Chapter Text
It’s a beautiful day of summer in house Varley, the birds are singing, the sunflowers are more alive than ever, Bernadetta’s father is cozy in his jail cell in the middle of nowhere, and in the Varley’s territory everyone around can breathe air of long awaited peace. Life has never been so easy and peaceful for Bernadetta, the war is nothing more than a memory, her marriage with Luca is flourish and rich of happy moments.
Every day, Bernadetta wakes up to cuddle Luca in the sleep, then prepares breakfast for the two of them. Usually Bernie and Luca split their duties in the administration of her territory, but in some days, may it be for fatigue, or for taking her time to prepare a surprise for Luca, or simply for her hobbies, she relies on her husband to take charge of everything. A couple times old friends would visit them for a chitchat over tea. The two lords of Varley are always seen together, when participating in the mundane life, when traveling and when doing everyday's tasks. Many times to the two was asked when would an heir arrive, and they would just respond that they were in no hurry, that they were enjoying their relationship as it was, and taking their time, since the war basically took 5 years away from them.
Few are the moments when Luca and Bernie aren’t together, despite all their changes, they both appreciate their time alone, even if it’s just 5 minutes of thinking, or time for their hobbies, although through time both learned to share their hobbies with the other. Another reason is, because of a deal or a job, one of the two leaves the house for trips not longer than 1 day, none of the two goes by himself when it’s a long trip: they’re too afraid to lose eachother. While both love to stay at home and with their loved one, if they had to choose between the two, they would always pick the second option.
The story of how Bernadetta will learn about something she never could have possibly imagined begins exactly for this reason. In this beautiful day of summer, Luca departs for a 1 day trip to Aegir territory, an usual trip he does every two Fridays to meet Ferdinand, who teaches him how to administer his lands, as well as everything a noble should know and do. This Friday though, Luca was a bit reluctant to join Ferdinand for his fortnight lesson. Their manor was in a big mess due to a ceremony they had the day before for a bow tournament, in which the winner would have challenged Lady Bernadetta herself. Luca volunteered to help clean the manor but Bernadetta insisted that her and their servants wouldn’t need his help and he could be free to attend his lesson.
So with Luca out, Bernadetta takes her sweet time in peace to clean the manor. Bernadetta Is cleaning the main hall when a servant reports to Bernie.
(Servant):”Lady Bernadetta, a guest has arrived.”
(Bernadetta):”A guest? Who it may be?”
(???):”Hey Bernie! How are you doing?”
(Bernadetta):”Annette! What a pleasure having you here! I’m doing great! I’m sorry but you just missed Luca, he left five minutes ago.”
(Annette):”What a pity. I came to check on you! Congratulations! You did great at that bow tournament!”
(Bernadetta):”Thanks! The winner gave me quite the pickle, but I came on top. I would like to offer you some tea… but as you can see, it’s still a bit of a mess here.”
(Annette):”Don’t worry Bernie it’s fine. Oh! I know what I can do! I will help you clean!”
(Bernadetta):”Mhh… I did send Luca away telling him we didn’t need help… but two more hands would be definitely useful… No Annette you’re my guest! I can’t let you work to clean my house!”
(Annette):”Really, Bernie, it’s fine. It would be like an alternative tea time!”
(Bernadetta):”That may be fun, okay. Just don’t use your magic to clean, okay?”
(Annette):”What? I only did that once, more than 7 years ago!”
(Bernadetta):”And the entire stable went on fire, I remember the day after we should have done the cavalry certification exam, but we spent the day cleaning the damage made by the fire.”
(Annette):”I know that… You don’t have to make me feel guilty again for it…”
(Bernadetta):”On the contrary! I have never thanked you for it!”
(Annette):”What? For real?”
(Bernadetta):”Yeah! I didn’t study a lot before it so I was sure to fail it. But your accident gave me more time to study so I could pass it on my first try!”
(Annette):”Now this is new! Ha-ha! I will feel less embarrassed about it from now on. Anyway, less talk, more cleaning! Here I come!”
With Annette's help, the manor is cleaned by the sunset, a couple hours before Luca's return. The only room not yet cleaned is their double room.
(Bernadetta):”… And for last, our bedroom.”
(Annette):”You guys are so tidy! Your room looks perfect! Sure, there are some stuff scattered on this desk but the rest is perfectly in order!”
(Bernadetta):”Luca is obsessed with putting everything in their perfect spot. I have never cleaned his wardrobe though, he has so many coats, I have always been too lazy to put all of them out by myself, would you lend me a hand?”
(Annette):”Sure it'll be eas- Whoa he has a ton of coats! And they’re all of the warmest kind possible! Those are the type of coats people use on the mountains on the border with the Sreng region! Those coats are a literal sauna made as a piece of clothing!”
(Bernadetta):”Don't tell me. I can’t understand how Luca does not catch on fire with these on… They’re also heavier than they look, here, put them on the bed.”
Slowly, and one at a time, Bernadetta and Annette lay down all of Luca's coats, followed by his shirts, trousers, socks etc.
(Annette):”That’s the last one. Geez, Luca has a lot of stuff I never saw him wear.”
