DIE UPON A KISS - ACT III

Act Three: Temptation, The Handkerchief, And Ill-Placed Trust

These slight disappointments are sent to prepare
  For what may hereafter befall; 
For seasons of real disappointment and care, 
  Which commonly happen to all.

The handmaids walked away as Quatre entered the courtyard in the clear sunrise. Locking eyes close to him, Noin reassured him gently:

“Trust me. You can count on me”. She kissed him on the right cheek, and the look in her violet eyes was sincere.

As these words were spoken, Zechs and Treize entered the courtyard. Upon seeing his commanding officer, Quatre went in again full speed, looking now and then over his shoulder, not before having thanked Noin for such a generous offer.

The dark-haired young woman sat on a bench with her husband. Calmly and gently, she pleaded for Quatre’s sake while stroking Zechs’s flaxen hair. For a while he remained doubtful, until he finally gave in and approved the reinstatement.

Noin went back in, in search of Quatre, to inform the young blond of her success. In her excitement, she forgot a handkerchief lined with lace on the cobblestone pavement. As her mistress, Zechs and Treize re-entered the guardhouse, Une picked up the piece of white cloth and hid it quickly in her pocket.

“Now, what did you do?” Dorothy inquired, to obtain the response:

“My husband. He wants to study that very handkerchief for me to make similar lace”.

“I didn’t know stone cold Treize was such a gentleman!”

Then, Une entered the guardhouse, followed by Dorothy.

Meanwhile in a corridor within the guardhouse, Zechs and his second-in-command had established a relevant conversation when the latter softly mused:

“Wasn’t that Quatre who ran away? I didn’t like the looks of it”.

“Excuse me?” the officer with lengthy, fair hair asked curiously.

“Nothing at all, just a few intrusive thoughts”, Treize made his words seem less important to attract his commanding officer’s attention.

“Khushrenada... are you trying to insinuate something?”

“Did she know him from the start? You know I know; Noin, and Quatre...”

“Why, we are all acquainted with each other...”

“Do they keep a relative distance? You know, in conversation?”

“I wouldn’t call that a “relative” distance”, Zechs replied. The glittering twinkles in his eyes betrayed a slight internal agitation.

“And finding out their signs also keeps me in check”, the veteran officer added.

Upon giving Treize said information, Zechs remained silent before asking one quivering and doubting question:

“Are you trying to insinuate that my wife is betraying me with Quatre Winner? Is that perchance what you’re trying to tell me?”

“And prithee why? She sings well, dances, paints, bakes, makes lace, speaks fluent French and German, can also defend herself with a loaded gun; and his dismissal was due to an unfortunate mistake”, the older officer replied. “Why on Earth would they betray you?”

Those seemingly honest words sank to the commanding officer’s heart, and he could hardly restrain the internal agitation they had brought upon him. With restrained tears and troubled expression, he took Treize by the collar and spat unto his face:

“I doubt so. I need proof of their betrayal, or else...” he did the cut-throat gesture with his left hand right before Treize.

“And some more advice: beware of the green-eyed monster, that poisons from within”.

Letting go of the veteran’s collar, Zechs wandered without aim in the opposite direction. He did trust Noin, for he loved her and had thus wed her; but he also did trust Treize, who had saved his life and was esteemed an honest person. Torn asunder by doubt and restlessness, he couldn’t sleep that night at all.

That very evening, in Treize’s bedchamber, the kerchief was brought to light. However, his wife could no longer restrain her thoughts:

“You scoundrel have forced me to steal from Mistress! Now you want to keep that cloth!”

“Is that how you treat your better half? You were meant to obey my orders!”

“I’m your spouse, not one of your soldiers!”, she begged for mercy, but he didn’t listen to her pleas and beat her in the back with his rapier’s scabbard.

“Now that’s my Une”.

“Prithee tell me what you really intend to do!”

“ It’s none of your business, you meddlesome magpie!”, he resorted to the scabbard again, as she undressed herself and went to bed, dreaming that he weren’t so secretive.

As Une shut her teary green eyes, her better half ventured again, handkerchief in hand, into the corridor. Quietly, he entered another room, where a flaxen-haired lad slept quietly, his steady breathing marking the tempo for Treize’s steps. The veteran, with catlike thread, approached the table and placed the kerchief on it. Then he went back to his own bedchamber, before the changing of the guard called upon his presence.

Lady Une was sobbing in her dreams as Treize returned and got to bed beside her, her face resting upon his throbbing heart and her tears dried upon his nightgown. He just hoped that she wouldn’t become aware that he had left that piece of cloth in Quatre Winner’s quarters.