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Bernadetta was nervous. Well, she was nervous on a constant basis, but she had a really good reason this time.
After all, her first and dearest friend agreed to have a tea party with her. And she could not afford to mess anything up.
Bernadetta never thought she would ever have any friends as the result of what her father tried to groom her to be. Years of “etiquette lessons” his father drilled into her head to be the ideal wife had effectively turned her into an anxious, low self-esteem wreck if she was being honest. And even though her mother cared about her well-being, she never did that much to stop her father from being so abrasive and critical about what he thought were her shortcomings. This caused the girl to basically give up on believing she could have any sort of positive attachment with kids her age.
But on the first day the gorgeous boy worked as their gardener’s assistant, he came to her with a smile and an interest to get to know her. At first, she thought the meeting was a ploy to embarrass or demean her. But after following him to play in the garden for a few hours, her hopes slightly rose that this friendship would be real. They would eventually grow closer during their play sessions when the gorgeous assistant went on his break, which made Bernadetta’s heart flutter with hope she hadn’t had in a long time.
After a few weeks of getting to know one another, Bernadetta thought she was comfortable enough around him to invite him to one of her tea parties. She mustered all the courage she had to invite him to her room tomorrow when he was on his break, which led to him saying yes much to her relief. She was also thankful that her father wouldn’t be at the estate at that time, especially because her father would probably throttle her friend to teach her a lesson on not fraternizing with commoner scum.
And so, Bernadetta spent most of the morning setting up the table, chairs, pastries, and tea, as well as overcoming a few anxiety attacks, to make this the best tea party for them both.
She just hoped she wouldn’t screw anything up during the time they were together.
“No!” Bernadetta vocalized as a way to silence those negative thoughts, “You’ll be fine, Bernie! Everything’s going to be okay! You’ve got this!”
Those words seemed to work for the young girl until she started panicking again when she heard a knock on the door.
_____________
Yuri was surprised when Bernadetta suddenly asked him if he wanted to have a tea party within the confines of her room. He didn’t expect the meek girl to invite him to something like that, given how she acted around him when they first met. But he supposed this invitation meant that she saw him as a good friend now, and that was good for making progress with his mission.
A few weeks ago, he was hired by a Noble connected to House Varley to eliminate Count Varley’s daughter due to the Crest of Indech the girl had. He thought it was disgusting that someone would send a child to do his dirty work, especially when the mission involved killing another child who probably didn’t deserve to die so young.
But the money he was offering would be enough to keep his mother well off for a few months, so he pushed those feelings of morality down his throat until after the job was done. If he were to choose between his mother’s needs or his own, he would choose his mother’s needs every time.
And if the tea party went well, he would get a lot closer to Bernadetta, which would make her more vulnerable when he had to do the foul deed. So, with an accepting smile that could charm the pants of any Noble, he said he looked forward to it.
Now, Yuri was heading up to her room in her family’s large estate to meet her for the tea party. As he was walking up the annoyingly long hallway to reach said room, he thought he must have left a large impression on Bernadetta if she felt comfortable enough to let someone else into her room. He recalled her telling him that it was the only place she ever felt safe to be herself, especially when she had to endure her father’s abuse. If he had the choice, he would have preferred killing him than her. At least that way, Bernadetta would have been happier without that scumbag controlling her life.
“I need to focus,” He thought as he continued walking, “It’s not like she needs to think about how to live her life when this is finished.”
That thought hurt his heart more than he expected.
When he finally reached her room, he knocked on the door a few times to let her know that he was here. The door violently swung open, nearly missing Yuri as he stepped back in the nick of time. As he tried to refocus his eyes on the now open room, he noticed Bernadetta with a frazzled look as her eyes locked on towards his.
“Oh boy, she’s already starting to have a nervous breakdown,” Yuri noted, “Better make sure to calm her down before the tea party starts.”
He wanted her to be as happy as she could. At least that way, she would be able to experience some fun times before she had to die.
_____________
“Ohh, good going Bernie! He just got here, and you almost hit his perfectly gorgeous face with the door! Now he’s not going to want anything to do with the tea party and hate you for the rest of his life, I just know it!”
The negative thoughts and feelings started to overwhelm her as she was losing control of her breathing. She got so nervous from hearing his knocks, that she opened the door as fast as she could without thinking. She planned so hard to make this tea party perfect and she ruined it before it even began. But before she felt herself spiralling even further, Yuri gave her shoulder a gentle tug to get her to focus on him.
“It’s alright, Bernadetta. The door missed my handsome mug. See?” Yuri said as he flashed a bright smile towards her.
