It was morning on the 30th of August, the day before my planned escape. Today I would need to complete my packing, double check my information, and somehow get some food and water for the trip. I wasn’t sure exactly how I would sneak food and water out of the kitchen, but I had a faint idea. Before my lessons started for the day, I slowly, and I mean slowly, walked over to Albert’s room. I walked so slowly that it took me almost ten minutes to make it to his door! And by the end of that walk, I was already exhausted. How would I ever survive my trip to the Imperial Lands like this!
But I have to. Otherwise I’ll almost certainly die.
I got up, put on my usual dress, the blue one with white frills, and went to the dining hall for breakfast. Greeting both my father and my brother, I dipped into a curtsy. It still felt ridiculous, but not to such an extent that I would refuse to do it. After taking a seat, my father spoke up, “I take it that you are all ready for your baptism and debut tomorrow?” In my quietest, non-hostile voice, I responded, “Yes, father”.
Yes, I will soon be ready for my departure, father.
Once I had completed my breakfast, I went to the spare room to take my lessons. After breakfast, I would be learning geography. As I walked through the door to the classroom, I noticed a map on the desk, following my gaze the tutor said, today we will be learning about the Imperial Lands. While I listened intently, the teacher began to explain.
“The Imperial Lands are home to the main branch of royals, the smaller branches reside in the duchies as dukes, and duchesses.”
“Does that mean that father is related to royalty?” I asked.
“Yes, and you are as well. While the duchy of Lambourg’s duke’s is now quite a distant relative, you must behave yourself in a manner befitting of royalty.”
I groaned, he had used this opportunity to begin lecturing me about etiquette, again. I replied somewhat curtly, cutting him off before he could continue.
“I understand completely, shall we return to the lesson?”
“Yes, I suppose that would be appropriate, we are in geography after all.”
“The Imperial Lands share a border with Gustallis, while Gustallis shares a border with us, any trade going from Lambourg to the Imperial Lands must pass through Gustallis first. The Imperial Lands also share a border with Salfour and Cowen, Salfour, covering over half of their border, they are known as the Sword and Shield of the Imperial Lands. Cowen is far smaller, but shares a border with the Imperial Lands, Gustallis and Lambourg.”
“That is very interesting”, I replied.
“Is the system between nobles and commoners any different in Imperial Lands?” I tried to sneak a question related to my future life there into the conversation without being suspicious, but it seemed that I needn’t have even tried.
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The teacher replied, “Why of course not, nobles will always be far superior to mere commoners, however, if you were asking about the difference in cleanliness within their common towns, that would be correct. The Imperial Lands are surrounded by common towns on the outer rim and nobles around the middle, with the Imperial Palace in the centre. And of course, the Royal Academy, which you will be attending, is located right next to the Imperial Palace, but with a guarded wall in between. I was impressed that you knew about the difference in the system with commoners and nobles. Perhaps you are far more knowledgeable than I thought.”
“Why thank you for the praise, however I am nothing special. I simply overheard something about it and wanted to know more”, I replied.
That isn’t even what I asked, but hey, at least I got some extra info. But seriously, how did he even manage to skip to that information? That isn’t even remotely close to what I asked.
Thus, our lesson was finished, I learnt about addition in maths, which was extremely easy and then I ate lunch. I had finished my meal early, mostly because I slipped some into a handkerchief to take with me. Before returning back to my room, I asked my maids to bring me some tea and cookies. I would take the opportunity to get rid of them, and to stock some more food for my journey. My guards had taken to letting one train in the courtyard, while the other two would guard me. This meant that I only had to get rid of one guard, as the other was outside the door.
“Oh no, I can’t remember whether I asked for cookies. Would you be so kind as to go and remind them?” I asked, placing a hand on my cheek and tilting my head, giving the impression that I was worried. My guard, being the good person he was, instantly agreed, seeing my (not so) distressed face. As soon as the door shut behind him I allowed an evil grin to spread over my face. I walked over to the cupboard, opening it and placing both my diary and food inside. I had managed to grab four pieces of bread, some cold cuts, salted meats and about seven slices of cheese from lunch. The chefs seemed quite confused at my sudden appetite, but I disregarded it with a pinch of salt.
After neatly placing these items into my bag, I returned to my armchair and peacefully read until everybody had returned. Once they had arrived, I drank a cup of tea and ate a few cookies, before slipping the remainder into another hanky and neatly tying it up so as to not spill any crumbs. I immediately tucked it underneath the armchair as I couldn't possibly put it into my bag now since I was being watched. In the end, I hadn’t managed to find anything that I could store water in, but since the strip wasn’t too long, I expected that I would be fine.
Now I just need to get through the day.
I soon left for my afternoon classes which were history and management. Management was the same as on Earth, so I didn’t really learn anything. I had expected history to be interesting at the very least, but all that the teacher spoke of was ‘The Greatness of Galanadra’. Galandra seemed to be the name of our continent, which I learned quite late. All that I learnt in this lesson was the name of the continent, and why it was called Galandra. Apparently, long ago, there was a man named Gale, and a woman named Alexandra, their unison shifted the lands, joining their two home continents together, creating what we now know as Galandra.
Not a very creative name, but it serves the purpose well enough.
After the lessons, while I was in my bed chambers, my guards seemed to be on extra high alert. Now I had two following me around and one at the door. It seemed that the two noble guards whose names I had forgotten were following me, while the commoner guard was stuck outside, watching the entrance.
I had a faint feeling that they were watching me rather than protecting me. It was obvious that they weren’t actively trying to protect me. Rather the duke just needed a reasonable excuse to hire people to keep an eye on me without making the other personnel suspicious. I think that the commoner is unaware of this plan, and that is why he was stationed outside. It is entirely possible that they tightened their ‘security’ in order to keep a better eye on me because the debut is coming up. If I were to escape, then today would be the perfect time and they knew it, as did I. But then again, this was all merely speculation.
In my free time I read a few more books, trying to select some which would be either entertaining, or helpful. I wasn’t exactly familiar with the book market prices, so I mostly just stuck to whichever books looked interesting or fancy. I had noticed when I first arrived at the mansion that all of the books were hand written, so they must be expensive as only one of each book would ever exist until they created printing. Being able to collect an entire series of books, such as all of the magic books I had been gifted, must have been a challenge. This made me wonder.
How can the duke and brother even afford all these books? It can’t be cheap.
I understood that we were a ducal house, but if I had to guess, each book would cost at least 5 small golds, which to my inexperienced mind, was a lot of money. Something doesn’t add up. How can they afford to buy so many books, in such whopping quantities, while still paying for food and other necessities, and while running an entire duchy?