Chapter 30: Family Affairs
The Imperial Express was a luxury long-distance train that catered strictly to wealthy aristocrats, prominent merchants, diplomats, and international elites. Unlike standard regional trains which had basic passenger cars, a train of this tier had polished mahogany interiors, plush leather armchairs, and private sleeping compartments. Wealthy passengers had access to a grand dining car serving gourmet meals, a lounge car with a piano, and even dedicated personal attendants.
Staying stressed in this sort of comfort without smiling for the entire trip was almost impossible.
Dante made his way to his private compartment. He requested a book to read to keep himself busy and was given a sensational new detective novel about a mysterious serial killer terrorizing the capital.
One minute later, however, Dante was asleep with the book atop his face.
One couldn’t really fault the guy; sleeping was kind of his hobby.
***
Six hours later...
The Imperial Capital of the Holy Empire.
——
By the time the Imperial Express ground to a smooth stop at the Florentia Palace Station, the sun had already set, leaving the sprawling urban metropolis bathed in the warm, golden glow of gas lamps and magi-tech lights.
Dante stepped off the platform into the bustling front plaza of the station, where high-end horseless carriages, luxury Broughams, and cab drivers were lined up to meet passengers from arriving trains.
Although he had already sent all of his luggage ahead of time to their family’s city residence, he had not specified what time he would be arriving at the Capital. The reason for this was because he had decided to stop having his itinerary made public in advance.
After making his way to one of the horseless carriages, he gave the driver the address of the Fioravanti townhouse and climbed inside, letting the dark velvet curtains fall shut behind him.
Not long after, the engine hummed to life with a low rumble, and the chassis shuddered slightly before rolling onto the street.
Despite it being almost nighttime, the capital was lively with even more people out on the town, strolling along the avenues, and filling the illuminated sidewalks outside cafes and music halls.
Truth be told, Dante much preferred the capital to his home in Ravena for many reasons. One of them, however, was that as someone from Earth, the high city life here made him feel more grounded, and infinitely less homesick.
’Let me know when we arrive, Edward.’ Dante mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes.
A beat later, a cheerful voice sounded in his head.
’Roger boss!’
Twenty-five minutes later, the horseless carriage rumbled to a halt.
Within the capital, townhouses didn’t have a front lawn or a massive driveway. Instead, they sat right up against the street in terrace styled layouts, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder with the other grand buildings along the block.
The easiest way to tell them apart was the carved stone crest fixed above each main entrance.
Right now, the carriage had pulled up right in front of the tall double doors that bore the crest of a howling wolf beneath a crescent moon.
’We are here! We are here! Oh we are here! We are here!’~
Edward began to sing in Dante’s head, making him wince.
A moment later, Dante alighted the carriage, only to hear the driver’s voice.
"It’s six francs for the premium, signore."
Dante froze and his lips twitched. Due to always using his family’s carriage, he had almost forgotten to pay the man. Chuckling inwardly at his blunder, he reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a gold crown. He turned and pressed the coin into the driver’s gloved hand, then headed up the sidewalk and stone steps without waiting for change.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the lean, weather-beaten driver in his late thirties, wearing a grease-stained leather cap, widened. He gasped as he stared at the gleam of gold in his palm. "This... this is... M-May the Light bless your house, signore!"
***
The double doors opened before Dante even reached them, and he was greeted by the footman, a tall, rigid man in his early twenties dressed in pristine blue-and-silver livery.
"Welcome back, signore." The man gave a deep bow.
Dante nodded and swept past him toward the grand staircase. Once he reached the upper landing and began making his way to the next set of stairs leading to his room, he suddenly paused. That was because he couldn’t help but overhear the voices of two women bleeding through the wooden doors of the corner drawing room.
"You wretched whore! Of all the men in the capital, you had to throw yourself at him!"
"Oh, please! Spare me the hysterical theater. It’s not as if the two of you were betrothed or anything."
"But you knew I cared for him! You knew he likely felt the same way for me too!"
"Don’t delude yourself, dear. I threw myself at him? Ha! Don’t make me laugh! He practically begged me to take him to my bed!"
"...."
Silence fell over the room for a suffocating second.
"Oh, do you want to know what else he whispered into my ear?" the second voice purred in venomous satisfaction. "He told me young girls are far too tedious. He prefers a woman who actually knows what to do with a man. In other words, he prefers older women like me!"
"Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You are my father’s sister for crying out loud! You’re supposed to be my elder, not a vulture picking through my life!"
Upon hearing that, Dante turned on his heel and immediately began heading back down the stairs.
’That’s Caterina and Aunt Lucia,’ he thought, exhaling sharply as he felt the headache of incoming family drama brewing in his chest. ’Aunt Lucia slept with the man Caterina had her eyes on?’
Without slowing, he made his way to the atrium-styled courtyard in the back for a smoke. The courtyard was a quiet, open-air sanctuary lined with arched stone marble pillars, lush potted ferns, and smooth gravel pathways surrounding a central fountain. Standing in the center of the pool was a pristine white marble statue of a silver-backed stag rearing toward the sky with a crescent moon resting between its antlers.
This statue was one of the sacred symbols of the Lunar Goddess, Aurora.
