The Broken Prince's Love

The butler had just led the couple to Raymond's office and spoke up when they stopped in front of it. “Lord Valerian would like to ask the Young Lady to take a look at a document he prepared for you. Apparently, they connected to a topic he has discussed with you previously. He allows you to enter his office for that. You may take your time. I will wait here and inform you when Lord Valerian comes home.”

Lucille froze at that. Why would her father allow her to enter his office when he wasn't there? Raymond had always been secretive when it came to his documents. He would never have allowed anyone aside from his butler inside, and even then, he had mostly been present too. “Pardon me. Did I misunderstand that? Are you sure we should just enter? I mean, if Father said that we could, it would be fine, but... Father never liked having others in his office.”

The butler shook his head before nodding. “There was no misunderstanding. I asked the lord to repeat it numerous times, so I am certain. You may enter, Young Lady. Of course, I doubt that he would be happy if you touched documents related to his work, but he did give you permission to go inside.”

Lucille was still hesitant. Maybe it was good that she had someone more assertive with her.

Cedar didn't seem to care much about Lucille's father at all. “I see. Thank you for your help.” He turned to his lover while putting his hand against the door. “I guess your father wanted you to come in because he left a document for you. In the worst case, I will just apologize for this misunderstanding, and it will be fine. It's not like he can punish me.” For some reason, the way that he glanced at the butler seemed more like a threat than it should have with his bright smile.

Lucille showed her lover a little smile. “Alright.” She waited for Cedar to open the door before she followed him inside. When he closed the door behind them, they were alone inside the office.

Lucille had never been here without her father. It felt odd. Normally, she had gotten rather uncertain upon entering this room since it had usually been connected to Raymond sitting at his desk and staring at her with a cold gaze. Now the whole room seemed much less threatening. She wasn't sure whether that was because she was here with Cedar or because she feared her father less now.

Cedar slowly let go of her hand and turned around once to take in their surroundings. He commented on it a moment later. “This is your father's office? It looks...conservative. I am pretty sure that all nobles who value traditions have such an office. The one of the former Duke of Vasquez looked like this too. And I think the office of my mother's father as well.” For some reason, he didn't talk about his uncle or his grandfather with fondness.

Lucille could imagine why. “I presume you don't like either of them. Claude Vasquez was a criminal, and the person who raised your mother couldn't have been sane, so that makes sense.”

Cedar grinned at her. “Exactly. Both weren't pleasant people. Your father is nicer than they were. But let us not focus on that. Let's look around here very carefully. I feel like we might find something interesting. There is no way that your father would have missed the day you came home for once, so I would say that he went away on purpose.”

Lucille furrowed her brows. “Why would he do that? He said that he was free, and unless something suddenly came up, he would have no...” She paused. If Raymond's meeting was an excuse, then there could only be one reason for him not to want to be here. Lucille didn't like that idea very much, but what if her father had wanted to avoid her? Nothing bad had happened during the past few weeks, but she couldn't deny that option. “Do you-”

Cedar cut her off. “No. I'm sure that he wants to see you. He cares, even if he is too stupid to show it. But I feel like he needed you to go into this office for some reason. If that is the case, we should look around a little. There will probably be more than just the document he wants to show you.”

Lucille doubted it. She looked at her lover with skepticism. “I feel like you are just reading too much into others' words.”

Cedar already walked toward the desk while she spoke. “Maybe. But I usually read the right thing into it. Maybe I am wrong too. But we won't do any harm if we just look at what is lying around in plain sight. Nothing important would be here anyway, so it's fine. Let's bet. If you are right, you can make me do something for you. If I am right, you have to kiss me.”

Both sounded like a victory to Lucille. “Fine. But I wouldn't count on my father choosing such odd ways to show me something. He could just have done it directly if he had wanted to do this.”

