A young lady rushed through the courtyard overstrewn with fallen leaves of orange and yellow. Anneliese's braided hair loosened and danced in the air as she, who could not be bothered keeping up appearances at the moment, hasted her feet towards the academy front gates; a horse-carriage was waiting for her there. Instead of bearing the coat-of-arms of her own house; the famed Haas' two silver oak branches, it heralded the Vilheim's insignia of an arming sword and a bardiche girding a five-pointed crown, as the coach and its four geldings were commissioned by her maternal grandfather, the late earl of Vilheim, to serve the marquessate house.
To begin with, in all brevity, the Marquessate House of Haas fell into its current poor standing when five years ago in a cold winter night, the Grand Castle of Haas was attacked and raided before it was burnt down to the grounds, and the whole Haas household who attended the yearly winter family ingathering was massacred in cold blood. Known to the tongue-wagging many as the Burning of Haas, the incident went down in the Empire's history as the worst tragedy ever to happen after the Misfortune of the Strait of Arriv where an entire Imperial Navy fleet was sunken down by hordes of savage sea monsters. The circumstances around the Burning of Haas however, was kept confidential within the vaults of the Imperial Archive and never be publicly addressed by the Imperial House nor the Court of Nobles. One of the three marquessate house had simply fallen on that bloodbathed winter night.
No one else from the Haas household had survived except for Lady Anneliese who was nine years old at that time, her twelve years old elder brother, Lord Kian whose eyes were injured and blinded during their escape, her handmaiden, Miss Maria and a young knight who was instructed by the late marchioness to bring her children to safety. Anneliese remembered gripping her handmaiden's hand while being led by the knight carrying her elder brother, as they made their way through the barely lit underground tunnels, escaping the castle grounds and out of Tholstadt city.
As decreed in the Imperial Edict, she was now heir to Haasenmarck, the Right Honourable Countess of Norhurst, which explained the main reason for her attendance as a collegian at the Imperial Academy.
Apart from heirs to peerages like her and landed gentries, most nobles' sons and daughters as well as children of knight families and wealthy merchants also enrolled into the prestigious academy, for reasons obvious and ubiquitous. Anneliese had just finished with the last class of the day—Imperial Etiquette—but looking at her raising the hems of her skirts and her heels at the moment, she seemed more unladylike than ever. She paced through the academy Main Hall, her hand holding a leather-bound book close to her chest, seemingly a precious read she wannted to luxuriate on at home later after the afternoon mass.
"Lady Norhurst! Milady! Milady, a moment please!"
Anneliese turned over her shoulder naturally, to which she surprised herself for reacting instinctively so; it was unbecoming of a future-marchioness upbringing.
A tall brunet appeared from behind the tall ivory columns of the hall came running over. He was Owen Curtis, or rather, Owen Curtis of the Curtis' Grain Mercantile, the largest granary business in the whole Empire. Being the eldest son, he was already learning the trade from his father, or so she heard. Anneliese squinted her eyes to the boy's call, vexed.
Owen stood before her, with a silly wide grin worn on his face, and anticipation in his eyes. And if she had been more keen, fondness.
Though he was a classmate of hers, they had exchanged nothing more other than pleasantries, and not to mention his plebeian birth against pedigree such as hers were frowned upon in high society—not that she cared much of her reputation in the first place.
She was still annoyed though, to be stopped while she was rushing home. Her hands unconsciously tightened against the stiff cover of the leather-bound book she held against her chest. She wondered herself whether she should lash out her Noble's Right at the moment—he was a commoner after all. Though again, that would not work within the academy grounds.
She sighed and almost hung her head, but she managed to reel back her neck and poised the gesture of a lady's acknowledgement—a smile and a slight curtsied nod. The etiquette class earlier was still unnecessarily fresh.
"Lady Norhurst...mi-milady, if-if...if I may be rude...to have a moment with milady...". The boy was gasping for air as if he had just sprinted his entire soul out; his amiable, freckled face was a bit flushed and his chest heaved like he never swing a sword ever in his whole life. That obviously must be it, he's a son of a merchant after all.
She had no interest to hold a conversation at that moment—whilst she shared fair acquaintance with him—still it's a no, and even more so with a someone who ignores social conventions, she was a noble lady, a countess at that.
And she had no intention to dilly-dally either - the image of her elder brother who was injured and unconscious in bed for two days had traumatised her. The Imperial Knightguards who came to the rescue reported that her brother was barely breathing when they found him sprawled among the wrecked furniture and mangled dead bodies. Her eyes glazed. She had to come home early.
"Mr. Curtis, it is a bit unpleasant to meeting you in this manner...and right now I have some urgency elsewhere requiring my personal attention, so, may the Goddess shepherd you,"
as she turned around back to her initial direction hurrying to the Main Hall entrance archway; beyond which laid the academy's front
"The Autumn's Banquet! If I may, I would like to once again, request the lady's hand to be my companion for the academy's banquet. I know that milady have yet to promise any other gentlemen...and by the Radiance of the Holy Sun, I sincerely wish to be accompanied by Lady Norhurst, and have the banquet's first dance with milady."
The Autumn's Banquet, or rather, Banquets were customarily celebrated and hosted beginning from Vyghum'ya, or Autumn's Day, until the thirtieth of Negighum annually, everywhere within the Empire by every Imperial citizens regardless of their statuses, backgrounds and beliefs. The academy would usually host its own Autumn's Banquet within a week after Vyghum'ya, which was three days away while the Archducal House of Salvatoires would hold theirs within the ensuing week after. The rest of the noble houses would only begin hosting on Negighum, during the first two weeks. Finally, the third week of Negighum would be occupied by the Imperial Autumn's Banquet where it would be hosted within the Imperatorial Palace for five days straight ending only with a Solar Mass prayer at the capital's Solareian church, the St. Lucia Cathedral.
A sense of realisation washed over her as her face was slowly crept with tinges of pink. Her petite mouth was ajar.
"Have I not given my answer yet...?"
"...no, I was waiting for the lady's assent for the past few days..."
"..."
"...and considering the banquet would be here already by high noon in three days, I come to stand before milady again..."
Voices and footstep sounds began pouring in the academy Main Hall. It was the end of the day's lesson afterall, thus collegians and lecturers alike were leaving. Anneliese paused for a bit while biting down the edge of her lower lips before she let out a resigned expression,
"Then, I shall wait for a letter from Mr. Curtis at the Yellow Thistle. That should be enough as an answer, yes? Mr. Curtis, it has been a pleasure having to clear this with you. May the Goddess shepherd you."
She did not spared a second glance to see the joy blooming on the young man's face, nor did she wish to show her still flushed cheeks to the tall brunet who had just asked for her hand for the upcoming banquet; that and she was really in a hurry to go back home to avoid the noon rush hour as well as to return to her comatosed elder brother's bedside as soon as possible.