Consequences

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Lord Harrington, noticing the lack of interest, had backed down, and was now exchanging pleasantries with other women in the venue.

All of a sudden, the man's head turned, and he instantly locked eyes with Mae, and her heart skipped a beat. Mae could only look away with a blush on her face as Elara quickly caught on "Oh, looks like someone has caught your fancy too?"

"N-no," Mae said, as she quickly made her way away from the view of the man with Elara in tow, and she glanced back one last time, the man's gaze still fixated on her.

"Who is it? Who is it??" Elara continued to ask as Mae quickly bolted out of the hall, flush with anxiety

A small smile played on the man's lips as he realized the situation.

Eventually, the party came to a close, and Mae left Elara's company, and was on her way home, back on the carriage.

Her mind flashed back to the few moments where she had locked eyes with the man.

"Ah, I wonder if I will see him again..." She said to herself, as the carriage lumbered on.

She was not used to going out like this, and despite having minimal interactions, she felt exhausted.

So exhausted in fact, she just came back, pulled her dress off, plopped onto the bed, and promptly passed out.

She didn't know for how long she was passed out, but eventually, she woke up to a loud banging on her door.

"Ugh, Who could it be at this hour?" She grumbled as she pulled herself out of her comfortable bed.

She rummaged around in her cupboard and made her way to the mirror after picking a night dress.

As she was putting it on, something caught the corner of her eye in the mirror.

It was the Ebonheart Urn, sitting on her table.

"What the fuck is this doing here?" She said to herself as the banging on the door got louder.

Mae's mind was racing as she tried to gather memories from her previous day. What had happened? How did this tiny urn find its way to her table?

As she walked up and picked the tiny urn in her hand, the door banging stopped, and with one resounding thud, the door swung open, to an angry Edmund Reinhart, Mae's father.

"What have you done Mae!" He demanded, his voice thundering throughout the room.

Mae immediately recoiled from the harshness of her dad's voice. His intense amber eyes, similar to the ones Mae possessed, had a very stern and commanding gaze.

Mae quickly calmed herself down and asked "W-what is it, father?"

"We have a bunch of soldiers standing in front of our house right now!" Saying that he pointed out the window, and Mae slightly parted the white blinds covering the window and saw a battalion of soldiers standing outside, with two of them conversing with the house's servants.

They appeared to be trying to hold them off from entering the house.

"What would these soldiers be doing in front of our house at this hour in the morning?" Mae thought to herself.

Her father, Edmund Reinhart, didn't waste a moment. He closed the distance between them, his hands firmly gripping her shoulders. A sense of urgency radiated from him as he began to shake her, his voice trembling with anxiety.

"God, Mae, please try to remember what happened yesterday! It's more crucial now than ever. Your forgetfulness is one thing, but this is beyond concerning right now!" He shouted, trying to shake some sense into Mae.

As he shook her back and forth, Mae could feel the grip on the urn slipping as she had her hands behind her back which were now arrested by her dad.

"D-dad wait, let me go-"

*clink* 

There was silence after the tiny urn fell from Mae's hands, and the shock on Edmund Reinhart's face widened.

"That's the... Ebonheart... The Ebonheart... How in the world did it end up here!? He asked, turning to Mae with even more rage than before, and a vein popping in his head.

Mae quickly put up two of her hands to explain, putting a small barrier between herself and her enraged father.

"D-dad that is- I don't know how it ended up here. I passed out after the exhibit dinner yesterday night, and it's here on my table this morning. I-I seriously have no recollection-"

Her explanation was abruptly cut short as her father's patience snapped. His anger boiled over, and he bellowed, "Are you stupid, Mae!?"

"B- Bu-But- I D-Didn't-" Mae's eyes started welling up with tears. She had never seen her father this furious before.

Edmund Reinhart, seeing his only daughter on the verge of a breakdown, finally calmed down, and gave her a tight hug. Mae started to cry on his shoulders, as Reinhart's hand slowly stroked Mae's head.

"It's okay Mae." his voice was softer now, and she buried her head in her father's embrace and continued to cry.

"I- I didn't take it father-" Mae managed to say in between sobs. "It's okay, sweetheart. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't do something like this." Reinhart tried his best to comfort her, but it didn't seem to stop her.

After Mae cried for a bit more, Edmund finally let her go, and he had an expression on his face that Mae quite couldn't describe.

With a resolute look on his face, he made a decision. "It's okay, Mae. Now hand me the urn, and we will go give it back to the soldiers."

They made their way to the main living room of the house, and the soldiers entered the room, a deafening silence falling as the rhythmic clack of leather boots echoed in the room.

"Welcome, gentlemen. Please have a seat." Edmund welcomed the soldiers inside, as Mae was standing with the tiny urn cupped in her hands, anxiously watching as all the soldiers filed in.

As the soldiers took their seats, Mr. Reinhart could feel the weight of the urn in his daughter's trembling hands, and the air in the room grew heavy with anticipation