Early Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan
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Several hours had passed since I planned to go up to the fourth floor, but I was yet to actually do it, simply because I found a bookshelf giving me a much better idea of where this world was at. -Entry-level physics, and even some pretty advanced algebra, but it's all marked as 'theory' even though it's correct…- Quickly flipping through the book once again, I made a few corrections before hearing some noise below.
"Uhm.. sir?" It was a young girl's voice.
"Excuse me, Miss, what can I do for you?" She seemed to be talking to the librarian.
"I was wondering if someone named Vasilias was still here." Her voice carried a slight nervousness.
-Lucy is still here?- Thinking I could use a short break anyway, I put back the book I was reading and started making my way downstairs.
"Ah yes, he is. He is on the upper floors though. Would you like me to get him for you?"
"Ah no.. if he is busy, I shouldn't bother-"
"It's alright, I'm done for today anyway." I came walking out from behind several bookshelves with Ilios in tow.
Lucy's nervousness quickly compounded once she saw me. "Are you sure? I don't want to pull you away from whatever you were doing."
"It's fine, I could go for a bite to eat anyways."
As I glanced at Viviana, she tensed up with a look of aspiration.
-What's with that look?- Trying not to make my displeasure apparent, I turned back to Lucy. "So is she coming home with you?"
"Y..yes, we got permission from her parents to stay with us tonight."
-So that's a thing in this world too…- "It's good to see you making friends."
Lucy immediately got embarrassed. "W..well, let's just head back."
"Alright, lead the way." Before I left, I glanced back at the librarian. "I'll be back tomorrow, Mr. Librarian." With a light wave, we quickly made our way outside.
It wasn't until we got all the way into the noble gate courtyard that Viviana finally voiced her worries. "Wait, this is the noble gate, I think you went the wrong way."
But what she said made me jolt slightly. -Wait, what?-
"No, this is the right way?" Lucy tried to give her some reassurance with a look of innocence.
"You're a noble?!" Viviana started to freak out.
I wanted to facepalm, but held it back and just played along. "What made you think she was a commoner?"
"Well.." She started getting more nervous as she took extra caution to make sure to not offend Lucy or me.
"You can speak clearly, we won't judge." Lucy gave her some reassurance.
Viviana looked a bit hesitant to speak, but after a bit more of Lucy's reassurance, she finally spoke. "Well.. your bow is tied wrong.. and um.. your hair.. is uh.. a little messy.."
I tried my best to hold back my laughter, but I couldn't help but leak it a little. "Pft-Ahem, so how does that make you think she's a commoner?"
"Uhm.. usually nobles have maids dress them, so.. everything is perfect... No offense to the maid who dressed you though…" Viviana started getting nervous that Lucy was going to lash out at a maid.
"I dressed myself this morning... I figured I could do it.."
-Oh don't get all distraught.- Lucy started taking Viviana's comment to heart. "Well, now you know what you can do better, right?" -I might've been the one to accidentally mess up her hair though...-
"Right… In any case, let's go ahead and get in the carriage.."
The carriage that picked us up was a more low-profile one compared to this morning. There was no gold and no Royal crest on it.
The entire carriage ride was silent; no one even talked until Viviana finally broke the ice. "So um.. if it's not rude of me to ask, what's your last name?" The carriage came to a halt as she finished her question.
*Click* As the carriage door swung open, the massive door to the royal palace was revealed.
Ilios and I were the first to step out, followed by Lucy.
As we turned around, we noticed Viviana still sitting in the carriage, simply paralyzed.
"Come on, Vivi! I need to introduce you to Father!"
Snapping out of her trance, she shakily got up and out of the carriage. "Y..yeah sorry... Just.. I feel like I need to ask again.. what is your last name?"
"Kaelallan. My name is Lucy Kaelallan."
Viviana's face paled as she lost her balance and fell backward.
Thankfully though, the carriage driver happened to be next to her and caught her. Lucy immediately broke into panic, but the man just calmed her down. "She's fine. She just passed out."
"B..but!"
Quickly walking over to the man and taking Viviana from him, I gave Lucy a casual remark. "Let's just go inside and let her rest, she's fine."
Lucy acted like she was going to say something else, but stopped herself as we started walking inside.
Thankfully though, as we walked inside, we were met with Martha, Lucy's maid. "Oh my! What happened?!"
"I made a friend, so I brought her by to spend the night, b..but when we got here she fainted!"
Martha still looked confused, so I clarified. "Lucy didn't even say she was a noble until we left, and Viviana is a commoner, so…"
Finally calming down after realizing the situation wasn't serious, she gently took Viviana from me. "It's great that you made a friend, Lucy, but you need to give them some warning about the fact that you are the Princess… For now though, I'll bring her to a room and tend to her until she wakes up. What is her name?"
"Viviana. I'm not sure if she had a last name" I glanced at Lucy, assuming she would know.
"It was Zidek, I think…" Her voice lacked any confidence, and Martha definitely noticed.
"Haah, in that case, dinner will be ready soon, so be ready soon. Young Lord, if you'd like to join them, the Lord said you are welcome at the table."
"Ah…" Although I was actually fairly hungry, the food I had a slight craving for was something far more substantial than a human meal, but even still, I figured it couldn't be a bad idea. -He might need to tell me something…- "Then I will take him up on that offer. Have them bring out some larger portions for me."
Lucy's eyes immediately lit up as her anxiety quickly vanished.
"I will do my best to notify the chef, young Lord. I will be busy tending to Miss Viviana here, so please have a good night."
"You too."
And with that, Martha left down the hall, and I followed Lucy to the dining room.
-I wonder what's on the menu…-
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- ~~~ - (Omnipotent)
Meanwhile, around 7,000 km southwest of Kaelallan, within the Kingdom of Byria, a certain noble finally started to push plans forward.
The man was standing in his office, staring out the window and looking towards the sunset.
"Sir, your orders are-"
"I don't think you have the right to question my orders." He glanced at the robed man kneeling behind him with agitation.
"Y..yes sir.. I will carry it out to the best of my abilities."
The noble immediately showed his teeth. "If it's not done, you're dead."
Giving a scared nod, the robed man immediately vanished.
Turning back to the window, the sun finally started reaching the horizon, turning the sky to a beautiful gold.
But, even though it was a stunning view, the color reminded the noble of something unpleasant. -Just how much are those greedy dragon bastards going to ask for..-
As he sipped his tea, he gave a disgusted look.
"I can't even enjoy my tea anymore because of them…" But his look of displeasure quickly turned to a crazed smile. "Soon enough, I'll show them that humans cannot be looked down on!"
His plan was nearly complete; he just needed to clean some unnecessary variables and butter up the dragon one last time.
"Haah, to think I was such a genius strategist all along!" -They think they can just use me so freely?! I'll show them. -
*Shatter*
He crushed his glass in his hand, accidentally spilling the tea on his new, white shoes. "Oh, dammit... I liked these shoes too..."
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