When I woke up in the morning, I followed my normal routine right up until the moment I would normally leave the room to go to the dining room. This is when I hesitated and did not want to leave the room. It was as if there was something in the back of my head saying that as long as I did not leave the room, nothing would happen. Finding this idea to be acceptable, I was about to just go back to bed when Raina broke the illusion, saying, "You know, staying here and not confronting her about this will only make it worse, right?"
Hearing Raina's words, I hung my head and let my tail drop as I responded, "I know. I just don't want to lose my first and only friend in this world."
For some reason, when I said this, I heard Raina doing a spit-take as something crashed to the floor. Following that, I barely heard her say, "Poor Lou Xia. So this is what she has been dealing with."
Confused by this, I tilted my head to the side as I felt one of my ears flatten out, pointing at the floor, leaving my ears pointing perpendicular to each other. Raina just shook her head, leaving me more confused, so I tilted my head slightly more as I felt my tail rise up and curl into the shape of a question mark.
The only response I got was Raina calling me too cute for my own good and then attempting to assault my fluffy ears again. Taking my only escape route, I run to the dining room. Not once during my escape did I get more than twenty feet away from her. It was only when I entered the dining room and saw everyone waiting that I realized what Raina had done.
Turning to her, I saw a smile plastered across her face as she stood there looking at me. "Ah! Ugh! You! MOM!" I shouted out of frustration as I saw her face twitch briefly, but I did not take it to heart as I stormed over to the table and sat down.
Once there, I scanned the room to find that everyone was looking at me. Mr. and Mrs. Xia, as well as all the staff, excluding the chef, had blank faces. Mo looked confused, the chef looked excited, and finally, Lou Xia was looking at me in shock. Still a little upset about being tricked by Raina I exclaimed in a harsher tone than I meant to, "What!"
Most people in the room jumped at this, and Lou Xia started to say something but was stopped by a glare from her mother. Taking a few seconds after the glare, Lou Xia spoke up once more, "I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I had a problem that occurred during my cultivation, and my mind wasn't in the right place."
Confused by what she was saying, I tilted my head like I had earlier, with one ear flattening and my tail curling into the shape of a question mark again. In the back of the room, I saw some of the maids start to freak out about something as Raina said that she would explain later. With that said, Lou Xia then asked, "After you leave, would I be able to visit your mountain?"
This only made my confused expression that just left return once more as I asked, "Why would you not be able to visit? You're my friend, after all. You could visit whenever you want. Besides, there is so much room on an entire mountain that if you said you wanted to live there, I would just ask you where you wanted your house and if you needed help building it."
After saying this, I heard Raina faceplaming next to me, Lou Xias's face going red, and her mother coughing a few times. This made me even more confused, as my tail then started tilting in the opposite direction of my head. The few maids that I noticed in the back seemed to freak out again at this. The only answer I got for this was Mrs. Xia saying, "So this is what they mean by ignorance is bliss."
My confusion only grew at this point before the chef stealthily placed a covered waiter's tray in front of me, capturing my attention. Remembering the meals from yesterday, I got very excited as the chef pulled off the cover. Almost immediately, a wonderous scent filled the room, and I was now having a hard time holding myself back from digging in. Thankfully, the moment the chef revealed the dish that he made for me and Raina, Mr. Xia started the meal.
Unlike last time, I was able to keep more of my wits about me during the meal, and I noticed that my tail was wagging around at an incredible speed that I was certain was faster than the eye could keep up with. My ear had even started to twitch slightly, making me more than a little embarrassed. Regardless, I still focused on devouring and savoring the food in front of me.
When the meal was finished, Mrs.Xia spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. "Now I believe that you are wanting to leave tomorrow, so why don't we have that shopping trip today?"
The same feeling of dread from yesterday filled my mind, but before I could say anything, Raina answered for me, saying, "Thats a good Idea. Why don't I go with you guys and help out? There are even a few things that I would like to see Vale in."
Mrs. Xia then agreed with her, and I was soon pulled into the foyer, where a few maids were waiting. This entire time, I was looking at Lou Xia, silently asking her to save me from this, but all I got in response was her mouthing, 'Not even I could escape when my mother wants to do this.'
With her saying this, I tried to look around for a way out only for my dread to turn into despair as I was pulled through the door and into a carriage that was waiting for us. I did not even know when they had started to prepare the carriage, but I at least knew that I had fallen to a plot against me. It was only when the carriage started moving that I was informed of our destination, a set of five different clothiers.
The conversation that started between Mrs. Xia and Raina started to make me genuinely terrified. I was starting to understand what those girls who always said that their friends treated them like dolls felt, or at least I thought I did until we arrived at the first tailor. The sheer number of dresses and outfits I tried on during this one visit felt like I had just tried on more outfits than all the clothes I had worn in my previous life combined, and this was only the first tailor of five.
The only thing that helped me get through this was the thought that a lot of time had passed during this period, but as I am sure anyone else in my position could tell you, this was a false hope. When we left the tailor, and I got to see how far the sun had moved across the sky, I felt all the despair I had earlier returned, as only one hour had passed. It had felt like over half the day had passed when I was in the tailor's shop, and now I was seeing just how wrong I was.
Then we moved on to the next tailoring shop. Five hours later, we had finished visiting all the stores, and then Mrs. Xia said she wanted to visit a jewelry and beauty shop. Thankfully, at this point, Lou Xia found an opening to escape and we made a run for it.
From here, we went to visit a series of florists, botanists, and gardeners who had set up shop in an open market that took over a few streets on the edge of town. When we were going threw this market, Lou Xia had made sure to take and keep a hold of my hand as we went around the market looking for plants to put into the shrine garden I was planning.
There were many new plants that I had never seen before, and that had the perfect aesthetic for what I had in mind. Sadly, we did not buy any of them, but Lou Xia did make a note of which ones I wanted.
From here, we went to look for some large amounts of resources that I needed, and I even spent some time looking for books on formations and spells to study. One of the most amazing finds was a book on Roman architecture mixed with formations that was written in Latin. The person we bought it from said that he found it in an inheritance ground and could not understand it, so he was willing to sell it to us.
This was the most amazing part of the day that I did not stop thinking about until after dinner.