht starve to dea

e-keeping; they were too extreme, leaning mo

Carine wanted to s

ounds from her recent fall, and wrapped

Janua

ting, but the garden cabin

lacked heating, and temperatures

would be a col

moving around, but she was t

to resist imagining what her fellow black-haire

already clean, l

king alongside the ser

be packaged in expensive dresses and jewe

wouldn't die as ea

rom the Queen; no noble woul

thless and powerf

d had read about the Xavier family, with a hi

d the empi

und Xavier, only thirty-eight years old,

ty, marrying his current wife, Teline Xavier, and they

ned surface harmony, while the couple

family was ve

leading a private life as clean as a Puritan's; even tabloid jour

nement. In her spare time, she listened to opera, attended art exhibitions, and rarely participated in fa

r children's wishes and al

, with an average of one family tutor bein

mingling with ordinary children in high school,

phael had bee

led the education rights

to violate her, she tur

, Raphael cou

he terrifying Duke w

ning what it meant to be "noble," a superiority accumulated

sdain for the bl

this visible

nt, in the c

s more like a private library. The antiques bought by the Duchess were all placed here, and the

velvet blanket, wearing pajamas,

ld sat uneasily

the eastern front. I proposed to the Queen a 45% reduction in expenses for Thornbi

her hadn't mentioned the matter of the

n?" Arnold scratche

s will only work during the day. The golf cour

other. "Then what are we going to do every day? Listen

Xavier gently put

cup bottom made a crisp sound, l

nst the sofa, no lo

bout the issue of

lowed like liquid silver, pure in color, without