The way things were going, the rchants would never be welco at the castle ever again. A brown-haired rchant, after much hesitation, opened his mouth to say, [I-I have a true magical artifact in my possession.]
[I trust it's not sothing like that invisible dress again?]
[Of course not, Your Majesty! You boys over there, bring it in!] He barked the order at two servants who imdiately leapt into action. They returned presently, carrying a large, flat object with a cloth draped over it. [This is a magic mirror made by fairies. They say it's a mirror of truth.] The rchant observed Abigail's face uneasily, cold sweat trickling down his back. Much to his relief, the queen appeared rather intrigued this ti round.
[A mirror, you say?] Abigail stood up and slowly approached the covered object, her gaze fixed on it. She reached out a hand and the cloth ca away to reveal a bright, reflective surface. The gleam in her eyes intensified as she put her hand against/on the mirror and muttered under her breath, [Mirror, mirror.]
The words flowed naturally, almost as if she had owned the mirror from the start. Her lips parted once again. [Who's the fairest of them all?]
The mirrored surface began to ripple. Abigail's reflection vanished under a wash of pitch-black darkness, followed shortly by a voice. [Notyou, at the very least. That stupid question isn't doing you any favours either.]
An insolent answer. The rchants all paled as one when they heard it. The rchant responsible for this burgeoning disaster, in particular, was one step away from a ntal breakdown. Shaking like a leaf, he managed to find his voice. [I-I'm very sorry, Your Majesty. It looks like the servants brought in a defective mirror!]
The aforentioned servants were similarly on the verge of collapse themselves but it was nothing compared to the added frustration the rchant suffered as bewildernt gave way to understanding. Magic mirrors were originally made to serve as conversational partners to noblewon. They were made to only complint the other party without end. Among these standard, praise-filled mirrors, one mirror stood out. A maverick that refused to fulfil its intended purpose. It had been put aside to be returned to the fairies, but to think the servants would mistakenly bring inthatonemirror of all things.
[Adefect?Did you just calla defect? You think to compare with trash that can only spout blind flattery?!] The enraged mirror was virtually frothing at the mouth. The rchant hastily threw the cloth back over it, imdiately reducing the mirror's tirade to muffled, if still intelligible, howls. [Hey, yo! What the hell are you doing?! Get this thing off of !]
[Take this thing away and bring a different one!]
[Y-yes, sir!] As the indignant mirror blistered the unfortunate rchant's ears with what was clearly a comprehensive vocabulary of expletives, the servants scurried to do as they were bid.
Unexpectedly, Abigail indicated for them to leave it be. [Y-Your Majesty?]
[No need.] So saying, Abigail removed the drape once more. Her placid expression was again reflected along with the hapless rchants. [Did you just call stupid?]
[Yes.] The mirror replied belligerently. Unperturbed, Abigail continued speaking.
[And why am I stupid?]
[Because you're asking a stupid question. 'Who's the fairest of them all?' No one would be able to properly answer such a subjective question!] Abigail's face twitched slightly at the mirror's scathing words. As if the scorn in its tone wasn't enough already, it then dealt the final strike.
[Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As such, your question was just plain stupid.]
It was nothing less than blatant provocation. Forget the rest of it, what the mirror just said was more than enough to land the rchant in prison.The man prostrated himself in front of the queen, begging, [I-I'm sorry. Please forgive ,Your Majesty. I'll bring you a new one im- ]
[No need.] Abigail's voice was filled with satisfaction, leaving the rchant understandably confused. [I'll be buying this mirror.]
[W-what?!]
[I like it.] Abigail felt everyone in the room freeze in surprise at her declaration, even the maids. The mirror too, seed to have lost its tongue. Smiling widely, Abigail asked it directly, [So, dear mirror, what should I call you?]
[.Just 'mirror' is fine.]
[You have no na?]
[What use doIhave for a na?] A mirror was just a mirror. There was no need for it to be called anything else.
.
Abigail didn't reply imdiately, taking a mont to contemplate her response before declaring, [I'll call you Verite from now on, then. How does that sound?]
The mirror remained silent. To be precise, it was shocked speechless. Everything it'd heard about Abigail pointed to an impatient, arrogant woman with a penchant for buying all manner of shiny items. It would rather choose death over serving a woman like that. Hence the hell-bent provocation. It'd been completely convinced she would destroy it if sufficiently enraged.
But insteadshe smiled. Said she liked it, even going so far as giving it a na. The woman before it was wearing a smile that looked a little, no,veryevil, but she didn't seem all that bad anymore. [I suppose it's not terrible, for a na.]
Verite, aning 'truth'. It wasn't a bad na at all. Abigail crossed her arms over her chest before continuing to talk. [Alright then, Verite. Can you do anything other than swear at ?]
[I'm probably smarter than anyone who works in this castle.]
[Nice.] Abigail smiled as she spoke. Her response elicited a reciprocal swell of emotion within Verite a feeling that was equal parts happiness and the joy of being appreciated. It had gone from being potentially reduced to a pile of shards to gaining a master even receiving a na on top of it all! [You will work in this castle from now on. But, you must be mindful of three rules while under my employ.]
[What are they?]
[First off, stop speaking so rudely.] The woman's venomous glare gave little room for refusal.
[Fine. I an, I understand.] Verite still sounded sowhat annoyed, but its attitude had softened considerably from before.
[And second of all, always speak the truth to , just like your nasake. Don't ever lie to or try to flatter , ever.]
To think she'd tell it, a being created specifically to flatter, tonotflatter Verite choked back its laughter. [I'll do that. And the last rule?]
Abigail approached the mirror. With her nose re millitres away from the glass, she whispered oh so very quietly into it, [From now on, any question I ask that's in any way like the first, your answer will be this: The most beautiful person in the world is Princess Blanche.]
