The Beau & the Beast

4 - A lesson to be told

  The door was already wide open and I decided to step right in without a knock, walking straight into a bright room filled with sunlight. Surprised, I looked around.

The large windows were wide open and daylight shone into the study, a clear exception from the rest of the castle. It was neatly decorated in white and gold, the complete opposite of all the other rooms in the dark and gloomy place.

"Excuse me for disturbing you Lu."

"What do you want?" he asked dryly.

"I have some documents for you to sign." Lumiere held out his hand without looking up from the screen, so I handed him the bundle and waited patiently as he skimmed through them before signing them all.

I got the papers back and he looked at me with a questioning look as I hadn't left yet. "Was there anything else?"

"Our .. ehm, master? Wants you to help me settle in, he told me to ask you about all the things I need to know about the company."

He sighed heavily and nodded, "sit." I sat down in the chair placed in front of his desk and waited. "You know why Anthony calls us family?" he started, but I didn't reply, instead I waited for him to explain further. "France is divided into five territories," he picked up a seemingly old map and spread it across his desk, "North, South, East, West ... and Paris. Anthony's family has ruled Northern France for centuries."

I looked puzzled at him."Ruled? You mean...?"

"He is one of five princes." He said as if it was common knowledge. 

I rubbed my forehead, as far as I knew we had a president and I had never heard of any royalties living here. "So they're related?"

"No, not everyone." He said with a bored expression.

"And what do they do? I've never heard of them before?"

To my surprise he started to laugh at me, "You still don't understand who we are?" he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk and smiled broadly, "WHAT are we?"

I fingered the hem of my shirt nervously and shrugged, "I feel like it doesn't concern me."

Lumiere laughed out loud, "Smart, but the more you know the easier it will be to understand how things work around here."

"Are they competitors? The princes?" I asked to change the subject.

Lu sighed and leaned back in his chair again, "Some, the idiot that rules Paris considers himself more powerful than us, but the leadership often changes over there. Small rivalling gangs killing each other for the bitter taste of power."

"So they fight each other?" I said confused, I had never heard about gang wars in Paris, not even on the news.

He shook his head, "they used to, but things have been calm for a while."

"But Clocksworth's group? The security company, I get a feeling they do more than just guard premises and warehouses."

Lumiere shrugged, "I know nothing about that, you should ask him."

I knew he was withholding things from me but I decided not to ask more of it. However, there was another thing on my mind, but I was uncomfortable asking.

Lumiere sighed at me, clearly knowing I had something on my mind, "either you ask or you leave me alone."

"My job, who did all this work before me?"

"You're looking at him"

"So why did he give it to me?"

"I suspect our prince wanted to relieve me from some of my duties as the company is expanding."