As I went from vendor to vendor to look at the food served, I thought I would recognize other noble children from before I became a recluse. I wasn’t always that way; memories of having tea parties with other noble daughters were abundant. Even though I couldn’t consider them friends, like I did with Eli, they were at least acquaintances. Or so I thought.
Pointing to the food, since there were servers assigned to gather food for dainty, noble ladies, I waited for the server to finish plating my choices while Mia went to search for a table for us. My knights guarded my back for some inexplicable reason.
Seated at a table, I scolded my three attendants again for not getting their dinner. I won when I threatened not to eat if they wouldn’t, so they left me alone while they fetched their food.
As alone as one would be in a dining hall filled with people, at least.
“Lady Beatrix Havenglow,” a voice called out to me. Finally, someone recognized me! Turning around, a lady around my age was surrounded by other noble ladies, with their personal maids grouped together at the back.
I tried to recall their faces in my memory, but I had nothing. I didn’t recognize any of them. Why was my brain so unhelpful right now?
“Good evening, ladies,” I greeted them, opting to remain seated. “I’m afraid I don’t recall your names.”
One of them tittered until all of them were giggling. Did I say something funny? “Of course, you won’t remember. After that pathetic debutante ball you had, you never showed yourself in social circles again. I would try to forget all about it, too.”
Oh, so it was like that. I had a time and event reference, and I tried again to remember my supposed debutante ball. Therewere fuzzy and hazy memories there, but a few facts surfaced: it happened when I was thirteen. A little after that was the last time I left the estate to apologize to Elias.
Maybe … something happened at the party involving Eli. I justknewI had already apologized to him sincerely, but I couldn’t remember the reason.
“Rude,” another girl muttered as I stared at them blankly.
“Don’t forget your place, pleb,” the first girl giggled again, followed by the rest of their group, leaving me alone. Getting called aplebbrought hurtful childhood memories. The barony was considered poor, yes, but only because we try to be fair to our people with compensation and public service.
“Hello, lady,” a voice whispered in my ear that made me jump on my seat and nearly shriek, before it registered who that voice belonged to.
I turned my head as I glared. “Alec!”
There he was, my idiot older brother, laughing as he stood back. “Oh, it never gets old! I had to wait for the right moment when your paranoid knights aren’t around.”
Sothatwas why they were guarding my back. Because it was easy to sneak up on and scare the living lights out of me.
I hoped my brother hadn’t heard what those ladies had to say about me.
“I’m glad you made it to Aerahelm safe and sound,” Alec said, his always warm smile available for me. His personal bodyguard and Mia’s older brother, Milo, stood beside him and watched over the two of us.
I had seen portraits of Alec all around the manor, but seeing him in person, his charming boy look couldn’t really be captured in paint. He had short, peach-pink hair, which we inherited from our mom, but he also had her blue eyes. He looked like a guy version of her.
Milo, on the other hand, had auburn hair like Mia, but cut short. He was tanner than her, evidence of his frequent physical training as a knight, and he bulked up too. He seemed like he grew bigger and bigger every year whenever I saw him.
I pouted at my brother, like the little brat he knew me to be. “What is so important anyway that you can’t come home to your family? If you did, then the two of us would’ve made our way here together.”
Alec chuckled. “Don’t make me feel guilty, sis. I told you; I have a final project that needed a ton of research. It’s still ongoing, by the way, thanks for asking.”
“I guess that means you’ll be busy for the rest of the school year,” I pouted some more.
“Sorry,” he smiled forlornly, before he pulled something out of his pocket. “I’ll give this to you as an apology.”
He handed me a key, the one I knew was used for the dorms.
“You can come to my dorm room anytime,” he grinned, glancing at Milo before turning back to me. “Although be careful when you do, because I’m not the only one using it.”
Milo suddenly flushed, sputtering, “Lord Alec!”
Alec laughed, patting his shoulder. “Maybe give us notice, Bea. You know the school has an interschool mail system?”
I knew that. And somehow I also knew Milo wasn’t the type of guy who would fool around with girls in his lord’s room, despite what Alec was implying.
“I want this school year to be as stress free as possible, while also having fun,” Alec revealed, getting closer to me. “This is my last year, right?”
