Aristia got down from the swing. She had been sitting outside on it for a while. The swing was her favorite place to sit and was the only thing in her home playground that she gave attention to. The other playground equipments were too childish to her.
She had just returned inside her house when she passed by her parents room and heard them having a discussion.
The door was slightly ajar so their voices were clear enough for her to unintentionally listen to their conversation even as she walked to her room.
Eavesdropping was not something she would do, and she would have continued to walk in the direction of her room had curiosity not gotten the best of her when she heard her name being uttered.
"I'm getting worried honey. I just can't seem to forget about that note and the strange man's words, and how it's connected to Ari." She heard her mother say to her father in a voice filled with worry.
"Don't worry, my love," Her father had replied in an attempt to comfort her mother even though he sounded equally worried. "That note is just a silly prank and that man might just be trying to scare us. Maybe he just wants to extort money from us. A lot of people have tried a lot of things in order to get money from us. This might just be one of those tricks. We can't fall for that." He was clearly trying to convince himself.
[What note? What man? What are Mom and Dad talking about and how is that related to me?] She thought in confusion and then listened in on the conversation again.
"Might?!! Richard, you said 'might'!!! That shows that you're not even convinced." Her mother's voice increased in volume; something that happened whenever she was scared or nervous, which she wasn't usually. In this case, it was both. What could have made her strong mother fear? Aristia wondered.
Then her mother sighed. "I'm sorry honey, I just... I just can't help it," she heard her mother say in a cracked voice. "I have this strong feeling that he might not be joking, call it motherly instinct or something, and it scares me, more than I can imagine."
"I'll think of a way, my love, I will. Elliot is already thinking of a solution." Her father consoled. Elliot was her older brother. He was twenty-four years old and twelve years old than her.
Aristia wondered; [What could possibly be happening? Why am I the only one who has no idea what's happening? Even El knows.]
She was about to continue listening when the footsteps of the servants approaching made her hurry away from the door and to her room. She didn't want to be caught eavesdropping. It would be a blow on her ego and her parents would also be made aware that she had been listening in on their conversation the whole time.
***
Aristia sighed once more when she remembered the conversation she overheard when she was twelve years old. If it weren't for the door being opened a gap, she probably wouldn't have heard anything.
Even though her brother was twenty-four at the time, he was a very capable and promising young man. He hadn't gotten married to Suzy, her sweet sister-in-law then. He got married to her at twenty six.
She still felt like she was forgetting something. Like the memory was there but when she tried to look into it, it moved further away. So she decided to ignore it and instead focus on taking her bath.
The bath was indeed relaxing. So relaxing that Aristia almost fell asleep. Almost. After the bath, she got dressed and made her way to her next class for the day; Dance class.
The dance room was a wide room, just like every other room in the mansion. There were gold carvings decorating the walls and the marble floors were smooth and shiny. There were a few seats at the side of the room.
Not long after Aristia entered the dance room, her dance instructor came in. She was a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair and light brown eyes.
The woman curtsied with her head slightly lowered. "It's a pleasure to be your dance instructor, your highness."
Aristia curtsied slightly in greeting to the Baroness. "Please guide me properly, Baroness."
Her dance instructor, Baroness Loretta Tindall had a look of surprise on her face as if she was surprised the little princess could speak so fluently and properly.
She recovered quickly and nodded politely in reply.
"Since this is your highness's first day of practicing dancing, I shall only instruct you on the rules and the different dance steps so that you'll be prepared, and we'll begin the practice of the dance steps during our next class." She paused to see whether Aristia was listening.
Seeing that she was, she continued. "Let us begin. When dancing, be careful to not step on your partner's foot. How irritating would it be if you keep stepping on the foot of your partner..." The Baroness warned lengthily about what to do and what not to do.
[It seems like all my teachers have decided to start easy.] Aristia thought while pretending she was listening to the woman after making sure the dance steps and rules were similar to the ones back in her world. There were a few differences here and there but it was nothing much.
After the short class, Aristia asked Adeline to get her some snacks. Since she didn't have any other classes for the day, she was walking at a leisurely pace as she moved outside towards the garden.
"I'll be in the garden, Linny." She informed Adeline so that when she prepared the snacks, she would find her in the garden directly instead of searching for her.
[It's about time I got those much desired snacks.]