The following week after I woke up was surprisingly ordinary. I woke up, ate tasty food; the desserts were the best, and played with the maids whenever I wasn’t too tired. Speaking of, Melissa had become my new personal maid.

  Candy maid grumbled up a storm when the news broke, speaking out about the injustice in the world and all that.

  Honestly, I was glad sir Alden picked Melissa instead of her. She was, in a good way, too energetic for me. I liked her candies though.

  “Which gloves do you want to wear today, miss?” Melissa held up two pairs for me to decide. The left one was made of a white thin fabric that went up half my arm length. The paintings often depicted women wearing this kind.

  The other was in a darker shade, the brown color bordered on the side of black. This one looked less cumbersome, only covering up to where the bone on the wrist stuck out.

  I picked the shorter one. “You look really cool wearing that,” she complimented.

  “Cool?” I gave my fingers a few bends. “But I want to be pretty.”

  “Of course, you’re both cool and pretty.”

  “Hmm.” Was that possible? I stared at myself in the mirror. Melissa was braiding my long golden hair. I wonder what hairstyle this one was called. It looked really complicated. She tied a purple ribbon to it, making it flutter each time I turned my head.

  “It’s good seeing you enjoy yourself, miss.” I stopped turning my head. “But be careful not to make yourself dizzy.”

  Sitting in the carriage, I got dizzy. The thought of doing anything else besides roaming around the ducal house made me forget how my body would react. My body was rustled each time the horse stopped or sped up.

  A little groan slipped out of me. “Ugh…”

  “What a sorry sight, you should eat more,” The Duke sitting in front of me said.

  “She already eats enough as it is,” countered my father beside me.

  They were like two peas in a pod, looking exactly the same as they crossed their arms at each other.

  We were having a family trip to the capital today, and the first stop? The grand church. My mom rubbed my back as the building came into view.

  Like fish swimming in a river, all sorts of people streamed through the grand front doors looking for a spot to settle in to.

  It was impressive how deeply rooted religion was in this place. After all, in all my time sheltering at the temple, not a single guest had popped up besides myself.

  I didn’t mind too much, as it was already enough talking to the monks. However, they would sometimes say a comment or two about how people had forgotten about religion in modern times.

  Funny, because it was by pure chance that I myself had visited them. I never had the time nor energy to remember something lofty as religion.

  The church in Barre did not even compare to this one in the capital. That one was tall enough to make me crane my neck to look at its pointed roofs. But this one, as if challenging the authority of the Goddess herself, was tall enough to pierce the heavens. I couldn’t even see the top of it as I nearly stumbled backwards before my father caught my body.

  Using another path from the main one, a priest greeted us. “Welcome your Grace, I see that you are not alone today?” He gave each of us a look.

  “Yes, my wife is still in her coma.”

  His smile froze. “O-oh… Uhm…”

  Like father like son, the two men passed by the flubbing priest without even giving him a glance.

  “Shall we find a seat too?” Holding my mom’s hand, the two of us nodded to the priest before entering the church proper. We found ourselves in the upper seats right behind the other nobles.

  How did I know they were nobles? It was really obvious. Only those kinds of people would wear something so eye-catching at a place like the church. As a place for worship, they should have worn more respectable clothes. Not so revealing and lighter colors. Something to not disturb the other people looking for rest. Like what my mom and I wore today.

  Mine was a light blue dress, my mom’s was a pastel turquoise. And the men in our group both wore black uniforms accented by golden chains and military badges across their chest. My father looked dashing in it if I could say so myself.

  Waving their hand-fans to their mouth, chatter and giggles came from the ladies in front of me. A vibrant red dress adorned with diamonds that glittered needlessly in the light blinded me.

  The other was wearing a vivid green dress while with a necklace inlaid with emeralds around her thick neck. Her earrings looked like green grapes as they hung from her elongated ears.

  They wore tall hats too, which blocked my view from seeing the statue of the Goddess in front. It irritated me nonetheless.

  My mom had fussed a bit this morning when she heard the itinerary. She must have been worried that I would feel uncomfortable. However strangely enough, ever since that day it didn’t bother me anymore. The statue could come to life and I wouldn’t even care. For I had proven myself.

  “Do you want to wear your hat today?” She had asked. In her hands was the very same sun hat I used last summer.

