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Neuvillette only knew her name uttered by the mouths of other men.
Most of them with admiration and praise, often with subtle tones of lechery and desire. Even when the songstress had departed the stage and circulated amongst the throngs of people around, she was the center of their gazes and conversations.
“Does she fancy you, Monsieur Neuvillette?” A trick question presented by his fellow politician.
A simple statement from Neuvillette could be translated out of context by the journalists. Every sentence he declared, every comment he stated since his filing of candidacy for presidency had to undergo the scrutiny of his advisors. A single approval or denial could destroy the entire career he had carefully built over the years.
Thankfully, another gentleman weaved in before his quietness was opted as dismissal for his preference in the opposite sex. “Who would not be enamored by the rising star of Opera Epiclese? Rumors say she is on her way to receive this year’s Teyvat Star Award.”
“Lady Furina, is it?” Neuvillette tested the name on his tongue.
The singer-actress was eternally breathtaking in her performance earlier, her voice capturing the entire crowd as the feelings of her song resonated through.
“She is beautiful, yes, and I am grateful for her accepting the invitation to perform as the opening act tonight. The latest poll from the Liffey Region won our side by a landslide, it is truly a cause for celebration.” A safe answer that the group around him had acquiesced and nodded their heads off. Miss Navia and her range of connections did wonders in stringing an actress to their side, it was seldom for show biz icons to participate in anything remotely political. Their fans would either abscond them or follow their choice, even in something as important as choosing the next governor of their nation.
Swirling the chalice in his fingers, Neuvillette added, “Her voice encourages us to work even harder in the final quarter before the elections.”
The discussion steered towards the campaign tour and the remaining regions they’d garner their votes in. Neuvillette sipped from his wine even though he’d rather be outside. The reserved club was noisier with the alcohol kicking in, and Neuvillette supposed once he was the Iudex of Fontaine, the highest title in their City of Waters he applied for, he’d find himself in more banquets and gatherings.
Every once in a while during the night, his glances were magnetically pulled by the infamous actress at the dance floor. Lady Furina was never alone for a second, her beauty warranting all of the attention. She cordially accepted every invite to tango and twirled her arms around with her snow fur scarf.
At some point of the party, Neuvillette was a mere meter away to where Furina was, both of them engrossed in dialogues with other people. The young man before him raved compliments to his advocacies, and even imparted to Neuvillette how inspired he was by his achievements. Neuvillette doubted he’d remember his name tomorrow.
Neuvillette should feel bad that he was distracted away from this enthusiastic chap but he wasn’t.
In the edges of his hearing, Furina was gentle, soft-spoken, always complacent in her opinions towards her companion. She was pleasing, in a manner that had the lad with her gloating over her compliance. Not once had Lady Furina mentioned anything about her personal views nor anything against anyone else’s.
Neuvillette shook the hand of the boy before him, motivating him to commit social change in his future profession. Courtesies and niceties, the ever typical. As Neuvillette turned to leave him, a pair of mismatched blue eyes froze him in his movements.
A brief second.
Nothing more for the crowd around them to notice, nothing less for each other not to notice. For the first time, her gaze was not as gentle as it seemed, and Neuvillette was compelled to think there was a storm lying beneath those calm waves.
A catastrophe ready to strike him devastatingly.
Neuvillette was blowing a smoke in the decrepit back alley of the club when her name was muttered again in the air. Every syllable of the singer’s title was pronounced with painfully obvious lust and possession.
“Lady Furina!”
The backdoor splayed open, gorging out the figures of a short woman and a burly tall man. Their shadows were silhouetted in the asphalt road while Neuvillette stayed unseen in the darkened shed of the smoking area.
The man with Furina, as of the moment, was none of the people who hung around her at the party. Either this newcomer was an outsider, or someone with relations in the cliqué. They were not a couple either, not with how Furina painted a forced smile across her lips, crossed eyebrows towards her pursuer.
“Alas, sir, I am not very much interested in dating or so,” Furina politely refused, her steps reversing as the bothersome man encroached her space further. She was small and meek, the type that vile men had no trouble to overpower with their dominance and strength.
Neuvillette flicked the ash from the tip of his cigarette, about to inhale another hit when the stranger grabbed Furina by her gloved wrist. Neuvillette dumped his stick immediately and stepped in, his heel stomping the cigarette flat underneath.
“Lady Furina clearly explained her disinterest in your affections, sir,” Neuvillette emerged from the shadows, the half-moon and the sole bulb by the canopy revealing his presence into light. “If you still decide to pursue her, we can bring this matter to the Court.”
“M…M-monsieur Neuvillette!” The fiend stammered, eyes as wide as saucers at recognizing his identity. The stranger retreated away from Furina. “There is no need to raise this tiny issue at the Court, I was merely hoping for Lady Furina to grant me some time of her day.”
“Her time is very much precious, that was why she had outright refused you,” Neuvillette retorted. Her time should not be wasted for people who could not swallow down her rejection. “Either you apologize to her right now, or the district judges will grant you some time of their day soon to indict you guilty of harassment.”
Furina watched their interaction with a riveting stare. Her silence was cryptic, almost creeping goosebumps underneath his coat. Gone were her angelic features as her lips pursed and her shoulders heightened. She was rough all around the edges, her posture sloped to the other side as she shifted her weight to her left foot.
“My sincerest apologies, Miss Furina,” the audacious man bowed to the singer. “I could not help myself with such beauty and voice of yours.”
A woman worthy enough to commit a crime for, Neuvillette mused as he calculated her reaction. How dangerous.
“It is fine,” Furina dismissed, yet never had she averted her scrutiny towards Neuvillette, matching his gaze head-on. “Please leave us alone now.”
Her admirer scampered away from them with loud hurried footfalls, leaving the rising actress and the presidential candidate in this desolated little avenue behind the prestige building. Neuvillette pondered how many men and women vying for Furina’s attention had she swatted away so easily.
Muted silence enraptured the two, the only sounds accompanying them were the club music from the speakers indoors and the rambunctious laughter from the drunken people far across the street.
Her silver brows were still slanted, and there was no smile of relief on her face after thwarting her nuisance away. Her unusual reaction befuddled Neuvillette.
“Is there any other problem, Miss Furina?” Neuvillette queried. Maybe this wasn’t also the best place to hold a conversation, the cold air reeking of smoke and beer. He should not prolong this exchange. His campaign managers, Wriothesley and Sigewinne, would worry if he was not in their sights for more than an hour.
“I can handle it,” Furina glared with fire, the softness on her tone replaced with haughtiness. In a blink, the helpless atmosphere she exuded earlier had dissipated in a wisp. Instead, her arms were folded in front of her as she poised tall (in a way a short woman like her could) towards him. “It’s not the first time.”
“A ‘thank you’ would be amicable,” Neuvillette suggested, which was the wrong button to push. “Would you rather I have not stepped in?”
“I did not ask to be saved, especially by another man!” Furina bristled and she was eons away from the picture perfect woman she was hours ago.
Was she acting all this time as a pliant and submissive character?
If Neuvillette based his judgment of her behavior moments prior to this encounter, he’d assume Lady Furina was the kind of person who could never bite back. Daresay, weak, but there was nothing wrong with the weak as it only meant she would be another person for him to protect.
But here Furina was, fiercely glowering at him, and here Neuvillette was, proven wrong and fooled for the first time.
Neuvillette couldn’t stifle a chuckle or two in the tacky vicinity, the enigma that Lady Furina was. The way she had fascinated everyone in the hall, charming her audience with a hook of her voice, the line of her smile, and the sinker of her words. No wonder her stalker was close to committing a sin for an ounce of her time.
She could be acting in front of him right now, and he’d be honored to be her sole viewer.
“W…What’s wrong with you?!” Furina accused with a pointed finger, crimson blooming on her supple cheeks. The sharpness fading across her features and angles. “Never have I ever seen a presidential candidate making fun of his constituents like this!”
“I find it amusing and entertaining. Your act of a fine, proper lady during the party,” Neuvillette confessed.
“Why, thank you,” Furina confirmed, sarcastically curtsying with a hand over her chest. “Glad I am still the entertainer even without the act.”
“You had me fooled into thinking that you needed help,” Neuvillette noted. “When it is obvious you could have handled your persistent admirer anytime.”
“I was only saving his face,” Furina huffed. “If I reject him in front of his friends, he will never recover.”
“Which would not bode well for your popularity as a nominee for the Teyvat Star Awards, would it?” Neuvillette deduced.
“It would not,” Furina affirmed, poring over the pavement behind Neuvillette where his crushed cigarette was. “In the same manner your smoking habits will cause a negative impact on your approval ratings as the future Iudex of Fontaine.”
Neuvillette impulsively surmised to quit the nicotine should Furina chastise him. Maybe the red wine they clinked their glasses to earlier was stronger than the ones he often sipped.
“Well,” Neuvillette admitted, a bit too honest even though he shouldn’t. Not when the elections were approaching, where every weakness of his could be exploited. “It is better than the people.”
Neuvillette expected the worst with his blatant remark of how he preferred his vices over the people he might govern in the near future. One less vote since Furina found out he was not the picture perfect man. Maybe she’d tattle to the news outlets tomorrow about this quote and his team would battle a scandal from the Seven Nations Gazette early in the morning with a hangover.
But Furina only smirked beguilingly, her cerulean eyes teasing under the moonlight.
“I agree, anything is better than the people around sometimes,” Furina seconded with relative understanding. Neuvillette had the itch to figure out more about her, how a woman could not favor the crowd who adored her so much.
Then again, maybe this was how Neuvillette had discovered through her act, for they were sailing the same boat of being loved by everyone yet unable to love everybody fervently back.
