CHAPTER 278: THE HEROINE’S SUCCESS

Aristia found herself in a dark space.

She looked around, but she couldn’t see a thing. It was just pitch black darkness.

"What’s happening? What is this place?" She asked out loud.

Click.

She heard a sound like a switch being flicked.

She turned to to the side and saw a book floating in the air. Light shine on it like a spotlight.

The light was only focused on the book, illuminating only the space the blood was in, not the surroundings. The surroundings still remained dark.

Aristia narrowed her eyes.

Slowly and cautiously, she walked towards the floating book.

She stretched out her hand.

[This reminds me of the time Millie was formed when I touched that ball of light. So, if I touch this book, will anything happen?]

As she thought this, her hand finally touched the book.

But as soon as her hand touched the book, nothing else happened. The book wasn’t floating anymore and only fell into her hands.

She turned the book over, looking at its front and back.

Her eyes stopped at the title.

"The Heroine’s Success," she read out.

Her heart skipped a beat and her hand trembled lightly for just a second.

What was the meaning of this? This book had the same title as that book she had read the night she entered this world. Was this the book? It looked different from that one.

She moved to open the book.

A sudden feeling of unwillingness came over her that made her uneasy.

She felt puzzled, but she still went ahead and opened the book.

The book shone with a faint golden light. She squinted until the light faded.

The spotlight from above helped her to see the words on the book.

But as she looked at the words, her brows grew increasingly furrowed.

What was going on?

There were words written on the page, but why couldn’t she read it?

The words couldn’t be understood by her brain, as if her brain was hazy and cloudy, covered by a fog.

She fixed her eyes on the book, but the words turned and mixed, making even less sense than before.

"Why can’t I read this?" Aristia shouted.

She felt like hurling the book away, but held back.

A sigh of frustration escaped from her lips. "Really, what’s the point of a book you can’t read?"

She let go of the book, and the next moment, her eyes opened and she sat up.

She was still in her room a d Millie was also sleeping beside her.

When she looked out of the window, she saw that it was still dark outside. There were still a few hours left until the sun rose.

She lay back down on the bed, hissing mentally.

[I wish to sleep in peace without having any weird dreams. Gosh! Is that too much to ask for?]

She closed her eyes and pulled the blanket over herself, falling asleep a few minutes later.

***

Months later.

Wilson had travelled to his northern Fief, Aristia’s birthday had come and gone, and the family was on their way back to the capital from the Orrivale Fief.

Aristia had thrown the dream to the back of her mind.

Since she couldn’t figure it out, then there was no need to worry herself thinking about it. Thinking wouldn’t give her answers, so she just focused on the present.

Just like that, they had spent six months in Orrivale.

Now it was time to return to Belonmusk.

The King would be holding a banquet in the palace to celebrate the locusts finally leaving Amberale.

Yes, the locusts had left.

After a few days, the Grand Duke and all those who had travelled with him arrived at the capital.

Aristia looked out of the carriage’s window at the streets of the capital.

She saw commoners walking around with bags of different sizes probably containing food they had bought.

It didn’t look like the famine affected them much since there was food available.

Finally, the carriage arrived at the Grand Duke’s mansion.

The family got down from the carriage.

The servants had lined up neatly.

When they came out, tht bowed deeply.

"Welcome back, masters!" They said simultaneously.

Butler Henry smiled and walked up to them.

"Welcome, masters. I hope the journey back was not stressful?"

Catherine shook her head. "No. Not at all, Henry."

The family headed inside the mansion.

Adeline quickly arranged for Aristia to take a bath.

The King’s banquet was in a week from now.

Throwing a banquet wouldn’t disrupt whatever plans the king had because even though other kingdoms knew that Amberale was experiencing a gaming, they knew that it wouldn’t affect the king... until the people began suffering from the famine.

These kingdoms weren’t aware that Amberale now didn’t look much different from before, if you ignored the state of the fields.

The people were quickly bouncing back already. Farmers had already gone back to the fields. In Amberale, it was almost as if there was no famine.

The Vanilla Courtyard still had people eating in it even now. If anything, the customers seemed to have increased.

Aristia had given a discount on the foods for the commoners as a way to help during the famine.

This had helped boost AE’s reputation among the people.

"I missed you so much," Aristia said to The Vanilla Courtyard. She almost hugged the building.

Owen and Kai exchanged glances. Their eyes were filled with amusement.

The next day after they had returned from the Orrivale Fief, Aristia immediately went to the restaurant with her family, Kai and Owen to eat breakfast.

They entered inside the restaurant.

Immediately they sat down, a waiter came to serve them.

When the food arrived, Aristia quickly dug in. "Mm. As delicious as I remember."

Kai nodded quickly, just a second short of stuffing his mouth.

The food cooked in the Grand Duke’s mansion and also the Estate were very delicious, but the food in The Vanilla Courtyard included food he hadn’t eaten before with whole different tastes from what he was used to.

Owen was the same too. He didn’t talk much, instead he focused on the food.

But even though they were eating with fervour, outwardly, they looked like the perfect picture of Grace and elegance.

They didn’t forget that they were outside and also surrounded by nobles and aristocrats.

Aristia personally added food to Alaric’s plate. "Eat more, Al." She said.

Alaric nodded, "Thanks, Tia."

After breakfast, the family left the restaurant.

"I and Owen have something to do." Aristia said when it was time to enter the carriage.

Wilson and Catherine nodded, but Alaric pouted.

Aristia didn’t know if she saw wrong, but it looked like Kai... did too?

She turned to Alaric and pinched his cheek.

"Come back early," Wilson said.

"I know." Aristia nodded. "Bye."

The carriage soon left.

Aristia and Owen reentered the restaurant.

They walked to the manager’s office.

After a series of soft knocks, they heard a voice answer.

"Come in!"

Owen opened the door.

Dahlia was looking through some papers. Thinking it was a worker, she said.

"Is anything wrong?"

"No," Aristia replied.

Dahlia paused when she heard a child’s voice. What was a child doing here? And the voice sounded familiar.

She looked up and her eyes widened.

"Princess Aristia," she said and stood up. She bowed and pointed to her seat. "Please, sit down."

Aristia shook her head.

There were two couches in a corner of the room with a table containing a tea set in between. She sat on one couch.

"I’ll make tea," Dahlia said. She poured hot water and began making tea.

Once she was done, she handed a cup to Aristia and Owen and took one for herself, then she sat down on the couch in front of Aristia.

"I didn’t know you were here, princess." Dahlia said truthfully.

She only knew that they were returning to the capital.

She looked at Aristia. Aristia had grown quite a bit more taller since she last saw her. Even Owen.

Aristia nodded, then asked. "How have you been, Dahlia?"

"I’m well, princess."

"And the children?"

"That..." Dahlia’s face turned heavy. "Apart from Leif and Leilani going missing, the rest of the children are fine. But they occasionally ask about them." She said.

It had been three months since the siblings went missing.

Dahlia wasn’t stupid. So much time had passed. She understood that the chances of finding them were slim.

She also noticed the slight change in the third princess when she mentioned Leif and Leilani.

She knew just how much Leilani liked the third princess, and she also knew Aristia cared about Leilani.

So it was understandable that Aristia felt affected by Leilani going missing.

There was silence with them only drinking tea, before Aristia got up.

"We’ll be leaving now. See you later, Dahlia."

Dahlia nodded and got up to see them out the door. "Goodbye, princess. Master Owen."

Aristia and Owen left the office and then the restaurant.