The day passed and a new one began, but the problems of yesterday persisted.
Esme had woken up, her brows creased and a frown plastered on her face, Mrs Bright had found herself in a foul mood, early in the morning.
Yesterday she had prepped and readied herself for her marital duty, and to indulge herself in her husband's company however Arthur suddenly brought a guest, Darren, forcing her to change her plans for the night, as they had to discuss where Darren could help with the situation regarding Bulat.
Such a sudden change of plans, had forced her into a foul mood but she couldn't truly express her displeasure and had to put her frustrations aside at the time and unfortunately despite it being a new morning, her mood hadn't changed much.
As much as she wanted to blame Arthur for it, she couldn't, after all it's not like he suddenly wasn't interested, it's just that far more important matters came up.
And now here she was making breakfast, for three people. Although the breakfast was being made later than usual since both she and Arthur ended up sleeping in. It would seem they were more tired than they had initially thought.
Darren had stayed in the guest room and thanks to the agreement they came to with him, the young man would be staying with them for a short while.
In a way she felt bad for the young man, the guest room had no bed, he would have slept on the couch however for some reason he insisted on sleeping on the floor.
Apparently, he did not feel so comfortable being out in the open living room, she couldn't understand it but if he was insistent she and Arthur didn't protest.
It was a shame she didn't get her necklace back, but at the very least, they now had an ally that could be used against Bulat.
Truthfully she didn't know how to truly feel about that, the only thing she had from her mother was now gone forever, probably sold somewhere and worn by someone else.
Her heart ached at such thoughts and her hand reached out to her neck, feeling the warmth of her collarbone.
"How are you feeling?"
Her husband's voice reached her ears as he entered the kitchen, almost startling her.
His voice triggered a feeling in her that she couldn't recognize, it was an odd feeling of…
She couldn't describe it properly but it called her to turn her body and gaze upon him, before she would have turned around to give him her attention as it was polite, however right now her body moved as if it was vital to see his face.
She moved, turning her back on the stove and witnessing his features for the hundredth time since she married him.
She studied him up and down, her scrutinising his features to the letter,
appreciating his shining silver hair, his soft steel colored eyes, and his beautiful dark skin, the color of chocolate.
Within her, Esme felt an irresistible urge to reach out to her and touch him, feel the softness of his hair and smoothness of his skin.
This particular morning, Arthur had something that covered his torso, instead of just being bare-chested like usual, it was a sign that he hadn't done his morning exercises.
However, despite the lack of anything enticing, her heart beat fast the moment she laid eyes on him, as if she had finished a full sprint.
She felt the need to rush and smother him with a big embrace, for what reason she couldn't really say however she held herself back mostly due to her confusion regarding where this sudden affection she felt came from but also because she felt a bit shy.
Instead, she answered his question, ensuring he did not notice whatever was going on with her.
"Better than yesterday, but not by much, I probably would be feeling better if you didn't bring a guest"
Her response carried a playful air, her words being more of a light and unserious complaint rather than a show of displeasure.
"I see you're still upset"
Again his voice felt right in her ears, she was certain he wasn't speaking any differently than before but for some reason, it felt better and clearer than before, it was as if before now her ears were blocked, preventing her from hearing what he truly sounded like.
"I'm not upset, just stating the truth"
He grinned at her words, a grin that to her eyes at the moment was bright, playful, and almost adorable as if her husband were but a cute little lad.
The slight crease of her brows told him everything he needed to know.
"If you weren't upset you wouldn't need to state the "truth" as you call it"
She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and shrugged, playing along while making sure to keep herself calm but despite her efforts, a small smile tugged at her lips, revealing a happiness that she felt within her heart.
She's enjoyed speaking and having a conversation with him before, as an Explorer he had interesting stories however now it felt like the very fact they were talking was what made her heart drum gleefully against her chest.
"Okay yes, I am, but it's not like I don't understand why you had to bring him here, so I'm just wasting my energy being upset at nothing"
She admitted, although as of several seconds ago that was no longer true. Esme let out a shrug that was followed by a sigh, exhaling and then inhaling again, continuing her attempts to calm herself.
She was certainly being odd today, for some reason.
"I can't say I'm not upset either, but what can you do?"
He shrugged his shoulders, it wasn't every day that one essentially blue balled themselves, so that was quite the achievement
"Is he still asleep?"
"I would assume, the fact that he slept on the floor and is still not awake is impressive"
She answered, feeling herself calm down a bit, finally allowing herself to be able to focus on what they were talking about.
She couldn't really imagine falling asleep on the floor, resting on your back for a little bit was fine but complete sleep? That was impossible to her, she needed a bed.
"If he grew up in the slums, he's probably used to it, honestly at some point the ground starts to feel like a bed"
Arthur quickly assumed as much, he figured those who lived in the slums did not get to enjoy certain luxuries in the same way normal folk did.
"That's a lie"
Her denial came immediately, although she's never spent more than a few minutes resting on the ground, she did not believe that it was possible for the hard floor to feel like a soft bed.
She felt herself returning to normal, leaving her to wonder, what that little bout of irregular emotions was about, speaking to Arthur was a normal occurrence and had never triggered something like that before.
"Obviously it doesn't happen overnight but if you constantly sleep on the floor eventually your body just adapts"
She didn't think he was serious and thus gave him a disbelieving stare, the type that told you 'I'm not an idiot' however his straight face forced her to raise a brow, realising he was serious.
"How would you know that?"
"I've done it several times, you know being an explorer and all"
This time her look changed to an expression that told 'of course'. He once told her about hiding inside the innards of a monster, obviously, he's slept on the floor before.
She let out a hum of curiosity, now she was wondering.
"Don't bother, it's terrible"
"If it feels like a bed, how is it terrible?"
She displayed a small amused smile as she called out that little contradiction, forcing Arthur to roll his eyes at her.
"I said it feels like a bed, not that it was a bed, your body just stops noticing that the floor is hard"
With that correction, Esme discarded any ideas of trying to sleep on the floor and quickly decided to change the subject.
"Today we'll be visiting our neighbors, hopefully they'll be willing to work with us."
"I'm sure they will be, although it's possible that Bulat has already threatened them to be against us"
A shrug came as he spoke, acknowledging that as a possibility. Arthur was already assuming that the witnesses to the attack in the slums had already been bought by Bulat.
"And if they are? What are we going to do?"
That question hung in the air, it did not simply ask about the possibility of their neighbors being against them, but it asked about the possibility of failure as well.
They did not have anything to fall back on in the event that this attempt at ridding the neighborhood of Bulat didn't work. In this instance failing to bring down Bulat meant Bulat succeeded in bringing down Arthur.
"If Bulat already bribed them we'll just have to continue without their help"
Esme could only agree with him, she couldn't really think of anything that would be a backup should their neighbours be bought by Bulat, although she believed with Duke Lionmane's backing, it shouldn't be too difficult.