CHAPTER 282: NOT A GOOD THING

The captain did come for the training the next day just as Alaric said.

And what he greeted Aristia with was...

"This time I mean it when I say it, princess. You’ve become fat."

Aristia was offended. She glared at Captain Hugh for a minute before sighing and saying lazily.

"Whatever. I look more adorable with chubby cheeks." She said, pulling at her own cheeks and emphasizing the chubby.

Alaric nodded seriously, and Kai and Owen who had joined the training stifled their laughter.

Captain Hugh scoffed but he didn’t deny it.

"Well, our training will remove that ’chubby’." Hugh responded sarcastically.

Then he turned to Alaric. "Welcome to tge training, prince."

Alaric would be turning five years old this year and was beginning training today.

[Well, he’ll be beginning officially since he’s been joining us for the training since I began training. Since he’s now officially Hugh’s student... he won’t go easy on him.]

Alaric nodded.

Hugh gave each of them tasks to do.

It was only when Hugh began training Owen and now Kai that Aristia realized that all along, Hugh had been going easy on her during their trainings.

After the training, Aristia met madam Grace for measurements.

Madam Grace was efficient and she would be able to finish making the dresses before the week, ready to be worn to the banquet.

"Greetings, Princess Aristia."

Madam Grace was speaking with Catherine when Aristia entered.

"Hello, madam Grace." Aristia smiled and greeted politely.

"This is the design her highness chose." Madam Grace said.

One of the girls who came with her quickly stepped up and showed her the design of the dress.

"How is it? Do you like it?" Catherine asked.

Aristia nodded.

"Then we’ll take your measurement." Madam Grace gestured and her girls had Aristia measured.

After her work in the Grand Duke’s mansion was completed, Madam Grace and her girls left.

Aristia went to her room.

Adeline came in a few minutes later.

"Princess, letters have arrived for you."

"Oh, place them on my desk please." Aristia said.

Adeline nodded and placed the letters on the study table.

Aristia took a seat in front of the table and picked up the letters.

There were many letters to ’AE’, and there were few to Aristia.

She looked at the ones to AE first. There were letters bearing stamps of some noble and aristocrat families.

These letters were either asking for a service that The Vanilla Courtyard offered, or ordering to be given the service.

There were even some who asked for the restaurant’s recipes and offered a price for it.

Aristia didn’t spend much time reading these letters.

After skimming through them, she tossed it to the side.

She came to the letters to herself.

There were invitations to tea parties. Also skimming through them, she placed them aside.

The last letters remaining were from her friends and family.

"From Liam, from Ivan, from Paige." She read the names of the senders.

She had been exchanging letters with them ever since they left for the academy.

She decided to read Paige’s first.

Paige asked about how she was doing, then told her about the academy as she usually did.

Aristia had learnt from Paige and her cousins how large the academy was and how many the number of students were.

They had come back for the holidays the previous month, June, and spent time with her on her birthday before returning to the academy, and everyone in their circle of friends had bombarded them with questions about the academy.

Even though they all received letters before the three came back, it was different when they talked about it. They also couldn’t write everything down in a letter, so they took that chance to spill everything they had seen first hand.

After reading Paige and then Ivan’s letter, she read Liam’s own last.

After reading the letter, she prepared her replies.

Finally, she put the letters down, got up and stretched.

The sun was still bright in the sky and with nothing to do, Aristia decided to take a short nap.

"Princess Aristia."

Hearing someone calling her name, Aristia answered. "Mm?"

However, the voice seemed to only echo in her mind.

She tried to focus her mind on her surroundings, trying to see who was calling her.

She saw a figure. For some reason, this figure was hazy, but she could tell that the form belonged to a girl.

"Who are you?"

That was what she wanted to ask.

Instead, no sound came out of her lips.

Other figures suddenly stood around the girl, and just like the girl, she couldn’t see them clearly, but she could tell they were males.

Before she could try to grasp what the hell this was, her eyes shot open.

"Haa..." She took deep breaths in. "What the hell is up with these dreams?" She muttered, running her hands through her hair.

Now she had lost all desire to sleep. She didn’t know if it was because the dream had interrupted her dreams, but she didn’t want to see that hazy image of that girl.