Dante walked over to a stone bench beneath the shadow of a climbing grapevine and sat down. He took out a pack of cigarettes, slid one out from the paper lining, then sniffed it first before placing the filter between his lips. Then he took out a flip-top lighter and flipped it open to light the tip.
After drawing in a long, slow drag, he exhaled a thick plume of blue-gray smoke into the cool evening air.
For a moment, all seemed peaceful. Until the sound of soft, rapid footsteps approaching drew his attention.
"Dante?"
He turned his head to see a woman in her late twenties with long black hair, striking blue eyes, and fair, porcelain skin. She was dressed in an immodest silk evening gown with a daringly low neckline, and despite her smudged mascara, she still managed to look breathtaking.
"When did you get back?" she asked, walking over with an ornate pipe resting between her slender fingers.
"Not long ago," Dante replied, watching the smoke drift up toward the courtyard pillars.
A small frown creased her brow. She sat beside him on the stone bench, smoothing the silk of her dress.
"Did you hear?"
Dante did not reply immediately. After taking another drag and exhaling a thin cloud of smoke, he turned to her. "Why, Auntie?"
"So you did." Lucia turned to look at the statue standing in the center of the pool. After a long silence, she shrugged. "Why? Well, he was handsome."
’Eh? Handsome?’ Dante arched a brow in disbelief. "That’s it?"
Lucia looked down at her pipe. Her voice grew a bit regretful as she murmured, "I didn’t actually think she’d find out. I didn’t want to hurt her."
"You did though," Dante said flatly. "You should know Caterina by now. She is obsessive with the things she considers hers. Of course she was going to find out."
Lucia sighed, her eyes going distant for a moment. After taking a quiet pull from her pipe, she let out a slow breath. "I’ll try to make it up to her."
"You should," Dante agreed. "And you shouldn’t do anything of this sort anymore." His voice lost its casualness. "I’m serious. I don’t like it when my sister is upset."
Lucia quieted, glancing over at him in quiet surprise. She then let out a soft laugh, and gently nudged his shoulder with hers. "Heh. Look at you, being all protective."
The sudden physical contact caused him to look at her again, then he arched a brow. "By the way, aren’t you cold out here? You are not an apostle, you know."
"You are not one either," she pointed out, leaning back against the bench with a amused smirk. "And yet here you are."
Dante sighed, blowing a quiet trail of smoke toward the night sky. ’I was referring to your choice of clothing.’
He stubbed out the rest of his cigarette against the edge of the stone bench and stood up.
"Are you going in already?" Lucia asked, looking up at him through the thin fog of her pipe smoke.
Dante shrugged. "Someone needs to go console Kate, or she’ll have nightmares tonight."
Without another word, Dante turned and walked back toward the quiet warmth of the house.
***
A few minutes later, Dante knocked on the door to Caterina’s room. However, no reply came even after a few seconds had passed, so he knocked again.
Still, no reply.
He knocked again, and again, and again until he heard someone scream from inside the room.
A second later, the double doors swung open with a bang.
"Who the fu—" Caterina paused mid-curse as her eyes widened in shock. "Dante? When did you get back?"
Before he could answer, she pulled him into a tight hug. Unlike before, he didn’t push her away, letting her hold on until she finally released him.
Only then did he give a subtle smile and offer an observation. "You look like a mess."
Caterina grimaced, running a hand through her disheveled hair. "It’s because of that miserable woman."
Dante invited himself in, stepping past her into the room. As he made his way to the velvet armchair by the foot of her bed, he said softly, "I heard."
Caterina’s cheeks flushed red as she averted her eyes.
After settling down into the plush cushions, he looked up at her and asked calmly, "I’m hurt, you know. You didn’t even tell me there was some prince charming out there who made your heart go pitter-patter."
Caterina rolled her eyes as she crossed the room and fell back onto her bed, staring up at the canopy.
"It wasn’t like that," she groaned, tossing a pillow over her face for a second before sitting up. "He was just a classmate from the academy. We were working on projects together, hanging out, and getting really close. The guy was practically living here at the townhouse half the time just to see me. I thought we had something going on and that he was going to ask me out soon. But I guess while I was waiting for him to make a move, Lucia decided to snatch him up instead."
Her voice grew agitated towards the end.
Dante exhaled. In order to soothe her wounded pride and heart, he offered a flat, straightforward defense. "You are far more beautiful than Lucia. Frankly, you are one of the most stunning young women in the whole capital. None I’ve met can compare to you." As he said that, he felt his tongue grow bitter.
Suppressing the urge to grimace at his words, he continued. "If he couldn’t see that and chose to run off the second an older woman winked at him, then he’s just a piece of trash who isn’t worth your time."
Upon hearing that, Caterina’s annoyed expression softened, and a subtle, satisfied smile touched her lips.
’She’s far too easy to manage,’ Dante thought, watching her foul mood vanish with just a bit of petty validation.
After a few seconds, a different train of thought crossed his mind. ’She said it’s a guy from the academy. Do I know him?’
Curious, he rested his chin on his palm and asked, "By the way, who is this guy anyway?"
Caterina rolled closer to the edge of the bed toward him, her tone far more relaxed now. "He’s in the second year like me. Julian Bellini. Do you know him?"
’Bellini? Julian Bellini?’ Dante blinked in shock as the name clicked in his head. ’Isn’t that the older brother of Annabella Bellini? The villainess who tries to kill me not long from now?’