"From 16:40 to 19:30 pm, gaining a 30-minute-long break for another snack. At 19:50 you will undergo a magical channeling massage to sooth the blocked channels of your dormant magic types, it'll last until 20:30 pm. From 20:30 to 20:55 pm, you shall get ready for dinner, which will happen at 21 pm. The rest is free time."
The rest? There's barely any time remaining.
"The night routine will change if it's a ball night!" Mother added with an encouraging smile.
"Think you are up to it, little Liya?" Kirill provoked me with that mischievous grin that made me want to punch him, the same way I felt when my older brother would mess with me, back when I was Alina, it's a feeling I'm familiar with.
"Of course, I am," I snapped, annoyed. "It'll be a piece of cake."
"Don't worry about not having energy for all that, Lady Diana," Arwel reassured me with an excited smile, "I'll be right behind you after the training with Lord Andrey is over, I'll heal your tiredness and replenish your stamina for the tea party with her Ladyship."
"Thank you, Arwel, that will help me sleeping well and being better for the training in the next morning," I smiled softly and turned to my brothers who had an amused grin on, behind the mischievousness was pride, they are proud of me, all of them, it's a feeling I've never forget, something I missed as Eleanor. "I will do my best. I promise not to disappoint you again."
"You've never disappointed us, Liya," dad winked.
"Even when I broke the Crown Prince's heart?"
He squeaked at that, "Okay, maybe once."
"Raoul Le Noir!" Mother growled, punching his biceps and he groaned.
"Never, darling, you never disappointed us!"
"Hmph," mom clicked her tongue, side-eying him, but she softened when turning to me. "You should only marry for love, Liya, you don't have to worry, you're a Le Noir and a Volkov, our families have power enough to protect you from any annoying suitor you do not want. You're still young, you're 22 years old, you will have 2 years to find one you love."
"Two years?" I gasped in dismay.
She narrowed her eyes, "You should marry at maximum 24 years old, beyond that it's too old."
"Mom," I cried.
"Don't you 'mom' me, Diana Nataliya Volkov Le Noir, we're the best parents in the Empire already, you don't have a prospect husband, you are not engaged, even less married, and you turned down and broke the heart of the best match in the Empire who was the Imperial Crowns Prince Ashborn Nott-Novak, so, don't you 'mom' me. We are fine with leaving you alone with marriage matters and letting you marry by love, but there's a limit for everything. 24 years old is the limit, you turned 22 a month ago, you have 23 months!"
"Am I supposed to marry on my birthday?"
She narrowed her eyes on me, "29 months then, this is as much as we'll stretch it, daughter, nothing beyond that. By the time you turn 24 years and 6 months old, you must be getting married, not dating, not engaged, but getting married. Are we understood, Diana Nataliya Volkov Le Noir?"
Damn, she really is the best mom in this world, "Thank you, mom," I smiled satisfied.
Her cheeks blushed but she kept the annoyed facade, "Hmph, 29 months is more than enough."
"At this rate we'll marry before you," Kirill poked.
I side-glared at him, "As you should, you're older."
He gasped, "Excuse me?"
"I'll be married by 24, Kill, you're 25 and single!" Andrey cackled a laughter at that, and I could tell that Ary was holding onto his for his dear life. "And you, Rey, are 27 and single, you're worse."
His laughter died and he blushed embarrassed, "I am too buse with duties of heir."
"So busy you will be training me on the daily!"
"Hey, you brat," he groaned, "you'd be grateful."
"Oh, but I am, however, you're quite miserable."
"Hah, seems like you're nasty hitting your head or not," Kirill provoked, "you are a brat."
"I can be a brat, I'm the youngest," I grinned.
"You," both gasped.
"Enough," father exclaimed annoyed, "my blood pressure is rising, you are annoying," he told the boys who gasped dramatically. "Your sister has been through a lot, she needs to rest for the night and it's past 21 pm now."
"We left your dinner there, darling," mother told me, pointing to the left side of my huge bed, making me turn there and find a cart with four trays of food, way more than I usually eat.
Thinking about it, I haven't eaten anything since I've woken up as Diana, my body my be starving. "Thank you, mom," I meant it. "You should rest too, sorry for worrying you all so much."
She kissed my forehead tenderly, "We worry because we love you, my sweet Liya. Now, eat and go to sleep, okay?"
I nodded, even though I don't feel sleepy at all.
Ary winked at me as they left, rising a thumb up.
In a minute they were all out of my chambers and the doors were closed. Moving my hand, I used my wind magic to lock them, then, I was up, stretching my body, wanting to see how much stamina I have stored after losing consciousness so many times, as well as too see how flexible this body is. Ary told me that Yeji was in the gymnastics team throughout her entire life in South Korea, when I asked about how I was then, and he said she would stretch every day to feel more like herself... myself... you got it.
It's definitely showing.
After stretching for about 10 minutes, it sure showed how she's been stretching daily for 4 years now, this body is very flexible in a good way, it has some monster stamina, it's insane. For the next 40 minutes, I sat down on the bed, legs crossed, back straight, hands on my thighs, and taking deep calming breaths I meditated, feeling the energy within my body, the magic within my core, the unlocked channels of wind magic, and the locked ones of dream and spatial magic. It's something I learn as Eleanor.
Since I couldn't really train heavily like any normal mage here, I had to find a way to train my body with the capabilities I had then, and as my body as Eleanor wasn't very strong and lacked stamina, I began to try what I read in book that popped up in my bed when I was 9 years old, about cultivating magic by controlling the flow of it through the channels within my body. It wasn't 100% effective then because, as Eleanor, my body's channels were rather fragile, it was weaker to its very foundation.