Inside the Castle of Beaumont

"We are in! Good job everyone!" exclaimed Lawrence to everyone's surprise. The one who frowned the most at his sudden outburst of excitement was Maurice. The man turned to his friend and whispered, "Be quieter, for goodness sake! What do you think…?"

At once, Maurice's mouth shut and his palm slowly brushed his hair backwards. Everyone else also turned to Lawrence with their faces showing uneasiness. What they witnessed was a man dirty as a public rag, moreover, there were several severe cuts on both suit and pants. No one would ever believe that the man standing in front of them was a neat gentleman just a few seconds ago.

"How the hell did you get so dirty?" asked Eugene.

Lawrence raised his brows and lowered his gaze, "Ew, sick." Then, he raised his head once again at two other men and women. Their dresses and suits were not most presentable either, but it was mostly dust that painted them grey. A few fast sweeps could clean them completely and they could proceed as if nothing happened. Lawrence, in comparison, was covered in brown mud. In order to squeeze through the manhole, he slid on the ground with his belly in full contact with the filth below the wall.

"Your suits are also not in their best state." made a sly comment Lawrence, to which Maurice replied, "But at least we do not look like pigs! Why the hell did you not jerk up your body?"

"I was literally stuck in there! I would not have squeezed in otherwise."

"Well, now it seems that you have to squeeze back and go home."

"Oh, piss off!"

"Alright, thats enough." Eugene stood between them to prevent a fight. He just raised his hands to their faces, fully knowing that they would comply. In the end, they are not Douglas, who would certainly not follow his head.

Cossette came forward to help Lawrence get rid of at least the ugliest patches of dirt. Jessie was already away, observing the castle wall in awe.

"Perhaps, they have a laundry inside that we could use?" suggested Cossette, to which Eugene replied, "Maybe in the servants' house? I do not think that splitting will be a good idea, though."

Eugene followed Jessie with his gaze as she was getting further and further away from the group. He whispered, "But she certainly thinks otherwise!" and jogged towards her. Meanwhile, the girl was pulling on the doorknob of the sole door present in the vicinity. It was thin and short, not too suited to welcome guests, but rather release some individuals in case of emergency. After she made a few pulls, nothing happened and the girl was ready to proceed with her search. However, she was stopped by Eugene, who caught her by her wrist.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"To the party, of course. You guys are too slow."

"What if someone will see you? And even if you find the opened door, will you just enter, leaving us behind?" Eugene narrowed his brows in nervousness. At first, Jessie followed his demeanour, but soon, her eyes loosened up and she lowered her head and said, "Ok, I am sorry. This is not like the door will be closed after opening once anyway. I really want to get inside."

As the two were talking, the rest of the group arrived. Eugene observed everyone present and the overall enthusiasm was again down with the bear market. Eugene sighed and started talking.

"Well, then, how about we first visit the servants' house and clean Lawrence's clothes there? Perhaps, we will be able to find some new pair of pants or a suit. We are not in a hurry anyway, there is still a whole day ahead."

Cossette and Lawrence nodded in compliance, Jessie and Maurice, though, did not look too pleased. But as another wave of complaints and proposals was about to erupt, the door Jessie was pulling onto just a while ago suddenly opened. The panic spread across the group, they silently exchanged their gazes while a sudden visitor made themself visible to the infiltrators. It was an elderly woman in a black dress and white apron, most likely a worker of the premise. She examined the company with her keen eyes and after a few seconds of silence started speaking.

"Oh, my, how did you get lost out here?"

Eugene stepped forward and spoke, "Greetings! Excuse us for the noise out here. The thing is, we were wandering the castle and decided to exit for a walk. But as we tried to get back inside, the door appeared to be shut. Thank you for reaching out for us!"

The man came forward, trying to evade eye contact with the lady. He waved at his friends, calling them in. They exchanged gazes once again and silently followed bold man. Surprisingly, they managed to get past the lady without a question and soon enough, everybody made their first step in the castle. But as Eugene thought that they managed to fool an old lady, she pulled on Lawrence's sleeve and said, "Where do you think you are going?"

