The first notification I received after I resolved to see myself as Yolanda coincided right with that decision. I stared at the name spelled out on the ethereal parchment of my character sheet which had very obviously changed.
Yolanda de Brienne, the Queen of Jerusalem
No longer did it make any reference towards Isabella, just towards… me. Because I was Yolanda now. That was still going to take some getting used to despite my earlier declaration. Easier since it was a very different body, and yet difficult nonetheless.
Much like it was understanding the peculiarities of my character sheet.
Why it had displayed Isabella’s name there before when everyone called her Yolanda and why it hadn’t ever acknowledged the name of who I used to be, Derrick, despite acknowledging I was there through the Boons, I would likely never know. But I guess it was good to know that the character sheet was sensitive to matters like that. Selectively apparently, but sensitive nonetheless.
That wasn’t the only thing to have changed on my character sheet though. In the traits section a new symbol had appeared that I had a sneaking suspicion had something to do with the second notification I hadn’t opened just yet.
I didn't know how to feel about this part. It was unavoidable really for me to gain more Traits as time went on and it wasn’t as if it were any more life changing than me fully committing to taking up Yolanda as my name now. But the Traits affected me just as deeply without any input from me. It was frustrating for lack of a better term to feel their influence in a way that was simultaneously natural and not.
Griping over this wouldn’t mean anything however. I’d just have to get used to adapting to them like I already was beginning to with Curious and Playful.
First, I might as well confirm the notification I had gotten to ensure it wasn’t something else entirely. I focused on the envelope on the edge of my vision and a letter unfolded in front of me in a second later, accompanied by the image of the same symbol I now sported on my character sheet of a stylized child crossing their arms.
The young queen, despite her age, has proven herself capable of profound personal change though their own willpower, even on matters that had greatly troubled them and caused dissonance before. You find your own way forward and make your own paths, no matter what. You have gained the childhood Trait, Willful.
It was strange seeing something I had been described as in my past as Derrick stated so explicitly now. And unlike Curious and Playful, I was confident it came from me and me alone.
I focused on the symbol and even more information on it popped forward into my vision.
The young queen is filled with a powerful will and sense of self, those who she doesn’t respect will struggle to make her obey, and those who try to force her into a certain path even more so for they make their own path forward. Increases Intrigue by one. Can progress into: Ambitious, Brave, or Stubborn.
The childhood Trait itself was incredibly useful for just about any ruler and in the game would be perfect to see develop naturally in your primary heir. And while it was more than a little off putting to think of myself in that way, it would be exceptional if I got to the point where it developed into a full trait without my life having lost its agency as it did in history.
Brave’s downside was dangerous in the game for rulers who personally led armies, yet its upsides more than made up for it in most circumstances. Even for rulers who didn’t lead their armies personally, the Trait pulled an exceptional amount of weight by the opinion bonus alone. And Ambitious, it was one of the most powerful Traits in the game as long as it wasn’t on a vassal below you was willing to climb upwards by any means necessary, providing a sizable bonus to every Attribute.
Stubborn on the other hand was a meh Trait in the game that didn’t do particularly much except make others opinion of you worse. Strangely, I could just feel I wouldn’t be getting Stubborn unless something drastic changed about me. Was it because this Trait was essentially my own and was heavily influenced by who I was and not Isabella?
I couldn’t say for sure, but it did certainly feel far more natural than my other two Traits. A neat benefit.
Speaking of neat benefits, I focused on my Attributes. Specifically, my newly raised Intrigue.
Intrigue: 5 (Base 4+1)
Just like Learning had been doing when it reached five, the text for it too was glowing now. A second Boon whose applications I could only imagine. However, the moment I focused on it to access it, it didn’t open up to the estranged family tree I’d seen it do with Learning. Instead, only a bit of information popped itself forward in my vision.
Please wait a week to pick another Boon.
I blinked. Well that was disappointing. Why was a week needed for this I could only guess, but it seemed I would be having to wait on that. Nothing else had seemed to change alongside that on my character sheet so after another moment, I closed my eyes and let the parchment roll up as it was wont to do when I did so.
With nothing else to be done for the night, it was time to go to sleep for the first time here. I climbed into my feathery soft bed while letting out a soft sigh of pleasure at the feel of it, only to momentarily pause while I eyed the doll I had left on it earlier.
It was a unique experience to say the least to have simultaneously never seen the doll before in my life, yet to be convinced it was also one of my most prized possessions. It was a gift from Isabella's, no, my father, before he left for the crusade and one he had personally handed over.
