[h1][color=red][center]TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE[/center][/color][/h1]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/nFq9mJx.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/uGddlzt.png[/img]
[color=BBC7E1]Time:[/color] 9pm 
[color=BBC7E1]Location:[/color] [url=i.imgur.com/ahjrZRt.png]Castle Wall[/url] --> Outside the castle in the grass.
[color=BBC7E1]Interaction:[/color] Count Calbert 
[color=BBC7E1]Attire:[/color] [url=i.imgur.com/kzux34s.jpg]Click here[/url]
[hr][/center]

The starlit heavens were always a sight she loved.

Charlotte leaned onto the stone of the castle wall as she stared up at it. The moonlight shone on her in its bold glow. The dark emerald of the grass before her was lit up by the array of buildings in the close distance. She raised her gaze and admired the stars. Though there were clouds tonight, it was still a view to behold as always.  It did not take long for her mother to cross her mind and for her to feel a sense of nostalgia. 

There had been rare moments when she had been able to pull her mother away from it all and convince her to sit outside on a blanket to look at the sky. She’d smile up at the stars, her expression for once at peace. There was no expectation to meet nor was she invested in yelling in desperation at a husband. For once, they had been able to sit there as mother and daughter.

Glancing down at the ground far below, she watched the last few guests climb into their carriage. If it hadn’t been clear where Lorenzo had gone after searching the empty ballroom, then it certainly had been after going outside and finding her carriage missing.

She hadn’t expected Lorenzo would actually abandon her here alone.

Charlotte knew to hold her breath until she found out more information, but it still stung all the same. She had taken a moment to collect her thoughts and also to avoid Count Calbert Damien. There had been a staircase to access the top of the wall that allowed her to climb up and access the walkway on top of the wall. Perhaps she was not supposed to be up here, but it was ever the excellent hiding spot.

As her gaze moved again to the twinkling sky, she wondered if this was the sight her mother could have beheld in her final moment. Had her mother really looked to the stars and decided that’s where she had wanted to go? Charlotte bit her lip, pausing before she climbed up on the elevated stone of the wall border. She steadied herself then she shut her eyes. The breeze was all she felt and heard. 

[color=BBC7E1]“Just like this… Is this how it happened?”[/color]

Charlotte opened her eyes as they brimmed with tears. The clouds began to dissipate as more stars twinkled down on her. [color=BBC7E1]“Please just tell me something.”[/color] Everything inside her screamed that her mother would have never done such a thing, but she just wanted to know for certain more than anything. 

[color=BBC7E1][i]Did you really…[/i][/color]

[color=0072bc]“Kill yourself.”[/color]

Charlotte looked over her shoulder rapidly, bewildered. Count Calbert stood there a little ways away. The moonlight cast his large shadow across the floor beneath them as he stared at her with no notable expression. His blue eyes were void of emotion. She blinked away tears.

[color=BBC7E1][i]“What?”[/i][/color]

[color=0072bc]“Isn’t that what you’re about to do?”[/color] His expression was unreadable to the stammering young woman. She had never been able to predict the insane things he would say, but this was out of the realm for him. [color=0072bc]“No sense contemplating it. If you are not longing for this world, go to the next. “[/color]

[color=BBC7E1]“I-.... I wasn’t…”[/color]

Count Calbert suddenly smiled at her and waved his hand as he walked forward, closing the distance. [color=0072bc]“I’m kidding, Lady Charlotte. “[/color]

Charlotte hastily climbed down and turned defensively on her heels to face him. [color=BBC7E1][i]How dare he joke about such a thing knowing very well…[/i][/color]  She glared at him as he moved to stand at her side. With a smile, he mused, [color=0072bc]“What a gorgeous night. Do you still use that old telescope of yours?”[/color]

When she did not answer, he continued, [color=0072bc]“Your mother used to tell me you’d sneak out late at night with it even as a child. Interested in becoming an astronomer perhaps?”[/color]

He was acting as if this was a completely normal conversation… As if he hadn’t just told her to kill herself! She was at a loss for words for a moment, but then she finally asked, [color=BBC7E1]“What do you want from me?”[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Hmm… What do I … want from you?”[/color]Calbert repeated as if tasting the words. His eyes suddenly flashed and he stared down at her once again. He smiled, venom behind his eyes as he asked smoothly, [color=0072bc]“Do you remember that little talk we had about Duke Vikena?” [/color]

He went on without letting her reply,[color=0072bc] “You agreed that we were at an understanding that…[i]Lorenzo would. not. attend. events.[/i]”[/color] As he started to put emphasis on his last words, his voice only slightly changed in tone but it was ever so calm. Somehow it still made her wince. [color=0072bc]“...And we both know very well you’re the only one he listens to for the most part… Don’t we?”[/color] She opened her mouth but he held up his hand, quiet anger in his tone, [color=0072bc]“Then we also know that the most probable reason he came tonight was to make you happy,[i]wasn’t it?[/i]” [/color]

