"Princess, should I put this together with the ones that came earlier?"
"Are all of those...?"
"Yes! They"re invitations."
I followed Hanna into a room and was dumbfounded seeing all the mails piled up. I thought the mails sent last time was the end of people sending me invitations but this time, twice more than the amount was delivered.
"There"ll be more coming from now on."
Hanna fluently organized the mails that came today, alone.
I feared that I had to open all of those but from what Lilly said, I didn"t have to.
She said that the maids will go over those and give the important ones back to me. And she said that I can choose from them, whether to reply back or not.
It was the first day after the debutante when a bunch of mails were being sent to me.
I was dumbfounded at the first invitation that came but the maids were saying "The time has come!", as if they were expecting this. They seemed excited.
Lilly opened one and showed it to me and it was surprising when it said that they wanted to invite me to a party in 15 days.
I was touched at that invitation.
Is this Claude"s power? Since the original Atanasia was nowhere popular when Claude didn"t pay any attention to her.
But am I getting all these attentions since I got escorted by Claude and also danced with him? Kuckk. How amazing of the emperor"s honor.
"Ah, for this day to finally come. I"m really super happy."
Lilly and Hanna also seemed very happy. Well, who would"ve known an ignored princess in the palace would get all these invitations.
Sobbb. Is this what they call a human"s win? Of course I still have a long way to go but I can still be proud, right?
"Whew, it"s finally the time."
But Seth was not smiling while all the others were.
"I"ve expected for this day to come when the princess grows up to be even more beautiful. Please call me for help if there"s any bugs that bothers you. I"ll take care of them, sacrificing my life."
Her shoes under the dress sparkled deadly, reflecting the sunlight. Just how many bugs were killed by that!
I, I appreciate you worrying for me, but it scares me, Seth....... Of course, she is bug killer!
"Really, Seth. Anyways princess, which family"s invitation are you going to accept first?"
"Hmm. I"m not really sure."
Ah, but am I allowed to? Now that I think of it, I"ve never went out the royal grounds before.
Well Claude didn"t order me not to leave the royal grounds but it just turned out that I"ve never left this place once for 14 years.
Well, should I ask Claude while I"m at it?
"How about the invitation from the Marquis Irein"s family that came on the very first day? I heard it from the other maids but their mansion was very big and the whole place was like a garden.
It"s said to be beautiful of where you stand and look from any angles......."
"Hanna, princess is the one who should decide this. She also didn"t finish opening all the invitations."
Lilly scolded Hanna. But she didn"t seem mad for real, so Hanna continued to babble more about other n.o.bles until she was satisfied.
I stood proud as I ran my hands under my nose.
(No, she did not shove her fingers in her nose.)
Mm. I"m very proud at you guys seeming more happy than I am.
"Ah right. I forgot to give princess" Blackie some food!"
Hanna stood up and rushed saying that she had to give Blackie his food. Lilly organized the rest of the mails.
I decided to go see Claude while I was curious.
***
"Dad!"
It was the work room where Claude was right now.
I didn"t know too much about his work but he seemed very busy every day. But its also very interesting how he still have dinner and tea time with me every day.
When I opened the door to the work room, Claude working on paperworks were shown.
Ohh, working men is the best!
"Are you busy?"
He answered to me who was behind the door, peeking.
"Sit and wait."
He doesn"t tell me to leave though. I remembered when I visited his office like this years ago.
I was scared then, so I backed away to the door and left the room to the hall. And it was Felix who pushed me in that time as well. Tremble tremble.
"I"ll stay quiet."
I sat quietly on the sofa. Claude went back to working again.
Sniff sniff. Ink smell. Now that I think of it, Claude suits well with that ink smell. I thought when I was young that Claude only ignored me as he(?) played all day but now I see that he isn"t useless.
Well, I guess Claude was a great emperor from the rumors I heard of the last emperor being the most psychotic.
He is highly rated from the commoners as well, and in the history book they mentioned that Claude was like a saint. Ack! A saint. A saint! What does that mean! Ah, no! I"m lacking of anti-horsepower!
I s.h.i.+vered for a moment and turned my face where I"m not facing Claude.
Honestly the sofa I was sitting on and the table in front of me wasn"t there at first.
Pergaps he made them for me....... doesn"t seem right. Maybe there are lots of visitors.
Hmm? Isn"t that thing supposed to be on Claude"s desk?
I, who had nothing to do, started to examine the black decorative thing situated in front of me.
This looks weird. It looks like a mysterious creature but I don"t know what it is.
Hmm. Its black. It looks like a stone where your wish comes true when you rub the nose of it but... Hmm.
"Do you want it?"
Wipe wipe. Ah! I was rubbing the nose of the curved stone without me noticing it. And Claude who seemed he saw me, asked.
Ah, I"m getting embarra.s.sed! Wait. Did he just ask me if I wanted it! Just how does that person think me as.
"No. The weird stone pie...... I mean...... It looked like a meaningful stone so I only glimpsed at it. Hehe."
I don"t need it. I won"t take it even if you give! But it must mean something since its in Claude"s work room. But I stopped thinking about that at Claude"s grin.
"A meaningful stone? It"s only an ugly stone piece."
Cough. Maybe it is really an old meaningless stone. I mean, then why did you put it on the desk so secured last time? I didn"t k, know that you have some unique taste of things.......
"I was going to give it to you if you wanted it."
I tellin ya, I don"t need it! But lol. To think my dad had a this kind of unique taste. But I"ll respect it! I won"t laugh! I won"t think its weird! You can like an old rock! I-It"s somewhat understandable if I think it as a figure! N, no, am I going too far?
"Did you have something to say that you had to find me?"
While I was panicking in my head, Claude asked me a question.
Umm. I thought to ask if I can leave the palace some times but I regret it, seeing him so busy. I spoke thinking a little.
"I just came "cause I wanted to see dad but you look busy so I"ll go back."
"I"m not too busy."
Uhh....... You"re saying that but your hands are moving in a speed of light? And what do you mean by when you speak something as if you"re saying "I"m busy but specially sparing you my time" everytime I see you?
"Felix."
Click.
"Yes, your majesty."
Felix who was standing behind the door, immediately came in as Claude called for him. I became dumbfounded at the words Claude spoke while getting up from his seat.
"I have other paperworks that need to be done by today so you do the rest."
Did you mean you"re not busy "cause you were going to leave it all to Felix?!
"Your majesty, how can I......."
"I"ve already went through them once so it shouldn"t be too difficult. You"ll need this so I"ll lend it to you."
Ehh? Claude picked the old stone up and tossed it to Felix.
When I was dumbfounded at the situation, Felix made a face as if he got hit by a fireball before gently placing the stone he recieved on the table.
"Your majesty! How can you treat the royal seal which is the national treasure, this way!"
Eh......? Wait. What"s that stone again?
Royal seal? Royal seal? That royal seal I know of? That old stone? That thing Claude asked if I wanted?
Hahahahahahaha. I feel like something went wrong with my ears these days. Why am I hearing weird things?
"Also didn"t I tell you this last time. To store this in a private and more secure place other than here where others also visits. To put this treasure-like royal seal in someplace like this."
"I"ve called you to a.s.sign you work but now you complain. Work on that while you have time to complain."
"Your majesty!"
It seemed like I heard it right. Then that"s actually the royal seal? Ack! Wait! The way you treat the royal seal is too...! And why do you ask if I want it! What if I said that I wanted it! Wait, you weren"t doing this for me to work for you "cause you don"t want to work?
"Take care of all of them before I come back. You must be able to do it if you"re not an idiot."
"Your majesty! This is too cruel!"
_______
CatLovesTowels -Lizette