"Ha… We're finally back."
"Feels good."
Jenna and Karliah step out of the carriage and stretch their stiff bodies. The journey from the main palace to Aurelia's palace was not particularly long but it was not short either.
"Welcome back you two."
As they were lightly stretching, a girl came from the front door. The golden hair and her elegant way of carrying herself was reminiscent of the empress. The resemblance was so strong that if the girl was just slightly bigger, she could pass as the empress' twin to the eyes of others.
""We greet the future of the empire""
Of course, Jenna and Karliah already knew the girl. And though she looked like the empress, to them she would be Aurelia first.
"Princess, you are still up at this hour?"
"I just… couldn't sleep Lady Jenna. I apologize."
Jenna shook her head.
"No need for that Princess."
"Thank you, Lady Jenna."
Aurelia thanked her maid with an exhausted and slightly sad expression. Everyone knew that with her fiancé's passing that Aurelia was more or less burying herself in her studies, so they were all a little more lenient with everything.
"Though I guess I should head to bed. It's quite late after all."
"That would probably be best, Princess. Make sure to get plenty of rest. Lady Karliah, would you kindly help the princess get ready for bed."
"N-no need for that Lady Karliah. I can get ready myself. I'm sure you're just as exhausted."
"Please allow me to help you Princess."
Aurelia was trying to be considerate to the two who were traveling all day but it seemed they were insistent in helping her.
With no choice, Aurelia nodded her head.
"Thank you, Princess."
Gaining permission, Karliah led Aurelia to her room and helped her get dressed for bed.
"Lady Karliah?"
"Yes Princess?"
"Did anything happen by the main palace?"
"I think it's better to hear them from Lady Jenna tomorrow, Princess."
"If you say so Lady Karliah."
Karliah stops and takes a step back and checks on how she's doing. Her golden hair that came down just below her shoulders was neatly combed. Her fancy red dress was swapped out for a set of frilly blue pajamas that was ever so slightly to be big for her. It being one size bigger was a preference of Aurelia's.
"There we go. Now you're all ready to sleep, Princess."
"Thank you Lady Karliah. You too should get some rest."
"Of course Princess."
Happy with her work, Karliah puts away the comb she was using and picks up Aurelia's old clothes. As she moved to light the fireplace Aurelia stopped her.
"I got that one Lady Karliah. Ember tips."
Aurelia crouches down and lights the fireplace with a small flame coming from her fingertips.
"Looks like you've been practicing, Princess."
"Yeah. Kept me busy when you two were away."
"That's a good way to pass time Princess."
With the fireplace lit, Karliah headed to the exit with a bundle of clothes in her hands. Just before she leaves, Karliah turns to Aurelia.
"Well then, goodnight Princess."
"Have a goodnight as well Lady Karliah."
With their goodbyes said, Karliah leaves the room as Aurelia lays down on her bed.
Now alone in a freeing set of sleepwear, her mind began to think of Isaac instead of drifting off to sleep. Aurelia shook her head to try and clear her mind.
"Damn it Isaac… Look at what you did to me."
Was it because it was recent or was it because she really liked him? As she kept tossing and turning in her bed, she continued to think about him.
It would be quite a long night for the sisters.
****
Not long after the sun rose, so too did Aurelia. As she was thinking of going back to try and get some more sleep, her door creaked open. Peeking her head through the now open door was
Karliah who was checking to see if the fire was still going.
"Princess you are already up. Good morning."
"Good morning Lady Karliah."
As they greeted each other, Karliah noticed the small bags underneath Aurelia's eyes. It was clear that she barely got any sleep recently.
"Princess, you know you don't have to get up so early. With what's happening recently, it'd be more than fine to sleep in a bit more. Especially considering you were still up when we got back so late yesterday."
It was a bit rude to pick at such a fresh wound but Karliah had said it out of worry for Aurelia.
"I'm fine Lady Karliah. Really I am. If I'm going to be the empress one day, I should get used to these things."
"Princess."
Karliah looked a little sad as she stared at Aurelia.
"Though you will be the empress one day, that is still a long ways away. You should enjoy yourself a little more, Princess."
"I already do that, Lady Karliah. I find my work quite enjoyable."
Karliah looked at her with doubtful and sad eyes. Given the current circumstances, Aurelia understood why Karliah was looking at her like that. But she really did enjoy doing her work. It made her feel like she was closer to her mother who was her role model.
"If you say so Princess. But if you're having a hard time do remember to take breaks."
"I will keep that in mind, Lady Karliah. Would you help me get changed?"
"Huhu, Of course Princess."
While she can dress herself just fine, it was always better to have a second pair of hands to help out. Even though she said otherwise, she was feeling down due to Isaac's passing. Aurelia had also gotten used to getting Karliah's help during the morning, so she wanted to keep the normal routine going.
Changing out of her pajamas and into a fresh dress for the day, she sits down in front of a mirror so that Karliah can brush her slightly messy bed hair. As Aurelia closed her eyes while Karliah started to comb her hair, a comfortable silence fell upon the room.
"Hmm~ hmm~hmm~"
After what seemed like a few minutes, Aurelia started to hear a gentle humming from Karliah.
"You sound quite happy Lady Karliah."
"Well, I did see Kara yesterday so that was quite fun."
"Was she doing well?"
"She looked a little tired but it seemed like she was doing alright."
"That's good. Did you happen to see my sister?"
"Princess Mira? Sadly no, I didn't."
"Oh? Was she in her class?"
"I would think so."
