How The Princess Rewrote Her Tragic Ending - Chapter 90

Rosa shared her shawl with Reynard as they walked down the main street.

“You need it much more than I do,” he said as he wriggled it off of his shoulders. “You’ve got a more fragile build, so you get cold easily.”

“Nonsense!” Rosa forcefully wrapped the shawl around Reynard’s neck as well as her own. “None of us is falling sick in this weather, especially not due to our own negligence.”

Amused, Reynard peeked at Rosa who’s face had gone red with the cold. (As well as because of the previous crying.) She looked beautiful, with the golden sunshine lighting up her hair from the back, and her blue-grey eyes looking straight ahead as she walked. She really had inherited Mother’s strong genes, and she took pride in showing them off.

“What are you looking at?” She frowned as she side-eyed him.

Reynard chuckled. “Nothing of importance.”

“Tell me!” she exclaimed as she nudged him in the shoulder. “Do I look ugly because I cried?”

Reynard laughed out loud.

She scowled. “Ahh, tell me!”

“I’m not telling,” he smiled as he joyfully leaped over the cobblestone path. “Come on, we need to take a right from here.”

Rosa rolled her eyes, but not unkindly as she followed her younger brother around the corner.

“You brat,” she laughed as she tickled his back, getting motivated to torture him even more as he jumped away. “But tell me. Honestly. Do I look bad?”

Reynard stopped in his tracks and gave her face a good look before turning away and nonchalantly opening the door to the health center.

“You look like an ogre. Nothing new there.”

That day, Rosa Gradral’s appalled gasp was probably heard by everyone inside Gartran.

“The audacity!” she yelled before following him inside and closing the door behind her.

Reynard was already approaching the front desk, a smug smile on his face. In truth, he was pleased that he had somehow lifted Rosa’s mood after how broken she had been due to their Father’s death. Honestly? Reynard hadn’t been much different, effing and cursing straight out everybody. But soon enough he had realized how much he needed to be there for his sister. She had been with their parents for much longer than him, so she must’ve felt the pain of losing them more too.

She had a stronger relationship with their mother since she was always helping her out at home, as well as running her own pottery business. On top of that, she equally supported the family financial-wise when father had gone off to training. She was an admirable woman, really, especially considering how she was just 8 years older than Reynard.

“Simon Gradral?” It hurt him to speak out his dead father’s name, but he did so with pride and honor.

The familiar attendant gave Reynard and Rosa (who came to stand beside him just in that moment) a good, judging look and then traced his finger down on his register before tapping at a scribbled name.

“Are you here to collect the body?” he said in his old man voice.

“Yes,” Reynard and Rosa said in unison, the echo of their voices concealing the fact how broken the one word had come out as.

The man nodded. “Relation to the demised? Siblings? Children? Aunt’s kids?”

“Children,” Rosa muttered before Reynard could reply. She reached out behind the desk and took her brother’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Both of us.”

“Mm…okay,” the man mumbled under his breath. “Mortuary is the last door in the corridor you’ll see when you turn left from there.” He pointed to the arched entryway with his charcoal pencil. The siblings looked at it and nodded.

“Thanks,” Reynard muttered as he pulled on Rosa’s hand and led her through. “Are you okay?”

Rosa sniffed. “I think so. So far, anyways. Did he say to the left…?”

Reynard tugged her along the corridor, keeping his pace faster than hers so she would not be able to see how close to breaking down he was. He gritted his teeth to keep himself composed and gave a huge sigh as he came to stand before the large, black eerie-looking door.

It was marked ‘Gartran Mortuary’ on a brass plate attached to the thin area of wall to it’s right.

“I can’t go in,” Reynard muttered as he backed away, bumping against Rosa in the process.

“What happened?”

Reynard sighed. “It’s a mortuary. There’ll be a lot of dead bodies in there, Rosa, we can’t go in there like this.”

“Oh, hush!” she said. “We’re adults. How else would we get to father?”

“I-”

“Fine,” she said as she sighed. “I’ll go in alone. Wait for me, okay?” She went ahead, and before Reynard could even ask if she was sure enough to do this, she was already inside.

Reynard bit his lips as he tried not to take a peek inside to make sure Rosa was fine. It was a mortuary, for goodness’ sake. Place of the dead. Who knows what’s in there?

