I love red rice. It tastes like it was cooked in ketchup. Food flew everywhere and my eyes glimmered with rare happiness. This is the life.
My cheeks bulged as I gobbled another chunk of meat. So good. I belched shamelessly and patted my stomach.
"…"
"…"
"Sign Ria up for etiquette lessons."
Who me?! I coughed and Erichean patted my back. My hair raised as the Duke demanded this of Niathe resolutely. Then my heart broke when Niathe the Bitter answered.
"I have a better idea. How about a nanny from the palace?"
"Oh, darling. You read my mind. Call for her in the morning?"
"No. I'll just wait for my mother to arrive and request one from her."
"Splendid."
I almost spit out my food. Excuse you?!!
I'm a baby! You can't do this to me. That's child abuse!
Normally I would have erupted in fury already. But my newfound discoveries have made me wary of the both of them.
Besides, I shouldn't even know what a nanny from the palace is. It's all Hadrian's fault anyway. She's been using them as ghost stories or something like that to encourage me to eat less.
Skinny bitch.
"Wipe your mouth, Ria."
No. Erichean wipes for me anyway and I snuggle into his arms. No one loves—I mean likes me like you and Harley. You guys are the best and our parents are such crap.
The triplets are cool too.
That night I ate merrily on the ground with my siblings. We made a mess of the rug and Niathe was peeved, to say the least. Everyone was lectured about manners and the cost of the rug. The Duke carried the triplets who were in a food coma away along with Erichean.
Hadrian was a bit late to arrive so Harley taught me how to move around my magical tattoo on my body for secrecy.
We eventually moved it to my inner thigh. Secretive and nobody but us will ever know about it. After that, we put all of the money I had earned inside the pouch.
Which is a lot. I'm a little rich lady now. Past me would be so proud.
Which got me thinking. With all this danger and scheming around me. What if I just ran away with my money and left? It's not a completely bad idea. I just need to work out a few kinks in the plan.
Hadrian picked up Harleen later personally and had a small conversation with Niathe.
That morning I woke up to torture. They call it dress and make-up here. Sarabse cheered me on from the sidelines as I was primed and prepared for the most important night of my life.
My first birthday. As Miseria Noxcissa Duccanes. Bleh.
A lot is riding on this occasion. Especially now that I have the system. It's been badgering me all of this morning.
It's not enough that it got to me when I was asleep to remind me of my mission.
Yeah, you heard me. As soon as I drifted off into dreamland it ripped me out of my sleep into the soul space.
I sat there in a daze for a while before it shook me anxiously. Its little blue eyes were wide with fear.
"What?!"
"You have a time-sensitive Urgent Quest! Host get up! Wake up!"
"Just call me Ria. I hate it when you call me Host. What is it?!"
It brought up my mission board and clicked on the ominous red tab. Oh god.
[Urgent Quest: A Birthday to Remember]
[Time Limit: 27 : 54: 36]
"A time limit? That's concerning. Summarize the requirements please."
"Yes, Ria."
[Don't open the Cursed Present.][Refuse a gift from Druvis.][Impress the Queen.][Pick a sworn Guardian.][Do not let your identity as a Godkiller be revealed.][Pick a suitable Imperial Nanny.][Do not Die.]
"…"
"…"
"What kind of bullshit mission is this?! How am I supposed to do any of those things?"
"I have a suggestion."
"Fine. Go ahead."
The penguin raises a flipper and says. "Wing it."
"…"
"Get it? Because you have no idea how to—"
I kicked the penguin in the face and it went flying into the darkness of my soul.
"Asshole."
I fumed in front of the mission and read it thoroughly top to bottom. It was a laundry list of precautions. With no real insight into what exactly I'm supposed to do. Damn it!
"How am I supposed to find and avoid a cursed present?"
The Penguin glowered at me and rubbed its beak."You now have the system function of Inspection. You can use it on your gifts."
"But it's going to look weird if I just say that out loud."
"Then I can add a system control over that specific function."
"Which means?"
"I will automatically inspect every single present that you receive. Just for tonight."
Ok. I nodded and mused over the other red flags. What do I do about the rest of those?
Let's start with Druvis…
All last night I brainstormed with the gloomy penguin about what to do. We have a rough outline of a plan but we didn't have much to go on when making it. A leaf could hit me in the face and mess up the plan. I'll just have to improvise.
This is so going to disrupt my circadian rhythm.