"You too?" It was a logical question. They'd always been given to understand that Roxanne would stay in the castle taking care of their mother.
"Mama's gone," Roxanne answered. "So, I guess, now…"
Roxanne knew a lot of the words she'd used in her account were new to Celeste, but she seemed to grab the core of the story well enough."
"You mean the curse is just an invention so that we wouldn't leave the castle?"
"The curse, the witch… Everything. Father wanted us to blindly obey and remain there for as long as he wished. The fear of the witch was the easiest way he could think of and the colorful dresses the most extravagant."
"I keep wondering," Joseph hesitantly took part, "how come you all speak so… let's say… elegantly… not ever having left the castle or socialized with people."
"It was part of Mama's obligations. To teach us to speak in a refined way to please our future husbands - and Father himself, I suppose. She taught us to read and every day we devoted some time to reciting poetry, tales or simply lists of new words, always trying to preserve the spirit of the castle. These last years, we mostly wrote and she corrected our grammar and style. Father was very satisfied with her work."
"I bet he was," Joseph commented by way of a compliment.
"But you've always known the whole truth," Celeste wanted to make it clear. "Why didn't you share it with us?"
"Maybe you'll understand after what I have to say."
Roxanne lifted from the bed and went near the window. It was the second time she could admire the village from there and she liked it. All her life, the only thing she'd seen through her window had been the walled garden: the plants and the scary darkness. Now, night was falling and yet there were people walking the streets, there were lights, other houses… And where Joseph and Alan lived, it was even more fascinating.
"When we were little - I barely remember, and you and Griselda I believe weren't even born -, Mama told me there lived another woman in the castle with us. Blanche, Dora or Violet's mother, I don't know. She helped her bring us up.
Anyway, it turns out that this woman got sick of living like that and she attempted to face up to Father.
He soon took care that she didn't bother him again."
"What do you mean?"
"She killed her or had her killed, it makes no difference."
Celeste went pale.
"Can't it be that he simply sent her away?"
The girl in red looked from a pair of eyes to the other, to make each one aware of the potential real danger.