Cedar let out a small snort. “Your father? Don't count on him ever being direct. From what I gathered, he is simply unable to deal with his own emotions, and showing them might be even harder for him.” He stopped behind the desk and scanned the items that were neatly placed there. He didn't hesitate before he began lifting some of the papers and reading them.

Lucille was a bit more uncertain about all of this. She still disliked the fact that her lover would suddenly search through her father's study. She really wasn't sure whether this was a good idea. Especially not since she knew that Raymond valued order in his office most. “Please put them back how you found them. Father is rather...sensitive when it comes to this.”

“I understand.” Cedar skimmed through some more pages. He was pretty quick, so he finished one stack before taking the second one. When Lucille slowly came closer, he put them away again. “There is nothing hidden in those. It seems like your father just wanted us to look at the obvious things. That would be the box and this here.” Cedar reached for the table and picked up a small golden object before showing it to her.

Lucille closed the distance between them and ignored her uncertainty in favor to glance at the item. “That is Father's pocket watch. He has this with him all the time. I don't think that there is anything special about it. It wouldn't be odd for this to be in his office.”

Cedar grinned at her before he turned the watch to inspect it from all sides. “You just pointed out the odd thing yourself. If he always has this with him, why would he leave it in his office? On the exact day that we came here to sit in his office all alone? That would be quite a coincidence.” He let the watch drop while he held onto the golden chain that was connected to it and let it dangle in front of Lucille's face. “Let's open it. There has to be something nice inside.”

Lucille still wasn't convinced. But she gave up after Cedar kept swinging the watch from left to right in front of her face. She caught it in the air, and her lover let go so that she could look at it properly. She turned the watch a few times and found nothing special except for the clasp that allowed her to open the top. She was a bit worried about breaking it accidentally, but she forced herself to try it anyway.

The top of the clock opened with a clink and revealed the inside. The clock was as beautiful as the decorative exterior had suggested with thin golden hands that indicated the time.

But what caught Lucille's attention was the inside of the top part. There was a picture of a beautiful red-haired woman who smiled at the viewer while she held a baby in her arms. Due to the small size, one couldn't see details, but what was visible was enough. Only one woman could be depicted in Raymond's watch in such a manner. This had to be a small painting of Emily with Lucille while the latter one had been a baby.

And the fact that Raymond kept such a picture close to him could only mean one thing. He still cared for his ex-wife.

Lucille had known that already. There was a reason they never talked about her mother, and Raymond had also forbidden her from entering her mother's old library for that same reason. He didn't want to be reminded of Emily because it pained him. Seeing that Raymond kept a picture of his ex-wife wasn't surprising. That he carried it around with him so that he could see her at all times when he hated being reminded of her was odd though.

Lucille wasn't sure whether that stunned her or whether she just hadn't expected that her father would be emotional enough to like something like this. He had probably needed to find an extremely talented artist who could create a painting of such a small portrait. Lucille stared at the picture for a moment while she got lost in thoughts. She was only snapped out of it by her lover.

Cedar stood behind her and hugged her while resting his chin on her shoulder. “It's a sweet picture of you. You truly have been adorable from the very beginning.” He turned his head to press a small kiss onto her ear.

Lucille almost chuckled at that. Her lover already did his best to distract her again. She had gotten a bit sentimental, and he had immediately intervened. Thanks to him, she might not end up crying all of a sudden. She lowered her gaze onto the picture again and carefully brushed over the surface with her fingers. “I never knew that he had something like this here. It's...” It really shouldn't have been surprising. But to Lucille, seeing her mother's bright smile like this almost made her even sadder than just talking about her.

Emily looked so happy in that painting. Anyone who saw this would believe that she had loved her husband and the daughter that she held in her arms in that picture. But Emily had left her family overnight, and aside from her stupid letters, she hadn't wished to contact the people she had pretended to care about.

Lucille felt how a lump formed in her throat. She closed her eyes for a moment. Then she closed the watch again and forced herself to look at her lover to give him a little smile. “Well, it's not like this changes anything. I will just...put it back.” She did just that and immediately searched for something she could distract herself with.

