ALL NOVEL Clearance Is Clear
Starting that day, Viena becomes more diligent and hardworking at whatever she does. She wakes up early at five every day, a half-hour after Randia to help him with house chores and prepare his tools and needs. She even hugs Randia every time he sets out for the cathedral and when he comes home from work.
On a Trinda night, Randia went home so late at midnight due to an emergency. When he arrives home and opens the door, he finds Viena in the vestibule with her pillow, seemingly fallen asleep while waiting for him to come home. He let out a big breath and gently picked her up, put her in her bed, and tucked her blanket in. He knew she was up to something, and he tried to ignore it. Now that it goes a little too far, he has no choice but to talk to her about it.
In the pre-dawn, Viena woke up and wanted to do the usual extra routine. However, when she went down the stairs, she already found Randia sitting on a chair with two cups of warm drinks at the table.
"Come, Viena."
Viena walks slowly while yawning and stretching her hands. She even jumps a little to start up her day.
"Yeah? Do you want some tea? Granny says putting in some mint leaves in your cup will make it even better."
"Sit down."
Randia's short reply and his firm stare at Viena make her feel a little confused. In the middle of stillness and silence, Randia takes a sip of his glass of hot water. Viena, who had no idea what to do, mimics her father. She looked at her cup and found out that Randia had prepared her favorite drink, milk.
"Wow, thank you, Papa!" Viena smiled widely despite her droopy eyes.
"Viena, I believe I told you that you can always be straight with me."
"Yeah? I think you did . . . Why are you bringing that up?" Viena propped up her head with her hand.
"You have been trying to get on my good side since two weeks ago. What do you want?"
When the question popped up from Randia's mouth, Viena turned so happy and a little bit embarrassed.
"I-I didn't do that! I'm just trying to be a good girl!"
"I've seen a blind man do a better con than that. Now, drop it and tell me, what do you want?"
Then Viena explained about her plan with Lisabelle for the weekend. Randia's spontaneous response shows a great deal of disagreement that is clearly expressed in his eyes. They argued about it and it gradually got a little loud and heated, especially Viena who felt that her efforts were turning sour and futile.
"It won't be anything too much! Why are you always like this?! What is wrong with you?!"
"It seems that you somehow hit your head too hard on something and become very stupid and forgetful. Have you already forgotten all the things that happened in these past few weeks? You got abducted! You got your leg broken! You almost got dragged into a mess of a crime! Be reasonable! Think, Viena!"
"It's DIFFERENT! Those things are not going to happen THIS TIME!"
"This world is always the same wherever you go, Viena! Get it into your skull! Everyone can do everything! Even a brat gets so unstable she stabs people walking on the street!"
Viena starts to cry and shout jumbled words when Randia unconsciously raises his voice. After a while, only the sound of Viena sobbing can be heard.
"Enough. We will leave this place tomorrow."
Viena ran towards Randia hysterically when she heard those words. She cries even louder and keeps hitting Randia. She pleads and gets angry alternately, asking that Randia will take his words back. Eventually, their dispute was heard by both Eleanor and Lisabelle. They immediately wake up and walk towards the door. Because it was the first time they had heard Viena crying this hard.
They wanted to go downstairs to see what happened and opened their respective doors simultaneously. Eleanor and Lisabelle looked at each other with a confused look, but then Lisabelle shook her head and pointed at herself with her thumbs. Eleanor gets her granddaughter's message; Lisabelle wants her to let her handle the situation. Hence, she nodded and closed back her door to wait for the result.
Lisabelle calmly walks down the stairs. Since she could more or less guess what happened, she had already had a plan about what to do.
"Huft. Come on, you two . . . isn't it a little bit too early for all this noise? What are you guys doing?"
"Your thoughtless invitation made this happen."
Randia cold reply makes Lisabelle scratches her head. Then, as if ignoring him, Lisabelle approached Viena who had wetted the sofa with her tears. Seeing Viena sobbing so hard like she was having a convulsion makes Lisabelle a little heart-wrenched and takes a slightly fretful stance towards Randia.
"I can't believe you got riled up by a kid less than half your size and age. That's low, you know? Get out and cool your head. We will talk later. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding," Lisabelle cynically glanced at Randia while rubbing Viena's back.
"There, there. Stop crying damn it. Big Sis is here, and I'm going nowhere," Lisabelle slowly moved Viena's head from the sofa pillow to her armpit.