“Now, we know each other. My real name is Focalors.”
Oh.
“I’m —.”
“Nice to meet you, —,” Furina greeted, and she was tangibly real in her feline smile. “This meeting is ours to keep now that we know each other’s secrets.”
“That, we do,” Neuvillette nodded, and the longer he talked with her, the more he was putting the two of them in peril. “I bid you luck for this year’s Teyvat Star Award.”
Neuvillette sauntered towards the nondescript backdoor of the club, while Furina leaned against the bricked wall, waiting. As much as Neuvillette would like to, they could not barge into the bar together without levying the attention of the tabloids from both the politics and entertainment sectors. Furina would either delay her entrance for a few more minutes or withdraw from the night altogether.
“Thank you, dear Iudex,” Furina acclaimed. “Congratulations again for your win in the Liffey Region, and I wish you all the best in the upcoming elections.”
They wordlessly bid their farewells to each other, their masks and persona donned again in order to achieve their respective dreams. A sacrifice but a necessary one. Neuvillette couldn’t remember the last time he was this transparent and sincere to another person, maybe long ago in his time at the university.
Neuvillette witnessed a side of the Lady Furina that the world was not privy to, and that should suffice for him. She was destined for far greater things in her industry, as he was also trudging on the path less traveled by the common folk in their country.
He wished this would be the first and last of their encounters.
Or else, Neuvillette would fall for her like every hopeless man did.
(“What in Meropide’s name took you so long?” Wriothesley seethed as Neuvillette settled back in their booth. “Sigewinne was about to deploy every Melusine in search of you. You know how much they think you are their only hope in progressing this nation!”
“There was a very beautiful star in the skies of Fontaine tonight, I was mesmerized and found myself wishing upon her.”)
Furina only ever knew his name chanted by the masses of Fontaine.
After their discreet first meeting, Furina was filled with curiosity about the Iudex candidate that was Monsieur Neuvillette. He was coordinating his partylist together with Mademoiselle Navia of Spina di Rosula as his Vice President. He grew from a blue-blooded family yet his ideologies were radically aligned.
Furina couldn’t resist, he was like a deuteragonist in a story. Neuvillette was not the protagonist, no, such a role fitted Miss Navia more. Their campaign team promoted the pair exceedingly well, shining the spotlight on Navia’s diplomatic charm for alluring the public to their cause while accentuating Neuvillette's political power to solidify their standing.
Maybe her infatuation was because of his contradicting character. She was an actress after all. Her favorite pastime was to analyze the complex cast onstage in various scenarios. She contemplated long and hard about him, how a privileged man like Neuvillette could ever empathize with the plight of the marginalized. Neuvillette could have chosen a partylist more adequate to the principles his dynastic family stood for.
Yet Neuvillette was at the plaza in a soap box, in a plain white shirt and black pants, heralding the equal rights of Melusines to Fontainians. He was clean, proper, the dream gentleman of their City. Furina was somewhere at the tail of the hearkening crowd, cloaked in a disguise of eyeglasses and hood as Neuvillette passionately conducted his speech.
“Melusines are beautiful creatures. They are the pride of Fontaine,” Neuvillette spoke with an indignant diction. “We must ensure their safety in our City, cause them no harm. We have come a long way already from the traditional norms with our current laws, yet amendments must be made. In my term as the Iudex with Miss Navia by my side, I vow to…”
His goals were free college to all children, eliminate gender and racial discrimination, uplift infrastructure, and adjust the budget to the Fontaine Research Institute. Furina was captivated by his sheer charisma in such a platform, because Neuvillette was sincere in the future he promised them all with. These were not pretty lies, Neuvillette communicated his plans genuinely as if he could guarantee a brighter tomorrow for everyone in the City of Waters.
Maybe he really could.
For a split second, those convincing eyes shot straight to hers in the assembly. Her heart thudded aloud underneath her ribcage. There was a tiny smile on his lips, almost like glee, but when Furina blinked, Neuvillette was pitching another question from the citizenry.
Whether it was real or a pigment of her imagination, Furina was more concerned over how badly she coveted for Neuvillette to recognize her among the masses.
I want him to look at me, and only me.
Furina rushed to her apartment at the Vasari Passage, a whirlwind of realizations in her footsteps.
Egeria knocked thrice upon the room of the star actress before bursting in. This engagement could not wait as the date was outrageously soon, and if only Furina was not MIA these days, then maybe Egeria wouldn’t feel bad intruding.
The private quarters of the singer were littered with newspapers from several media outlets. Furina herself was at her plump chair before her white hairdresser. Make-up and skincare products were neglected for the tabloids she was reading.
The sight before Egeria was unfamiliar despite the countless times she had been here.
Egeria was her manager after all, ever since Furina was just a small town singer along the Fontaine streets. Egeria cultivated this pearl shimmering at its peak, a rags to riches tale who persevered through all her trials in life to be deserving of the Teyvat Star nomination.
Egeria had yet to weigh Furina’s mood if she’d accept this peculiar invitation to another show or not, only the divine could solve the unpredictability of her mind.
“Didn’t peg you to be the type to be interested in politics lately,” Egeria plucked a page from the Steambird’s latest issue sprawled around as she trudged in. “Must be because of the upcoming elections, but…it is pretty obvious who you’re voting for, Furina.”
Furina blushed furiously and cowered underneath the newspaper in her hands. The bold headlines of Shocking News! Neuvillette Claims ‘Iudex’ to be ‘Springboard’ Post! Unspeakable Plans Next; Where Will His Ambition End? spanned in the front page along with a picture of Monsieur Neuvillette. The politician was indescribably handsome in the angle the journalist snapped a photo of.
Oh.
“It is election season, Egeria! We must know who we are voting for. Besides my Iudex candidate is not yet final.” Furina dissuaded, her voice excessively intonated as if she was also discouraging herself to believe in such a notion. “Who knows, I might nominate the opposing party after all!”
“Have you met him personally?” Egeria asked as she plopped herself on the lip of Furina’s bed. Egeria studied the magazine in her grasp, specifically the column interview about the presidential candidate Furina was fixated on. “You performed for their celebratory banquet as per Clorinde’s request, right?”
“No, I have not met him personally. He was always surrounded by men of his ilk,” Furina shut down quickly. Furina always applauded herself to be a brilliant actress in any given role, but throughout the years Egeria had worked with her, she could discern a tell or two apart whether Furina was acting or not.
Funny because Egeria remembered how Furina had second-guessed her decision to join the gathering at Liffey Region since politics was not her usual scene. Clorinde, who was Furina’s hired bodyguard on several public occasions, requested a performance from Lady Furina at the electoral celebration. Clorinde was the childhood friend of Mademoiselle Navia, the running mate of Monsieur Neuvillette. Perhaps Furina was also in a whimsical mood when she agreed to fulfill Clorinde’s wish, Egeria couldn’t pinpoint but fate must be in alignment considering these sequences of events.
Clorinde couldn’t escort Furina back to her home after the party with Miss Navia. Egeria had to collect Furina that night, because Clorinde was nowhere to be found after Furina was separated from her. Strange things had occurred since then, Furina’s sudden leave from practice the day after, Egeria’s call with another manager earlier, and this home cluttered with anecdotes about a prominent political figure.
“Judging by your reaction, you wouldn’t want to be there again, would you?” Egeria goaded as the puzzle pieces plotted on her mind. With a sing-sang tone, Egeria jabbed. “It’s a shame I have to refuse their campaign manager, Mister Wriothesley, who kindly reached out to me and asked if you’d be available this Friday for another night of socials at Morte Region. Imagine more people you could win over for your Teyvat Star Award if you attended..Maybe Monsieur Neuvillette too would be wooed by your legendary performance. But such parties are not your usual scene, no?”
“Urgh! Stop it, Egeria!” Furina grunted, slamming down the papers in her palms, unveiling her rose-tinted cheeks. “I know what you’re doing!”
Egeria had hit the nail to the coffin then. Furina and Monsieur Neuvillette have definitely met, Furina wouldn’t be this interested if he had not impressed her.
“Oh look at this interview!” Egeria teased, flapping her newspaper noisily into the air. “He’s actually a bachelor, you know? Single and smart, it’d only be a matter of time before he was off the marriage market.”
Furina snatched the newspaper in her hold and scrutinized Egeria with a seriousness the famed actress only showed on dramas. “Tell to our good sir, Wriothesley, that I, Lady Furina, am honored to accept their invitation to Monte Region this Friday.”
Furina was obvious, and ironically oblivious to the fact that she was having her first crush towards the future Iudex of Fontaine, no less.
“Figured I’d find you here, Monsieur Neuvillette,” Furina popped up in another obscure alleyway where Neuvillette escaped from all the socialization inside the gala.
Navia was the enthused conversationalist between them and Neuvillette had to tiptoe often around the emotions of other people. He wasn’t well-versed with humans as much as he was well-versed with their laws.
Neuvillette was about to throw his cigarette in respect for her health, but she surprised him with a clasp on his wrist. Only then did Neuvillette mark how narrow this covert passageway was, Furina was close and Neuvillette thanked the dimness of this corner for concealing the blush on his cheeks.
He had no idea as to why Furina bothered to be in this dingy place with him.
Drunk couples must have utilized this spot already for other…activities. The realization did not tamper down the electrifying sensations prickling all over his veins, especially in his hand where Furina latched onto with her gloveless fingers.
“Secondhand smoking is much worse for your lungs than mine, Lady Furina,” Neuvillette cautioned as his cigarette remained aflame, its gray smoke coiling flagrantly between them. Neuvillette couldn’t extinguish the fire as Furina halted him.
