I was now done with my bath. The last 30 minutes were one of the most painful things I've lived though since arriving here. Of course it wasn't physically painful, but the sheer awkwardness of having to let someone wash me really killed me from the inside.
In the end I most likely could have washed myself, the special bottle that Shiela brought out the previous day turned out to just be a shampoo. Had I known in advance, I really would not have let them wash me. Well, there wasn't much that could be done now, they had finished washing me and had left the room, leaving me to dry at my own request.
I got out of the bath and took the towel that was on the ground to the side. I dried myself quickly while going to the chair to the corner of the room where my clothes were folded up.
The clothes were clearly of much higher quality then the ones I had been wearing up to now. Not that they weren't of good quality beforehand, just these were more of a ballroom level of quality. It was a beautiful white attire, blue lining on the edges, a dragon shaped logo followed the side of the shirt. The pants matched just as beautifully with the shirt, making quite the beautiful pair altogether.
I put them on quickly to not make people wait. But my previous excitement to get out of my room was starting to die out. I knew from past experiences that if someone dresses you in a beautiful attire like this one and didn't tell you the real reason why, that the day would be long. Was I really just going to go talk to my godmother or was there another reason?
I sighed deeply, this was going to be a rough day, of course it had to happen when I was finally getting into something…
I walked out of the room, opening the doors. Shiela was waiting for me outside; the two other maids had already left.
- You look good in the suit, Adelaide, your partner provided it for you. Make sure to thank her once you see her at the academy.
Adelaide was the girl whose hand was promised to me in marriage. I was frankly surprised, up to now, apart from her name everyone had refused to tell me about her. In fact, I didn't even know what age she was, but now I knew that at the very least she was the same age as me, since she would be at the academy at the same time as me.
On the other hand, Shiela looked a bit stressed about something, was there really something going on?
- I will make sure to do that if ever I do see her…
I tried my best to not seem close to her or interested. If I didn't want to force the poor girl to marry some old guy, I had to find a way to break the engagement. I was secretly hopping they would see my disinterest and break it out of they're own volution. But I couldn't do it too early because who knew what would happen to me once I wasn't under, they're protections. Would the people who killed my parents come back for me? Well id think about that another time.
- Shiela, I was meaning to ask. What is the reason that madame wants to meat me? I don't think I did anything of note.
Her face again showed traces of anxiety, was there really something going on?
- Well, there is… the madame will tell you everything about it, all I can tell you for now that its about the academy.
I was really surprised, the academy? Honestly, I was prepared to hear how I was impolite, that I lacked proper etiquette, that I was acting strange recently or even more why I was supposedly hiding something.
But the academy… I really was surprised; I didn't know what to make of it.
- Do you perhaps know why, or can you not say?
- I'm sorry I really cannot say anymore… everything should be fine, just I'm a bit worried.
She really did seem to be genuinely worried about me. I was happy that I at least seemed to have someone on my side for this whole thing.
Shiela led me across the manor. It was really beautiful, from all the different painting they had to the sculptures, the armory or even some of the light effects they had that were probably made with magic. It was all really amazing to see.
My reaction was probably a bit disproportional because Arnold who had just seen us pointed it out.
- You shouldn't keep your mouth open like that in front of madame…
- Yes, I am sorry, just everything here is so amazing. You'll need to explain to me how it all works one day.
I smiled at the butler. I was trying to befriend him because he seemed to be in charge of a lot of things around the mansion. At least that was my impression of him as of currently, I had only seen him a few times to be fair. Plus, I genuinely wanted to learn more about magic and its uses because it good really open up a lot of solutions to modern problems that existed.
Arnold was looking at me with a hint of amusement in his eyes, it would have felt a bit condescending if I hadn't known any better.
- We'll see about that, for now you should go inside the dinning room, the madame is waiting.
With that he took a bow and opened the doors that we were now standing in front of.
The room was maybe double the size of a modern dinning room, but I could imagine that this wasn't the biggest they had in the house. Now that I thought about it the bath was probably the same, they most likely had they're own grandiose baths where they had invested more in the decor.
The table had only 2 seats, one at both ends. On the table a variety of foods were placed down, all of them looked honestly delicious, though they also looked like they were all sweets. I didn't know how unhealthy it truly was in a world with magic, but it still surprised me nonetheless. In the room only me, her and Alfred where in the room.
At the end of the table was my godmother who seemed to on the other hand be wearing a more normal attire for he stature, nothing fancy like I was at least. In the room only me, her and Alfred where in the room. Shiela waited outside.
- Hello madame, I heard you wanted to speech to me today.
I bowed down still standing up, I didn't want to disrespect her, especially if I wanted to fall under her good graces.
- Yes, you may sit down, I will tell you the reason I have invited you before the end of the 2 month period.
I nodded and sat down. I waited until my godmother took the first bite. Although I was thankful for the food and really wanted to eat some of it, I didn't want to make is look like I was desperate for it either. I wanted to show that I was a man that new basic etiquette.
I looked at her, she still hadn't taken a bit and was instead observing me, similarly to the way she did on that first day I had seen her, looking to see if I was hiding something.
She took a deep breath of air and sighed.
- Joel, as much as I want to call you a liar for saying that you've lost your memory, I simply cannot tell what is happening to you. Initially I didn't believe you and assumed that you would just go back to no good like you used to. But you stayed inside your room without any complaints, its as if you weren't Joel anymore.
I had a cold sweat going down my neck, she really was closer to the truth, maybe she did know. I tensed up a bit, but I tried to not show it too much on my face.
- And then there's your book, Alfred can you pass it to me.
I froze, they had taken my book. I really shouldn't have left it out in the open like that. Although I didn't know how far they're science and math was, I was sure that complex algebraical formulas and things like the laws of the universe they wouldn't be familiar with. And here was my book filled with it.
- Well, judging from your expression I wasn't supposed to find it. Well I had some use a special magic so I could read it the first day you started to write in it. Can you imagine my surprise when I saw complex calculations that clearly surpass our current knowledge. I don't know where you got this knowledge, but you better tell me now Joel or whoever you are…
She was now giving me death stares, this was a threat, and this was the last question I wanted to hear. I genuinely had no idea how to answer it. I had to keep playing the role of having lost my memories and earlier she seemed to be starting to believe the lie. But what if she lied to try and catch me in my own lie. Just what had I gotten myself into…
Time was ticking, I had to come up with an answer quickly, to lie or not to lie. What would let me leave here with my life intact…