Instead of listening to Annette, Bernadetta is observing Luca's side of the wardrobe, with an expression of suspicion on her face.
(Bernadetta):”This is…. Weird…”
(Annette):”Eh? What’s weird?”
Bernadetta opens her side of the wardrobe.
(Bernadetta):”Is it me…. Or Is Luca's side smaller than mine? Look! I can almost stretch my arm in my side, but in Luca's… I'm not even close to do that.”
(Annette):”You’re absolutely right! Luca's side looks tiny compared to yours! But why would that be the case?... Does he have… a double bottom?”
(Bernadetta):”We're about to find out…”
Surely Bernadetta is not happy at all to know that her husband has a double bottom hidden in their closet. What secrets could be hidden in there? There is only one way to know, and Bernadetta knows she has to look carefully on every inch of the closet to find the opening mechanism of said double bottom. Bernadetta checks the panel first, in the hope of finding a button, or something that shouldn’t be there, but after checking she doesn’t find anything.
(Annette):”Bernie, maybe we should wait for him and ask him about it. I’m sure he has a valid reason for this.”
(Bernadetta):”Mhh… Knowing him, he would just avoid the question. I think we can unravel this mystery if we work together!”
(Annette):”Oooh, a little adventure! Count me in! So… what are we looking for, exactly?”
(Bernadetta):”Anything that can be a mechanism, a button, a keyhole…”
(Annette):”Maybe there’s something behind the closet!”
(Bernadetta):”Great thinking! We have to move the closet though, it’s very heavy.”
With Bernadetta pulling, and Annette pushing, the closet gets slowly moved, enough to have a clear view of the wall.
(Annette):”Hmm… There’s nothing on the wall… and it doesn’t look like there’s any rail under it… I'm at a loss.”
With her right thumb on her chin, and the rest of the hand under it, holding her right elbow with her left hand, Bernadetta tries to figure out a way to solve this mystery
(Bernadetta):”We need to think like Luca. What would Luca do to hide something important? What would he use as a key?”
(Annette):”Haaaa! This will take ages! Everyone in the academy knows Luca loves making overcomplicated puzzles! You probably have to remember something very specific to get to the solution!”
(Bernadetta):”Something… very specific… You know, Luca would use something in this room as key… maybe it wasn’t meant to be a key until he gave it a good look because… because…”
(Annette):”Because it’s something he uses every day?”
(Bernadetta):”No… that would be too obvious. Something you normally don’t keep in your hands…”
(Annette):”Maybe a candle? Or literally something one can't handle? Like an heavy chandelier, a piece of hot iron…”
(Bernadetta):”Hold on… What did you say after the candle?”
(Annette):”The heavy chandelier?”
(Bernadetta):”No, before that.”
(Annette):”Something one can’t handle?”
(Bernadetta):”You can't handle it. You can’t… handle it. …Handle it… Handle?”
Turning her head towards the closet's drawers, Bernadetta widely opens her eyes upon realising the solution.
(Bernadetta):”You can’t handle it… unless it’s BROKEN! Like the handle that broke three months ago!”
She immediately kneels down to have a closer look at the broken handle of the closet’s second drawer.
(Bernadetta):”No… It doesn’t come out…”
(Annette):”Try to twist it. Maybe that’s how it can come out.”
(Bernadetta):”Okay, I'm unscrewin- Ah? It came out! Look!”
Pulling the drawer handle revealed that the end stuck in the wood had the shape of a star, clearly made to be used as the same purpose of a key.
(Annette):”Awesome! But where does this key belong? We saw both the inside and the outside, and we didn’t find any keyhole!”
(Bernadetta):”It can't be in my side… otherwise I would have found it way sooner…”
Annette slowly goes on the back of the wardrobe to give it a better look.
(Annette):”As far as you know, was your closet also broken on this side?”
(Bernadetta):”Nope, not at all, how would a closet be broken behin-… Annette! You’re a genius!”
(Annette):”I-I am ? Thank you. You think it’s hidden on this side don’t you?”
(Bernadetta):”Exactly! Because it's the place you least expect after you find the broken handle. Look closely Annette! There must be something different behind here…”
With Annette checking the lower side and Bernadetta the upper side instead, the two have to find the last piece of the puzzle.
(Annette):”Bernie look here! This little square right here is slightly darker than the rest of the wardrobe, maybe I can press it… No it doesn’t work.”
(Bernadetta):”Let me look… See this little empty space here?”
Bernadetta points at a tiny rectangularly shaped empty space, and then shows Annette the broken handle, which has a little bump near the star shape, that most certainly will fit in there. Bernie uses the key…
(Bernadetta):”It fell down!”
(Annette):”And that’s the star shape! Open it!”
Bernie inserts the key in the keyhole and turns it until something happens.
(Bernadetta):”It’s rotating smoothly!”
The key immediately stopped after a loud click, signal that the double bottom was opened.
(Annette):”Yes! Come on Bernie let’s see!”
Annette and Bernadetta run quickly on the front side
(Annette):”Detective Bernie, the honour is yours!”
Said Annette bowing to Bernie.
(Bernadetta):”Okay. The moment of truth, what are you hiding Luca? Oh no! No no no! This can’t be!”