Chapter Text
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Affair
The Farrons of Cocoon are a long established branch of the monarchy. Blue blooded and aristocratic to the core, with the lands and the servants to go with it. And like every other noble house, there was scandal to be had if one only looked close enough. The most recent, the most whispered about in Society circles, were the tales of the late Duke's wandering wife. Beautiful and deceitful, a soul as black as her face was snow white, many believed the eldest daughter had been the result of an illicit affair with a butler, quickly dismissed despite years of service.
That was the reason why, everyone said, that the youngest daughter had been made heir to the estate. For the younger Lady Serah was almost certainly of the Duke's blood, seeing as she had to have been conceived in the years when the late Duchess was confined to the Farrons' country mansion in Pulse. Unkindly, most noted it was probably for the best. The elder Lady Claire had been decidedly unsuccessful at her debut, all icy standoffishness as if her lineage were so pure. Lady Serah, word had spread, was everything Lady Claire was not. Lady Serah's debut was to be this coming season, the first time the Farrons would be in the Cocoon Circle for years, and Society was aflutter with anticipation.
For despite the scandal, the Farron name was still peerage and there was wealth, untold wealth, wealth as could only belong to a Dukedom. And Lady Serah was to be a most attractive catch to those that could claim her.
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Disgust
Lady Claire Farron sat at her father's writing desk, biting her lip as she looked at the accounts. It was a terrible habit, one that a string of governesses and her father's displeasure had tried to break, but in times of great stress it would re-emerge with a vengeance.
The numbers were not lying to her. Upon paying for Serah's season, there would be no money left to pay for the Pulse manor staff. Claire had scrimped and saved as much as she could, Serah had put her magic to use in reinventing the gowns she had, but there were expectations of the daughter of a Duke. Her closet had to be immaculate, faultless, and that took money. Money the Farron estate would no longer have.
Claire had taken on the household accounts herself once it became clear that the Duchess could not handle the books on account of her constantly failing health. Claire had been astonished at what she'd discovered. Money leaking from every possible area, wasted on unnecessary staff, maintaining a pond that no one visited, horses no one rode. The Farrons had been close to bankruptcy then, and now all these years later, the Farron estate was barely getting by on a shoestring.
Upon her parents' death Claire had taken the books to the Farron solicitor, seventeen and terrified of what the numbers meant. The kindly man had sighed and shook his head over the accounts, before looking up at her with sympathy in his eyes.
Have hope, dear. We may be able to get through this yet.
Together they'd formulated a plan. Cut down the staff to the bare minimum, sell off what they could quietly. The Farron name had to be preserved. No one could know what dire straits the estate faced if they wanted to save Serah's prospects to marry well, as the estate needed her to. There was no hope for Claire, not with the disastrous season she'd had. But Serah- Serah could be saved. If Serah could marry as the heir to a dukedom ought, her life and the estate would be secure.
It was a reasonable plan, indeed the only plan, but it still worried at her. Claire wanted nothing more than for her sister to be happy. She would have destroyed worlds to make her sister happy. And even though Serah had agreed to the plan, agreed so selflessly to marry herself away to the highest bidder as it were, Claire was still disgusted with herself for allowing things to get to this point. If she'd been more aware, more alert, she should have been able to see the signs. If she'd known she wouldn't have allowed herself to be so disappointing at her season. She would have been able to save Serah without requiring her little sister to sacrifice a thing.
But here they were. And Claire could not help but feel as if she had failed.