Part of me was tempted to just set it back with all the other dolls in the room, but eventually I gave into the desire to at least keep it on the bed while I settled under the covers for the night. Unsurprisingly, with how much had gone on today, my mind being somewhat at ease with what I had done earlier, and the sheer softness of the bed, it didn’t take long at all for the blissful grasp of sleep to take me.
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The first time I had awoken in my bedchambers, I had been alone initially. At least I was fairly sure I had been until what I suspect was me screaming in agony while Isabella’s memories were being shoved into my head caught the attention of some of the chambermaids and a nearby castle guard.
Really, the fact I’d managed to convince them I was okay after that and not being possessed by a demon or devil was a legitimate miracle considering everything.
For my second time waking up in them, I was not alone. Either that, or I had a new type of bell to watch for lest I actually react to it when there were others around. When it rang out a second time, I was decidedly convinced someone else was the cause of it and I blearily raised my head from where it had ended up buried in a soft pillow with a whispery groan.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that the only light in the room was coming from the fireplace where a small fire burned, pointedly not assisted in any way by the sun which hadn’t risen yet. The second was that I could see two figures whose outlines were illuminated by the light of the flames, one smaller and one bigger.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Not a moment later, a lantern the bigger figure had been began to shine when the candle within cough aflame, revealing both the familiar circles of the de Brienne heraldry emblazoned on the lantern itself alongside the face of a chambermaid who was only semi-familiar in Isabella’s memories. Said woman politely smiled towards me as she walked towards the while closing shut the lantern she held.
“Good morning, Your Grace!” She chirped in a far too chipper voice for someone who had likely woken up before the dawn had even arrived. As she approached, the light of her lantern fully illuminated the smaller figure beside her who was holding a small hand bell that I suspected she had been ringing. She turned out to be a very familiar young girl whose features seemed remarkably similar to the woman’s, apart from her not managing to seem nearly as chipper as she did. If anything, she was both nervous and tired at the same time by the way she held herself, bleary eyed and with shaking hands.
The woman smoothly curtsied before me while wearing a polite smile. “My name is Agathe, Your Grace, and the young girl beside me is my daughter, Eschiva.” At the mention of the girl's name, a hint of pride flitted through Agathe’s eyes before it was squashed away underneath her professional demeanor. “She’s been assigned to become your new personal-, pardon me, your new handmaiden. Though, considering her age and inexperience, I’ll be here to handle the duties initially until she is deemed ready to fulfill her service by herself, guiding her to that point along the way.”
As she finished with her words, she not so subtly poked Eschiva who instantly fell into a nervous curtsey. “I-I’m at your service, Your Grace.”
A small part of me was excited and nervous at the same time. The girl who I’d requested to become my handmaiden because I was supposed to have and totally not because I was feeling second-hand loneliness was well on her way to becoming them now! The rest of me though?
It was still too sleepy to care. When I was Derrick, I only woke up early when I had to and could easily sleep in until noon on most of my free days. From Isabella’s memories, she had always awakened with the dawn to begin her day which was going to be more than a little jarring for me, but hopefully not too bad for me since her body which had become mine was used to it. Whatever time it was right now was neither and I wasn’t sure dawn would be coming anytime soon.
I looked up towards Agathe, lightly moving my hands to rub my eyes. “I see, but why am I being woken up now in that case? The sun has yet to even rise.”
The woman merely kept wearing her same polite smile as she addressed me. “Ah, that’s because we’re getting a headstart on it all so we can make up for as much lost time as possible while getting you used to the proper level of attention you should have as a queen.” She said, pausing momentarily before adding onto it. “Or well, as close as we can manage within this Household at least.”
It felt like there was something to unpack in that final statement of hers. But it seemed even the endless curiosity that plagued me just couldn't be bothered to care right now. Maybe it’d nag me later, but waking up before the sun had risen was just far too early. So instead, I just gave the woman a nod. “Alright.”
“Perfect! I’m glad you understand.” Began Agathe, before she gestured towards the fireplace. “Now Eschiva, please begin to put out the fireplace here and then follow me to the queen's Boudoir and start the fire there. And Your Grace, I do ask that you rise now. We’ll be beginning the day by giving you a proper bath and grooming! You’ve spent far too long without anybody to properly do this for you, so let me and Eschiva be the first to rectify this!”
I felt a slight bit of dread well up within me at her words that I hid while forcing myself to get up. I was someone who very much enjoyed the feeling of a nice hot and private shower in the mornings. There would be no shower, no hot water, and certainly no privacy here.