“I know,” Furina chuckled. “So firsthand it is.”
Furina snatched the stick from his fingers and perched the cigarette in her moistened mouth. She smoked with decadence and posh, assuring onlookers that this was not her first time. Furina was older by a few years than Neuvillette, at least according to the blog about the actress he had minutely scanned a week ago.
“Is this a habit?” Neuvillette asked, reaching for his pocket to bring out his pack. He tilted the box, sliding a fresh cigarette stick out to his palm.
“I’m an actress, I had a role once wherein the character was a chain-smoker,” Furina shared, the smoke naturally puffing into clouds as she exhaled. “I knew the fake ones wouldn’t cut it, and the best way to perfect any role is to live the life they experienced. I admit the itch grew on me too, but Egeria, my manager, cut me off from supply after the filming.”
“My manager, Wriothesley, was my supplier,” Neuvillette disclosed. He was flicking his lighter to his new tobacco when Furina stopped him again and leaned forward.
Neuvillette ascertained her intentions and bent towards her level. Chewing the cig in his teeth, the two of them nudged the tips of their cigarettes together, her heated ones against his dry butt. Furina dragged a deep hit, the end of her stick voraciously burning his as well.
Neuvillette savored the smoke in his lungs again, the taste of the nicotine even spicier, ignited by this beautiful, sophisticated actress before him. They spent a minute or two in silence, lazing and relaxing without the pretenses, without judgment on their undesirable habits.
“Speaking of Sir Wriothesley, he was the one who invited me here,” Furina informed. Neuvillette was astonished with Furina’s appearance here at their Monte Region celebration, but it wasn't as if the singer was unwelcomed. Her popularity would boost his campaign to an extent.
“Did he approach you or anything?” Neuvillette guessed.
“No, he talked mostly with Egeria.”
That’s not good.
“You should be at the party, not here smoking with me,” Neuvillette chastised, his moral conscience churning in his gut. A dazzling star like Furina belonged to the skies, not to the murky waters where a political shark like Neuvillette swam.
“Trust me, I needed it,” Furina chuckled, waving the last bit of the cigarette she stole from him. “The last person I talked to was a prospective patron and the negotiation for their demands were always…draining.”
“The price we pay for our sponsors,” Neuvillette stated as he offered her another stick from his stash of nicotine. Furina abandoned her siphoned smoke, her pearly eyes weirdly deliberating between the pack in his hand, and the cigarette over his lips. “Must you really need more patrons for the Teyvat Star Awards? I am confident you will win the nomination based on your shows, Lady Furina.”
“So you’ve been watching me all this time, have you?” Furina smirked and Neuvillette didn’t have the heart to refute her as she argued her point. “I’m pretty sure you will be the next Iudex of Fontaine. You are young, charming, coming from the right family, Monsieur Neuvillette. Your approval ratings are as high as ever, so why are you still campaigning?”
So you’ve been watching me all this time too, Neuvillette selfishly presumed.
“One can never be too confident in the statistics,” Neuvillette entertained her with the unbridled truth, Furina always urged sincerity out of him. It was phenomenal.
“Exactly,” Furina concurred as he listened attentively. “You’ll find that the entertainment industry has its fair share of politics too, even dirtier because we need to catch the hearts of the people.”
Awestruck, Furina snagged the cigarette from his mouth for the second time, leaving Neuvillette with his mouth wide open. He chided, “You ought to stop stealing my cigarettes, Furina.”
“And you ought to stop stealing my heart, Neuvillette,” Furina devilishly batted her eyelashes at him, and Neuvillette was a lost cause. “You’re not even an actor.”
“You should go,” Neuvillette gulped. “You will not win the Awards if they find you in a scandal with a politician.”
“I don’t see anything scandalous between us yet,” Furina tempted, whistling the smoke towards his face.
“Yet,” Neuvillette sternly said. Neuvillette plucked the cigarette from her lips and clipped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. Furina trembled slightly but her eyes were challenging and unafraid even when their mouths were a hairbreadth away from each other.
Neuvillette whispered in his husky voice, “I want you to win, Focalors. Once you win the Teyvat Star Awards, then I will steal you from the skies of Fontaine and it will be the biggest scandal in Teyvat.”
Neuvillette was doomed the moment he was interested more in her luscious lips than the vice he was addicted to.
(“Aren’t they taking too long, Sir Wriothesley?” Egeria emptied her glass of red wine as the party plummeted into its festivities and secrecies. Underhanded dealings, black market businesses, and forbidden rendezvous in nameless motel rooms and secret alleys.
“If they are, then it just means tonight is more successful than it is,” Wriothesley poured his fellow manager another cup of Château Pétrus. “What made you agree to this proposition, Madame Egeria?”
“I wanted to give Furina the world,” Egeria answered.
Monsieur Neuvillette breezed inside the banquet, prim and proper, not a single strand of hair astray from his looks. It would only be a matter of time before Furina also crawled inside the premises, maybe by an adjacent entranceway. Both of them were clever enough not to invite any nasty headlines with the upcoming season.
I will give you the world, Furina, and you will feel the daunting weight of it too.)
Furina drank greedily from her glass of Cabernet wine, the acidity burning the walls of her throat if only to tamper her nervousness for her anticipated meeting in a few minutes.
The hotel room reserved was a VIP suite, with her favorite delicacies and Rainbow Roses displayed in an exquisite arrangement at the foyer. There was a private chamber further down the annex. There was no need to use the king-sized bed inside so Furina locked its passageway. Not that any of her past experiences with business negotiations like these warranted such cautiousness.
Besides, Egeria always screened her prospective patrons before allowing them a one-on-one talk with the Lady Furina. Clorinde was often in the room next to hers just in case any emergency occurred.
Furina was dressed simply, a heart tube blue gown and light cerulean shawl to cover her shoulders. She sat crossed leg in the wooden velvet chair, her wrist by the edge of the armrest, swirling her almost empty cup as she waited.
Furina could fill another but she would not risk being tipsy and imperfect during an important deal, with the Teyvat Star Awards commencing in a month.
Focalors was not rich, she was not born to the right family nor connections in the industry. It was pure luck and pity of Celestia that Egeria handpicked her from the street performance she first acted in, The Little Oceanid, just because the main actress of the troupe, Aurelie, was sick. Egeria transformed her from poor and dirty Focalors to luxurious and flawless Furina.
Furina had no regrets. She had nothing before, no family, no home, and she had to scavenge for a life at a young age. Now, she could have more than she ever had, desserts, flowers, and stunning roles. Furina coveted to obtain everything if only she would never feel as ‘no one’ again.
After the Teyvat Star Awards, what then?
His devilish face at the smoking alley flickered in her mind again.
Will you steal me from the skies?
The handles in the entrance of the extravagant residence clicked audibly, the varnished doors swung open to reveal her visitor for tonight.
A second killing silence clouded between Furina and her guest before her body sprung into action.
Furina swiftly deposited her wine glass back to the table of evening snacks and bouquet. She strutted towards the gentleman, her low heels clacking as rapacious as her pulse. She ensured the complex was fully closed first before she courteously spoke.
“I was told my patron will be here,” Furina could barely blame the alcohol for the flush of her cheeks, because this man was her temptation in the form of a human.
Monsieur Neuvillette was adorned in a tieless shirt, black belt, and cut slacks. The first two buttons of his blouse unclasped, the jut of his collarbone sharp and sexy. The Iudex candidate gave the impression that he had arrived from a party, strands of his locks astray in his face.
Furina wondered how many proper women and dashing ladies Neuvillette met every day, and if these girls ever knew the sinful secrets he had, the promises he made in skimpy alleys at the back of the streets.
“Wriothesley told me that one of my sponsors in the campaign delivered a present here, that I should personally collect it in this room,” Neuvillette answered as he glanced behind Furina, his stern eyes assessing every nook and cranny of the prestigious lodging.
Ah.
The abrupt realization weakened her knees just as his voice did. Furina spun away from Neuvillette and marched towards the bar, snagging the uncorked bottle of Cabernet and spewing its luscious liquid to her chalice earlier.
Furina swallowed her drink to the brim, each gulp gushing down her throat if only to put out the war-torn fire in her heart.
Neuvillette caught up to her behind as Furina plunged her empty glass to the surface of the table, the impact resounding thunderously. Furina bit her lip, because at the end of the day, she was an actress and this was the cultivated setting with the lead actor on stage.
“They set us up…” Neuvillette muttered as he surveyed the wine and the flowers before them. “We can’t go out, there’s only one exit and there are too many people on this floor. They’d create a scandal.”
A scandal between them was the least of her problems.
“I don’t care, Neuvillette,” Furina blurted out. “I like you.”
Neuvillette was indecipherable, a complex character, an irony of a story as his skin yearned, fingers inches apart from her arm, yet his hand clenched in a fist as if to stop himself from reaching further.
“Furina, you just made me the happiest man on Earth,” He professed.
Neuvillette lowered his delighted stare towards the carpet. A pair of eyes so happy, with a pair of lips so sad.
“But…do you not like me?” Furina asked as she wavered, because Neuvillette could ensnare the hearts of the people just by exhibiting himself but Furina without the act, the illusion curated by their fantasies, was no one.
Unlovable.
Neuvillette seized her shoulders then, her shawl cascading to the floor. His intense gaze veered towards hers, and Furina was breathless over his next words.
“Ever since the night we met, I kept thinking of you. I find myself dreaming instead of smoking, wishing we could watch the stars together or walk the streets at night hand in hand,” Neuvillette explained. “I do not simply like you, Furina, for you consume my every thought and my every will. If this is a dream, I hope to never wake up again.”
