Allure Of The Night

Music Recommendation: Violin Concerto No. 2 RV 315- Antonio Vivaldi

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Marquee Hooke and Marchioness Hooke, who arrived in front of the chapel of the Brigade town, noticed the few carriages parked just a short distance from the chapel. Lady Aurora asked her husband,

“It seems like not every guest has arrived and are probably on their way. Even the Moriartys are yet to make their presence.”

“Looks like it, dear,” Marquee Hooke answered his wife as he straightened his coat. He then looked in the direction they had come and remarked, “Where is Rosetta’s carriage?”

“It should be here in a minute or two at the most,” Lady Aurora replied, and she took a quick look at her reflection in the chapel’s window. She curled the back of her hair, which now rested on one of her shoulders.

But even after five minutes passed, their daughter’s carriage that had left from Wright’s mansion was nowhere in sight, and the Hooke couple turned a little agitated. Lady Aurora said with a frown, “Rosetta was very excited and happy today, there’s no way she would have returned to the mansion.”

“I find it quite strange that none of the Moriarty members aren’t here either,” Marquee Hooke’s lips set themselves in a thin line. He said, “Let me go take a quick look at the guests inside the chapel.”

Marquee Hooke stepped inside the chapel, and Lady Aurora followed him. The guests greeted the couple,

“Good morning, Marquee Hooke and Lady Aurora. It is good to see you here, some of us were wondering if we got to the wrong wedding venue.”

“Is the wedding going to take place later than the mentioned time? I thought it was going to be sharp at ten, but it is already ten past ten,” said another guest.

“Has the bride arrived? I am sure she looks as beautiful as you did in your marriage, Lady Aurora,” one of the women praised the marchioness. “Where is the groom and his family?” She asked.

Lady Aurora stiffly smiled at the guests, greeting them and she said, “They should be here soon. Excuse us,” and she pulled her husband out of the chapel and hurriedly whispered to him, “Walter, these are only our guests! I don’t see any of the Moriartys guests. Something isn’t right!”

Even the Marquee, who had noticed it too, turned worried before a scowl appeared on his face, “Don’t tell me that the boy isn’t going to uphold his marriage deal. Did he decide to cancel the wedding?!”

“Impossible!” Lady Aurora dismissed her husband’s thoughts.

Because the seal was made in the Council’s registry with Vincent’s blood and his signature, there was no way one could turn back from the deal made. She gritted her teeth and asked, “Do you think Vincent and his family did something to Rosetta? What if they took her somewhere to delay the wedding?”

“We should go and meet the Council right away,” Marquee Hooke suggested, and then he asked in doubt, “But what if we are wrong?”

“Rosetta’s carriage left right along with us. It should have been here by now! The reason it isn’t here is because the Moriartys had kidnapped her!” Lady Aurora spoke angrily, ready to breathe fire through her nose. She called Lady Camille’s butler, who was their coachman for the day. “Myles!”

The butler quickly reached where the Hook couple stood. Bowing his head, he asked, “Milady?”

“Pull the carriage. We’ll be going back to Skellington,” Lady Aurora ordered him, her voice turning louder.

When one of the guests who sitting inside the chapel’s entrance heard the vampiress’s, the person came out and asked, “Did you forget something, Marchioness? Allow me to send my coachman to fetch it for you from your mansion.” The person only wanted to maintain a good relationship and gain favour from the Hookes, who were of a high status.

Lady Aurora shook her head and put on a polite smile, “Thank you for the offer, Mr. Sleetcliff, but this is something we’ll need to go and get it done by ourselves.”

A few more guests stepped out of the chapel, and one more guest asked, “Marquee Hooke, is the wedding hour being postponed? Is everything alright?”

Marquee Hooke raised his hands, smiling, and said, “The wedding will be taking place a little delay as the bride and groom are yet to reach.”

Considering how the time was being changed, some of the guests got suspicious, and someone asked, “Did something happen to them that they weren’t able to come here?”

“The path of the forest does look the same everywhere because of the snow. Maybe they got confused?”

“Maybe the wedding isn’t going to take place,” another guest murmured, and more whispers emerged. “Do you think the bride eloped? I don’t think the Viscount’s son is a coward to run.”