The big box on the desk was helpful when it came to that. Lucille reached for that without a care. She opened the cover and just hoped that something remotely interesting would serve to busy her mind a bit. When she found a huge stack of letters, she certainly was distracted.

Lucille didn't want to read letters without permission, but she wanted to see who had sent them even if a part of her guessed it already. She wasn't surprised to see that Emily was the sender here. What surprised her more was the amount of letters. It looked like Emily had sent quite a few to Raymond. Why would she do that after leaving her family? Lucille pressed her lips into a thin line while she tried to ignore her bitterness about this. She hadn't wanted to do this, but her hands moved on their own. She opened the envelope and pulled out the letter to skim over it.

She wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that Emily wrote such kind and gentle words or that she still called her ex-husband ‘My dearest’. It didn't make sense. Hadn't Emily's only logical reason for leaving been Raymond's cold and harsh treatment? If she still held such kind feelings for him, why had she needed to leave forever? She could have kept visiting once a month at least so that her daughter would get to see her. Why had she needed to disappear completely from one day to the other?

Lucille didn't know. She only knew that reading this had effectively ruined her mood. She gritted her teeth while staring at the piece of paper in her hand. She might have ended up crumbling the letter if her lover hadn't helped her.

Cedar was still hugging her and now kissed her neck again to distract her a bit. He carefully took the letter from her and put it back to the others before he whispered to her. “I can imagine what you are thinking about this. But your father showed this to you because he wants you to know something. I think the letter isn't the important part.” He reached for one of the envelopes and held it up to her face. “This here may be more important.” He pointed to the lines that indicated the sender. “Most envelopes here don't have it, which usually indicates that someone used a private messenger to send it here. But some do have the address of the sender, like this one here. Most likely, this is a post office since I doubt that a woman who wants to hide would use her own address. But one could use this to determine the general area where she lives.”

So, Raymond had meant this when he had hesitated before saying that he didn't know where Emily was. He did have a general idea. But he probably knew that Emily didn't want to be found. And what use would it have to run after someone when they didn't wish for contact? Obviously, he hadn't needed to tell his daughter about this.

Lucille stared at the address for a moment before she averted her eyes. “I see. But it's not like this helps us. I don't know why Father would want me to know that.” Maybe he had wanted to prove that he alone hadn't been the reason for Emily to leave. After all, Emily still wrote as if she was rather fond of him. But Lucille couldn't be sure. She didn't want to spend more time concerning herself with this. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned against her lover.

Cedar held her in his arms and kissed her neck a few times while allowing her to rest. She heard some rustling, so it seemed like he went through some of the letters. That was good. If there was something important, he would tell her, and she didn't have to read it. Cedar continued to do that for a while before a small clink followed. It sounded like he had closed the box.

Lucille thought that it was over with that, but her lover had other ideas. He suddenly did something else, which made her open her eyes.

Cedar had opened one of the drawers and calmly went through the documents there too. He acted as if this wasn't an absolute breach of privacy and just continued to go through every piece of paper he found.

Lucille was speechless at that. For a minute or so, she was just silent while watching how he picked up everything in that drawer. She didn't intervene even when he took care of the second drawer and only spoke up when he was done with half of those documents. “What are you...doing?”

Cedar kissed her shoulder before continuing to read. “I can tell you when I am done with this, alright? Trust me. I have a valid reason. I don't worry about your father doing anything bad, but we need to make sure that no one else harms him. So, give me some time. I will put back everything exactly as I found it.” He kissed her neck once again. “I adore you.”

Lucille wasn't sure what she could expect despite receiving a reply. But she was sure about what she wanted to say back. “I love you too. I trust you, but please don't mess up anything. Father will be fuming if he finds out.”