Furina cupped his cheeks in her palms, he leaned onto her skin instinctively. “Then why? Why won’t you hold my hand out there?”
Why can’t we leave this room together?
“Because I do not wish to tarnish your name with mine and my dirty politics,” Neuvillette articulated, raw and honest. “Being in a relationship with a politician could ruin your career. They will use you against me even if the time comes that this is over.”
“But I want to, I want to be used against you,” Furina spewed out, the confession bubbling forth from her lips, as natural as acting. There was not even a script for her to read, and right now, she was one with all the lovesick girls she portrayed before on stage.
“I want the world to know I am yours. If my name will be sullied in my association to you, then let it be, because my name, my heart is only ever yours,” Furina wanted to cry, she’d probably regret this tomorrow but she couldn’t refrain either. “You are the only man who has ever seen me, I do not wish to be seen by any other man again.”
“Furina.”
This time, Furina evaded his piercing look, it was too much. Neuvillette was too much, his palms were still on her bare shoulders and it felt like her skin was scalded by his touch.
“And I think it’s my fault too, the Teyvat Star Awards is near,” Furina deflated, severing her palms from his face because Neuvillette was not her world to hold. He was the light and hope of the masses, while she could only be his downfall and crime. “There are rumors of other actors trapping their competitors in defaming scandals so they could win.”
Neuvillette fixed her chin with his thumb and forefinger again, and before she could even breathe, it was Neuvillette all over her. His mouth suckled her lips, his hands digging to her waist, his kisses searing her face. Furina reciprocated the same fervor, because if this too, was a dream, then she would wake up with tearstained pillows.
It was long, but not long enough because soon, they were panting to collect air. Furina was greedy, pecking kisses onto Neuvillette even if he was not yet ready. But there was something between their lips, the feeling unlike any other. He tasted like heaven, he tasted like sin, Neuvillette to Furina tasted like everything and more.
Furina tugged him farther away from the exit and further to the annex, their feet dancing in a tango as they exchanged kisses on the trail. When her back bumped against the wall right next to the master bedroom, only then had the two of them paused.
Furina twisted the latch of the bedroom door with Neuvillette heatedly observing. She unlocked the area and the endless possibilities for them tonight, the space between the door and its frame enough for them to flit inside.
“Furina…is this…Are you sure?” Neuvillette collided their foreheads together, nose to nose, their eyes wandering to the silk sheets and its intimate whispers. “I won’t ever let you go after this.”
Furina furled her fingers around his nape, because she too would not let him go anymore. “I wish to attach my name to yours so that when the people speak my name, yours will follow because you are the only home where I belong.”
Neuvillette effortlessly lifted her, an elbow on the back of her knees, as her head was tucked under his neck. He carried her through the honey-scented chamber, planting a kiss on her temple before gently dipping Furina down to the mattress. “I am not for flings and dates, I commit deeply and I would commit to you the way I am committed to serving this country.”
“I would only be jealous of this country then,” Furina smiled, artistically positioning herself like a model above the blankets. Every limb to tease, every curve to tempt.
Neuvillette crawled on top of her, his knee nudging her legs to widen. She batted her lashes low as her fingertips unbuttoned his shirt all the way to his stomach. He caressed her cheek, and this must be it, the denouement of a tale that could be good but neither of them could only be satisfied with having the world on their fingertips.
They had to have each other too.
“I will marry you, Furina, so our names and our hearts will never part from each other again.”
Focalors knew this lesson since she was a child, sacrifices must be paid in order to obtain anything in this life. But Furina was greedy, and so was her Neuvillette. Their names would be etched together forever in the streets and skies of Teyvat with a hefty price.
“Yes, Neuvillette, I do…I do, so take everything I am.”
Star-crossed lovers were only fated to die, like every other pair of lovers in history, Neuvillette and Furina were cursed to fade upon collision.
(Neuvillette enveloped the comforter higher to Furina’s naked body. The sun had yet to rise in the indigo skies of Fontaine and if Neuvillette was accurate in his predictions, even if Furina backed out now, it would all be too late.
Someone or somebody would leak to the press of whatever transpired here and they would have no choice but to sell the charade with the public. The worst part of this scheme was how their friends could be the ones who did this, not their foes.
Neuvillette was not even shocked when he saw Wriothesley lounging by the living room, poking the Rainbow Roses he must have purchased for this sly arrangement yesterday. A connecting door towards the hotel suite next to theirs was open. His campaign manager was never obliged to trek the main entrances, always backstage, always behind the scenes.
Neuvillette itched for a smoke right now, but since he was only in his boxers and shirt, the next thing he could grab was Wriothesley by his collar.
“Don’t be too loud, Lady Furina might wake up,” Wriothesley jeered as Neuvillette hurled him to the wall. Wriothesley would not wipe the smirk off his face even after Neuvillette socked him to the bone, a trickle of blood viscously beading from the Duke’s bared smirk.
“What the hell did you do?” Neuvillette gnashed his teeth, and he had the impulse to tear down his shitty manipulative head. “Who gave you the right to meddle with my personal affairs?! You placed Furina and I in this room knowing the consequences!”
“Before you kill Wriothesley,” a small figure strode the conjoined pathway between the two executive suites. “You must know that this wasn’t his plan, Monsieur Neuvillette.”
“Sigewinne,” Neuvillette snarled, unkind.
“Now, now, don’t spoil the fun,” Wriothesley cajoled his co-manager. “I was just about to witness a very important trait from our future Iudex, his worst parts.”
“There is a trend discovered by the Research Team in the statistics of our latest polls at both Liffey and Morte Region, majority of the winning votes were garnered by Mademoiselle Navia, not you.” Sigewinne frankly reported. “You need a woman by your side. You are out of touch with the masses, Monsieur. Arlecchino of the opposition has her adopted twins, she is a parent figure to the public and a sympathizer to families. You, on the other hand, are a rebellious son who moved out of his parents’ place and is unloved. Besides, the attraction with Lady Furina is there, I do not understand why you are against this relationship when it all fell into place?”
“I wish we did this right,” Neuvillette claimed, it was hard to argue with both Sigewinne and Wriothesley when in actuality, both did him a favor by prioritizing his best interests. His clutch on Wriothesley loosened but the tense atmosphere hovered still with Furina just a few thin walls away from them. “Furina shouldn’t be involved in this.”
“She already is, Neuvillette,” Wriothesley answered, there was no empathy in his steel eyes, only pity for their one of a kind circumstance. “The moment she laid her eyes on you.”)
The night before the Teyvat Star Awards, Neuvillette resided with Furina in a sequestered apartment their managers discreetly procured as part of their prenuptial agreement.
Contracts were reviewed between them, factoring their joint and separate assets, their publicity as a couple and their contingencies in case of a divorce. Furina and Neuvillette bartered for a private civil wedding in exchange for a flashy announcement of their marriage right before the national elections. They also required not to be disturbed the moment they were together in their home, except of course, for drastic emergencies.
Wriothesley and Egeria complied with their requests, establishing direct telephone lines, adjusting work schedules, and brainstorming plans to ensure their relationship to the news outlets would be realistic and pure. There should not be a chance for Furina to be regaled as a money-hungry wife, nor Neuvillette to be stereotyped as a man who objectified Furina.
Neuvillette worriedly sighed as he curled himself more in the belly of his wife, embracing her tighter in their bed. He rested his head on her lap as she tenderly untangled the braids and knots of his hair after another busy day.
“Tired of me already?” Furina joked.
Neuvillette swiveled away from her stomach, peering from below as she did her handiwork on his locks. She was draped in a cherry nightgown, with their amber lamps highlighting her beauty even in the dark. Her golden ring glinted on her finger like a star and Neuvillette was in love, love, love.
“No, mon cœur, never,” Neuvillette said. “I just wish we had more time to ourselves.”
They couldn’t wear their wedding rings outdoors yet but whenever they were here, just the two of them in this little house, they proudly wore it as if it was an extension of their bodies. Neuvillette couldn’t believe how a gorgeous woman like her sealed the deal with him a week ago, an eternal vow testified before the gods and their laws. They married at the busiest times of their careers, but Furina always assured him that she would not have it any other way.
“We have the rest of our lives to spend with each other, Neuvillette,” Furina smiled as she finished straightening out his hair, stowing the comb to their side table. “Don’t hesitate to ask me anything.”
“Why the Star Awards? Has it always been your goal since the beginning?” Neuvillette inquired.
“I was nominated, but apart from that reason, the Teyvat Star Award was the highest honor a veteran actor could have. It was everything in our industry and I wanted to have everything as long as I could,” Furina explained. “I wanted to prove that I could have everything, even when I had nothing before.”
Furina’s backstory was information that could be acquired from the tabloids, and in her interviews, it was a past that Furina never shied away from. She was strong and confident that way, channeling strength upon what could be her weakness.
“I sincerely wish you will win tomorrow, Furina,” Neuvillette grappled her hand closer to his lips, devotedly kissing each of her fingertips.
“Thank you but in case I didn’t win, I could always try next year. Besides, I have you, you made this year the best for me already,” she courageously cheered. “What about you? Why become Iudex? It isn’t the most appealing job in this world.”
Neuvillette absconded his passionate form of worship to her hand, “Unlike you, I do not have such grand dreams for myself. My parents, perhaps, had. But I was not in favor of their corrupt ways, I became an attorney hoping to set these wrong things right. I defended a Melusine named Carole who was falsely accused of murder, I didn’t know they would scout me months later for a partylist they were organizing.”
“What convinced you to join?”
“Miss Navia was very convincing,” Neuvillette reminisced. “She told me Fontaine needs a leader of impartiality, someone who’d bring justice to years of generational abuse and misuse of power.”
