I should have turned back and left, I should have gone to my comfortable bed, but instead I choose to knock. I peeped inside with a fake smile glued to my face.
"Good… Oh, duke I didn't expect to see you here," I said as I curtsied. He scanned my pretty face and shrugged before walking out.
"When did you get a dragon?" I heard Carmel's voice.
"Oh, this is Poppy, Poppy this is my mother, Lady Carmel, the Grand duchess." Poppy transformed to his human form and bowed, this is too funny. Carmel laughed and said,
"That would have been intriguing if it wasn't a little child." I know.
"Sorry to interrupt, my lady, but I am not a child," Poppy said politely. This is weird for me, as someone who has spent the last few hours with this foul-mouthed kid, my perception of him is set. I didn't expect to see a polite Poppy in my three lifetimes.
"Interesting," she replied. Interesting indeed, why is Poppy acting like this? And naked.
"I see where you got your mouth from," he said in my head.
"Wrong person," I replied. As much as I hate to admit it, it's true. He shifted back and sat on my shoulder.
"Wrong person?" Carmel asked.
"It's nothing," I said smiling. "I came to see how you were doing, but I heard something I suppose I wasn't supposed to hear." What is with me today? I'm surprising myself as well.
"Oh dear, Roseanne, you see your father and I... We were…," she started, but I cut in.
"It's okay, I don't care," I said and I meant it. She looked at me with concern but shook her head and said,
"You know he cares about you, right?" Yeah, right.
"And you?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"He doesn't care about you?" I asked but it was more of a statement.
"Rose…"
"Mother, I came here to see how you were doing, but it seems you are better now, I'll take my leave," I curtsied and walked to the door.
"Let's have brunch together," she suggested, and I turned and said,
"Sorry but I promised to spend time with Lily and Raphael." Hangout would have sounded better in that statement, it sounded too… Weird and romantic.
"Oh," she said, a small smile crept up her face. "Then tomorrow," she said.
"Okay," I replied and walked out.
I changed into a lemon dress, but changed my mind and wore purple instead because it was a dark color and I intended stuffing my face in an elegantly embarrassing manner. I wore a black glove since I'm now a glove person. I styled my hair to two braids, I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction. I walked out waving at Millie on my way out, I felt like a kid who's going out to play with her bullies but still have to act giddy in front of her parents, I wasn't scared, but I definitely wasn't interested.
I hate the fact that I have to curtsy every single time. Wait a minute, if I want to repel guys I can stop pretending to be a lady because I know that deep down I am still a tomboy. Fat and unrefined, that would be the perfect combo. That's just what I'm telling myself to feel better, I can't do that even if I wanted to, I live in the same house as the torture machine. So I'll pipe it down a little.
I walked out with a smirk on my face, again I was not excited about the trip. I spotted Lily talking to Raphael and approached them.
"Yo," I said with one hand up. They'd probably think my personality suddenly changed, it didn't I'm just sick of curtsying. For today, I'll be partly myself, I don't care for now since I might still die let me enjoy my life while I'm at it, even if it's just for a while. I live an unfortunate life.
"Are you coming with the dragon?" Raphael stuttered. Why is this old man scared of me? He looked reluctant like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure. I sighed in frustration and said,
"I had plans to go shopping with Poppy, so I decided to do that after lunch." Plus Poppy is my new handbag.
"Oh, I see. Sorry for…," he was saying, but I interrupted him not really in the mood for another apology.
"Forget it," I said and walked into the carriage. This old man must really like apologizing.
I have been in a carriage a few times, the comfortable ones from the Percando's mansion, and the uncomfortable rides that is the carriages for order, but one thing I am sure if is that none of them are not fun. It's slow, so slow. I mean, can you change gear Mr. Horse? Cars are far better than this, the funniest and most annoying part is after journey is that someone will say,
"We're there already? That was fast." Really? It's like they are purposely moving slow because a horse shouldn't be that slow. It's like the horse has motion sickness or something, I could literally sleep and wake up and still won't reach my destination. I wish Poppy could grow bigger, he'd definitely be faster than this.
We finally got there, and shockingly it took just two hours when it felt like forever. I was so grateful that no one tried to start any awkward conversations, I would have jumped out of the carriage. While we were all silent and tense, Poppy was asleep, he didn't even last. Guess he couldn't handle it, speed is he's turf.
I got down from the carriage and stretched a little, Poppy flew on my head and found a comfortable position to continue his sleep.
"So where to?" I asked Raphael who looked like he didn't have an itinerary.
"The ride was long, why don't we go to the restaurant and get something to eat." Blame that on your stupid ancestors that choose that place to build a house, a bit closer to the city would have been better, the house is too secluded. Gosh!