  And I asked her. “Isn’t it rude to wear a hat inside a church?” It was a stupid question considering the sight in front of me.

  The tall red hat turned to the other. “Another Sunday, another church visit. How many times has it been now?”

  “More than we can count on our fingers and toes.” The shorter hat answered, making them give out a ‘ho ho’ and ‘ha ha’.

  Their forced laughter echoed for a bit as the entire church had gone quiet. The head priest had entered with a hat himself. A tall one that made his already short stature look even shorter.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Was a tall hat a sign of someone’s status in the kingdom? I thought back on the etiquette lessons I had started with.

  To prepare me for the future, the Duke announced that he would appoint a tutor for me. My parents had gaped in shock at the dinner table.

  “What do you mean by that?” My father asked.

  “Have you become daft too? You will have yourself a noble title soon, which means she would also become a noble. Or what? You want her to act like some country girl forever?”

  He clenched his fist. “Mother hasn’t woken up yet.”

  “And who knows when she will.” My grandfather looked at me. “You’re starting tomorrow. Be ready.”

  The next morning, I had to blink a few times seeing my new tutor. It was Raviel. The same person that had given us that letter that started all of this.

  “Your curtsy is surprisingly decent enough. Did you copy it from your mother?” I nodded. She said that it made sense, as my movements were too adult-like, jilted she called it.

  Back in the church, before I knew it, the people around us rose from their seats. The head priest had finished his droning sermon and finally let us leave the building. The fresh air outside cleansed my nostrils of the mixture of perfumes that had attacked it.

  “Want to go eat something sweet?” Mom asked me.

  I glanced at the dozen or so knights behind her acting as our bodyguards for today. They gave off an intimidating air with their scabbards at ease. Mom didn’t seem to care about them though, giving me a bright smile instead.

  She said father and grandfather would take a while to go through some of their business, and it wasn’t often we had a chance to be by ourselves, to explore shops and cafes at our leisure. So the two of us went on our merry way, a small army trailing discreetly behind us.

  The interior of the cafe we entered was half filled with women of all ages sitting around their circular tables. In a corner, a single table housed men and the sight stuck out like a sore thumb.

  They were actually some of the knights that had followed us in. A green ponytail, short orange hair, and an elderly man. I took a double take as the commander himself read through the menu.

  Mom gave me the menu. “What do you want to choose?”

  Eight different desserts were written on the leaflet, reading them didn’t help much however. Ganache? Meringue? I had learnt some of the more important noble houses but none of them sounded like these ones.

  “Can you choose for me?”

  “In that case, why don’t we celebrate today!” She snapped her fingers in the air and summoned a server.

  “What will it be, my lady?”

  “From here,” she pointed at the top of the menu and dragged her finger all the way down, “to here. We will have everything.” The server stood frozen for a bit before writing down our order.

  “Will that be alright?” She looked at us. Two people couldn’t finish eight plates of desserts, must be what she thought.

  “It will be more than all right, you don’t have to worry about leftovers.” Mom winked.

  Never in my life had I seen so much sugar in front of me. This had to be too much, no way the two of us could eat all of this.

  The eight plates of desserts fought for room on our table. We even had some doubled up plates in those plate cages. With their wide array of colors, it looked like a rainbow had died in front of me. They all looked different too.

  Cutting into a slice of cake with my fork, the soft exterior gave way revealing the different layers inside it. Green on the outside with light brown and white layers. The white layer was some kind of cream as it melted on my tongue. It tasted like apples and definitely sweet.

  Acquiring a sweet tooth was not something I thought I would get. Maybe it was because it was hard to find desserts in my previous life, but like a dried out sponge, I would always have enough room in my stomach for desserts and sugary dishes.

  Ever since moving to the ducal house, I have had at least one sweet thing to nibble on every day.

  Contrary to my belief, the two of us finished all the dishes. Even the server looked astonished as she saw the eight polished plates. Mom gently patted her mouth with a napkin as if it was a normal matter. Copying what she did, I saw several colors of cream and glaze painting a lip on my napkin.

  “Goodness, maybe it had been too much. Did you enjoy yourself, sweetie?” She sparkled as if the desserts had soothed her soul. I was about to answer when I was interrupted.

