Professor Karvin sat back in his seat, his posture more relaxed. His face showed a genuine smile this time. “Considering our tight schedule, I cannot divulge the details much, but I want you to know, Lady Carine, that both I and the Third Prince expect much from you.”

Great, as if I wasn’t already under enough pressure from Mother.

“We will support the Sareid family as best as we can, but it would be preferred if you accomplished great things without our interference.” The professor stood up and prepared to leave. “Well then, I wish you luck, Lady Carine. I shall inform the Third Prince about your potential. I’m sure he would be delighted, and most likely your parents would be too.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Dammit, that might make Mother throw more lessons into my free time!

“I shall take my leave, you have another lesson coming up, yes?”

I nodded. “I believe it was… a dance lesson?”

“Haha! Out of all the things your Mother scheduled for you, it had to be a dancing lesson?”

I agreed with the old man. Like, come on! I had a head injury! Sure, it was only a bump, but who schedules a dance lesson with a bump on their head?!

Though I already jogged halfway across the village as Feyt, feeling like I was dying the entire time.

It probably wouldn’t be worse than that.

Probably.

“Farewell, Lady Carine,” the professor said. “May your future shine brightly upon Setus.”

I gave the professor a slight nod as he left through the door.

A few seconds later, Leila entered.

“Lady Carine, good work for today. Lunch will be served shortly. Would you prefer to wait in your room, or shall I escort you to the dining hall where you can wait comfortably?”

“Hmm…” I considered my choices.

I could go for a rest after what I had been through. Both my mental and physical energies were depleted.

So, I chose to stay in my room for a bit.

“I’ll wait in my room, Leila. Please inform me when lunch is served.”

Leila nodded. “As usual then. Shall I escort you to your room, Lady Carine?”

What am I? A kid? I don’t need to be escorted everywhere, you know?

“That’s alright, Leila. I need some time to think things through.”

For a moment, Leila simply looked at me. “Very well. Then I shall clean this room in the meantime.”

…

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I walked away, letting Leila focus on her work, and headed to my room. On the way there, I passed by several knights, butlers, and maids, each greeted me warmly and I responded in kind. I was starting to get used to this noble title thing.

I entered my room and the first thing I did was immediately flopping onto my bed.

Big potential, huh? Why me, though?

Was it because of my weirdly specific observation of what village life was like? The only reason I knew that was because of Feyt. How did the professor see me as benevolent from that?

Ah, I guess from his perspective, I was just a girl who never really left the capital city, which wasn’t exactly false.

I could only remember visiting my parent’s grand estate in their duchy a bit away from here. We were rarely there and I couldn’t recall any specific memories of that place outside of it somehow being bigger than the mansion I was currently in.

Back to the “proof the Prince needs” thing though, the fact that I could “imagine” what life in a village was so vividly must have been captivating to the professor. In a world filled with snobbish nobles and the ignorant privileged, I was probably like a diamond to him.

At least, that’s what I told myself to make sense of it all.

The professor must’ve thought I was a genius in disguise or something. Or maybe he just liked the way I looked confused.

I turned around in my bed and looked at the ceiling, pondering what I should do.

I was already being pushed hard by Mother all the time, now a professor and the Third Prince of the Kingdom wanted in on it?

I just want to sleep all day and eat cake, dammit…

I hugged my pillows tightly, it was firm yet so soft. If only I could just spend my whole day on this bed and laze around with this kind of luxury.

“But I can’t do that, huh?”

I let out a defeated sigh.

Being the sole heir of a dukedom wouldn’t be as fun as I thought it was.

I cleared my swirling thoughts. Didn’t want to stress myself too much by overthinking. I decided to wait for lunch to start and rest my mind.

—

“Hey, wake up already.”

I was shaken awake by a sudden motion.

“W-wha?!” I tried to stand up in a panic, but instead, I almost fell backward onto the dirt. Thankfully, my legs were still being held tightly by Fray.

“Finally awake, huh? Remind me to bring pillows next time I train you, alright?” Fray teased.

“Ugh…” I slowly got up. “I passed out, huh...” I rubbed my eyes awake.

I had fallen asleep on Fray’s back on the way back from the jog. I didn’t even realize it until Fray shook me awake with her shoulders.

“Get off my back, sleepyhead, we’re home.”

“Right, sorry.”

Wait, why am I apologizing? I passed out because of you!!

Before I could even voice my complaint, Fray let go of my legs and I slowly tried to stand up.

Of course, my legs turned into jelly as soon as it touched the ground.

“Heh.”

Don’t go “heh” on me!

I somehow managed to walk slowly to the front door—which Fray had opened—and walked into the living room.

Besides me and Fray, I couldn’t hear anyone inside the house.

“Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“Oh, right, forgot to tell you. They’re visiting the market to drop off some supplies.”

“Oh, I see.”

Mom and Dad were farmers, they cultivated various vegetables and sold them to merchants setting up stands.

I wondered why they didn’t open up their own stall, but it was probably due to the lack of manpower. It was already exhausting enough to take care of a field just by ourselves.

“Hello? You there?” Fray waved her hand in front of my face.

“A-ah, sorry. Just a bit tired.”

“Well, you should go rest then,” She gave me a hard hit on the back. I nearly tripped over because of it.

“Oops, still woozy, huh? Can you walk into your room, or do you need another piggyback ride?” She asked with a wide grin.

I couldn’t even fight back with my internal dialogue at this point. I craved for a bed and nothing else.

“I can walk… thanks for the offer.”

With my hand on the wall, I slowly shuffled into my room. After nudging the door open with my shoulder, I trodded to my bed and flopped down.

I kinda forgot that this wasn’t Carine’s bed, so instead of landing on a soft, cloud-like feeling that I expected, I felt like I smacked my face on a slab of stone instead. I could even hear a loud thud as I felt my face getting smushed.

“Best… day… ever…” I mumbled into the bedsheet.

I practically knocked myself out as I drifted off into a nap.

----------------------------------------

image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]