The Grand Duchess had left for a ladies tea party hosted by her childhood friend, Duchess Alistair Anton, the wife of Duke Maxim Anton who was also Catherine's brother. She had no idea where the Grand Duke was in the mansion.
[Baby Al's asleep.] She pouted.Princess, here are the snacks you requested for." Adeline returned a few minutes later with a tray containing little cakes, a side of grapes and cut apples, and a cup of tea.
"Thank you, Linny." Aristia replied politely while making herself comfortable on the chair placed in front of a small round table in the garden.
Adeline's eyes revealed surprise, but that look soon faded.
Aristia enjoyed the grapes and apples while admiring the beauty of the garden. There were flowers of different sorts, colours and scents but they all blended together to produce a beautiful view and a pleasant aroma.
In no time, she was done devouring the snacks and was now rubbing her full belly.
[I just remembered that I haven't toured both the inside and the outside of the mansion since I came here this morning. Got to see things for myself. I also need a little walk around the house to help digest my food while I'm still in this world.]
She set off to complete her mission. Her first destination was the kitchen, where she assisted the cooks in checking whether the taste of the food was alright. Nothing more than that, cough cough.
Then she went to the parlor, the drawing room, and the living room, Adeline trailing behind her like a shadow the whole time. She passed by a closed room she recognized as the Grand Duke's study but the door was locked as it always was when her father was not inside because of the important and possibly confidential documents it housed.
She toured a few more rooms before she decided that she'd continue the tour of the mansion some other day, since the mansion was very large. She had spent close to an hour and yet she hadn't even explored half of it. She got lost a few times but managed to find her way.
"Where is the Gra—my father?" Aristia stopped a passing maid.
The maid informed her that the Grand Duke was in the training ground in the mansion, training the Knights in his order; The Black Stallion Knights.
The training ground was part of the places she had not seen in the mansion so she would use the opportunity to check it out.
She didn't know the way so she found Adeline instead. Asking a servant to show her the way to the training grounds would only raise unnecessary suspicion and she wanted to avoid that.
She didn't know why, but it seemed like the servants were walking on pins and needles around her.
"Linny, take me to go see papa." She said, pretending to not know where the Grand Duke was.
"Yes, princess," Adeline nodded.
Together, they headed to the training grounds to meet the Grand Duke.
***
The training ground was spacious— almost larger than a football field. When she arrived, she immediately spotted the Grand Duke sparring with one of the Knights.
The page boys and squires were standing at the sidelines and watching while some of the other knights were sparring with each other.
The knight was obviously struggling to keep up with the Duke as he was sweating like a waterfall and panting. Poor guy.
The Duke didn't even seem like he was sparring. He was just as relaxed and languid as when he was drinking tea, the exception being that he had a stoic expression on his face which wasn't present when he was with his family.
[Heh, this guy is just like me.]
Aristia sat on one of the benches placed by the side of the training ground under a shade for the spectators and tired knights to rest on, and observed with boredom.
Realizing something, she turned to face Adeline, "Have a seat, Linny. Your legs are probably tired." She spoke out of consideration for the maid.
Adeline glanced at her in slight surprise. It seemed she had been experiencing that emotion a lot around the princess today.
"Oh no, my princess. How could I do such a thing?" Adeline declined politely, even though she knew that if Aristia insisted, she would have to sit with her as it was an order from the princess.
Aristia didn't force her to sit with her. She knew that it was considered wrong and against the norms for people of low social standing, in other words servants and commoners to sit together with nobles, not to talk of royalty, so she didn't insist on Adeline sitting with her, especially since Adeline was standing under the shade too, away from the sun's rays.
When the Grand Duke spotted her, he said something to the knight who immediately looked relieved, before making his way to her while sporting a wide smile on his handsome face. His face was devoid of its earlier coldness.
"Hello, Papa." Aristia waved at the Grand Duke.
Was she supposed to bow or curtsey? She was sure the Grand Duke wouldn't appreciate that.
"Are your lessons over Tia?" Wilson questioned even though he knew the answer.
"Yes, Papa. Or I wouldn't be here." She replied in a matter of fact tone. Her voice didn't make it sound as snarky as she wished.
The Grand Duke just chuckled while holding his hands out for her.
"Come on, let's go." He said.
"Go where?" She asked while going against his intention and stretching out her hand to hold his instead of letting him carry her. His hands were rough, firm and a whole lot bigger than hers.
[How could I? Wouldn't it be embarrassing for him to carry me like a child? I'm an adult inside even though I'm in the body of a child.]
"Inside the mansion, of course." He replied, sighing when he saw that she refused to let him carry her. Was she still angry? "Unless you want to stay under the sun."