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ix. Best Forget with a Drunk

"What do you mean the vote assurance has decreased?!" Y/N yelled in the meeting room of the lords where only four of them sat.

"Calm down, young Y/N." Lord Lecucrion said. The girl slumped on her seat as she put her hand on her forehead.

"I don't know if I can do that, Lord Leucrion. The voting is in a month, and our vote assurance are not just slightly but massively decreasing. What made it that way, anyway?"

"You're not going to like the answer to that," Lord Allistair said. She arched an eyebrow. "Tell me," she simply replied.

"The Basilwether vote has changed since the bond between you and Tewkesbury has tarnished." Lord Cosko said.

"To hell with it!" She exclaimed. "That boy is nothing but trouble." The girl grimaced. "And why would that be a reason for their votes to turn away so quickly?"

"They lost faith in you."

"Why? I wasn't the one who broke it off."

"Not from what they heard," Lord Theron said and handed her an old newspaper.

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no longer together, what's next for the women's rights reform? Will Basilwether still support the project?

The young lord's uncle has finally spoken of the situation. Y/N L/N has been confirmed to have broken the Marquess' heart. The girl has been suspected of using our young blooming lord to make the reform happen.

With this, the boy's uncle quoted, "Basilwether will no longer vote or support the new reform for our trust has been broken. We are no longer affiliated with any of Miss L/N's shenanigans."

Could our dear sweet Y/N be a dirty scheming little liar? What do you think?

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"So they chose to play dirty? Dragging my name into the puddles of mud?" Everyone in the room shrugged. "And here I thought he could never do such things." The girl groaned and crumpled the paper.

"What are we going to do now, Y/N?" Lord Cosko asked.

"You're the lords. I'm nothing but a dirty scheming little liar. A commoner from one of the worst families in history. Why are you asking me?" L/N asked.

"That's strange. I swear Y/N doesn't normally let other people's words get to her. What's made it successful now?" Lord Allistair asked.

She shrugged.

"Listen, L/N. You aren't just a commoner nor a girl who sits in this room with us. We consider you as our own. Don't you have any idea as to how much we've grown attached to you? You are our sister. Not biologically or adoptively, but you are." Lord Leucrion said making the girl smile. "So listen to us. You're a strong, remarkable woman. Don't let his words get to you."

"Perhaps you're — "

Suddenly, a rushing boy dashed in the room, locking the massive doors behind him in frantic rush. When they finally got a good look of who it is, everyone frowned.

Tewkesbury nervously held the door, panting heavily. He turned to his left side trying to find a movable chest to help him hold it. But when he turned to his right, he saw the lords and the girl who he had longed to see for months.

"Oh," he mumbled. The boy licked his lips.

He awkwardly fixed his posture and his coat. The boy cleared his throat and took a deep breath as everyone watched him stand there, looking as if he didn't just embarrass himself for a moment.

No one dared to speak and the atmosphere was unbearable so, Tewkesbury decided to elaborate. "I was being chased by your gardener?"

"Because?" Lord Theron questioned, an eyebrow arched.

"I wasn't allowed to be here, apparently." The young lord said. Lord Leucrion copied Theron as he raised an eyebrow himself.

"I haven't given orders to my workers not to let you in this estate." The Lord of Castlerenian informed as he turned his head to the now bloodless girl. "Did you, Y/N?"

"Believe me, the order tempts me, but no, I did not." They both looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Guineviere." They said in unison.

Y/N sighed. "Why are you here anyway?"

"There is a meeting, correct?" He asked.

"But you weren't invited." Lord Cosko said.

"And for instance, you were, you didn't have a care in the world to attend the few ones for the past two months." Leucrion took a sip of his drink from the glass goblet in front of him.

Y/N laughed.

"That's quite rude, isn't it?" Tewkesbury asked.

"Really? As far as I know, It's not as rude as how you dragged my name into the mud." Y/N said.

"What ever do you mean?" He asked. The girl pointed at the crumpled newspaper as he took it.

It also did take him a few seconds to read, "This is absurd! I'd never say something like this. These are my uncle's words!" He exclaimed.

"Clearly as it was written, and we are not blind. Nevertheless, it doesn't matter. Tonight, we will host a party for everyone to lure the assassins. Perhaps they are the ones responsible for the decreasing votes besides Basilwether. Enola Holmes will be with us. She is a brilliant detective and I highly recommend her allegiance. Our objectives are to have fun and keep an eye out. With that being said, our meeting is over." Y/N said.

