Wearing a corset is remarkably uncomfortable. No hmm, actually I think that's a little unfair. Have you ever put on a long sleeve shirt for the first time after a long summer? That's part of why putting the corset on was so uncomfortable to me. It was entirely unfamiliar. A sudden restrictive sensation I'd never felt before.
I remember a sort of chilling dread then, as the maid tightened it. A dread that I'd never be able to escape this corset.
"You mentioned I had a busy schedule, err what does it look like?" Mainly the words had slipped out in an effort to keep my attention away from whatever outfit the maid had been putting over my body.
"Ah Princess, I know it's a lot to keep in your head, but surely you could remember. An agenda of two things isn't that far above the usual is it?"
My cheeks burned red. "I- I'm afraid I've forgotten."
The maid seemed a bit exasperated, then seemed to straighten up, as if remembering something. "Right, I'm sorry Princess, it will just be your usual class, and then some taste testing for the wedding caterers, you know, they need ample time to prepare a royal feast and all."
The boiling in my cheeks was almost unbearable. How could this girl be so dense that my questions hardly phased the maid? Still, I was starting to see how that could serve to my advantage. No one would bat an eye to these stupid questions, and then…
Well to be honest, I still had no idea what I was working towards. I suppose at that moment, as the maid led me out of the bedroom, I was just trying to think, to find something to work with, to desperately try and escape this hopeless pit in my gut.
"Ah, umm, this might sound a bit bad, but when was the wedding again?"
"It's in a month and a half, Miss Sophie." She said that matter of factly.
"Ah yes, thank you." I was tempted to ask her name, but the thought of insulting her, or worse still finding out this girl had never bothered to learn it was a strong repellent.
"And Miss Sophie, be sure to attend your full class today, you only have a few weeks left, and the King insisted you not insult the tutor at least for these last few classes." She paused. "Ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you what to do, it's just the-"
"No that's alright, I think I can give learning a shot."
We'd followed a corridor and landed at an old wooden door. The maid looked almost stunned. I supposed the part of her that didn't was assuming that her mention of the King had convinced me. At that point, I remember wondering if that King would be my father, or something of the sort at least.
Either way, the maid indicated to pass through the door, so I followed, feeling the somewhat cool air of the hall replace itself with a stifling warmth from within the room.
The classroom was, in a word, cozy. It was a small room, still walled with stonework, but that fact was almost hidden by bookshelves, scattered boards, and the occasional loose stack of papers. The floor was thoroughly covered in a velvet carpet. As for desks, there were only three, a great big one sat at the far end of the room, framed in the brilliant orange light of the fireplace, and before it, a pair of smaller desks, simple, though still graced with more ornamentation than any school I'd attended.
The teacher's desk sat an old, kindly man, who appeared exhausted at the mere sight of me. Of the two remaining desks, only one sat a student. It seemed I was the last to arrive.
I hurriedly took a seat.
"Ah yes, good day princess, it's good of you to join us." The man craned his neck, straining his eyes behind thick glasses. "Now, when last we left off, I believe we were going over the Takelvian-Rynekish trade war of 982. Tella, if you would, tell us about the conditions that led to the conflict."
"Yes professor!"
I took the opportunity to steal a glance at Tella. Beyond her crystal clear voice, the primary impression that struck me was an elegant beauty. Every detail of her outfit was intimately arranged, and at the same time, her face done up with pristine detail, almost painted on with makeup. Despite that, with that fiery look in her eyes, the girl pushed an almost doll-like look into one of passionate arrogance. Her appearance screamed of pride, frilly accents be damned, she lit the fire in her orange dress.
"It was sparked by a series of border skirmishes that followed from the end of the last great war. Rynek cut off the Takelvian people from a rich grain supply that had previously travelled freely across the border. The conflict escalated until Spravalia stepped in, using diplomatic placation, and military threat to push Takelvia to call off their tariffs, and reintroducing the grain route, albeit with a new tax placed on the grain."
"Excellent work! Yes, that's all I wanted to cover on the topic, so if you're both satisfied with what you know, we can conclude our lectures on history. Of course, it's hardly even history when it happened 20 years ago, hehe."
The professor seemed quite pleased with the progress of my classmate, but I couldn't help noticing he was trying his hardest to avoid looking my way.
Screw that, how could this girl have just sat there, taking this oppressive condescension.
"Professor, I have a question." I tried my best to keep the words neutral.
I think between the giggling to my left and the professor's agape expression I nearly died right there. Still, I forced the words out. "I was wondering why Spravalia had the influence to enforce that much control over the other nations."
The professor closed his mouth after a few moments. "Ah well princess, that's a complicated matter but if I had to summarize, it would be a combination of our geopolitical position as peacekeepers following the great war, and your mother, the late Queen's skilled diplomacy."
"Thank you professor, that definitely helps put it into perspective." I struggled to hold onto my dignity as the giggling to my left intensified.
"Right, of course, regardless, I'll schedule our history exam for after the weekend, be sure you both study hard."
I suppose after that the class progressed without much incident. Standing up to the oppressive pressure of that room was almost impossible, and I didn't feel like I'd gain much asking about the math and science I was familiar enough with anyways. There was a brief section on literature as well, and while I wasn't at all familiar with the source material, it was the kind of thing you could easily pick up on as it went.
Tella was quite the know-it-all, though I'd gathered that almost immediately. Still it didn't make that first class any easier to stomach.
But I did stomach it. Time drew away like a retreating serpent, and before I knew it, the bespectacled professor was ushering us to leave the room. Tella took his indication, I stayed behind.
"Ah- umm, princess, what is it?"
"I've had a change of heart, I think. I'd like to give learning a shot after all." Every word was almost painful to utter, still, I did manage to utter them. I was already thinking of how studying this, well at this point I'd concluded it must have been a whole world, of how studying it would give me a better chance of surviving whatever this experience was.
"Ah I see princess, well, it's certainly a little late for that, but I can do my best to help you through this last stretch, at least to get what you can out of it."
"I- uh could I borrow some books on history, oh and that literature we were studying."
"Of course, I'll have it delivered to your room." As I turned to leave I caught him sighing under his breath, and mumbling almost inaudibly "Though I doubt it'd be much use, all that history crammed into just a weekend."
I practically stomped my way out of the door at that. Still, I bit that rage down, and left the room with what remaining grace I could muster.