“Please hurry back,” he muttered under his breath as he leaned against the wall, tapping his foot on the tiled floor. “Come on, come on.”

A couple minutes later, Reynard heard the door creak open and he perked up hopefully, but it was another man who went about his way. Reynard leaned back again and wrung his hands in anticipation. Five minutes after that, Rosa appeared at the door with an unfamiliar man.

“Reynard,” she whispered, her voice soft. “This is Mortician Reiss. He’s asking for some proof of our relationship with our father.”

The man nodded and shook Reynard’s hand.

“Yes,” he muttered, his voice heavy and sober. “It’s the rules given to us from much higher ups. No bodies can be taken away without evident proof, or else we’d have stolen bodies every other day.”

Reynard and Rosa exchanged nervous glances. This was the first time they were being involved in this, and they had no idea how to prove what they were being asked. They were his children! What else could they say but give their word for it?

“Um,” Rosa spoke up amidst the deafening silence. “I have a birthmark that I inherited from my father. It’s a darkened patch of skin on my back, which I’m aware is the same as that of my father’s.”

Mortician Reiss nodded. “That’s perfect if we can compare the marks side by side. Are you sure you’re willing to bare your skin in front of me? I can call a woman to confirm in my stead.”

Rosa smiled sweetly. “Thank you. That’s be very nice.”

Mortician Reiss disappeared inside the mortuary again and a couple minutes later, a tall, blonde woman emerged and asked Rosa to show her the mark. Reynard turned his head away as the checking was done. A minute later, Mortician Reiss returned.

“Yes, Laurain has confirmed your claim,” he said humbly, pointing to the tall, blonde woman. “Would you like our assigned men to take the body to the burial site? It will cost you not more than a few silvers for the service.”

“Yes, please,” Rosa choked. She turned to Reynard.  “You’re okay with that?”

He nodded but didn’t respond.

“Alright, give us just a minute to prepare,” Mortician Reiss said. “Would you like to look at him one last time before he’s taken away?”

The siblings exchanged unsure looks. “Yes, of course.”

Mortician Reiss beckoned them in. “Alright, then. Come on inside.”

The mortuary was cold.

Colder than the weather outside.

There was a foul odor wafting around them, causing Rosa and Reynard to pinch their noses as they walked through the dark room, their footsteps echoing.

We’re surrounded by dead people, Reynard thought as he glanced at the long white sacks filled each with what was possibly a human, tied with a black rope at the foot and the waist. Reynard tried not to puke.

Rosa, on the other hand, seemed much more composed as she followed Mortician Reiss through piles and piles of bodies, tables and surgical equipment on tables.

“Right here.” Mortician Reiss stopped at a random sack. “Simon Gradral, middle-aged, died of alcohol poisoning?”

“Yes,” Rosa replied calmly.

Mortician Reiss proceeded to crouch down and untie the sack before slowly pulling away the opening and revealing a slightly grey face. The eyes were closed and the stubble was prominent. But most importantly, it barely looked like their father. Rather, it looked like a… a dead person.

Reynard gagged while Rosa clenched her fists as tears flowed down her face. It was a hard sight for both of them. They gave him another look and instantly decided that they did not want to see it anymore, for this was not the version of him they were willing to remember in their memories.

Reynard was sure he was in for a lot of nightmares.

“Shall we take him away?” Mortician Reiss returned right on time with a couple of burly looking men not far behind him.

Reynard and Rosa nodded, and the miserable look in their eyes as he was tied again and taken out a back door was prominent more than even the pungent odor in the room.

Rosa gave Mortician Reiss the money he asked for, for Gartran’s services they were receiving. Soon, they followed the two men out into the late morning light, heading to the same cemetery their mother was buried in.

“Is this really how we’re going to have his funeral?” Reynard whispered sadly as they took the lead. “Is this it? Just us?”

Rosa nodded, clenching her jaw. “I think it’s for the best. We need to save all that we can. Money, I mean. Since we don’t know what’s to come for us in the future.”

Reynard nodded. He did not like flashy funerals anyways. Simple was preferable, more so because he did not want the pity of others.

“I do not want to be labelled as that one orphan kid, Rosa,” he muttered bitterly.

“I know,” she whispered back and held his hand. “Same as I. Let’s not tell anyone till we’re sure we can bear the burden. Okay?”

…

“Okay.”