[What? Hell no! Ijusttold you, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!]
[I don't care. Just answer with 'Princess Blanche'.]
Surely the queen was still trying to test it, or so Verite thought until it was very quickly shot down in flas. Those eyesthat bloodlustit was on a whole other level No, it couldn't back down here! Having already declared the question too subjective and thus unanswerable in no uncertain terms, it certainly wasn't about to take any of it back. What would happen if it rebelled against Abigail? No, the punishnt didn't matter; it'd attempted suicide once before after all. This was a matter of principle: if it surrendered here out of fear for its life, its pride would be shattered forever.
But thenthe terrifying sight of Abigail's eyes was enough to set its surface atremble. Coming to a decision, Verite opened its figurative mouth. [The fairest of them all is.!]
* * *
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
"It's Princess Blanche."
"Then who's the loveliest of them all?"
"Princess Blanche."
"Then the cutest one"
"Blanche! Princess Blanche! It's all Princess Blanche! You happy now?! Just stop asking already!" Verite bellowed in pure deafening rage as I clapped my hands over my ears. The damn thing was remarkably loud for a being without an actual mouth.
"Hey! I told you to stop speaking so rudely!"
"Screw it, whatever! I'd much rather sit here throwing complints at you! Do you evenknowhow many tis you've repeated the sa question?!"
"I didn't askthatmany tis, did I?"
"You've asked the sa damn thingeleven tistoday alone!"Eleven? That many?Guilt had moving a little ways away from the mirror.
Blanche's image that had been on the mirror monts ago was then replaced by that of a blue-haired, silver-eyed boy who appeared to be no more than 18 years of age. It was the form Verite had taken after I had once ntioned that I felt like I was talking to myself during a conversation. "Aren't you being a little excessive? How can you talk about Blanche for literally theentireday?"
"Listening to my ramblingisyour job, you know, my dear mirror. Besides, the answer's already set in stone. You just have to agree with that Blanche is pretty." Verite's shoulders drooped noticeably. I could hear him lanting under his breath, "Ah, working is so tiring."
I gave him a consolatory pat or two. Working life is hard, hey. In any case"Well, that aside, let's move onto the next topic."
"What topic?"
"Blanche's gift. You know, like shoes, bags, accessories, dresses say around 20 different types in total? Co on~ turn that frown upside down. This is supposed to be fun!" I swore I heard an audible crack that instant. "So what should I get? Shoes? Dresses? Give a suggestion."
"I won't! No way! You got her cookies, didn't you? Just give her that and get this over with already!"Oh boy, Verite seed pretty mad now. Even so It was pretty cute how he still stayed to talk with despite that.
A few months had passed since the day Verite ca to stay. During this ti, I realized exactly why magic mirrors were so popular among noblewon. I got along well with Clara, and the other maids were pretty good to . Even so, I couldn't actually treat them as I would a friend. No matter what, I was still their boss. I had to maintain a fine balance of being generous, yet firm; I had to keep them close, all the while preserving a certain emotional distance. Verite was perfect in that regard. He was the only one I could talk to freely. I was a little annoyed at how rude he was at first, but
Well, he's kind of like a friend, so whatever!Verite was still complaining in the background of my thoughts.Oh, look at him getting all mad again
I adopted a wheedling tone. "Verite~ You know I like you the most in the entire castle. Can't you talk about Blanche with , please? I'll listen to you talk about magic too." Nerd talk was supposed to be an exchange, not a one-sided attack. Verite listened to my chatter, so it was only fair for to return the favour.
There was a mont of silence. When he spoke again, his tone had llowed sowhat. "Well, I suppose there's no helping it."
"Thanks! Can you help pick out a wrapper, then?"
"All right. Bring it over here, Abby G." Seeing as he was back to calling by my nickna, he was no longer in a foul mood. He had a quick temper and flared up easily, but his anger dissipated as fast as it ca.
I brought over a piece of soft silk along with a length of ribbon. Verite's silvery eyes brightened at the sight of them. "Mm, the purple ribbon goes well with that."
"You think so too? You really have a great eye for things like this. I'm going to wrap this up just so. Ah I hope Blanche likes the present." I wrapped up the glass bottle in silk and proceeded to adorn it with the ribbon, unaware I had started whistling cheerfully to myself soti between. Verite seed rather taken aback by my behaviour.
"You seem even happier than the person receiving the present."
"This is the joy of giving. I hope Blanche likes this gift"
"She will. I've never seen a child unhappy in the face of cookies. Especiallythosesugar cookies."
"Alright, I'll trust you, my dear mirror." I put the finishing touches to the beribboned gift and stood up. Verite waved away, trying to get out of the room.
"See ya later, Abby G."
"Yeah! I'll tell you all about what happens later." I took the gift, and headed for Blanche's room imdiately.
Following behind as usual, Norma maintained a silent presence in contrast to Clara's nonstop chatter. "What's that gift, Lady Abigail?"
"They're violet sugar cookies. They're a specialty from my hotown."
"Ah, I've heard about those. I heard they don't even export them since they're so tasty" Her eyes burned with enthusiasm. It didn't take a genius to see how badly she craved a bite.
Catching a glimpse of her expression, I couldn't help but grin. "Don't worry. I have two more bottles. You ladies can share one of them."
"Really?"
"Of course. But you have to promise to share it."
"You're the best, Lady Abigail!" One could practically see the stars in her eyes. She seed to be in the throes of ecstasy despite having yet to taste a single cookie. Norma on the other hand had yet to venture a single word.
Just as we were approaching our destination, I saw soone exit Blanche's room.That'sDuke Stork? What'shedoing with Blanche?
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