Chp.20: Wine and moon.

He dozed off beside her.

The night was serene, and Eugene returned to Janice's room with a bowl of water along with two napkins. "I'll help Janice. When she wakes up will she recognize me?" he was nervous to open the door. "Well anyway, since I got appointed here, I've not got a chance to talk with Janice properly. I will save her from this hell hole." He was determined and went ahead to turn the nob of the door.

He made a few attempts but the room didn't open. "Hmm? Is the room locked? Did she wake up?" he was still trying to open the door. "Excuse me? What are doing here near the duchess' room so late at night?", asked a maid, timidly as she stood behind the Eugene.

Eugene calmly turned and said, "Oh, I thought that I should help her highness with her fever and couldn't find any maids since the accommodations of the new servants aren't completed yet.", with a composed smile.

"But the duke returned and might be inside her room now." She said naively. Eugene felt annoyed for some reason, but he said, "I didn't know it with a calm expression. Good that he returned to her."

"Well, of course, she is his wife, isn't she?" she said with a giggle. "Have a good night Mr.Butler." she bowed and left.

Eugene walked a few steps that led him to the stairs and stopped. "Why return when you only have to return at night?" he mumbled. "But I guess I don't have an option for now. Let's wait till she wakes up." He sighed and walked down the stairs.

Everything seemed unusually calm that night in the Gilbert Mansion.

New servants in the place of Wendy's pawns and a harmonious looking relationship of the duke and the duchess. At least on the surface level, everything was silent. But the only thing that others didn't know was that Duke Noah Gilbert and duchess Janice Tyler never returned from the trip. The people who came back instead were Noah Robbins and Janice Green.

And surprisingly, both came to this world to complete the task that was left undone.

He wanted his answers and revenge, and she wanted freedom from her suffocating life as Janice Green.

It was in the middle of the night,

"Hmm." Janice got up.

"Where am I?" she mumbled.

The room was still dark but the little part was illuminated by the calm moonlight. It peeked from behind the curtains and made the room feel like lonely heaven.

"So it is night?" she turned stretched her body and yawned and suddenly felt someone beside her. "Hmm?" she tried looking carefully. "Of course it is Noah." She said to herself with a disappointing sigh.

And she felt a sudden wave of hatred and malice. She picked up a pillow and wanted to suffocate him. And then suddenly she came back to her senses. "Calm down Janice. No need to dirty your hands." She put down the pillow.

She got down from her bed and walked towards the window. She opened the curtains and the moonlight filled the entire room with its glistening charm. "Lot's of memories are coming back to me. It's like I'm watching a movie. But one thing that is new to me is, Noah Robbins just doesn't know I am me Janice Green but also wants to take revenge." She thought to herself as she looked up in the sky.

"The sky seems so pretty though. Stars still make me lonely. Guess that didn't change about me when I came here." She had a lonely gaze.

A few moments pass as she kept looking at the sky. "A glass of wine will be good I guess." Her legs were stiff but she made her way to the shelf and took a bottle of wine and a glass. She glanced at Noah who was sleeping on her bed as she was pouring wine for herself. "Selfish bastard." She smirked.

She flopped on the chair of her study table. "These gowns are nothing but irritation to me." She mumbled in an annoyed tone. She sat there silently drinking wine. Poured and drink was all she did until she finished the whole bottle. It was as if emptiness was all inside her.

"All this, but for what?" she scoffed. "To go back to my life as Janice Green? To go back to live like someone else's property?" tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision. "But now I don't want to go back." She mumbled after some time.

"I have the chance that I wished for. I can clear up all the misunderstandings that Noah has. Then I can live freely. Maybe after that, he won't feel the need to take revenge anymore." She was completely drunk.

"Who am I kidding? He already decided I am a criminal even before listening to my story. I just wish to be strong enough to fight him when he decides to take revenge." She smirked. "I want to find my accomplice as soon I can. But how will I know who is my accomplice?"

She leaned on her study table and fell asleep.

It was morning. The sunlight filled the entire room and the chirping sound of birds made the scene even more pleasant. "Hmm? Where am I?" Noah got up.

"My head is banging. I shouldn't have drunk so much at night." He said as he pounded his forehead. He stretched and yawned. "Wait, this doesn't seem like my room." He rolled his eyes over the entire room and saw Janice sleeping on her study table.

"Tsk. It was her room." He said with an annoyed look. "Why did I even come to this room?" he got down from the bed and walked towards the door. And suddenly stopped.

"Maybe I should wake her up and go." He thought and turned around. He walked towards Janice and said, "Hey wake up."

She didn't wake up. "Hey, Janice wake up." He pushed her slightly and tried to wake her up.

"She isn't even budging slightly." He got irritated. And patted hard on her back, "Hey, Janice. Wake up."

"Hmm? Wassup?" she got up with drool over her face.

Noah stood there staring at her face.

"Get up." He plainly said and walked out of the room. "Pft." He smirked lightly and walked away. Janice wasn't still awake fully but suddenly woke up when she saw Noah walking out of the room.

Nothing much happened that day in the morning. The new servants were working professionally and everything suddenly seemed to be in the perfect place.

It was a bright, fresh, and sunny afternoon. She and her lady-in-waiting were taking strolls in the garden of the backyard of the mansion. Usually, Noah and Janice never talked to each other on the breakfast table and after that, he used to straight head to the royal palace for the morning assembly. That day particularly wasn't much different either. The same routine happened.

Even though Noah slept in Janice's bedroom the previous night, the servants were surprised at how cold they were to each other. But most suspicious was Eugene.

"Hmm, why aren't they even talking to each other after last night?" was written all over his face while they were having breakfast.

Being the new butler in the mansion, he yet had lots of grounds to familiarize himself with. And coincidentally today he chose the backyard garden. So bumping into each other was inevitable for Janice and Eugene.

And so- "Your highness." Eugene made a polite bow.

"You must be the new butler, Eugene?" she made a rough guess from the vague images from Janice Tyler's memory fragment. "Although yesterday lots of memories came back Janice's childhood memories are still unclear." She thought to herself.

Eugene extended his hand forward and said," Would you like with me, your highness?"

"Umm, sure." She awkwardly but politely placed her hand and thus they began taking a stroll in the garden.

"How are your days in this palace-like mansion going your highness?" he asked with a smile. "Good I guess." She answered. "So don't you think of Gyros village now?" he asked innocently.

"Why do you ask?" she asked cautiously.

"Because that is the place where we became accomplices." He said happily.

The word accomplices got stuck in Janice's mind for the next few days. She tried gathering Eugene's memory from all the fragments she had.