Cosmetics

Austria, November 30th 1791

5:03 PM

Lukas walked out of the mansion with the snack box Olivia gave him in his hand and also with a book under one of his arms in case he got bored or physically tired.

Lukas had a deep frown on his face as he walked, the blonde boy was very intrigued with the conversation he had just had with Olivia.

'Weird. I didn't know mother was struggling this much. I knew she somehow showed a bit more of her emotions than most people I know, and the ones she shows are usually related to sorrow or something similar. Well, I guess I'll have to research a bit after this stroll of mine. Mom usually sits in the living room while she reads a book from lunch time to dinner time, so I will have plenty of time to scour her room.'

Lukas kept walking forward towards the gate of the mansion. The mansion where he lived was located in front of a small forest. It was so small that there was little to no danger for Lukas there, so most people didn't care whether or not he went there on his own.

'Weird, though. Fine, it's a harmless forest, and fine, I am smarter than a common three-year-old child, but still, I think they would be more worried about me. Well, I guess I have no room to complain anyway, this is just what I wanted,' Lukas concluded.

As he kept walking towards the forest, he started enjoying the landscape of the place. Although it was a small forest, it still looked pretty nice.

'According to what I've heard, if I keep walking forward I'll get to the village we usually go in about 40 minutes. It's pretty close to be honest. I would say we usually get there in 10 minutes by carriage.'

After walking a bit more, Lukas started thinking about what he would look for in his mother's room. 'I actually have no idea of what I should look for. Maybe a diary? Not sure if she actually has one, though. I would have to be pretty lucky to find it,'

Lukas sighed. 'Besides, if she does have one and I do find out what's bothering her, what would I do with that information? Should I tell Olivia about that? She didn't ask for anything like that, though. I'm doing it out of my own volition. She asked me to make her spill the beans, not to break into her room and find out what's bothering her like that, it could even be considered a crime, somehow,'

he thought.

'Well, since Olivia told me to make mom spill the beans, I can somehow blend my and Olivia's way. I can find out what's bothering my mother by breaking into her room and scouring it, and then, give little hints while I talk to her to make her spill the beans more easily, so nobody would suspect it. Gotta be careful though, could sound suspicious if I sound like I already know it.'

After walking for a while, Lukas sat down against a tree and sighed. 'Dang, I still can't walk for a long time properly. I really need to increase my stamina, this is kinda annoying.'

Lukas stretched himself, picked his book and started reading. 'Alright, let's see what will happen in this story. Looking forward to it.'

-----

Lukas was sitting against the tree while he drooled and slept calmly. He was breathing loudly and even snoring a bit.

After a while, some birds started chirping on the branch above Lukas, which made him wake up. As he slowly opened his eyes, he found quiet a few animals around him. From birds to little insects, but he didn't pay much attention to them.

'Damn it, I fell asleep. What time is it?' Lukas wondered. He took a small clock from his pocket and looked at it. '6:12 PM, wow, thought I had slept for longer. Well, good thing then. Let's take advantage of this lucky break.'

As he kept the clock in his pocket, he finally paid attention to all the animals around him. "Oh... hey, guys," Lukas said awkwardly.

Although there were many insects among the animals that were around him Lukas didn't panic, he was already used to it. He always attracted many animals, specially when he was alone.

'I don't know why, but I apparently get along with animals very well,' Lukas thought. 'Perhaps even they can see I'm very handsome,' Lukas concluded sarcastically as he showed a smug smirk.

"Well, guys, time to wake up," Lukas said as some of the animals around him were even sleeping.

Lukas carefully stood up and brushed his clothes off with his hands. Lukas looked for his things and he found his book on the ground as well as his snack box, which was open and empty.

Lukas raised his brow. "What? I don't remember eating it," Lukas murmured. After thinking a bit, he looked at a few red foxes by him. Lukas sighed.

"Shame on you guys, now Olivia will think it was me who ate it and will not give me any more food till dinner," Lukas calmly complained with a hoarse voice since he was still a bit sleepy.

However, the red foxes quickly ignored him and started chasing some birds who were previously standing on Lukas's head. "Hey! Don't overdo it, guys, did you hear?" Lukas said with an ironic tone. He knew it was just natural that red foxes chased after birds.

Lukas stretched himself as he grunted. 'Well, time to go. Still have to look for a few things in my mother's room,' Lukas thought.

Lukas started walking towards the mansion and arrived there after a while. He stood in front of the door and opened it.

"I'm home," Lukas said calmly as he entered the mansion. There was nobody around, but it was already force of habit to say it, he felt weird if he didn't do it every time he got home.

Even though he said it, he decided to at least tell Olivia and Frida that he had arrived. So, he went to see both Frida and Olivia and told them that he was home already.

After doing it, Lukas went upstairs towards Frida's room. 'Alright, time for the fun part,' Lukas thought, he was actually pretty excited for it.

Lukas finally stood in front of the door and eyed its handle. 'It's so high... hope I can reach it with a good jump. It's a bit higher than the handle of the entrance door,' Lukas thought.

Lukas took a deep breath and jumped with all his power and reached the door handle. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it down as he fell, after that, he kicked the door lightly for it to open.

