VII · ISABELLE

Isabelle Baudelaire's point of view

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5 AM I WAS UP AGAIN, AFTER READING MY favorite novel called Too Classy for This World, that was written by Remy Beaumanoir, and it's a romance having a brave and badass girl as the female lead. It was my mother's favorite books. So, I decided to re-read it as I couldn't sleep anymore since the dream with my mom.

Dressing one of my favorite yellow and dark pink dress of the new winter season from a famous designer, called Abraham Cazal, back in the south, I dressed it with my mid-high boots, that will allow me to be the same height as Genevieve Delacroix. I'm a little above the average female height of our Kingdom, with 168cm, and I don't want to look shorter than her.

Tying my twin daggers, made of obsidian, on my tights, under my dress's skirt, I got up. Then looked in the mirror and styled my boring straight hair in two root braids that mom taught me when I was a kid. She loved styling my hair this way.

When I opened the door of my chambers, Mathis was right there, with the nine books on his hands. "Do you... Do you have the draft of..." I closed his mouth with my hands, abruptly and pushed him inside my chambers, locking the door.

"Are you insane?"

He sighed. "They are all sleeping, Belle. Please, tell me. Do you still have a copy of the draft of the last book?" Damn, he seems like a crazy homeless guy, begging for more opium.

I burst out laughing and he glared at me.

"What are you laughing at, dumbass?"

"You!" I exclaimed. "No. I do not have it anymore. Remember? Dad burn it!" The main copy of it.

But ain't no way I'll tell anyone that I still have my back up draft for the last book. Knowing how Mathis is almost on his knees for Duke Dimitri's half sister, and how she loves my books, he could probably give the draft to win her, and mess everything up. And I do not want that.

Sorry brother. "So, no. I had it. But complain with dad for burning it all together with my writing tools."

He growled. "Gods, I'm starving for more. How can you create something so amazing? Damn, Belle. If dad read it he would love it and let you keep doing it!"

I glared at him, uncomfortable, "Stop that, Mat. You know it ain't possible. Dad refuses to touch a fiction book after mom died. And you know that as much as I do."

Sigh. "But he would love it either way. I just hope you get married already so I can get the last one."

Arching my eyebrows, I stared at him from head to toe and I saw when a shiver when down his spine. "What a good brother you are!"

"Sorry!" He left the books over my drawer, but then he turned to me. "Can I... Hm... Give those books to Marie-Claire?"

"Excuse me?" I glared at him.

"Come on, sis. It's the first edition of each of them," no. It's not. The first editions I gave to Adrien as a present for helping me out from the beginning. But I never told Mathis or he would accuse me of having a favorite brother... which I do. "I can tell her that I found the writer and made him give them to me all signed!"

I got up from my seat and walked to him. "Do you have a death wish?" It's not like I would tell him the truth now, especially knowing what he wants to do with it. "That would expose me, asshole!" I muttered through greeted teeth and he took three steps back.

"But... Sis..."

"No, Mathis! Those are precious to me, can't you understand that?" He bit his bottom lip. "And if you dare to steal them behind my back, I'm going to burn you alive!" I exclaimed while glaring at him.

He got startled by that, and tried to step back again, but his back hit the wall. "Shit. Why do you have to be so damn scary? Come on. I shouldn't fear you like this. I'm older!" When I kept staring at him, he gulped. "I'll shut up. Don't worry, I won't touch your books."

After hearing him say that with all his honesty, I dropped the long face and smiled. "Thank you for understanding, Mat!"

"Gods... You really are scary," he muttered. "Thank Gods I'm your brother and not your enemy. That would drive me nuts."

"I'll take it as a compliment," I headed out and opened the door for him. "Now, get out and go wash yourself. You stink."

"It's early in the morning, why are you already being so mean?" There was a mockery in his voice.

"When I began to act mean towards you, Mat," I put my hand on his shoulder and he froze. "You will know!" Then I left him off. "Visit Jade after breakfast, she's feeling lonely."

His fear disappeared and he felt sad. "Poor girl, she must hate the fact that she can't come in because of our guests." Then he smelled himself and made a disgusted face. "Yeah, you are right. I stink. I'll go take a bath and head down. Wait for me, please. Don't eat without me or I'll feel betrayed, sis."

❁❁❁

"Damn it. That asshole asked me to wait for him, but it's been an hour and he's still there, dolling himself up," I muttered annoyed and Addy giggled. "Seriously, he takes longer to get ready than all Ladies in the Kingdom!"

Rolling his eyes. "He'll come down soon, Belle, I'm sure of it. He must be trying to look good for our guests."

"He shouldn't bother," Dimitri Delacroix exclaimed as he came inside followed by his minion.

I couldn't hide my sudden annoyance. And the way he stared at me, clearly disgusted, made me angry. I already see how I'll spend the day in a terrible mood. He probably disapprove me for the way I acted yesterday.

But I couldn't care less. "I agree. Why should he waste his efforts on members of a House who's not even stronger as we are?" I mocked, after all House Baudelaire are the second in power after the King's House, and the Delacroix are the third after us.

Adrien gave me a warning look but I ignored. Craving to vent my anger on the arrogant Duke that was standing tall like a wall in front of me. He should be ugly, why isn't he?