If I raised enough of a fuss about it, I’m sure I could’ve managed to convince them to let me handle it as Isabella always did in her memories, a cold water sponge bath where I’d inevitably do my best to get past the whole new body thing without actually confronting it. But well, I had asked for this, hadn’t I? If I was going to be royalty now, I was certainly not going to be the capricious kind that asked for one thing before immediately deciding to do the opposite, nor would I complain.
What I wouldn't give for this castle to have some proper modern day plumbing though.
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“What do you think, Your Grace? A lot better than when you had to do this all by yourself, is it not?” Came Agathe’s voice from beside me, an elaborate wooden comb in her hands.
At the moment, I was standing in front of a mirror, blissfully not having to hold a curtsey for an eternity this time, within my ‘Boudoir’. In other words, my own private sitting room.
God, I hadn’t given it too much though, but I had essentially gone from living with roommates in a slightly cramped apartment with a living room a little smaller than the size of this room, to a castle where I had a whole room acting as a glorified personal living and dressing room.
Now if only there was a way for me to return while bringing along the castle with me. And if only I wasn’t trying to distract myself from paying attention to my own reflection. It was stupid, but something about making myself see this body as only formerly Isabella’s now and as actually mine made it so much harder to take in what I looked like this morning.
So I mentally steeled myself before forcing myself to focus on my reflection.
Lit up by the light of the lantern since the sun still hadn’t risen, I could see that I was dressed up within a violet and cream colored dress this time with a whole lot more frills than the red one I’d been wearing yesterday. Alongside it, a sapphire necklace they had found somewhere within my chambers hung around my neck, the gemstone’s color nearly matching that of my eyes. I was… cute.
I didn’t know how to feel exactly about this revelation. I had known Isabella had been cute and it only made sense that it’d transfer over to me, but it was another thing entirely now that I was trying to think of this body as my own and that I was cute. I still wasn’t entirely sold about wearing dresses now, but I had to admit it looked pretty great on Isa-, my body.
It was helped a lot by how much cleaner I now felt from the bath which had been a lot more pleasant than I had expected. Well, mostly at least once I got past the whole being naked in front of two others and being bathed by them thing. There had even been warm water for the wash basin they had bathed me in much to my surprise. Something they had managed to achieve by quite literally boiling a washing basin’s worth of water and then some.
It made sense in hindsight that it did exist. Why reserve the boiling of water for only cooking when you could also bathe in it. Something about the whole process told me it wasn’t exactly something just anyone did however. It had been a lot of effort from the both of them to make it happen.
It was the closest thing I’d be getting to a hot shower in this day and age so I'd very much take it.
“It is indeed a lot better than when I was having to do it by myself. The work from you both is much appreciated.” I said, meaning it. I might’ve been styling my own hair for more than a decade, but I had short hair that I didn’t care much about. Running my own fingers through my hair now, I couldn’t find a hint of the tangles that Isabella previously had struggled to handle herself.
I couldn’t really be upset it had taken long enough that sunrise had come and gone. The fact they did it without shampoo or washing my hair in that time frame only made it more impressive.
The woman’s polite smile widened ever so slightly. “Your words are too kind, Your Grace. You saw some of what I did, right Eschiva?”
The girl in question stood on my left, having been told to watch intently what Agathe did. “I did mo-, er Agathe.”
I could feel the momentary tension in the air while witnessing the stern look Agathe was giving to her daughter. The woman had been adamant that Eschiva not call her mom around me, probably for some reason I’d understand if I’d been raised in Europe around other nobles my age. As it was, I didn’t particularly care or get it, but didn’t want to accidentally cause an issue by insisting they don’t worry about that.
I was already probably going to cause enough trouble once I got an opportunity to become more familiar with Eschiva without her mother being able to watch over the interaction like a mother hen.
Eventually the woman just shook her head before continuing on. “Alright. Tomorrow then I’ll guide you through the process instead of handling it myself so you can get some experience in doing it in normal situations where the queens hair isn’t so much of a struggle to get back into order. Now though, I want you to lead us towards the great hall. Breakfast will be beginning soon if it hasn’t already and I presume you are hungry, right Your Grace?”
I gave her a simple nod in agreement.
“Then lead the way, Eschiva.” commanded the girl’s mother.
Eschiva curtseyed before doing as the woman said, with us following behind her while she nervously led the way. I idly wondered for a moment if today was going to be an exhausting day like yesterday had been before realizing that was a stupid question. The real question was how today would manage to exhaust me this time.
And how long it would take for me to start getting used to this new life as Yolanda.