'Great! It's open!' Lukas celebrated internally.

Lukas walked into Frida's room and closed the door behind him. He looked around himself. 'Damn, the last time I was in this room was when I used to sleep here, when I still slept in a crib,' he reminded.

Lukas sighed. 'Okay, where shall I start?' Lukas wondered. He looked around himself once again and decided to look under Frida's bed.

'Alright!' Lukas quickly crawled under the bed and looked everywhere, but he didn't seem to find anything there.

'Okay, not here. Next,' Lukas thought.

Lukas started looking everywhere in the room. Making sure to always put the things back to the place where he took them. 'Well, let me see the dresser.'

There was a dresser in front of the wall opposite to the door of the room. It had a lot of things on it along with a large mirror.

Lukas checked each drawer and he didn't find anything but clothing, so he decided to check the top of the dresser. He opened each drawer in a way to make it work like a set of stairs, so he could use it to get on the top of the dresser more easily.

He started checking everything that there was on the dresser. It was mostly cosmetics. 'Curious though, I don't usually see mom wearing much of these, if she does, it's just a bit,' Lukas thought.

'Well, according to the books, women used to wear a lot of cosmetics to make their skin look whiter and their cheeks look redder, but now the natural beauty apparently is more craved than a lot of cosmetics,' Lukas remembered.

'Well, looks like beauty also depends a lot on culture and influence of people around us. That's why everyone always wants to wear what the royal family do.'

'Well, good thing that these cosmetics stopped being used so much, I personally don't like them much either,' Lukas thought.

Even though Lukas had stopped his reasoning, he was still staring at the cosmetics. '...Well, I hate to admit it. But I am really curious to see what I would look like with them... screw it, gonna try them on.'

Lukas immediately took a pot of white powder and started spreading it all over his face with some sort of brush. 'I think it's like this at least,' Lukas thought.

After spreading the white powder all over his face, he picked some sort of sponge with a red surface. 'I guess this is what makes the women's cheeks redder,' Lukas thought. 'Okay, let's try it on too,' Lukas concluded.

He started spreading the red powder on his cheeks with the sponge, making his cheeks look redder.

After finishing putting all of the cosmetics on, he looked at himself in the mirror. As soon as he saw himself, he frowned. 'I hate to admit it, but I do look like a girl,' Lukas thought.

Lukas sighed. 'Well, I guess I do look beautiful with it,' Lukas thought ironically as he showed a smirk.

Lukas gathered his hands in a feminine way and forced himself to blush. "Oh my God, when will my prince save me from this damned castle?!" Lukas said with a high-pitched voice. After that, he let out a resounding laughter.

'Man, this is ridiculous! And I love it!' He took a deep breath and looked back at the mirror. 'Well, time to clean off all these cosmetics,' Lukas thought.

As soon as he thought that, he saw the door handle moving, which made him shudder. 'Shoot! Must be mom! Gotta hide!' Lukas thought as he quickly went down the dresser and closed the drawers, however, before managing to hide under the bed, the door opened.

For Lukas's surprise, it wasn't Frida who was there, it was Elias. 'DAD?!' Lukas screamed internally.

Elias calmly looked at the three-year-old boy who was standing in front of him with a dumbfounded expression. He raised his brow. "What in the world are you doing?' Elias asked.

'Shit!' Lukas thought. "Hum... huh..." Lukas started stuttering. He gathered his hands and glanced downwards as he forced himself to blush. "I-I am sorry, sir, but I am lost and Mrs. Von Neumann gave me lodging," Lukas said with a high-pitched voice.

Elias sighed. "I know it's you, Lukas. Did you really think you would trick me with such a cheap move?" Elias asked.

Lukas showed a disappointed expression as he recovered his usual posture. "Crap, I really thought I would trick you, I swear," Lukas said sarcastically.

"You know what? I don't care why you are in your mother's room nor why you are wearing her cosmetics. Just get out of here, I need something from here... by the way, you look ridiculous with those cosmetics," Elias said.

"Yeah, I know," Lukas said as he nodded his head.

"...Wait! What do you need from my mother's room?" he asked.

"You don't need to know," Elias frontally answered.

"Wow, so you want me to tell my mother that you were here without her permission?" Lukas asked.

"So were you. Besides, you are even wearing her cosmetics," Elias said.

Lukas shrugged. "But I can, I'm her son," Lukas said.

Elias sighed. "Surprisingly enough, that probably is an acceptable argument in this case."

"So, please, tell me," Lukas said.

"I just heard a noise and came to check what was happening," Elias answered.

"A bit too normal for you to be so adamant not to tell me. Besides, you said you wanted something from here," Lukas said.

"Well, it's the truth, okay? By the way, wipe those damned cosmetics off your face! You know that can be condemned by the Church, right?" Elias said.

Lukas widened his eyes. "What?! It can?!" Lukas asked, scared.

Elias nodded his head as he took a towel nearby. He crouched in front of Lukas and started cleaning the cosmetics off his face.

"Ouch! Stop! It hurts!" Lukas complained.

"Stay still!" Elias said.