His beauty is wasted on him.

"I'm not lying," I looked up to the Duke. "And you also know that, Dimitri Delacroix. I had to greet you and your mother like that yesterday but don't think I'll ever do it again. I can see that you must think extremely highly of yourself, because you are from one of the strongest Houses in the Dieulafoy Kingdom, but you should put yourself back in reality."

"How dare you speak with His Grace like this?" Was it Jean his name?

I giggled mischievously, "You must be Jean, his shadow. Do not butt in when you have nothing to do with our business, sir. That's very rude of you, haven't your Lord taught you that?"

They both clenched their jaws. "What an unladylike attitude," Dimitri muttered, which made me see red.

"Unladylike?" I chuckled. "Since when do you know what that means? Are you perhaps a Lady pretending to be a man?" Like me regarding my books...

"Excuse me?" He exclaimed offended.

His words made me scoff, "I guessed that much. Dimitri, I told you and your mother when we met earlier, that you shouldn't expect anything from me or you would be disappointed. If you say such a thing to me, it means you expected me to act like the Ladies you've met, and when I didn't do so, you felt let down."

"Sister, I'm back..." Mathis exclaimed as he came down by the stairs. Then he stared at all of us and caught up fast on the mood. "What's happening? Did you got angry because I made you wait for more than an hour?"

I glared a him and he gulped, then sat down. "What took you so long? Were you building the bathtub? Boiling the water? Sewing your damn clothes?" He avoided my gaze. Sigh. "You did it on purpose, asshole."

"Not necessarily. You scared the shit out of me earlier, so I felt the need to take a long shower to recharge my good energy," I arched my eyebrows. "I mean, you started!"

"I just talked with you casually!"

He chuckled, "Correction. You didn't talk, sister. You threatened me. How was I supposed to not feel scared? Don't you have consciousness of how damn intimidating you are?" I glared at him and he flinched. "Stop looking at me like that, damn it. It's frightening!"

"Don't be a chicken, Mathis!" I exclaimed annoyed.

"Then stop threatening my life!"

"Why don't you stop giving me reasons to want to kill you then?" I greeted my teeth. "It's not my fault if every time you open your mouth you make me want to strangle you, brother. Like, making me wait for an entire hour here. I have duties to attend, I can't just stay here and wait for you to finish getting dressed, don't you know that?"

Then I turned to Adrien, silently telling him to scold Mathis too. He took a deep breath, catching their attention. "You shouldn't make people wait like this, Mat. That's not what a gentleman would do. Even if you fought with Belle for some reason, and you got scared of her afterwards, you can't act like this."

"Tsk. You are always on her side, even when she threaten my life. It even makes me doubt if I'm actually her older brother or if she's mine," he muttered. "Gods bless the man who will marry you."

I clenched my teeth. "Do not mention such an unpleasant matter, Mathis. Damn it. Want to fight again? Why try when you know I'll win? And it doesn't matter who the fuck I'm going to marry. It won't be for love. I'm not weak like you and Adrien who takes those stupid feelings of yours into consideration. That won't help me with anything!"

Annoyed to the core, I got up.

"Isabelle..." Addy seemed sad for me.

"Don't you dare to pity me, Adrien! I don't need that. You both know better than anyone why I'll get married. So don't you dare to come to me and talk about love. That shit is only true on fictional stories. In real life, people who give in to romance are bound to be broken and end up parted from each other."

Taking a deep breath I looked around the table and took a big plate with an entire lemon cake on it already with the slices cut, and a crystal jar full with iced sweet peach tea. Jade loves it, I can eat a little bit and give the rest to her, she has quite the fancy appetite beside loving the green apples. When I was about to get out of the room, with my plate and cup in my hands, my dad and Genevieve appeared.

His eyes met mine and I felt troubled again. "Belle, where are you going?"

"Where else would I go? I'm heading to where Jade is. She has to stay far away from us just because those guests of yours are here, dad," I side-looked them. "It's annoying. She's family, they aren't!" Sigh. "You look dazzling again, Genevieve."

She seemed apologetic, "How tall are you, dear?" What an awkward question to make right in the morning.

"168cm. But I'm your height with this boots on," I giggled feeling proud of myself. "Being surrounded by guys who are above 180cm, allows me to feel free to experiment shoes that will make me taller," I held my skirt a little higher, showing it to her, and I accidentally showed the other dagger I hid in my ankle.

Her eyes went to that right away. "Why do you have that? You will hurt yourself, darling!"

I chuckled softly again, "Don't worry about me, Genevieve Delacroix! I'm not the kind of Lady who needs saving. Those babes are for me to use if I feel the need," I side-looked her son and Mathis, then got my eyes on her again. "Not to mention that I'm a master of martial arts and weaponry fighting thanks to my mother's insistence."

She looked surprised. "How... Unique!"

"In a society where men are too afraid to give women any kind of power, be it for the brain or body, it makes sense that you are surprised. Although it is quite pitiful. After all, we can do everything a man can, and even better than them. They know it and that's why they fear giving us the power to do so!" I said calmly and she gulped, uncomfortable. "My presence here seems to be unpleasant for you. Don't worry, I'm out to be with Jade," then I greeted my dad and left without looking at the guests one more time.