Marquee Hooke noticed his wife losing her cool exterior and he quickly convinced their guests, by saying, “Everyone, please take a seat inside the chapel. We will be back soon. The wedding is going to take place today. Forgive us for the delay and the inconvenience caused at the moment, but we hope you will bear with the time.”

The butler, Myles, who had gone to bring the carriage that he had only parked a few minutes ago, returned with it and jumped from his seat. He opened the carriage door, and Lady Aurora walked towards it.

But before Lady Aurora and Marquee Hooke could climb inside the carriage, they heard the sound of the hooves and the neighing of the horses, accompanied by the sound of the wheels of the carriage. Soon a carriage came into view.

“That’s Rosetta’s carriage!” Lady Aurora sighed in relief on seeing the carriage and she then turned to the side and remarked, “My daughter is not one to elope. The Hooke’s are no cowards to run over simple things as a marriage. We are a reputed family..”

The guests who had earlier remarked hide behind each other before nodding at the marchioness’s words and one of them murmured, “Pardon me for my words, Marchioness.” Soon the coachman pulled the carriage in front of the chapel and got down with a look of nervousness on his face.

“Open the carriage door,” Marquee Hook ordered, before harshly questioning the lowly servant, “What took you so long?”

The coachman looked terrified and didn’t dare to raise his head to look at his master and mistress. He stuttered, “S—Sire that… Lady Rose-setta…”

“What happened to Rosetta?” Lady Aurora’s eyes narrowed at the coachman. She quickly reached near the carriage door. Placing her hand on the door handle, she pulled it open and saw her daughter’s wedding gown. But her daughter was missing and she demanded, “Where is Rosetta?!”

Though the weather was cold, the coachman began to sweat. Instead of telling the truth about how he had listened to the young mistress’s order, he said, “Mr. Vincent Moriarty and Lady Rosetta are in the chapel of the town Hollow Valley, milady.”

The coachman gulped and replied, “Lady Rosetta…”

“So this wasn’t the venue? Why weren’t we informed about it?” One of the female guests inquired. “We should all go there if the bride and groom are there.”

The guests climbed inside the carriages one by one and left the chapel, while the debt collectors, who had self-invited themselves, stared at the Hooke couple from afar.

When the last guest, next to the Hooke’s carriage, inquired, “Marquee Hooke, why did you change the venue?” Marquee Hooke replied,

“We distributed the wedding invitations to the entire town and other acquaintances of ours. Maybe the Moriarty family didn’t inform us about the changes,” and he quickly climbed on the carriage before riding away from there.

The debt collectors stood afar, witnessing things happening outside the chapel. One of the debt collectors, Mr. Etsbury spoke to another debt collector, Mr. Hotham, “It looks like Marquee and Marchioness Hooke’s daughter won’t be getting married.”

Mr. Hotham clicked his tongue and said, “It looks like the Hooke’s are going to be broke soon.”

Soon one more carriage arrived, and it was two officials from the Council. One of them noticing only the two debt collectors standing there, asked, “Have you seen Marquee and Marchioness Hooke?”

Mr. Etsbury replied, “They just left for Hollow Valley. Do they owe you money too?”

The councilmen held a serious expression, and one replied, “There is an arrest warrant filed against them.”

In the moving carriage which was on its way to Hollow Valley, Marquee Hooke turned to his wife and demanded,

“Why did you send Rosetta alone? Couldn’t you keep the maid or have her ride with us?”

“She didn’t want to crumple her wedding gown and needed space. We didn’t know about the wedding taking place there, but she knew it,” Lady Aurora said in a low voice, while she fumed in her seat. And the same wedding gown was now lying on the inside of the carriage floor as if it was a mat. Her daughter had behaved as if she was happy about the wedding, which was why this slip had been caused.

“Drive faster!” Marquee Hooke ordered the coachman, who tried to increase the speed of the horses that now galloped. He asked his wife, “Haven’t you been watching Rosetta? She hadn’t left hom.” Lady Aurora clenched her jaws.

“He’s planning to marry that lowly human! I think he doesn’t understand the severity of his situation, then not he or even us can cancel the deal that was made in the registry,” Lady Aurora replied in haste as the carriage headed towards the chapel where her daughter and the members of the Moriarty family were now.