The Unedited Letter

Court of Law 15th of December, 1855

The Esteemed Judge,

Your Honor,

With my hand on the Holy Book and the Almighty God as my witness, I vow to speak the truth, the whole truth and only the truth.

I have a confession to make regarding my sister, Felicenne Dufrene, in light of the most recent testimonial made by our father in this evening's hearing. This testimony, as conveyed to me by our family's lawyer, states that my sister ,was in fact ,the one in charge of the illegal deals and smuggling operations our family was involved in, and that her absence from the trial is an attempt to escape punishment for the activities she conducted without my father's knowledge.

This brings me back to the confession I would like to make about her;- Although I am not sure of her whereabouts, I have reason to believe Felicenne Dufrene ran away with the notorious native pirate 'Birendra', who she was having an affair with while he was still employed as a Zamindar for The Empire. And while this fact is quite difficult to admit, it is undoubtedly the reason for her absence from the trial. Regardless of what our father would like Your Honor to believe.

Felicenne likely has no idea of any of these shady deals as even I, the heir to my father's businesses, am guilty of this ignorance. My sister was never given any lessons on how a business operates and would never be able to manage such an operation. She stood to inherit nothing from my father and was never given the opportunity to find the capital for such a venture. The culprit who embezzled our funds was caught and fired years ago. Felicenne Dufrene had no involvement. Our accountants can testify.

Furthermore, she was always shockingly honest about her relationship with the Native and her other treacherous ideas. Which were, in fact, what gave rise to the many unsavory rumors about her in high society. As unfortunate as it is, I believe the fact that she was born and brought up in this colony resulted in her resonating with the beliefs of the natives more than those of her own people. But that can't be helped now.

I myself found out about her relationship with the Native, a good few years before he was found to be a pirate and named a traitor. When I asked my sister about it she admitted it simply, with no hesitation and no trace of denial. I remember trying to reason with her and after failing miserably, I remember questioning her. I remember yelling who asked her to admire him so much.

Your Honor, I don't think I will ever forget the look on Felicenne Dufrene's face even if I live to be a hundred. And I am sure that I won't forget her words even in my afterlife. "The man doesn't ask for admiration, he commands it".

I spoke to this 'man' once, before he was named a traitor of The Empire. As terrified as I am of the idea, I have to admit that my sister was absolutely right.

Though it is dangerous to admit, Felicenne likely kept in touch with the man even after he was openly sought after by the government. I don't know how, but I could definitely tell that she still had feelings for him based on her reactions when she read the news. Any story about this notorious pirate would make her incorrigibly happy or sad depending on what it said.

Therefore, Your Honor, when my sister disappeared, half a year prior to the discovery of the wreckage of unregistered ships that carried precious cargo with our family's insignia off the European Coast; the event that brought the mess of affairs that my family had a hand in to light, I knew exactly what Felicenne Dufrene had done and who she was with. Despite myself, I even wished her luck.

With this Your Honor, I end this letter to you and sincerely hope you will take my confession in account for your judgement.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant

Ferdinand Dufrene

Marianne Ray softly clicked her tongue as she read the letter written by her brother along with the report on the trial proceedings given to her by her family's lawyer. Her extravagant silk skirt shimmered in the dull sunlight as she sat down on the marble bench of a French park, belatedly smiling at the newspaper boy who had greeted her courteously.

"Have you read it?" asked her husband Birendra Ray, the former pirate who was now a legitimate businessman and citizen of France. "Well yes" replied Marianne, the woman formerly named Felicenne Dufrene. She had in fact led the illegal operations in her father's businesses despite what her brother had believed. She was in essence, a marionette who managed to cut her strings.

The lady pushed her hair back in a casual move which revealed the sharp blue eyes that ruined her otherwise typical English Beauty. Her husband too, drew quite a few stares but despite their unusual looks something about the people themselves muted the whispers of those milling around the park.

"We will have to edit the letter" said Marianne. "Why?" asked Birendra. "They can't touch us." "True", she replied, "But this kind of notoriety will give my family a place in the stories and they don't deserve that." Her husband laughed. "Very well, what do we do now?" he asked.

"We free our country" said Marianne, who had started considering herself Indian a long time ago. "France is free" said Birendra Ray jokingly. "We are French" his wife agreed. "Until we can be Indian".

"So what do we need?" her husband asked. "Money, Power, Influence and an Opening" she said. "We have all of it".

"What is the opening?" Birendra Ray asked in his own language. "The British Empire has made a mistake." Marianne Ray responded naturally. "They believed the weapon was more dangerous than the man who wielded it."