MARINA of the tale -
The house of Asturias was brought with so much color the following days of my recovery. The Lady Asturias even proposed a banquet in celebration. However, it was turned down as my social debut would've just been in a few more weeks at my coming of age. Father figured it would be best if they could just squeeze every merry time during then. I wholeheartedly agreed in silence as I wasn't fond of parties.
If that was Marina Asturias talking, or me myself, I couldn't actually tell. Marina the mage was an introvert as I recall, but so was I. However, it felt like I wasn't any of the two but a combination which sounded weird and almost repulsing. The similarities tasted bitter like a flavor of a past I couldn't remember.
So the banquet was cancelled. But that didn't mean Mother left off her chances. If a banquet wasn't to be expected, she proposed a tea gathering with her close friends along with their own daughters. Her voice sounded so final, a noble through and through, that Father didn't get the opportunity to refuse. I could only imagine how doted my Mother must have been during their courtship.
The gathering is to be held tomorrow afternoon. Mother prepared the invitation letters, about a dozen of them, and instructed my maids to prepare a special dress for the simple occasion. She used the word 'simple' though I was sure it would be everything but.
I sighed at the extravagance a person could spend on a single tea time. I would never be able to get used to it.
"Is it too much, my dear?" my Father whispered. Perhaps I looked stunned that he knew what I was thinking because he smiled at me kindly. "Don't worry, it'll all be over before you know it. Your Mother can get quite into her luxuries sometimes that it's best to make her have her way. She hasn't often been able to since she married off to our family," he added with a somber tone.
He shrugged off the melancholic tone as I stared at him, wondering things perhaps I wasn't supposed to know.
"Well, you best to get along now. Need to prepare for your first party before the real deal on your birthday, don't we?" He smiled again, warmly this time. "I am sure you'll be the prettiest of them all."
Flustered at the sudden compliment, my cheeks flushed. I looked down and calculated what I have to say in this kind of situation. Should I say thank you? I think I should say thank you.
I opened my mouth to speak but someone spoke calling out for me before I could.
"Miss Marina, the dresses have arrived!" my personal maid called out. "The Lady said you would have to try them on."
Already? I thought. Isn't it a little too early and fast? Mother announced the news just awhile ago and yet the purchase for the dresses have already been made.
"Is that possible?" I whispered to myself.
Father must have heard me because he chuckled beneath his breath. Flustered once again, I curtsied before following the maid towards my room. But then I stopped.
"Father?" I said.
He glanced at me. "What is it?"
"Can I visit the library today? Am I allowed to enter there?" I asked.
He couldn't believe what I just asked. Me, Marina, eager to get inside the library? Of course it'll be surprising. Marina was never ever interested in books, let alone studying!
But if I have to live here, I can't just let things go on. If this is indeed a novel, a fantasy one at that, I need to prepare for the twist and the conflict and some life changing events that lead to death. I know I ended my own the last time, but that didn't mean I plan to at the moment.
Father cleared his throat and I acted concerned as if I didn't know why he acted that way. I still need to remind myself that I am holding that pure and innocent character role.
"Well, I suppose it's finally time," he said. "You're finally at that age, aren't you Marina?"
I nodded, hesitantly, though I didn't know what he meant.
"You already know where the library is so I guess that's fine. As for opening the door, I think you'll know when you get there."
Father went on his way without explaining a thing about what he meant leaving me clueless about what I'm supposed to do. I know where the library is and I practically already memorized the interior of the mansion like the back of my hand, which was weird, but I have no idea what he meant about the door opening! Does it need some kind of ritual?
I shook my head. I'll figure out the problem when I get there. Right now, the issue would be about those dreaded dresses.
"Let's go, Lily," I said to the maid. I walked ahead and she followed right behind me.
She opened the door for me when we reached my chambers and I almost fainted at the sight that greeted me. More than 20 elaborately designed dresses along with shoes and jewel boxes dawned my whole room. Each were in different shades of the color blue, red and green along with a few white ones and a single dashing yellow.
"Is this really all for me?" I asked.
The maids suddenly seemed tense and agitated.
"We still have a whole box if you prefer other designs, Miss. The other jewelries would also be arriving perhaps later this evening but the Lady insisted that you pick from one of these and you can just change your preference when the new designs have arrived."
"Oh, no, no," I immediately said. "That's not what I meant."
The maids looked confused. But they didn't ask what I meant either.
I figured it was a sign that they can't talk before I did. So I cleared my throat and formed what I needed to say.
"These dresses are stunning. I believe they're even too stunning. You don't have to worry. I'll pick one from out of these batch and you can rest easy that you won't be having any more work relating that."
I smiled at them. Still though, their tensed faces didn't change.
Is there something wrong?
I brushed the feeling off and prompted them to start the fitting. I think everything would be normal if they could just get busy with work.