“She’s right,” Furina nodded without a second pause. “You’ll never be corrupt, you’d never end up like your parents.”
“You think too high of me,” Neuvillette feared. “I’m human too. I could make a mistake.”
“You could, but I’ll be here,” Furina pledged as if this was their wedding all over again. “Through our highs and lows, we’ll be together and survive it.”
“Through our highs and lows, Focalors,” Neuvillette returned her promise. His eyelids fluttered shut as Furina carded her fingers on top of his mane. What a blessing it was, to have someone who’d constantly choose to be with him above everything else.
Furina angelically sang Neuvillette a lullaby, cleansing his soul of guilt and worries as sleep devoured him.
Tomorrow will be a big day for us, Furina.
Furina would be crowned as the Teyvat Star Awardee of the Year because it was the condition Egeria bargained to Wriothesley with this partnership. His sponsors and networks would sway the votes in her favor, meanwhile her victory as his wife would greatly influence the people to his Iudex candidacy.
Neuvillette took solace in the fact that he would be the one to give Furina everything.
A standing ovation flooded the Opera Epiclese for its newest and youngest Teyvat Star in history.
Neuvillette clapped together with the audience as Lady Furina exuberantly received her trophy on stage. Cameras snapped the momentous triumph as journalists penned down the illustrious ceremony, unprepared for its biggest plot twist tonight. The story that would change the trajectory of thousands of lives of Fontainians.
The dazzling spotlight panned on the main actress, her sea blue gown beaded with pearls, her lips daubed with glitters as she revealed her secret to the city.
“I couldn’t find the words to properly express my love and gratitude to all of you. It still feels surreal to be standing here as the Best Actress of this year’s Teyvat Star Awards. Thank you, Egeria, for turning my dream into a reality…” Furina conveyed her speech without forgetting all of her supporters, and on her closing sentences as if on cue, her dewy eyes found Neuvillette in the crowd. “Last but not the least, a secret I couldn’t anymore keep, I wish to dedicate this honor to Neuvillette, my husband.”
Monsieur Neuvillette waved his gloved hand to their viewers, the witnesses of this phenomenal scene, a stage light beamed towards him as well in the center of the velvet rows of seats. Furina extended her satin-gloved fingers in the direction of her muse, the truth amidst their curtain of lies and show shone blindly like the gold rings on their persons.
“Without you, I will never be here.”
And the public of Fontaine roared as its brightest pair of stars were born.
Neuvillette trailed the backdoor of the practice hall where Furina was rehearsing today, a bouquet of tulip flowers clinched in his hands.
Publicizing their relationship had its perks, they were often invited together on official events, whether in entertainment galas or political gatherings. They could barge in and out of the parties arm in arm without anybody else batting an eye.
The news of their marriage streamed front page headliners for more than a week already in media outlets such as the Steambird. This also discouraged businessmen from introducing bachelorettes to Neuvillette, and instead, endowed belated congratulatory presents to the newlyweds.
Navia was enthused about everything, their secret romance, but most particularly the plentiful opportunities of interacting with Clorinde. Apparently, Navia and Clorinde were making up for the lost time of their friendship during the night Neuvillette first encountered Furina.
There was an upsurge of sponsorships, roles, and requests for interviews with both Furina and Neuvillette. Neuvillette noticed, which no doubt Furina did too, of a couple of stalkers shadowing them. Clorinde was permanently employed with a ten-year contract to guard them and take care of any suspicious person behind.
The paparazzi were a mess to handle, but Clorinde was skillful enough to steer them away.
Which was why Neuvillette loitered behind the building of Furina’s filming venue instead of its front entrance. He had already conversed with Clorinde and roped her in to lure Furina outside for his surprise visit. His right foot tapped the cobbled street, eyeglasses and a hat on his head if only to disguise his identity.
Neuvillette was a bit afraid of the reaction Furina would have, would she be happy with the flowers or would she be annoyed at his disturbance? This usual time of the day was their official working hours. Neuvillette had only fled his team for a short break since the shooting location of Furina for today was also in Belleau Region, his latest campaign tour.
Neuvillette missed Furina. Terribly. Honeymoons were more than a month for a reason, because who thought it was a good idea to lug a husband away from his wife barely two months after their wedding?
His worries were extinguished as the door blasted open and there Furina was, a toothy squeal on her lips, her eyes twinkling in delight at the sight of him. Neuvillette almost dropped his bouquet as Furina leapt to his arms, and like this, the world was almost theirs.
“Monsieur Neuvillette! Lady Furina!”
Noises and footsteps barraged the back alley as Clorinde jumped out from inside the building. Their bodyguard barricaded a wall with her body before the swarm of photographers invaded further their privacy. Camera flashes showered Furina and Neuvillette who were in a tight embrace, they’re too many even for someone experienced like Clorinde.
“I’m sorry,” Neuvillette regrettably apologized to her ear as questions rained upon them. “I should have been more careful.”
Furina wriggled her head under his chin, wordlessly communicating that it was alright. She detached herself away from him, hauling the tulips to her chest. Clorinde staunchly resisted against the paparazzi who were forcing themselves into the proximity of the star actress and the junior politician.
Both of them were climbing the stairs, ignoring the unsolicited inquiries to hide inside the movie setting. Neuvillette chivalrously opened the backdoor for her, and Furina was a foot inside the building when a query stalled her in her tracks.
“Are you pregnant, Miss Furina?” Someone from the group shouted. “Is it true that the reason for the sudden announcement of your marriage was because of an unborn child? Was there no relationship to begin with, and that the baby was the fruit of a careless one night stand? Was this marriage a farce to save both of your reputations, especially at the boom of your respective careers?”
Only Neuvillette glimpsed it, the gasoline flare in her irises before the air around them shifted.
“Oh my, a child would indeed be a blessing to us,” Furina addressed the brazen reporters with a chortle and a simple yet conspicuous intertwining of their fingers. “Neuvillette has always been a gentleman even before we married. I wanted our relationship to be out in the open so many times but Neuvillette was only looking for my reputation, because as you said, we are at the pivotal point of our careers. He knows that people only tend to respect women based on their surnames. Neuvillette believes that women could achieve many things on their own regardless of the partner they’re with.”
Furina schooled a tender expression towards Neuvillette before profoundly sharing, ”His success is his own while mine is mine. He is a refreshing man to be with, I was just so happy at the Teyvat Star Awards that I couldn’t keep him anymore.”
“Furina,” Neuvillette embedded a kiss on her knuckles, her wedding ring icy to his lips. “I will always be your number one supporter.”
The bystanders mooned, with more snapshots capturing the backstage true-to-life excerpt, amused with this side of Neuvillette rarely spectated. Because this was what the populace demanded of them, a never-before-seen scoop of their hearts if only to win everyone over.
“Thank you for surprising me today, love,” Furina expressed, jostling the bouquet in her arms. “You know how challenging the role I got for this movie was, since it’s different from the ones I usually take. The Servant of Evil is a story of revolution against tyranny, how in the end, justice always prevails.”
“Have you been inspired lately, Lady Furina?” Another columnist quizzed.
“Indeed, I have been,” Furina smiled to him, yet somewhat, Neuvillette was only left conflicted.
After the citizens were spellbound by the story Furina enthralled them with, Neuvillette and Furina dawdled in the derelict hallways of her filming location. This wasn’t the first time they were ambushed by cameramen and writers since the Teyvat Star Awards, but this was the first time Furina reined the unforeseen situation to their favor.
“Did I mess up?” Furina asked as silence reigned between them, exhaustion steeped into their muscles. Furina hugged her tulips possessively, nosing in the petals. Neuvillette wasn’t mistaken, Furina was irritated too at the blatant disrespect the interviewers had with their personal lives.
The job of an actor and a politician were two sides of the same coin. Commodifying the hearts of the people for their own living and survival, because what would they be if not loved?
Politicians lied enough about saving the country so they could convince themselves too that their deeds and misdeeds were for an honorable cause. Actors perform to their audience so their real raw selves could never be unmasked and preyed upon. Both of them stood by their lies, so the ugly truth could be concealed with their fake brilliance.
“No, you did well, Furina,” Neuvillette squeezed their entwined hands. Too well, in fact.
Neuvillette couldn’t lie to himself anymore. Wriothesley and Sigewinne permitted this relationship for a reason, taking into account the future role Furina would portray should everything proceed according to plan.
“All the world’s a stage, Neuvillette,” Furina reaffirmed. “Ours is the only real thing here.”
Furina was perfect as his wife, and even more perfect as the future First Lady of Fontaine.
(“Lady Furina is good at this,” Wriothesley commended, as rumors popped off about how the Iudex candidate Neuvillette visited his wife in the workplace, endorsing his support for her upcoming movie. “Neuvillette didn’t tell us he’d be visiting his wife to avoid the press and I doubt Miss Furina knew too. Those two always met in secret but now that they’re in a public relationship, Furina curated his image to be a loving husband already, and a patron of the arts too.”
“What did I tell you?” Egeria proudly simpered, their desk heaped with piles of newspapers. “Furina is always smarter than what she lets on.”)
Furina eventually assimilated herself onto the electoral campaign of Neuvillette and Navia, a month before the black-out period for the elections.
There weren’t many mishaps as the team warmly welcomed her. They provided her with a set of outfits along with elegant accessories, pairs of low-heeled shoes, and neat hairstyles for Furina to pick from. Nothing too gaudy and ostentatious which reeked of overspending, but something modest and commandeering which often matched with her husband’s fashion style for the day.
