In the morning, I wasn't too tired but the warmth of the bed wouldn't let me get up.

"My lady! You must wake up!" I heard Mary say in my sleep.

I didn't answer, so Mary opened the curtains. The morning rays of sunlight appeared in the

room. Immediately, I buried myself in the blanket to keep the light from disturbing me.

"My lady!"

"Five more minutes," I said to Mary, I was in no mood to do anything I didn't have to.

"My lady, you must wake up now. You'll be late for breakfast."

"Please, Mary, just five minutes. I promise to get up when the five minutes are up, " I whined, hoping I could sleep the day away.

Mary tried again to wake me up by pulling my blanket this time. I was resisting holding my blanket when I heard a voice.

"Alina, don't bother Mary anymore," my father had come into the room.

When I heard him, I tried to get up quickly.

"Father! Good morning. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were going to be late for breakfast today too."

"I'll be ready in five minutes!" I laughed awkwardly and went to get dressed. Mary helped me pick out a dress and shoes before quickly getting them on.

My father said he would wait and left to let me get dressed. Mary had already prepared my clothes and after I put them on, she fixed my hair.

I should have said ten minutes. I wouldn't make it back on time.

Well, I wasn't ready in five minutes. It took me a lot longer but I got in the dining room as fast as I could.

Everyone was already at the table waiting for me.

Father looked at me, coming in the door, with a teasing look and laughed. I laughed back at him and I did too and with my head down I went to sit down.

"Don't worry. We knew you'd be late so we haven't been served breakfast yet," Dad said as I walked over to the table.

I sat next to Erin and across from me sat Oscar. I hadn't seen him since the first day I woke up in this world, when he barged into my room and father sent him away. I felt kind of awkward around him because we had never spoken but he didn't seem mean.

Silence stretched across the room for what felt like minutes. In reality it was only a few seconds before my father broke the silence.

"Alina, how are you today?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Father! Every day you ask me the same question," I said laughing.

"We are worried about you. Have you remembered anything these days?" His eyes searched my face imploringly.

I looked down and looked at my plate.I felt bad for making fun of people who treated me so well.

The truth is a lot of Alina's memories had come back but that didn't mean I had become her.

"Just a few things, Father. Today I remembered my dog that died last year," I finally said.

"Otto?" Erin joined in the conversation and then was embarrassed "I'm sorry."

Oh, my little sister is so cute.

I smiled at her to show her she wasn't doing anything wrong and told her she didn't need to apologize.

"Yeah, Otto. I saw him in my dream and remembered him."

"Alina, there's something we need to talk about now that you're better." my father said.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"No, not now. Some other time." Father hesitated a little but finally answered me.

The rest of the hour passed calmly. Breakfast was over and everyone went back to their chores. Father went to his office, Oscar went out of the mansion and Erin went to do her homework with her teachers.

Well, I didn't have any work to do so I went to the library to get a book. I picked the third book in a series of novels I was reading. I picked it up and went to my room.

I had all the time I needed to finish it, since we weren't used to eating all together beyond the morning or meeting with anyone all day. Mary sat next to me and sewed.

I was sitting reading the book when Oscar came to mind. We hadn't spoken at all and in the morning in the dinner room she didn't even look at me.

"Mary, can I ask you something?" I said hesitantly.

"Yes, my lady."

"What was I with Oscar? Did I have a coldness with him as well as with Erin?"

Mary stopped sewing and looked at me.

"When you were children, you and your brother were inseparable."

"And now? What's wrong with him not talking to me?"

"Well, you two just happened to grow apart over the years. You don't have to worry about that."

That ended the conversation about Oscar and I was even more confused. I was sure Mary wasn't being honest with me but I didn't think she meant any harm by it.

The hour had passed when the door slammed and another maid entered the room.

"His Grace, the Duke, has asked to see you, Lady Alina," she said as she bowed.

I was surprised but could not refuse. He had said before that he had something he wanted to tell me and I was curious to know.

When I arrived at his office, my father was working, but when he saw me he stopped everything.

"You're here. Come and sit on the couch," he said and turning to the butler he continued.

"Vince, bring us some tea and scones."

We sat down but my father didn't speak. For some reason, he was hesitant to start, so I decided to start first.

"So, Father, what did you want to tell me?"

"Alina, I don't know how to begin. I understand that you still haven't fully recovered your memory, but this is a matter that needs to be dealt with immediately."

"What do you mean?"

"It's time to talk about the succession."