Light suddenly flooded into the giant, elegant room as maids pulled the curtains open. Mia's eyebrows furrowed as she shielded her eyes with her arm. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and strained against the bright light. As her eyes slowly adjusted she saw three maids standing at the foot of her bed. Once they made eye contact, the three bowed their heads and curtseyed completely in sync.
"Good morning my lady~" they all chirped in unison. Two of them then left, leaving only the one in the middle. "The Duke has requested that you meet him for breakfast, my lady."
"O-okay…I'll get ready then." The maid nodded and let Mia know that she would be waiting outside to escort her to the dining hall. Mia's bare toes touched a soft rug when she placed them on the ground. She looked down and admired it. It was purple mostly with a golden brown running through it in an intricate design, similar to the one she had seen on the carriage the day before.
The day prior was much too hectic for her to pay attention to the room that by the time the Duke had escorted her there, she was too exhausted to think about anything. She hardly even remembered changing into a nightgown. Across from the giant bed (that was practically large enough to fit an army), was a beautiful large armoire. It was obvious that it had seen some use as its golden handles were tarnished and the beautiful scene of swans in a lakeside was already quite faded.
Mia sauntered over to it, gently tracing its details with her hands before opening it. Inside, were her own clothes hanging and multiple other 'old time-y' looking dresses. She couldn't wear what she wore yesterday again could she? She shook that thought out of her mind, "No that would be weird." She said aloud.
As she looked through the dresses in the armoire, a frown appeared on her face. They were cute…if she was appearing in a period film that is. They weren't exactly her style but she would have to pick one. She settled on a mermaid style pale sea green dress ordained with pearls. She didn't appreciate the color, green was one of her least favorites, but the style was closest to something she would actually wear.
It wasn't too much of a struggle to get on, for some reason she thought she wouldn't have trouble. "Don't the maids usually help royalty get ready in the movies because it's hard or something?" she thought. After she was probably dressed she knocked on the giant doors leading out of her bedroom, "Excuse me, I'm ready." The maids pulled open the doors and bowed. The main one, who Mia assumed was the 'manager' began to walk to the left, which Mia aptly followed with the other two maids tagging along in the back.
Two men were stationed outside of another pair of doors. The maids bowed to Mia again before leaving. She wanted to tell them that they didn't need to bow to her, but didn't get the chance to, they were gone before she could even get out the first syllable. The two men then opened the doors for her. There, she found Atlier sitting at the head of a long table. It was filled with fried eggs with golden yolks, toast, perfectly cooked sausage and an abundance of fresh fruits – some of which she didn't recognize.
Atlier stared at her, his eyes glowing and his jaw practically on the floor. "Oh….my…." Mia said before rushing over. Atlier quickly stood and opened his arms, for some reason expecting Mia to run into them. Instead she passed him, her eyes only on the food, and sat next to him. "Do I get to eat this too?" She gulped down the saliva that was forming in her mouth, otherwise she would've started to drool. Atlier tilted his head and awkwardly sat down.
"Yes, this food is also for you. You may eat whatever you'd like of it." He chuckled to himself, he'd never had a woman ignored him before ESPECIALLY not for food. A huge grin spread across Mia's face as she quickly began piling her plate up with the delicious looking foods in front of her. "I'd never get to eat like this at home!" she exclaimed as she took a bite of one of the exotic looking fruits. It tasted like nothing she could describe but she could at least say whatever it was, it was probably now her favorite. Atlier chuckled, "Is your memory coming back now?"
Shoot. She'd completely forgotten about the lie she'd told yesterday. She coughed, choking on her food from the shock, and took a swig of tea to help it down her pipes. Before speaking, she swallowed the rest of what was in her mouth, "Only that part. It must have been triggered by the sight of this display." She motioned to the beautifully set up table before them by spreading out both of her arms.
"Speaking of display, what an interesting choice of attire for breakfast, do you play on going somewhere fancy today?" Mia looked down at her dress and back at Atlier, who had a teasing grin on his face as she popped a piece of fruit in his mouth. She blushed in embarrassment as she realized this dress was probably a different style for a reason. It took her a moment, but she came up with a, in her opinion, very good excuse.
"Is a breakfast with Duke Atlier Montz not a special enough occasion for this gown?" It was Atlier's turn now to choke on his food. After he managed to get his food down, he burst out into a fit of laughter, covering his mouth with one hand and his stomach with the other. Mia sat with her head held high, gracefully eating, full of feeling successful at having won their argument – not that it was a game of any sort, but to her it was.
After breakfast Atlier gave her a tour of the estate, and the two ended up in the gardens. They were so gorgeous, nothing like anything Mia had ever seen before. She bent over to smell each flower and admired even the bees buzzing around. It was like she had stepped into one of those magical worlds that were in kids films that she'd watch as a child. Atlier's gaze stayed fixed upon her.
"Are you enjoying your stay here so far my lady?" Mia stood up, "I am! You don't have to call 'my lady' and stuff though, you can just call me Mia." As she went back to smelling the flowers, Atlier smiled to himself and whispered her name just softly enough that she couldn't hear.
"My schedule is free a few days, would you like to see Lucrin? You must've been on your way here to see such sights when I found you."
Mia nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I wanna see Lucrin! I really want to see one of those arcades too!"
Atlier tilted his head, "Ar..cades?" Oops, looks like that's not a word they're familiar with here. "Oh, my head is just jumbling up words, silly me! I meant, I would like to see an ARCH WAY." Mia moved her hands in a way to mimic the look of an arch. Atlier smiled and nodded, "Oh an arch way. There are plenty of those in Lucrin. Tomorrow, we shall head out after breakfast. Would you be alright with having lunch there?"
Mia nodded, "Sure! It's a date!"
"Date?" Atlier's face flushed. He didn't think she would think of it as a 'date'.
"I mean, it's a date on the calendar that's taken up." She was going to have to be more careful with her words in the future. Visiting Lucrin tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity for her to be exposed more to the lingo of Baska.
Atlier chuckled, "I see, then a date it is, Mia." He grasped her hand and gently brought it up to his lips, kissing it just like he had done yesterday in the carriage. Mia blushed, this was one of her biggest wishes in a relationship. There was something about gentle hand kisses like this that made her heart pound like a jackhammer. Whenever it would come up in movies, she would always squeal and giggle, unable to contain her excitement. The feeling of his lips against her flesh, was something that had her feeling like she was melting in place, making her unable to overreact like she had done in the past. Lance would never be affectionate with her like this.
Watching from the distance were two butlers who were tasked with setting up a garden table for tea. "He has been laughing and smiling all day."
"I would laugh at her too. She seems like such an odd thing."
"Yes, but I've never seen him smile like that with Duchess Grace."
"Well, you know how the Duke is, he has a fascination with the most outlandish things. Duchess Grace is too mature for him. He is still but a child."
"Even so, don't you think it's odd that he seems so happy with this young woman that he's just met? He's like a child who's just been handed a bucket of sweets."
"I do agree, it is very odd indeed. Let's keep a close eye on them. Just in case there's anything the Duchess needs to know about."