She had ample time to accompany her husband on his crusade. Egeria postponed some of her paid advertisements and offers for the meantime, with the Servant of Evil movie production on its polishing and finalizing stages. The film screening would be during the five-day black out of the campaign.
Several issues and concerns were hollered against them with the timing of the screenplay and the final votings. Some dissidents argued that the movie itself was an extended campaign from their party.
The Legal Team disproved the accusations by recounting how the film producers did not receive any monetary value from their group. Commercials would not be affixed to the show, and that Lady Furina’s statement regarding Monsieur Neuvillette as her inspiration was a sentiment purely personal and did not in any way affect the storyline or its characters.
Smear tactics ran rampant against them too, but at least Furina was a sensible player in this game. The opposition was allocating funds to besmirch their respectable images and relationship. There were gossips of how Furina was a seductress who manipulated Neuvillette to her whims, or how Neuvillette was a philanderer who had hundreds of other women at his beck and call.
Upon further investigation, the Communications Team unraveled that the character assassinations were financed by Neuvillette’s parents. Her in-laws were not pleased with the hasty marriage, they had never been approving of their son ever since he had forsaken his parents.
“I should meet your parents,” Furina suggested during the meeting. All the intellectual heads revolved towards her, alone in the corner of the office not because she was unfriendly, but because she was untouchable.
Egeria was beside Wriothesley, a keen look in her eyes as her brain pictured the scene. Wriothesley shrugged his shoulders to Sigewinne who arched her eyebrow contemplatively. Only Neuvillette and Navia were perturbed by Furina’s solution, concerned expressions sketched all over their faces.
“Regardless of what Neuvillette’s parents will do, it will be good for the optics,” Egeria estimated. “These are the possible scenarios once Furina sends out an invitation: first scenario, they ignored her and the people would sympathize with their circumstances as a couple. Second scenario, they did come but they’re in their usual haughty behavior, then the people would villainize Neuvillette’s parents instead. Third scenario, they came and had a change of heart, Furina would be the woman who fixed the relationship between her husband and his estranged parents. The public loves nothing more than character development.”
“We just have to initiate the conversation…out of goodwill. Their reaction would not even be imperative,” Wriothesley apprised the pros and cons. Sigewinne listened to the plan intently. “It’s a trap to which any possibility yields only positive results to your conduct. I don’t see any of this going wrong.”
Neuvillette approached Furina, kneeling before her to plead. “Furina, I just want to let you know, you don’t have to do this. My parents only think of themselves—”
“I want to meet them, Neuvillette,” Furina genuinely convinced. “I want to thank them for raising a good son like you, I want to tell them how proud I am of you.”
The features of her husband were all contorted, “They’re not good people.”
“I’ll be fine, you know what I’m made of.”
Neuvillette quietened with her earnest wishes, and then resigned, their hands conjoined firmly in her lap. The room gaped in amazement on how easily Neuvillette folded to his wife. He was a fighter but with Furina, he surrendered everything to her.
“True love wins,” Wriothesley remarked as the matter was settled and preparations were delegated to the team members.
As Wriothesley foretold, whatever his parents resorted to with their generous invitation of reconciliation, the end results would be advantageous to them.
The Communications Team guaranteed that Furina’s afternoon tea with her in-laws at Hotel Debord was a courageous stance to the public. Neuvillette’s family responded to her proposition exactly like how Egeria predicted in her second scenario. Arrogant, prideful, and the complete opposite of how their son treated her.
His parents did not retract their support for Arlecchino, but the damage was evident already. The talk of the town was how Lady Furina had endured the harsh words from the parents of her lover. She did not cry but respectably proclaimed about the good things their son was doing for the country. The story of a damsel who fought for her love always outsold the folks.
All the smear campaigns towards their marriage now served as a fuel to how Neuvillette and Furina were strongly struggling against these personal battles amidst their career challenges. The entire population of Fontaine had nothing but compassion in their hearts for the pair.
On the bustling day of the Fontaine elections, Furina scribbled the name of her chosen Iudex candidate in her ballot. She and Neuvillette individually enclosed their tickets and slipped them in the box for counting. They exited the voting venue hand in hand with a horde of journalists bombarding them on the streets.
“Lady Furina!” A reporter struck out his recorder to her past Clorinde’s defense. “Care to tell us who you voted for as the Iudex of Fontaine?”
They all already know who, of course, they all just want a show.
“Is there anybody else my heart screams for?” Furina chuckled and the crowd hooted hurrahs and whistles. Today was a jovial day, perhaps because it was also the end of their tireless cause.
When Neuvillette fondly smiled at Furina, draping an arm on her waist as he kissed her forehead, Furina was aware his gestures weren’t an act. Her husband was the best because of his sincerity to her heart. And she was lucky, the luckiest woman alive.
“Thank you for believing in me,” Neuvillette hoisted her in an embrace, both of them giggling as he spun her around. The world around them dissolved in the distance, because this was the magic Neuvillette had, to turn scenic dreams like this into reality.
Under these blinding lights, at the municipal avenue, Furina could almost forget in this bubble with Neuvillette, of the truth his parents cursed her with.
“I always will,” Furina lied, but it didn’t matter.
Because a week later, she and Neuvillette paraded to the Court of Fontaine for the inauguration. Her husband recited his vows as the Iudex to their revered City of Waters, and the nation hailed him as their newest leader, a beacon of hope to their country.
I didn’t cast my vote for you, Neuvillette.
Not because you were inadequate, no, you were more than what the people of Fontaine deserved. Too good and too real for this evil world.
Her selfish heart wouldn’t matter in the future, because the truth would drown forever amidst their lies in the name of love.
Perhaps, his mother was right and justified in her distaste towards the wife her son married to. Furina owed it to her superb acting skills at Hotel Debord, or else, she might have bawled herself right then and there when his mother reprimanded her:
“I know the kind of woman you are, Furina, hungry and greedy, you will never be satisfied. My son is a kind man, isn’t he? He fights for the weak and advocates for the masses. He is a martyr who will destroy himself just to give you everything.”
Palais Mermonia.
This building was the highest point of the Court of Fontaine, and the site where all administrative affairs in the land were handled. The office of Iudex Neuvillette would be here, and like all the Iudex before him too, the topmost floor would be his residence together with his wife, the First Lady Furina de Neuvillette, for the rest of his term. As far as Fontainians and international dignitaries were concerned, the Palais Mermonia was essentially the highest authority in the land.
For Furina, Palais Mermonia was another stage to demonstrate her role and character. Palais Mermonia was the coldest place to call home, but as long as she was with her husband, she could be warm enough.
The transition was instantaneous but both of them coped with the changes. Their schedules were occupied to the brim with various conferences, charities, and events. Lady Furina seldom had time for her profession in the entertainment sector, but she managed to accept a few projects from the Opera Epiclese whenever it coincided with her extra time.
Furina was expecting this, ever since a journalist from the Seven Nations Gazette asked aloud if she would abandon her acting career to fulfill her duties as the First Lady of Fontaine. She retorted that she would do her best to be in both worlds, as she loves the arts as much as she loves her husband too.
Neuvillette was not appalled when Furina proposed for diplomatic balls and parties to be organized in Palais Mermonia. In fact, he was indulgent with her idea as long as the banquets were within budget. Sure, some of the previous Iudex hosted galas in the Palais, but not with the frequency of Lady Furina’s era where she also performed theatrical pieces before their guests.
Furina often danced and sung in theme with the occasion too, they were hitting two birds in one stone with these socializations. While Neuvillette was an expert in politics and laws, Furina was promoting their culture and traditions. They were bringing the people closer to the palace, cementing a transparent and harmonious bridge between the governors and their denizens.
The approval ratings of Palais Mermonia had skyrocketed ever since with Iudex Neuvillette’s tenure. The citizens benefited from better living conditions in Fontaine, the Steambird praised their weekly achievements and milestones. Their continent was a model for the rest of Teyvat, a city of contemporary streets and ideals.
If only someone would peek behind these velvet curtains, then they’d realize the price of perfection, a cost nobody could almost afford.
Furina banged the doors shut of their presidential suite at the top of Palais Mermonia. Neuvillette was pacing after her, both of them still dressed formally for the evening celebration of ‘50th Year of the Melusines’ integration into Fontaine society’ earlier. Neuvillette in his navy blue tailcoat and bow, while Furina in her cocktail knee-length gown. They had excused themselves for the night already as most of their visitors were vacating the premises too.
She headed straight to their kitchen, nabbed ice cubes from the fridge, a glass by the cupboards, and a bottle of whiskey from the collection. Furina almost shattered the glass as she pounded it on the granite after draining the liquor empty.
“Furina.”
Furina inclined her stare towards her husband by the doorframe, and a year after their marriage, she had studied Neuvillette enough to depict that the clenching of his jaw meant he was displeased with her.
Fair, she wasn’t the happiest with him either earlier.
“Who are you to dictate what I can and cannot say in this country?” Furina glared as she marched towards him, her heels clobbering the tiles. “You kept cutting me off at the party when I was with you and your fellow lawyers! I thought this was a democratic nation!”
“They’re topics that you are not knowledgeable of,” Neuvillette reminded, his tone exaggerating, his violet eyes flaming. “I have never said anything about acting whenever I’m with you and your colleagues because I know to myself it’s not a field of my expertise.”
“Can’t I just express myself?! I—”
“You’re not a politician, Furina!” Neuvillette quarreled. Her legs almost buckled from his sheer intensity and the exhaustion from these past few weeks of endless ceremonies they had to attend. “I am the Iudex of Fontaine, you are just—“
Don’t shout at me, please.
“Say it,” Furina threatened as her voice leveled. “Say it, Neuvillette.”