The man lowered his head in defeat, everyone else felt the weight of awaiting consequences, but the expected revelation did not come. Instead, the old woman said, "You cant attend the Fire of Prometheus with your suit this dirty. You should have asked the servants to show off the castle if you wanted to go on a stroll. Some of the hallways are dusty out here, though, there is not much mud inside."

"Oh, he just slipped on a dirt patch outside and fell." quickly explained Cossette with a smile on her face. The old woman nodded and came forward, while also pulling Lawrence forward by his hand.

"Come with me, young man. I will clean this mess and give you more suitable clothes for the celebration. You all can go to the banquet hall. The breakfast is almost over, thus the masquerade ball is about to start."

"Masquerade ball? Should it not be the usual ball?" asked Maurice, to which the old lady replied, "Ah, yes, it should, however, the la Avise family requested for everyone present to wear masks. Perhaps to evade pesky businessmen and journalists."

The old woman shook her head lightly, to not cause unneeded attention. Then, she quickly disappeared in the hallway that was further away from the group. Lawrence was likely in good hands and did not complain too much. In the end, his suit would be a disaster at the ball, but at least no one would recognize him due to the social hierarchy of the celebration being hidden under the mask.

"Well then, it is time to find our way into the banquet hall. Hopefully, we will not get lost even more than we are now." smiled Eugene and came forward, Jessie followed him and said, "Hopefully Sophie does not wait for us by the door she promised to open."

"Certainly not, this is a miracle that we actually managed to enter the castle. At least, if she indeed is waiting, then she truly has too much faith in us." mumbled Maurice, to which Eugene noticed, "And again with your negative attitude, we are already inside and you keep complaining!"

"I am just being a realist here, if it was not for that servant, we could be wandering around the castle for hours in search of that door. The more we would be outside, the more likely we could be caught."

While the two were fighting yet again, Cossette pointed out the strange detail about this year's celebration, "This is truly strange that there will be masquerade ball. How can a single family influence the tradition that was established for a century?"

"This is the la Avise family for you. If you ask anyone about them, then boss and Eugene know best what is on their mind." explained Jessie, making Eugene burst out a giggle.

"I wish to know myself what is up with them. In my opinion, making a masquerade ball is a bit too fun of a solution to their problem. Knowing their demeanour, they could just stay at home instead of attending this celebration."

Cossette was still dissatisfied with the answer she got, she further explained, "But they are still outsiders, how could they change the tradition of our place so easily?"

"Why are you so fixated on it? It doesn't really matter if we follow this tradition or tweak it a little." wondered Maurice, to which Cossette replied, "Well, the traditions do not matter to you personally. But let's take your mother as an example. She follows traditions that are foreign to your father and you rejected them, which is fine, but would it not be unjust to prevent her from following them out of inconvenience?"

"But those are two different traditions. One is religion with strict dogmas and another is a tradition established in celebration of freedom. Being so strict about them would defeat their purpose, to make people feel free. That's why I do not see any problem in changes for the Fire of Prometheus specifically."

Maurice's last argument was convincing enough for Cossette to not ask further questions. Or she was simply exhausted from the pressure of being the outlier. In the end, the Fire of Prometheus is the celebration of the fall of the monarchy, it is meant to celebrate change and freedom in people. Making strict borders around the way you celebrate it, would go against the purpose of revolution, the purpose of why people gained this freedom.

As the group roamed around the castle, its walls more and more blended with the exquisit status this place has. From the dull stone walls, awkward windows and empty corners, corridors were filled with dark wood, plants and statues. One aspect, however, remained uncanny and reminded them of the dire situation their hometown was in. The walls were filled with rectangular light spots that were created under the paintings. They all were hidden in fear of Cormorant's infiltration of this place. Eugene truly wanted to expose the stealer and make them pay for the damage he did to "Monso Rooster" and his home.

They pushed another door and entered the wide hallway with red carpet in the centre. From here on, the voices of participants could be heard, they all merged into a lasting hum that was getting louder with each step towards the massive double door at the end of their way. Once they reached it, Eugene and Maurice pushed it, revealing a fancy hall full of people in costumes and masks to the girls. The Fire of Prometheus truly has begun.