After thoroughly looking at him for a few seconds, Bernadetta concluded that her friend was indeed fine. And she felt immense relief that he wasn’t mad about it either.
“O-Oh, I’m really glad,” she muttered as she let out a sigh of relief.
“So, shall we get this tea party started? I’m betting I’ll be amazed with all the things you’ve got set up.”
“Um, right! I’ve got tea and sweets and everything ready! I hope you’ll like it!”
“Looking forward to it,” The boy replied with a smile.
As Yuri went to sit on the chair she pointed at, Bernadetta felt a surge of confidence within her. She would make sure all those hours of preparations would pay off to make this the best tea party ever.
"You can do this, Bernie! You’ve got this!”
Because for her first friend, she would do everything in her power to make it the best experience for them both!
_____________
The tea party was pretty fun, Yuri thought. After calming Bernadetta down after the door incident, she directed him to his seat and poured tea in his cup in a professional manner. He expected she’d accidentally overflow it or let some of the tea spill on the table, but she proved him wrong.
“Oh, I’ve got the sweets I told you about here! They’re one of the Empire’s best and they’re really good too!”
“Yeah? Don’t mind if I do,” Yuri responded with his hand reaching for one of the sweets.
“Looks like she’s a lot calmer now. A lot less clumsy than usual too."
He had to admit that the sweets were tasty. He always liked the ones made in Embarr since it reminded him of the Sweet Buns he used to eat when he lived with his mother in Faerghus. He supposed Bernadetta figured that out when she made her preparations.
The young girl even looked confident and relaxed as she talked with him about the stuffed animals she sewed and the carnivorous plants she loved to feed in the garden. Why a girl as emotionally fragile as her liked those types of plants eluded him, but he was content to listen and contribute to the conversation. It was honestly refreshing for Yuri to converse with someone other than he people from his village without resorting to lip service and false smiles. He was certain this moment would remain within his memory forever.
Soon, the tea party wrapped up with both Yuri and Bernadetta making on last bit of small talk before Yuri had to resume his gardening duties.
“You know, I had a lot of fun Bernadetta. I’m not usually one for tea parties, but I gotta admit you really outdid yourself with this. So, thanks a lot for making this tea party one I’ll always remember,” Yuri remarked with a genuine, charming smile.
Bernadetta felt her face flush red as she received the compliment. Its radiance was almost too much for her.
“Oh gosh, his smile’s going to make me faint! Nope, stay cool Bernie! Just answer back like a normal person and you’ll be fine.”
Taking a deep breath, the purple-haired girl replied, “I’m glad you liked it. I…um…took a lot of time and effort to make this special, so I’m happy it went so well.”
“Mhmm, me too. Now I’ve gotta make sure to head back to the garden. Maybe we can do this again sometime. See ya!”
“B-bye!” And with that, Yuri started heading back to the mansion garden.
As she saw his form going farther and farther away, she let out a deep sigh of relief.
“You did it, Bernie! The tea party was a huge success, and you didn’t mess it up like usual. Oh, and he even wants to do another one too!”
As she was busy tidying up her room, she let out a small smile. Maybe her life wouldn’t be as rough as she thought so long as she had her dear friend by her side.
_____________
At the dead of night, Yuri was deep in thought over his current situation. He had clearly grown close enough to Bernadetta after looking at what happened today. If he would have chosen to assassinate her now, he doubted there’d be any major issues on his part.
But…
After spending so much time with her and experiencing such fun moments together, he truly thought of the reclusive girl as a friend. And his time with her during the tea party solidified that notion of friendship.
“Damnit! I just had to get too into my role…”
He didn’t want to feel this way, but Yuri was conflicted on what to do. He was too far into his mission, and the gold would be a huge boon to help his mother. But killing Bernadetta was no longer something he can just push aside his conscience like before. He really wished he could change the target Count Varley instead, then he would have done so on the first day no question asked.
His client however, specifically requested the Count’s daughter to die, and they were very adamant about it. They even sent a secret message ordering the assassination to be carried out within the week.
And so, he focused his mindset on his mother’s wellbeing to give him the motivation to do the dirty deed. The money to provide her with the medicine to keep on living, the money to help ease her daily life in their poor village, and the belief that no matter what foul deeds he commits, it would be worth it being able to see her again with a joyous smile on her face.
He grasped the knife he’d kept hidden for so long, his solemn face reflected from the silver material as it was alight from the moon's glow.
“Sorry, Bernadetta.”
“After this is over, I hope we’ll meet again under the Goddess’ protection one day.”