“You are the First Lady, my wife,” Neuvillette pointedly emphasized. “There are topics you should leave to me.”
“What a misogynistic fuck!” Furina shrieked, trekking away from him and their kitchen.
“Furina, don’t you dare turn away from me,” Neuvillette latched onto her wrist, halting her footsteps and tugging her harshly to confront his desperate look. “Do you know how many assassination attempts Clorinde and the rest of Maison Gardiennage had thwarted for you? More than fifty times a week. You are considered a national treasure because of your exceptional talents and iconic standing in Fontaine. The more you speak out there, the more they paint you as a target!”
“So do you want me to be meek, useless, and silent?”
And because Neuvillette was the man who had seen through all of her masks, the unspoken question was deafening in the silence after their argument.
Do you want me to act like the person I was when you first saw me at Liffey Region?
“No, gods, my love, no, I’m sorry,” Neuvillette shrunk to the floor, aghast and embarrassed, his tone less angry but still weary. “I’ve been tired. It’s not easy. A lot of things to worry about. Our enemies want to take you away from me, they think you are the reason why Fontaine is improving.”
Neuvillette grappled on the edge of her skirt, groveling before Furina. Salty tears beaded at the corner of her periphery, the most powerful man in Fontaine on his knees because of someone like her. Her husband was a martyr who would destroy himself just to give her everything.
While his wife was a greedy, hungry, and unsatisfied woman.
“Neuvillette…I’m not playing politics, I just wanted to help you,” Furina reiterated, swallowing the lump in her throat as she stooped down to his crouched figure. “It’s not easy for me too, but if the people love us, then…”
I’ll do everything it takes for the world to realize this future you dream of.
(“You’ve been getting into fights with Furina lately,” Wriothesley observed as his Chief Secretary, because of course, there was no corner in this haunted Palais which had no suspecting eye on both Neuvillette and Furina.
Neuvillette would prefer to tackle Wriothesley now more than ever in his administrative office but that would reinforce his point further.
“That is Lady Furina to you,” Neuvillette corrected. “And do not ever dare think that my arguments with my wife should warrant my usage of Sinthe.”
“Then give us a solution, Iudex Neuvillette,” Wriothesley hissed. “You’re stressed, you don’t have time to smoke anymore, you won’t stop working, you’re cranky to your idolish wife, and you won't rest! It won’t be long before you slip up outside and say something crappy in your speeches.”
Before the elections, Furina was his escape away from these political landscapes and despotic environment, but Furina in the present was treading the same polluted waters Neuvillette drenched himself in. This was his fault, he had endangered all aspects of her well-being, her future as an actress, her mental and emotional health, her physical safety, all of it devastated selfishly because of his marriage to her.
Opera Epiclese was her home, not Palais Mermonia.
“Consuming Sinthe will calm you down, and no one will know just like what we did with your smoking,” Wriothesley continued. “Sigewinne and I will control the intake amount—”
“To hell with Sigewinne’s ideas!” Neuvillette cussed out, pummeling a fist to his desk, his signature pen dropping to the ground as each second more in this debate proved his advisors right. “She’s always meddling with my personal affairs and now my health.”
The ballpen rolled across the carpet until it knocked against the ruby red shoes of a woman who just entered the room.
“It was my idea, Neuvillette, not Sigewinne.”
There she was, in his office, the First Lady of Fontaine.
“Furina.”)
“Let’s dance, love,” Furina encircled her arms around his nape with a sigh. Neuvillette indulged her, their bodies relaxing to a soundless music.
They waltzed around the glass-stained chamber and in here, they could be foolish to think that only the ghosts of the palace were watching their reprieved souls. The master bedroom was quiet except for their movements, the gramophone would alarm everybody so the album records were scattered instead.
The party at Palais Mermonia had long been over, Furina was in her lilac nightgown as Neuvillette was topless in his blue pajamas. Furina traced his chest down from his neck with her fingertips, her lips were quivering when she tilted her head upwards to meet his stare.
His wife confided, “I don’t regret this, Neuvillette.”
“Neither do I,” Neuvillette lied, cupping her cheek.
Lost in her eyes, lost in this haze, lost in their lies, Neuvillette kissed her. No bullet would kill them, nobody would touch them, the world was finally theirs.
Furina wrapped her legs around his torso and his hands seized her thighs to heave her up from the ground. She nipped on his lips, her tongue brushing across as he growled, she was panting by the time he laid her across the mattress.
His lovely wife mewled with every graze of his mouth to her bare skin, her clavicle, her breasts. Her nails scraped over his back, he would have scars tomorrow, but it didn’t sting, it didn’t hurt. He ecstatically imprinted hickeys over her, and he had a hunch they would do this all night, because Neuvillette would not leave until he had marked every inch of her wanton body.
The clock ticked past midnight, the moon was high, the skies were dark, the only stars sparkling around were the dreamy gazes in their wide-blown eyes.
Their bedside table strewn with used injections and emptied bottles of Sinthe.
Egeria was the maid of honor in the civil wedding they assembled for Furina and Neuvillette two years ago. A judge, a cake, a set of rings, it was the most liberating and most loving Egeria had witnessed of the prodigious actress Furina. The couple was exchanging vows to cherish each other in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse.
And in marriage, there would be highs and lows, Neuvillette and Furina stuck to each other even when the world was against them. Egeria was proud of Furina, Furina was dazzling and at her best whenever she was with Neuvillette.
“You married me, Furina! You knew what you were getting into—“
But with Neuvillette, Furina was also at her worst.
“And I seem to remember that you knew how we got into this situation!”
Egeria whirled the Sangria in her goblet, she was supposed to remind the First Lady of her itinerary for her international tour with the Iudex next month. But here Egeria was, idling by the gallery in front of the office of the president, guiltily eavesdropping.
“You can’t tell me that this is my fault, not when I warned you before.”
It’s a shame how the star-crossed pair was the envious fantasy of everybody at the soiree earlier, with how the husband and wife danced in tandem, devising the perfect illusion of grandeur and power for their people.
If only they cared to snoop around on what was the cost of perfection the two exuded for stability in their country…
“I stayed despite the warnings, despite this shitty politics, Neuvillette!”
Arguments between the married couple selected no place anymore in the Palais, this was not the first time Egeria had to dismiss the stationed employees nearby and paid them hush money for cases like this.
“Do you want an award for your persevering love?” A battering crash of a statue echoed behind the closed doors. “Goddammit, Furina! Congratulations for marrying the Head of State, is that what you want?!”
A hoarse, bitter sob wailed from the woman inside. Even in her tapings and shows, Furina never cried like this.
“What I want is for us to fix whatever the hell this marriage is!”
“No people here,” Wriothesley pranced in the soulless anteroom, a box of that addictive drug in his grasp again. “That bad again?”
“They’re taking it out on each other lately,” Egeria noted. “Monsieur Neuvillette smashed another display again.”
“They just need to calm down,” Wriothesley was about to barge into the room when Egeria arrested his wrist from the knob.
“It’s the side effects, Wriothesley,” Agitation, aggression, withdrawal. Egeria spitefully admonished. “You can’t let this continue.”
“What choice do we have here, Egeria?” Frustration ebbed from Wriothesley, wrinkles creasing in his forehead. “Neither Iudex Neuvillette and Lady Furina would like to pause in their duties, they can’t stop. They’re a symbol of hope for this nation, the moment they fall, Fontaine would.”
“Fontaine is sinking already. Her leaders are poisoning themselves inside and nobody would thank them for it.”
“So interminable, so lonely…Just how much longer do we have to be like this?”
“Neuvillette, what is wrong with you?!” Furina dashed after him as the festivities in Liyue were on its final segments.
Lady Ningguang of the Tianquan and her consort Lord Zhongli were generously hospitable to their needs and accommodations, nothing short of luxurious gold and jade stones. Economic trade between Fontaine and Liyue would flourish in the subsequent decades after their revised and improved bilateral agreements. The last agenda on their month-long international trip across Teyvat was successfully achieved.
Tomorrow, they would sail back to the City of Waters, a grand welcome awaiting their return.
Tomorrow, they would act again as if everything was alright.
“Neuvillette!” Furina beseeched as he prowled into their suite, Neuvillette gliding straight towards their tray of ice and brandy. Neuvillette concocted himself a drink as Furina bolted the door shut behind them. Routine as always.
“So you won’t even tell me what’s going on in your head right now?”
Her, always her. When had Furina ever disappeared from his mind?
“Answer me!” Furina wrenched his forearm to face her, pink dusting her cheeks, sheen glossing her corneas, alcohol whiffing from her lips.
Neuvillette only frowned at her before gulping his brandy. The burn was sizzling enough for his throat, but not enough to quench his anger. He was on his way to pour himself another when Furina smacked the cup away from his hold, the glass shattering into a million pieces on the floor.
Great, Wriothesley would sweep that one later. At least, he wasn’t the one who broke an item this time.
“Am I not enough?” Neuvillette glowered to his wife. “Or do you want the entire attention of Teyvat to you?”
He walked towards the round furbished table next to their bed. Cigarettes, ash tray, and a lighter on its polished surface. Before he could even ignite his cigar, Furina was heckling him on his back.
“Are you jealous?!”
“You’re my wife, Furina!” Neuvillette was exasperated, he couldn’t even smoke in peace. “How else would I react when I see you drinking and laughing with another man?”
“It’s just one conversation!”
Neuvillette faced her, perhaps they were too tired from this month of excursions. Perhaps they had too much alcohol, too little narcotics, too much emotions in their hearts, and too little control of their bodies.
When Neuvillette clutched her wrist, Furina yelped as he shoved her to the mattress. He towered over her lithe form, his palms cuffing her hands in place, his knees on each side of her legs, panic and apprehensiveness flashing in her oceanic eyes.
