[RedRose4]

When Akira made his way back, Sangre had already began cracking the eggs, putting in the wet ingredients but waited for Akira before adding the dry ones. When he returned, the chef moved over, allowing both him and Harumi to help. “You can stir the batter. Harumi will add the flour, baking powder, sugar, all of the dry stuff and you just keep stirring okay? If your arm begins to cramp up after a little while just let me know.”
Sangre passed Akira a whisk and stepped aside, letting the other two focus on the batter. He wanted to get their minds off of what had been going on, and baking just seemed…easygoing and carefree.

Harumi smiled, her eyes moving from Sangre back to Akira. “Okay, ready Akira?” She asked with a soft voice, taking the flour first and putting it over the bowl, beginning to very slowly add it into the eggs and milk, making sure not to add too much at once.
~
“What do you mean talk?” Elizabeth’s happy and demure personality began to drop slightly when she asked that.
Josh took a few seconds before speaking. When he did, he brought up what she did to Harumi, mentioning the few things he heard about the staff, how she was rude and demanding whenever he left her alone with them.
Of course Elizabeth looked taken aback. She frowned, the look on her face something Josh hadn’t seen before. “I didn’t do any of that! They’re all lying.”
“I doubt that everyone is lying Elizabeth. Listen….the wedding next month. It has to be….we have to call it off.” Josh said the words hesitantly, the look the woman was giving him was making him uneasy.

“What!?” Elizabeth’s eyes widened, the look of anger appearing instantly. “Who is she? Tell me? Who‘s the whore you‘re sleeping with?” She began to scream, her eyes beginning to tear as her frustration increased.

Josh creased his brow, looking down at the ground and shaking his head. “No one…I’m not with another woman.” he said truthfully, not having the courage to tell her about being gay yet, or that he was with Akira sexually. That would only put a target on his servants back.
“You’re lying.” She screamed back.

“I’m not!” Josh’s voice began to raise as well, some of the people in the castle watching from afar. “Listen Elizabeth, I can’t deal with this right now. Just…we’re young, we have a lot of time to discuss marriage, there’s no reason to rush into it. And from now on, you can’t come over here, I’ll go to you from now on. Take a step into my home and I’ll get my guards to drag you out. Got it?”
Josh was nearly breathless by the time he stopped yelling, almost regretting the tone of voice he used on the woman standing in front of him. Putting a hand to his forehead, Josh sighed and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry Eli-”

“Fucking bastard.” Elizabeth whispered shakily, shaking her head and bunching her hands up into fists. “You’ll regret it Josh. You’re a…disgusting, worthless man! Fuck. You.”
Before Josh could reply, he felt a hard slap across his face, his jaw going slack and his eyes furrowing to glare at her, not saying another word. Instead he watched her leave, storming out of his home and slamming the door behind her. The silence then overwhelmed the room, the people watching slowly disappearing while Josh stood there, frozen.