SWNOVELXO Chapter 18: I Will Be a Good Bride
Today, above Dormir Mansion, the sky was cloudy, dark, and indicated that a big storm was on its way this morning.
Clouds had gathered like quiet thoughts no one dared say aloud.
The garden birds did not sing.
The fountain outside had stopped mid-stream.
Even the maid's footsteps seemed cautious today.
Hushed, reverent, expectant.
It was the kind of morning that didn't feel normal for any other household.
It felt like there would be something in the dark.
And as a sign of those storms, Lysette Dormir spoke.
"What's a bride?"
She asked it over breakfast, without ceremony or warning.
She was ten. Perfectly upright in her chair. Napkin folded.
She asked innocently with her little calm voice.
The kind of calm that made people afraid to ask what she was really thinking.
Across the table, Lady Dormir blinked once.
A silver spoon trembled slightly as tea was poured.
"Why do you ask.....dear..?" she said.
"I saw it in one of the noble etiquette books," Lysette replied while smiling.
"There's a whole chapter called How to Be a Proper Bride. Is that like being a proper sister?"
Her mother smiled faintly. "No, darling....."
"While they look alike, it not similar at all."
"They have certain differences that can't be performed by the other one."
"A bride is someone who loves someone very much… and chooses to stay with them. For life."
"While sister is someone who also be loved very much... One day she will go away."
"So the bride, they stay forever?"
Lady Dormir nodded. "Yes. That's what a good bride does."
That was enough.
----
The next morning, Lysette requested new ink and paper.
By afternoon, she had unearthed two more manuals on how to be a good bride from the libraries.
"Be agreeable," one said.
"Be quiet. Be loyal. Be ever present."
She underlined loyal. Circled present.
Then wrote beneath them.
"I am already these."
-----
That evening, Milia spotted her standing silently in Ezrel's room, holding a small tray of dried rose petals and folded towels.
Ezrel was also there.
He looked over with half a pout as he stretched sideways on his couch cushion.
One can say he looks tired just by seeing his face right now.
"What are you doing now?"
"Practicing," Lysette said like she was stating something clear.
"Practicing what?"
"Being good."
He stared.
She smiled.
He sighed. Rolled over. Pulled a pillow over his head.
----
Next day..
She tried embroidery.
Stitching napkins with his initials. Then hers. Then both.
She learned how to pour tea without spilling.
How to walk without sound. How to fold Ezrel's blanket without disturbing the divine folds the other maids claimed not to touch.
"She's diligent," one steward murmured.
"Such devotion," said another.
Only Milia recorded how she knelt beside his bed each night and folded her hands in silence before returning to her room.
Ezrel, meanwhile, was sitting in the garden with a book he wasn't reading.
He could sense her behind him.
Again.
Always.
She's not breathing loudly. That's a new trick.
He turned.
There she was.
Notebook in hand.
With her ribbon too neat at her hair.
She is not speaking.
Just staring at him quietly.
He stared back at her.
Then muttered under his breath.
"It's good that she is studying how to be a good bride."
"I hope that way she will find a partner faster."
"That way she'll leave me alone."
"And I will get my rest and peace".
He paused.
Then remembered she was ten.
He sighed harder.
Huhhh....
I forgot she was just ten.
Looks like...
It will be a long way before I get my peace.
---
That night, Milia updated her journal.
Log 412 – Study of a Bride
She learns from books.
But what she studies is not marriage.
It is permission.
She seeks the form that binds her to him eternally.
She may think that because sisterhood is too loose to bind him.
And worship has already become ordinary.
Lysette stood before her mirror, with hair perfectly brushed, a candle flickering low.
She straightened her posture.
Then whispered:
"Today's vow."
"I vow to become the one who stays with him."
"I vow to follow him in silence."
She uses what she learn in the manual on how to be a good bride for her vows.
That's, way while practicing becomes a bride..
Her strength will also increase.
That way...
Maybe....
One day, she can help her brother.
The sigil at the back of her hand glimmered once.
She closed her eyes and smiled.
---
Meanwhile...
Ezrel had already lay on his bed by the window.
His book lay forgotten on his chest.
The light outside had dimmed to a soft violet.
He shifted slightly and sighed.
Not in frustration this time, but in something like relief.
Maybe she's finally found a hobby, he thought.
Good. That means she'll leave me alone for a while.
He smiled faintly while thinking about his persistent sister.
He didn't see the vow being sealed in the other room.