“You seem to forget that you have a husband,” Neuvillette bristled. “You are mine, my woman, my wife, and anybody else who touches you could just disappear.”
But his Furina did not shed a tear despite the fear, she barked out a sardonic laugh.
“Oh god, you think you’re above the law because you are the Iudex,” Furina hysterically guffawed. “Maybe I should scream so they would know the heinous man you are!”
“Heinous, heinous?! Scream then, Focalors! And I’ll tell everyone the devious woman you are, using me for your selfish needs!”
Furina kicked him in anguish, her hands freeing itself from his bruising grip. She hammered fistfuls to his chest, as if his heart wasn’t in agony enough, his ribcage had to be in pain too. “Let’s not pretend you didn’t marry me for my popularity!”
“And you married me to win the Teyvat Star Awards!” Neuvillette retaliated, “I gave you everything, Furina! It’s still not damn enough!”
Tears cascaded on her beautiful cheeks, his eyes stung at the sight. He didn’t mean to say this and for sure, Furina didn’t mean it too. Neither of them wanted to hurt each other like this in the first place. This was toxic, they were toxic, how many times had Neuvillette realized this in the span of their marriage yet unable to change anything?
Her punches dwindled as Furina wept, shell-shocked, because the truth of their relationship was hideous despite how captivating it was on the outside. Neuvillette sat at the side of the bed, the heels of his palms burrowing into his sockets as he cried.
He just wanted Furina to laugh genuinely with him again, was that too much of a wish for the gods to grant?
Neuvillette grasped for his cigarette on the table, lighting the tip on fire when Furina slithered beside him. She collected a stick of her own, and wordlessly, Neuvillette offered to light her with his. Furina breathed in as soon as the butts of their cigarettes intersected.
Furina pillowed his shoulder as they noiselessly smoked, tearstained tracks on their cheeks.
“You took everything from me too, Neuvillette,” Furina muttered amidst the thickening fog, but her statement was devoid of hate, just the honest truth between them.
He deprived her of a future on her own, because from the moment they married and conquered the elections, Furina would never be unrelated to him anymore. Always the Iudex’s wife, forever the First Lady. His last name after her first because he was the only place where she could belong.
Neuvillette turned to her, kissing the smoke and tears in her mouth. Not a taste of repulsion between their tongues, only desperation. Furina consumed him intoxicatingly, her lips peppering on his skin, her hands untwining the buttons of his shirt.
In sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, they’d rather die than depart each other. What a curse it was, to have someone who'd choose him time and time again.
In the dawn after the long, pervading night at Liyue, a wife clung to the chest of her husband in their king-sized bed. Like this, they were almost normal, unimportant.
“Do you regret it?” Furina asked, doe-eyed in the morning with messy curls of hair. Neuvillette always fell in love with her more in the mornings, where Furina was imperfect and flawed, less like a star and more like a human.
“No,” Neuvillette nuzzled into her temple, hugging her naked body tighter under the blankets. “I just wish our relationship didn’t have to suffer for our dreams.”
He never had regrets over their marriage, their everything. Only what-ifs.
“Let’s take a vacation somewhere in Mondstadt, just the two of us after the national holiday next month,” Neuvillette described. “We’ll drink their wine and I will hear you sing just for me again.”
They were riding the Aquabus in Clementine Line when the citizens greeted them with boisterous cheers and colorful banners.
When their boat was at the Court of Fontaine, the populace tripled in number on the streets. Both Iudex Neuvillette and Lady Furina graciously waved their hands to their people. Each of the six Cities of Teyvat were uniquely magnificent on their own, but Fontaine was still their home.
Shouts and proclamations of appreciation for their hard work clamored louder as they neared Palais Mermonia. Perhaps the elated mood of the country had diminished their worries, that when the first shot rang, everybody thought the sound was merely a balloon popping in the background, not from a distant gun.
When the second shot was fired, and the Iudex toppled from his standing in the Aquabus, everybody was screaming.
All of a sudden, Clorinde was safeguarding the First Lady, the Maison Gardiennage were deployed in the public. Wriothesley and Egeria were coordinating commands at the Aquabus behind theirs.
Furina couldn’t hear everything as she descended to the floor, her gloved hands ferrying her wounded husband in her lap. Neuvillette was warm, warmer than the sun, and Neuvillette was red, red was dyeing both of their garments.
Clorinde was mentioning something about directives but Furina couldn’t understand her. She propped Neuvillette up to her chest, his hand weakly reaching for hers as his lips blubbered incoherence.
“I…Furi…na,” Neuvillette wheezed, Furina was squeezing his fingers crushingly around her clasp.
Civil unrest permeated the nation, children were ushered to their houses, men and women fretted for their safety, as the authorities roughly hunted the perpetrators. But above them all at the Clementine Line, a devoted wife was gravely screaming for her good, patriotic husband.
“I lo… I love you,” Neuvillette rasped, and there was so much blood between them. “I love you, Fu…rina—”
“No, no, don’t say that….no, NO! Neuvillette!” Furina shrilled as he lost consciousness in her arms. “Neuvillette, please!”
“I love you too, Neuvillette, so please, wake up…”
“Lady Furina, we have to take Monsieur Neuvillette to the hospital.”
“You can’t leave me, you can’t!”
“Lady Furina, please let him go. There is still time—”
“He promised me we would go to Mondstadt next month…he promised…”
“She’s in shock, we have to take her away from him.”
Almost like a film, almost like a scene straight out of a movie, that was how the world felt to Furina when they cleaved her away from her husband.
The doctors had examined her too, and they were whispering something about their findings to which she couldn’t comprehend yet. Everything was under the water, as if Fontaine was flooded but only Furina was drowning.
Egeria was helping, she was the one discussing with her doctors. Egeria brought her some fresh clothes to change in but the only syllables Furina could pronounce were her husband’s name. Again and again and again.
Furina screeched when Egeria attempted to undress her in a private ward. She didn’t need to put up an appearance for heaven’s sake! She only wanted Neuvillette, where was he? Her husband was nowhere to be seen, where was he? Where is he?
Egeria guided her to the waiting area in the intensive care unit of the hospital. A perimeter of guards secured the place as high-ranking officials convened together. Some of them casted her pitiful glances, Lady Furina with her carmine blouse and bloodstained skirt. Egeria situated her in a chair at the corner, closest to the operating room where Neuvillette was under meticulous surgery.
The dire situation was almost blurry to her perspective but when Wriothesley disseminated protocols to Navia, it felt like a bucket of ice was thrown at her.
“Just in case, right after the announcement, you have to take the vows–”
“How dare you!” Furina mauled Wriothesley in front of these heartless bystanders, all of them unkind and uncaring, only spectating. Maybe Navia was truly concerned but Furina could care less about her. “My husband isn’t dead yet, yet you’re already replacing him! You are killing him when he’s fighting for his life behind those doors! Iudex Neuvillette is not yet dead! He is not dead!”
“Lady Furina, I’m sorry but please this is just…”
Thousands of voices swarmed in her head, and before she could think of a reply, Egeria was yelling her name. The world was spinning and Furina crumpled unconscious as tantalizing pain ravaged her core.
Neuvillette woke up to Furina holding his hand in hers at the bed.
She was asleep, seated in a stool next to him, and she was gorgeous. There was nothing more he could ask for, except to erase the tear stains on her ethereal cheeks. It was surely his fault again that she cried, and Neuvillette wondered why he kept waking up next to his precious wife when he never even deserved her in the first place.
Memories roused from the recesses of his subconsciousness. They were in a parade arriving at the Palais, there was the sound of gunshots in the air, and then, there was blood on her face, the blood was coming from—
Neuvillette twitched awake, terror surging as he regained bearings of his surroundings. He was in a hospital, he was shot, several doctors and nurses had treated him for hours. The fluorescent lights were garish in his vision, but he grew accustomed soon enough. Dextrose and fluids were sewn to his vessels, and his limbs were too heavy.
“N..Neuvillette?” Furina groaned blearily. Her vibrant eyes blinked, as if testing her own perception. Neuvillette sat up but moaned instantaneously as prickling pain mugged various tissues of his muscles.
“Don’t move yet, oh gosh,” Furina said. “You’re alive, you’re alive.”
“I am,” Neuvillette coughed, his throat was too dry and antiseptic. Furina gave him a glass of water in his palms to which he gratefully drank. “Are you okay?”
“Neuvillette…” Furina bursted into tears again. “You almost died. You almost left us.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Neuvillette amended profusely. “We’ll tighten our security measures then, and find out who are the people behind this.”
“It’s not just that, I knew the dangers when I married you back then,” Furina was shaking when she clasped their hands together, almost like praying. “But this marriage is not just that...that public relationship we show to the people. I realized I can’t live without you, the past week has been hellish. They were declaring you dead outside, but you can't disappear....I, we…we can’t live without you.”
"’We?’" Neuvillette prodded her unusual stammering, his mind deducing a hundred conclusions per minute.
Furina stared at him, a hand on her belly as she announced, “I’m pregnant, Neuvillette.”
Fontaine beyond this door might be in a state of calamity. They need to stroll out of this hospital soon and comfort the anxieties of the people. Tomorrow, they’d serve the public again as best as they could. Their Iudex and First Lady of Fontaine who dedicated themselves to a future under bluer skies, where children of tomorrow could live to the fullest.
But at this moment, it was only Neuvillette and Furina, a husband and wife with their child who survived the ordeal of life.
Neuvillette smothered her ring finger with kisses and adoration.
May their child be born in this better world where Neuvillette and Furina had sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears for.