“Indeed. ‘If’. I'm not going to let him catch me. I will just read some things. I am mostly searching for specific names, and if they aren't there, I won't pry into his matters. So, you can...” Cedar stopped himself when he pulled out a thick folder. He opened it and skimmed over the first lines before he spoke again. “This is the divorce agreement. It's odd that he would keep this here and not in some cabinet. Does he need to read through this often?”

Lucille had planned on staying quiet and not reading anything else, but she quickly got too curious. “What does it say?”

Cedar read for a moment before he replied. “It seems to have been approved by both parties. This is a rather fair decision. Women normally get treated quite harshly in case of a divorce, but your mother kept your last name and even receives monthly payments. She would definitely be able to live comfortably with just that. She remains your guardian, has the right to see you whenever she wants to, and she also has permission to ask the Valerian family for help in case of an emergency. Aside from that, there is nothing special.” He put away the folder again before he focused on something else.

Lucille pressed her lips into a line while trying to ignore that her mother had been able to visit but had chosen not to come to her daughter. She didn't need to distract herself for long since her lover already continued to shock her.

Cedar just moved on to the bottom drawers and opened them too. He needed to loosen his hug for that but offered her one last kiss before beginning. After that, he crouched down to go through the documents. A moment later, he glanced up again. “Look what I found. I presume that your father didn't draw these.” He turned around the papers and showed them to her.

Lucille finally brought herself to complain here. “You can't just open-” She cut herself off. She recognized those drawings. After all, she was the one that had made them quite a few years ago. She had drawn that ugly flower and that disproportional human. At least she was rather sure of that. Lucille could only blink a few times while she stared at the masterpieces she had been so proud of when she had been eight. They looked horrible. Why had her father, who was always diligent with what kind of documents he had to keep and which ones he could throw away, decided to hide that in his desk? Lucille's lips parted and let out a whisper. “Those are mine.”

Cedar showed her his blinding smile. “I suspected as much. You seem to have been a genius as a child already. It's adorable.” He stared at the painting for a moment and rewarded her with his content expression. “I would like to keep those, but I think your father would complain. So, we will have to leave them here. What a shame.” He slowly put the papers back with great care not to wrinkle them.

Lucille considered telling him that she could draw something again and that it would probably have the same quality as the work she had created a decade ago. But she wasn't sure whether he would get that she was joking and stayed quiet.

Cedar took that as a sign to continue searching the desk. He didn't seem to care for Raymond's privacy at all, but at least he didn't read through everything and just skimmed the first words on each page. He still seemed to get the gist, and most things didn't catch his attention. So, he was rather quick and worked through everything until he was at the end of the drawer. He went through the cabinet below that as well. This time, he took a little longer, freezing in place now. He pulled out the document and read through it twice before he spoke up. “This is important. It seems like-” He didn't get farther.

A small noise sounded from the hallways. Someone spoke to another person in front of the door. Most likely, this was Raymond, who had arrived and would now enter his office.

Lucille already panicked. Her father would be extremely upset if he saw what the prince had done. And there was no way to cover it up when Cedar was still kneeling in front of the desk while the cabinet was opened. At least she thought that, but she had underestimated her lover.

Cedar moved so quickly that she could barely see what he was doing. He returned all of the documents with ease and closed the cabinet door before stepping away from the desk. “We'll talk about this later. I think your father is here.” He offered his hand to his lover and pulled her toward him.

Lucille could only blink at that and stumbled in his direction when he hugged her. She certainly didn't mind embracing him, but this was a bit sudden. Apparently, that had been necessary though.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door. A few seconds passed in silence. It took longer than it should have before the door opened.

Unsurprisingly, Raymond was the one who came inside. His eyes fell onto the couple, and he immediately looked like he was a bit irritated.

Lucille hoped that he wasn't too angry about this. Raymond didn't seem to be upset with her, but she still tensed. After all, she wasn't sure what to expect if her father found them in his office now. Theoretically, he had given them permission to enter, but she still had her doubts.