Charlotte did indeed recall him saying this very idea to her more than once over the past year; that he wanted her to put effort into keeping Lorenzo essentially cooped up.  She let out a shaky breath and spoke as steadily as she could manage.[color=BBC7E1] “Please understand that my father wanted to attend…  He wants to socialize too. It isn’t fair for either of us to simply never leave our home again, Count Damien.”[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Oh please, he’s not your father.”[/color] The tone got worse. She started to step backward away, but he only stepped forward toward her at the same pace. [color=0072bc]“You know as well as I do that you’re an orphan... An orphan with the baggage of a deranged man she lives with.”[/color]As her eyebrows start to furrow, he pressed on, [color=0072bc]“Be rational, [i]Lottie[/i].”[/color]

Charlotte clenched her fists to hide how they trembled. He had always been unusual, but this was something else. [color=BBC7E1][i]He’s gone mad. [/i][/color] Fear gripped her, paralyzing her in her spot. She felt like a cornered rabbit in the woods. She averted her gaze as it was hard to think with the look he was giving her. [color=BBC7E1][i]…As if calling anyone other than himself deranged right now could be considered rational!  [/i]  [/color]

Charlotte forced herself to look back up at the long-haired man. She had planned to tell him off, to finally stop withholding what she really thought. But then she saw the deadly gaze that was upon her. When she felt the cool stone directly behind her, she then realized he had walked her back into it. 

[color=BBC7E1][i]Is he going to push me?[/i][/color]

[color=BBC7E1]“You… You forget yourself, Count Calbert. I hope you do not intend your beloved reputation to be upheld with this sort of behavior.”[/color]

Count Calbert raised a brow with intrigue, [color=0072bc]“Do you really think you could do anything to my reputation? After you offered to be a concubine for the sons of the Sultan in front of everyone?”[/color]

The color drained from her face. Did everyone see it that way? She had thought she had been offering to be a maid. [i]Not a…[/i][color=BBC7E1]“That’s not what I meant!”[/color] Charlotte cried out indignantly. The anger finally filled her voice and she pushed at his chest to get around him. He seemed to let her move him out of the way as she then made a beeline down the wall, heading back toward the staircase.

[color=0072bc]“Even if it was not, it’s what everyone thinks!”[/color]Count Calbert called to her. This all had to be done if things were to go according to his plan. It was too important. [color=0072bc]“Just wait until I talk to Crystal.”[/color]

 Charlotte paused and turned to stare.[color=0072bc] “Then imagine how Lorenzo would feel knowing you were just about to throw yourself to your death just as his wife did. “[/color]Her expression broke apart and he grinned victoriously as she lowered her gaze to the floor. 

[color=0072bc]“Listen.”[/color] The Count walked over and lifted her chin up and let his tone become more gentle, [color=0072bc]“It doesn’t have to be this way, okay?”[/color]He wiped a tear from her eye and she smacked his hand away. He scowled as he struggled to keep up the gentle tone, [color=0072bc]“If you had stopped Duke Vikena, then he would have never been in that situation. You would have been to blame if the Sultan demanded his head. Then how would you have felt?”[/color]

[color=BBC7E1]“I…“[/color] He was right as much as she did not want to admit it. All she had to have done was tell Lorenzo she was not ready and he might not have gone. 

[color=0072bc]“All you have to do is never let him attend another event… With the exception of the dinners with the Sultan. Keep him home where he’s safe. Otherwise, it will be you who will be your family member’s undoing [i]once again.[/i]”[/color] He started down the stairs as she hung on to his words like a rope. Her response was delayed enough that she did not notice him taking his leave.

[color=BBC7E1][i]Again?[/i][/color]

Her heart sank. [color=BBC7E1]“Wait… W-What do you mean again?”[/color] Charlotte asked, her voice cracking. She then did a double-take. He was no longer in front of her. She then hurried down the steps. She ran out into the grass, her eyes searching the castle grounds.

[i]Nothing[/i]. 

She stepped forward until she finally sank down in the grass to her knees.  She leaned her face in her palms as tears spilled silently down her cheeks. Had he meant that her mother killed herself because of her?  

Flashes of her mother arguing with her hijacked her mind. A silent view of her mother pointing at her and yelling, her face twisted with anger as she chastised her over something now irrelevant.

There was then a hazy view of the sight of her mother’s body sprawled out in the grass from a distant position, the moonlight illuminating her fair skin.

Blood seeping into a nearby dirt path. 

 [color=BBC7E1][i]This was his goal… Wasn’t it? To make me feel this way… But why?[/i][/color]

She repeated his words in her mind on repeat, dissecting them, as her hands moved away from her face and she seemed to stare off at the grass beneath her. Calbert was a cruel man, but he always had a motive. For him to attempt to bring her to a lower state of mind, he must have been afraid of something himself. Charlotte’s countenance gradually changed.