She lay down on her back with her arms spread out on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

***

The day of the banquet soon arrived.

The members of the Grand Duke’s family got dressed and ready to head to the palace.

Owen and Kai were staying behind.

The family of four got into the carriage and the carriage began moving towards the royal palace.

This time, Aristia and her family didn’t go earlier to the palace.

[The banquet should have already begun. It looks like I’ll only see Bea and Seri in the banquet hall.] Aristia thought.

Finally, they arrived at the palace.

The carriage entered through the palace’s main gate.

After coming down from the carriage, the family headed in the direction of the banquet hall.

Just as Aristia had guessed, the banquet hall was already filled with nobles.

Only the nobility attended this banquet. Other aristocrats without titles couldn’t attend.

Immediately her friends caught sight of her, they approached her with faces full of smiles.

"Tia!" Lauren squealed, hugging her tightly. "I’ve missed you so much!"

W-we met during my birthday, Laura." Aristia squeezed out since Lauren seemed to want to squeeze the life out of her.

"That was weeks ago!" Lauren said, but let go of her.

Aristia breathed a sigh of relief now that she was finally free.

Lauren’s fluffy pink hair that she had inherited from their great grandmother was like cotton candy, looking extremely soft to touch.

Aristia couldn’t resist patting her head.

She turned to the others.

Alicia smiled. "Princess Tia." Her silver hair framed her small face. She looked like a doll dressed in light blue.

"My sweet doll." Aristia cooed.

Alicia’s cheeks turned red at the nickname.

"Tia," a childish voice called out. Just hearing the voice and one could already feel the unwillingness of its owner.

"Yes, Al?" Aristia asked.

Alaric sulked with folded arms.

Aristia ignored him. "And there’s another baby doll. How are you, Lily?"

Lilith’s long, wavy Ivory hair bounced and her emerald green eyes sparkled happily.

She smiled shyly and hugged Aristia. "Tia~"

Lilith was the same age as Alaric. She had grown a few inches taller and was even a bit taller than Alaric.

Lilith’s smile turned cheeky, meeting Alaric’s eyes with smugness.

Aristia missed this, so she didn’t realize that Lilith had developed a mischievous attitude despite her cute, sweet, adorable, doll-like self.

Alaric noticed this.

His mouth hung open in shock. His mind was filled with multiple "No’s", all because...

Lilith had learned from him. The way he always acted like a baby with Aristia while secretly rubbing it in everyone’s faces. This was not a good thing. She would be competing with him for Aristia’s attention.

He secretly sighed in relief. At least she didn’t live with them. The only time she should see Aristia was when they come to visit or in social events like this one.

Meanwhile, Aristia had turned her attention to the others.

"Darling Nova, handsome Juno and dear Wadie." It was the last of her close friends.

Nova didn’t hesitate a bit to hug her, but she didn’t do it as tightly as Lauren since she didn’t want to squeeze the life out of her.

Once she was done with hugging her, she tousled the hair of Juno who was a year younger than them.

Juno didn’t complain. He was already used to this since she had always done it since two years ago when she was five and he was four.

Instead, he smiled.

Wade’s cheeks turned a bit red.

Aristia was done greeting her close friends.

The watchful nobles watched their interaction with keen eyes, scolding their children in their minds.

Just look at the way these children of higher standing were so close to each other. Why couldn’t their children integrate themselves with them?

The parents didn’t think that it was unfair for these children to be close, after all, they were all children of high social ranking and were even blood related. It was only right for them to be close-knit.

But hadn’t that Vivian Quentin also made friends with the princess and her circle even though they weren’t close before? Why couldn’t their own children do the same? If she could do it, then their children could.

Thinking this, they discreetly signaled their children to approach the princess’s group.

Aristia was expecting to be surrounded by the children, and not long after, they were already surrounded by a lot of children.

As the children complimented their dresses, Aristia’s eyes was drawn to a place in the banquet hall not far from where they stood.

There were actually children who hadn’t come to meet them. They seemed to be surrounding someone...?

Right on cue, the children in front cleared and Aristia was able to get a glance at the person.

Her eyes widened.