And I guess I was right. Getting more focused at making sure the dresses suited me, they kind of forgot that it was me they were tending to. It was still uncomfortable for me though as they mostly avoided my gaze and were a bit jumpy.
Which reminds me, how about my personal maid?
"Did Lily went off somewhere?" I asked. "I thought she was with me when I entered?"
A young maid, perhaps one of the new recruits a little far from where I was standing, was the one to answer my question. She was a part of those who found it odd that everyone else were too wary about my presence, much like I currently am.
"I think she was called out by the Head Maid, Miss," she curtly said.
The other maids glanced at her through the corners of their eyes and I was a little sorry that she answered for me. I doubt she was okay with the stares. It looked like she was doing something wrong when she wasn't.
Just what is the problem with the maids and Marina in this story? Did she made her way and cause trouble with everyone else?
I am itching to know and have everything cleared out.
I sighed. "Would you please call Lily in? I would have her attend to me alone. You all may go."
The room fell silent as I stood in front of the mirror, studying how fitted the dress came to my waist. It was a pretty gown made with aquamarine fabric, a shade darker than my hair. Perhaps I'll pick this.
Still checking how fitted the outfit was to myself, the maids silently bowed and exited the room. Their heads were down and their expressions gloomy, but I could feel the relief that settled within them as their muscles relaxed while getting farther away from me.
Before Lily came in and as instantly as everyone else left and the door was closed, I exclaimed to myself out loud, "Have you been. a brat perhaps?"
This is making me crazy.
"Miss?" Lily said with a knock. "Can I come in?"
"You may, Lily." I spun around to greet her with a smile.
"How do I look?" I asked.
Clapping her hands, Lily showed the perfect face saying it suited me even without uttering the words. "You look gorgeous Miss Marina. It suits you very well! Have you tried on a necklace that would pair along with it?"
"Not yet. I was hoping you could help me with it and have my hair tied up. I plan to go studying today so I would really like it if you could get not to be as wild as it is now." I laughed at my words, touching the untamed wave like strands attached to my head.
"Oh Miss, I would love to!"
Lilly picked up a box from the stack of jewelries and opened it. "Should we try this one on?" she asked.
The box contained an over the top set of pearls and diamonds. It made me want to close my eyes from the glare of wealth and money. How much does this even cost?
"Don't you think it's a little, too bright?" I asked.
"Nonsense Miss!"
Dismissing my comment, she went on to clasp the thing around my neck. She hummed as she did and couldn't help but to wonder why she was the only one who has that attitude around me.
Lily was the one who was obviously taking care of me when I was still unconscious. She was also the one who came in and notice that I woke up. We practically ended up being quite close immediately and I could vaguely remember her from a few lines and scenes appearing in the novel. It seemed like she and I was close even before I came into this body.
But the others, this is the first time they actually came up to cater for me aside from meals. Even my bath was taken care of by Lily and Lily alone.
"Umm, Lily, I was wondering. Do you think you know why the other maids are like that with me?"
"Like what, Miss?"
"You know, like... scared?"
The necklace rested coldly touching my skin. The humming stopped, then Lily sighed.
"Did it perhaps bother you Miss? I'm really sorry. I really would've attended to you by myself but the Lady said how special the preparations should be so she called out everyone else to have you fitted in. The head maid also called me out so I haven't done what I should have. Forgive me for troubling you."
"Hey Lily, it's okay. You don't have to be sorry. I just really want to know why apart from you and my parents, everyone else seemed a little distant. That's all."
Right, that was why. It was a little lonely.
"Well...." her voice trailed off.
"Is it not okay for me to know?" I asked.
"No, no! Definitely not Miss. It's just that this is kind of a little thing going on inside the mansion. I thought that you already know and it is quite unsettling so I hate to put you in the spot."
"It's alright. I'll try not to be upset."
Lily thought about it for a moment. She soon realized that I would know of it either way and so she finally started on opening things up for me.
The plot of the novel from my past gradually took shape with her words.
"The house of Asturias is quite known even with noble blood, Miss. Of course I'm sure you already know of it. But this past years when you were born and welcomed in to the family, everyone else thought that it would be spread out after the celebration of your birth. Yet you never really showed yourself or even came out of your room and... Well, everyone else thought that you were some kind of—"
"A failure for a mage?" I asked. The sentence suddenly finished in my head before she could say the words.
"Miss, I didn't mean—"
"It's alright, Lily. I told you. I won't be upset." I smiled at her through the reflection of the mirror. "Would you please tie my hair now? I'd like it in a bun."
Lily nodded.
Once again, the room was silent as she worked her way through my sacred looking hair. The symbol of the Asturias mage family, the color of the sea.
I stared at my face and noticed something for the first time. It looked melancholic—stonefaced yet serene and calm. It looked defeated, like it already knew the things going on around me. So much like the deep ocean and its abyss.
"So this was me. A lonely excuse for a heroine," I whispered to myself without anyone else to hear.
—
[ FINISHING THE STORY - blue ]