"I hope she's doing alright."
"I'm sure she is, Princess."
After a bit more time, Karliah stops combing Aurelia's hair, satisfied with her work. She opens her eyes and looks at herself in the mirror.
"What do you think Princess? I think you're ready for the rest of the day now."
"I think it will do nicely. Thank you Lady Karliah."
"Your welcome Princess."
Standing up from her seat, Aurelia stepped away from the mirror and into the hallway. As she entered, she found Jenna outside tending to the flowers. Aurelia greeted her as she got closer.
"Good morning Lady Jenna."
"Good morning Princess."
After exchanging greetings, Jenna turned to look at Karliah.
"So, did you wake her or was she already awake when you got in?"
"You really think I would wake her up when she probably just went to sleep?"
"I certainly hope not. Are you sure you don't want to sleep more Princess? You were still up when we came back last night."
"If me being up that late grants me the right to sleep in, shouldn't we all still be asleep then? You were all up just as much as I was."
"We are already used to such late nights and early mornings Princess. You on the other hand are not. Not yet anyways."
"Well then isn't it better to get some practice in if this will be normal for me soon?"
"I guess so Princess. Well before the day starts properly, shall we go eat? Myuki said he got his hands on Haryuen fish recently and he wanted to serve it."
"Then we shouldn't keep him waiting."
With the conversion concluded, Aurelia takes the lead towards the dining hall.
****
"That was a wonderful Sir Myuki."
"Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it Princess."
Myuki smiled as he cleaned up the dining hall.
"Now that that's done, let's get down to business. The Empress has asked that you return to the main palace, Princess."
"Is it because of… recent events?"
"Yes Princess."
There was a sad look on Jenna's face as she told Aurelia. Truth be told, Aurelia had already expected this to happen. After all, no parent would let their child grieve for their fiance alone.
"That was much quicker than I thought."
"Well the Empress probably doesn't want you to bear with it all on your own."
"I guess so."
Aurelia stretched her body and yawned.
"You can still sleep a little more, Princess. It's barely six."
"Don't tempt me Karliah."
"Hahaha, very well Princess."
"So am I bringing everyone back or am I to go alone?"
"That is entirely up to you Princess. If you want to take us with you, we will go. If you want to go by yourself, we will stay behind. Though if I may, I would like for you to bring all of us."
"Hmm…"
Aurelia fell into thought.
Though she does want to bring them all with her, it would be quite the hassle to do so. There was also a question of if they were going to be there for only a short while or will be staying indefinitely.
"I think I'll decide in the afternoon."
"Very well Princess. Though I believe it's best to decide soon. I ran into Count Syrias there and he said that there was going to quite the snowstorm soon."
"I'll keep that in mind Lady Jenna."
With that topic pushed to the side for now Aurelia headed towards her office.
****
Entering the office it almost looked as busy as her parent's. Strewn about were little piles of paperwork.
"Lady Jenna, please review the stacks by the couch. If any of them are wrong, please tell me where I went wrong."
"Sure thing Princess."
Aurelia sat on her desk and started to go through the new paperwork that she had. Though it looked like she had a lot of work to do, it was all just for practice.
Being the heir, Aurelia would one day have a lot of responsibility. So to prepare her, she was sent to the branch palace to let her manage it as a sort of test. The servants would act as noble households and send all sorts of things to her. From simple things like requesting aid to fairly complicated issues such as border and succession disputes. Such things would one day be common for her.
Picking up a piece of paper, Aurelia reads the content of the request. It was a request to unify two houses through marriage.
"..."
It was hardly a difficult request to approve. Looking through the fake profiles of the nobles, it was clear that such a union would only be of benefit to all parties.
As she moved to give it a stamp of approval, her hand stopped. She saw another piece of paper attached to the request. It was a letter written in the view of the girl getting married. Aurelia put down her stamp and began reading through the letter.
"Dear Empress, please approve my marriage to the son of Count Emon, Efka. He and I have known each other for years and after what seemed like forever, our families finally talked about us getting married.
Truth be told, the start of our relationship could barely be called good. We had argued so many times it was a miracle that we kept talking to each other. But as we kept talking, I kept on finding little things about him that were endearing. There was this one time that after we fought, he made me a little flower necklace to show that he's sorry. And then…"
The letter continued on and on. And though she knew that this was all made up by a very imaginative maid, Aurelia kept on reading the letter.
"Princess? Are you alright?"
There was no response from Aurelia.
"Princess?"
"Huh?"
"You're crying Princess. Are you alright?"
"W-what?"
Aurelia had started crying without even realizing it.
"Y-yeah. Sorry. I just… got a little emotional there. One of the maids… seems to really like writing."
Aurelia passed the letter to Jenna for her to read. As Jenna read the letter, she had the urge to crumple it and toss it away, but decided against it.
"This is probably Ranai's work. She's been trying her hand at several arts recently. I guess she's taken up writing as well."
"It's really well written too. She's a natural at it."
"I guess so."
Jenna put the letter aside and poured some tea for Aurelia.
"Would you like to take a break Princess?"
"Yes please… And thank you, Lady Jenna."
Aurelia took the tea and cooled down her heated emotions. She picked up a scented candle and lit it up with a small flame that came from her fingertips. She brought the tea to her lips and calmed her mind.
"I think we should all go home. I'd miss everyone if I went alone."
"If that's what you think Princess, we'll all gladly follow you."
"Thank you Lady Jenna."
Aurelia looked outside the window with her tea in hand. A bit of snow had piled on the window frames.