While Lisabelle is trying to calm Viena down, Randia leaves the room to take a breather outside. He knows that Lisabelle is right, the only one who is being irrational is him. It made him dumbfounded when he realized that he was acting strange. To the morning dews that hang on the leaves, he asked; 'Since when emotion has built such a throne over his head?'.
It's 6 AM, and the sky is gradually turning blue though the dark still reigns. Viena is currently in her room after Lisabelle put her to sleep. Now, there is only Randia and Lisabelle sitting face-to-face on the front porch. Randia was looking away in the distance, while Lisabelle stared right into his eyes.
"So? What is it that makes you so against the idea?"
"Her safety."
"Fine. That is justified. Sigh . . . I admit that I wanted to keep this a secret from her, so I guess I was to blame also."
Lisabelle starts pushing her rocking chair and relax her back.
"I wanted to go hunt for games with her. She is lacking physical exercise, I'm sure you will agree with me on this."
Randia kept her mouth shut. With no response, Lisabelle continued.
"We are planning to go to my uncle's domain, I've sent a letter to him. He is a small-time baron governing his domain in Neims. At this time of the year, there are lots of games to hunt in the southern forest next to it. There shouldn't be any issue, that place is completely safe, there are lots of guards and all are loyal to my family. The last crime committed is a dine and dash, and it was three years ago."
"Also, to make it clearer, we are going to go along with 22 other men, including Alan and Gwen. We also have official permission from the academy stating that it counts as physical activity needs. So, what do you think? Can you be more lenient with your daughter? It gets so boring having to stay in the house all the time. You have to understand that she also has needs other than food, clothes, and a roof to live under."
Again, Randia doesn't answer. He just keeps quiet until it's time for him to go to work. He grabbed his bag and put on his shoes before leaving the house. Lisabelle takes this gesture as cowardice and his inability to make a decision. However, it's not going to be wise for her to say it out loud to his face. That's why she has another way to put it.
"Just so you know! SILENCE MEANS YES! OKAY?! You hear me?!"
When Randia vanishes to the streets, Lisabelle clicks her tongue.
"Asshole."
Junda has come, and the agenda starts tomorrow. It's 7 am and Viena who slept with Lisabelle wakes up. She walks into her room, only to find that Randia hasn't come home because no single thing in the room has been put out of place since last night. She becomes anxious, thinking that Randia might actually leave her.
Lisabelle wakes up also soon after and she sees Viena looking outside the window with a worried face.
"Hey."
". . . ."
"What is it?"
"Do you think Papa left me?"
Listening to Viena's question makes Lisabelle laugh. After all, she had thought of this possibility and took insurance a week ago. She had stolen something that looked important from Randia's absurdly big bag. Viena who had no idea of her plan, thought that Lisabelle was mocking her.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"Relax, kid. Come and sleep some more!" Lisabelle waves her hand.
"No! I'm serious!"
"Hah. Well, if you are that worried, go and check that drawer."
Viena followed the instructions and opened the drawer that lay next to Lisabelle's dressmaking toolbox. Inside it, she found a small linen pouch. Inside the pouch, there is a pair of rings adorned with bright and flawless pink diamonds.
"This is . . . did you steal it?"
"Not quite. Let's say . . . I keep it. So he won't leave that easily."
Viena feels conflicted, but then she somehow agrees with Lisabelle's method. This way, the chance for Randia to leave her is lessened, and that is all that matters.
"Why can he just come with us anyway?" Vivi asked.
"Nah, I don't think so. He got eyes on him, remember?"
Suddenly, they heard the sound of the main door opening. Lisabelle and Viena looked at each other. Seeing that Viena seems reluctant to do anything about it although hoping that something good will happen, Lisabelle went down to engage with Randia in her place. The man seemed unchanged, other than he smelled rather funny thanks to all the stuff he worked with all day and all night.
"Hey. Welcome back."
Randia doesn't say anything and keeps himself busy with his stuff.
"So, about tomorrow . . . You have no objection, right?"
"Are you confident that you can take care of her?"
"Yes."
"She is the type to chase the fireflies while everyone is asleep. Can you take care of her, Lisabelle Arbona?"
"Yes. I can."
". . . . You should start packing then."
"Hear that, Vivi? Go on then, thank him and make some promises or something," Lisabelle smiles and calls out to Viena who was eavesdropping from the stairs.
Viena did as Lisabelle told her. She pecks a kiss on Randia's left cheek to apologize and thank him for letting her go out with Lisabelle. She promised him that they would be home before dinner and try to learn to cook some jerky for the giant of a man he calls Papa.