Everyone stood up from their seats except for Lord Leucrion who invited Tewkesbury to sit.

Y/N gave them a look before leaving. Leucrion chuckled and turned to the boy who nervously shifted in his seat. They both then stared at the shiny wooden table.

"My uncle made me do it." He blurted out. Lord Leucrion stared at him, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn't want to react dramatically, so he just nodded.

"Why did you?" He asked.

"He threatened me."

"I cannot help you if you do not wish to tell me every single thing."

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Night came. Everyone was ready for the party that was hosted.

Y/N has hidden secret knives in every part of the ballroom. As well as Guineviere who loved archery while Enola has hidden nothing but her identity.

Everyone was dancing to the music as she stayed in the refreshment table staring at couple as they happily moved their body letting themselves give in to the desire to let loose.

She grabbed a goblet full of the alcohol she didn't even know of. The girl consumed an unexplainable amount that it made her chest warm up. Her eyes started to water. She didn't even know it was going to be this strong, but that's all right.

She just needed to forget about certain things. The girl grabbed the whole bottle and started drinking. It was not wise of her. Especially when she has a mission to accomplish.

Meanwhile, Tewkesbury was doing the same but in the other corner of the room. They were doing that for half an hour now. Once they had enough, they felt like they wanted to give in to the rhythm of the live music as well.

Y/N giggled and mumbled things to herself as if she's asking herself if she would like to dance.

"Of course I wanna dance, silly!" She told herself and hiccuped after. The girl stood up and made her way to the floor with people sweeping around with other people enjoying each other's company . . . and touchy hands.

Tewkesbury's sight was blurry as he wobbled around looking for a dance partner. He then saw a girl in the crowd dancing all on her own with her hands wrapped around herself.

He chuckled at her dances. The girl noticed him and has completely lost her senses when she walked up to him and pulled him to dance with her.

"I think I know you," she said and laughed. He nodded absent-mindedly and took her hands, spinning her around on another.

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Soon after, they settled in the refreshments table with their heads down resting on their arms.

"Why are you here?" Y/N slurred.

"Lost someone."

"What? Oh — everything's spinning!"

"I know. I can't see your face!" He agreed. They both looked up and narrowed their eyes at each other only to laugh and fall from their seats.

"Ow!" They yelped. Then, they stayed like that, staring at the ceiling. At that moment, they felt like they were the only ones there. The music faded in the background along with the chatters, laughters and other more noises that filled the ballroom.

Y/N then started to laugh. "He left me."

The boy gasped dramatically. "What? Who?"

"A bastard."

"Why?"

She shrugged and continued to sob. "Maybe because I'm ugly," she said and closed her eyes shut recalling the moment. "He told me he wasn't serious when he even planned our future and made promises. I should've known it was all too good to be true."

"Not to crush your moment, but I think I can relate to him a lot." He said and stared at her. "I promised a girl I would treasure her," he created a small poofing gesture with his hand and wiped his tears with his sleeve.

"What was she like?"

"Poetry. A priceless thousand strokes of a brush. The most interesting piece in the world full of art." He simply stated with his eyes full of adoration and affection. He visualised the girl with her pure and utterly breathtaking eyes staring back at his, smiling at him with her contagious smile, her hair bouncing on her shoulders as she ran with the wind nipping on her silk skin. "Dauntless was the word she owned. In fact, she owns all the perfect adjectives in the books of Shakespeare, but for all I know, those aren't enough. She was — still is and forever will be the blood that runs in my veins."

He burped, extracting a giggle from the girl. "She would kill for a knife."

The girl laughed. "I think we'll get along very well."

"What about you? What was he like?"

"Fresh smell of parchment in the morning just as the sun is about to rise. A letter waiting to be replied to above a pile of paperwork. I adored him with all that I am, and he decided he didn't want it after all."

"You didn't deserve that."

"Really?" "Yeah."

"You're nice. You kind of remind me of him." She suddenly said.

"Truly? You remind me of her!"

"How so?" They both asked.

"Your voice," They answered in unison which they didn't mind, but then the next, they found it peculiar. "And your scent."

"Are you reading my mind?" They both asked again at the same time.

"How—"

"Are we—"

"Doing that?"

They both laughed.

"We must be kindred spirits!"

And there they lay together on the ballroom floor once again not as Y/N and Tewkesbury, but drunken strangers who would wake up the next day knowing they'd greatly regret everything they've done for the past few hours.