  “Haa… these nouveau riche nobles are utterly lacking in class.” Someone sighed loudly from our neighboring table. I recognized their hats.

  “What can you expect from those people that only think of money? Of course they won’t be able to think of something else.”

  “You have come up with a fine point there milady.” Two loud snaps coming from their fans were followed by a high-pitched grating laughter. I saw my mom’s eye twitch a bit. She sometimes did that when father made her angry.

  They continued. “But to think we have to share the floor with them, this establishment doesn’t know who it should cater to.”

  “Indeed. You are totally correct.”

  Mom’s already wide smile went even wider. It looked similar to the smile Raviel tried to teach me.

  “Remember young miss, you must never say what you truly want. Like a hunter circling its prey, you have to gradually hover around the main point until it gets exhausted. Only when it collapses, right there in the spot you want it, can you go in for the kill.” What a weird metaphor…

  “Never show that you are a hunter first.”

  “Why not?” I asked, “That sounds stupid.”

  “Miss, you shouldn’t use scathing words like stupid either.”

  “But what if I see something or someone really stupid then?” Raviel sat across from me thinking about my question. Her blue hair rustled when she found the answer.

  “Then smile at them. Like this.”

  My mom raised her voice for them to hear. “Ha. To think that such rich people have the free time and energy to sit on the same floor as us. Shouldn’t they use their overwhelming abundance of money to reserve the upper floor for themselves? Better yet, they should reserve this whole floor. Don’t you agree, my lovely daughter?” The two of them had definitely heard it as I gave them the side eye.

  “Tsk. Look at her speak, they truly only think about money.” Her voice wasn’t as cheerful as before. “There are other things in life you know?” She was talking at her cafe partner.

  Mom folded her hand beneath her chin like a frail lady. “Yes, important things in life such as tasting each and every type of dessert this fine establishment has to offer. One wouldn’t be able to form a proper opinion by only tasting half of it, now would they?”

  She gave a glance to their table, at their plates more precisely. “Apologies, maybe saying half the menu was too much.”

  Slam! The tallest hat stood up in a fury, almost making her chair fall over. “The gall! Who are you to form an opinion of my finances!”

  The employees seemed at a loss on what to do, darting their eyes here and there as the other customers began to murmur. Our bodyguards didn’t even react, opting instead to focus on their own desserts.

  Even with the huffing and puffing coming from the table next to us, mom still didn’t turn her head at them. “Isn’t it a fact? At least I don’t wear hats that used to be popular six, seven years ago.” She sipped her cup of tea, prettily.

  She stomped over to us and finally the bodyguards moved. “You!—”

  “Milady! Calm yourself!” Her partner held her back.

  “Let me go! I have something to say to her face!”

  “I understand! But please take the situation into consideration!” She pleaded with the enraged woman.

  The soft murmurs had developed into fully blown chatter as words such as ‘nobles’ and ‘useless pride’ flew around.

  Sticking out her tongue at the fleeing women, my mom sneered at their hurried backs. I had no idea what just happened.

  “Sorry about that sweetie… The sugar must have done something to me. I couldn’t just let her blabber her dirty mouth.”

  “Mom, you were amazing. I think I understand what Lady Raviel meant now.” Mom was a terrific hunter.

  “Ha ha, you think so?” She was glowing in the sunlight. “But what is she teaching you?”

  Leaving the cafe behind, we found ourselves resting in a nearby park.

  “The weather is so nice today…” Mom nodded off mid-sentence on the bench looking over the vista.

  Sitting with my sleeping mom was enjoyable in itself, however all the sugar in my body wanted me to move around.

  A group of ducks caught my attention. They were sunbathing by a pond a little ways away.

  The pondy smell filled my nose as I crouched by its edge. There were some frogs hopping and ribbiting about in my shadow.

  I picked up a stick by my side and began poking at them. Even so, their stoic behavior was undisturbed.

  Was that how you used that word? Stoic, stowic. It sounded silly, much like these frogs. A new shadow merged into my own. Someone was standing behind me.

  “Is that fun?” Whipping my head around, a boy stood against the sun, making his already light blonde-platinum hair even lighter. It looked translucent.

  Squinting my eyes, I could see his half-smile under his golden eyes.