When I woke up the next day, all my clothes had been changed while I was asleep. When I looked around the room, I saw Crimson sleeping on my bed with me so she could stay with me during the night. Looking at her, I noticed Dan was sleeping behind her on the chair next to my bed. I found it impressive that he managed to fall asleep sitting up. Knowing that they both stayed with me throughout the day and during the night made me feel happy, 'They keep surprising me. I don't think I'll ever get used to how much they care for me, but I'm glad to have it.' I shuffled closer to Crimson, hugged her, and went back to sleep. Crimson put her arms around me in her sleep as I did and cuddled me back. Later that day, while I was still recovering in bed, Tasha visited me out of the blue. She was noticeably upset went she barged through the door, "Sash!" She ran over and leapt at me, latching onto me with a hug, "I heard you were hurt really bad! I had my nanny bring me here the moment I heard!
We didn't have to wait long before a waiter came to our table with a three-tiered dessert tray with all our cakes on it and some cookies we didn't order, so I asked, "Why are there cookies too?" The waiter put the large tray tower on the table before answering, "These are complimentary for new customers! Please enjoy!" The waiter quickly left, and Tasha looked very happy to get free food, "I like this place even more now!" I smiled at how giddy she got over free cookies, "Yeah, me too!" As we each took a piece of cake and a fork, I noticed Tasha's maid and the two guards sitting beside us with nothing, "Didn't you order anything for yourself?" "No, miss, I'm only here to ensure you're both safe!" "What about you two?" The one guard answered for the both of them, "thank you for your consideration, Miss Sasha, but we're only here to keep guard." I couldn't help but feel bad that the three of them were sitting there watching us eat without anything to have themselves. So I took th
After that day, everything with my family and Tasha seemed perfect. Everything was like a dream, and before I knew it, two years had passed. Although Dan and I grew a lot closer, he still seemed a bit cold and distant, but he always made time to be around me and see how I was doing. Tasha had become more like an older sister over the last two years, especially considering how often she visits. My estate had essentially become her second home. She even stopped the night occasionally, although if it were left up to her, she wouldn't leave. Yesterday, we received a letter from the king informing us that the crown princess would be visiting in his stead and would arrive today. So Crimson and Walter have been preparing the estate yesterday and this morning, especially for her visit. When the royal carriage pulled up, several knights exited the carriage first, and then the princess. Crimson was waiting in front of the estate to greet her personally when she arrived, "Greetings, princess,
During the next six days, Crimson had me trying on dresses daily. Thankfully, Crimson finally decided which one she liked the most a day before the ball. On the day of the ball, I walked out of the estate holding Crimson's hand. When we went to go to our family carriage, the royal carriage pulled up, and a knight exited the carriage and walked over to us, "Excuse me, Duchess, the king sent me in the royal carriage to personally escort you and the young lady to the ball personally!" Crimson looked surprised to see such a grand carriage sent to pick us up with a royal knight escort, "His majesty didn't need to go to such efforts. Our family carriage would have been more than enough!" "I'm afraid his majesty insisted that I escort you there. He said when his future daughter-in-law arrives, he wants everyone to see that she is a personal guest of the royal family, so no one will think of looking down on her during the ball." When the guard said future daughter-in-law, Crimson looked no
The next day I couldn't get the guy I saw at the ball out of my head. Later that day, while I was sitting at my table in the middle of my flower garden, Dan walked past the garden as he noticed me staring into space while nursing a cup of tea. For reasons I couldn't understand, that man filled all my thoughts, 'Who was that guy at the ball yesterday? And why did my heart start to go crazy when he looked at me?! Was he using some kind of weird magic?!' With my mind completely preoccupied, I didn't notice Dan walk up beside me, "What are you spacing out for?" Seeing Dan suddenly appear out of nowhere nearly scared me to death, "Ahhhh! Don't sneak up on me!" "I didn't. I walked up to you in plain sight. You were just too distracted to notice." "Still, you shouldn't have scared me like that!" "It's not my fault you scare easy. What had you so distracted anyway?" "I don't wanna talk about it..." Dan took the spare seat at the opposite end of the table and sat down, "If you tell me a
After half an hour of walking, I started questioning if Tasha really knew her way to the market square, "Are you sure we're going the right way?" "Yep! I'm 90% sure!" "What about the last 10%..." "I'm 100% sure!" "..." We wandered around, aimlessly getting deeper into the city. After a while, I was sure Tasha didn't know where she was going, "You don't know where we are, do you? This looks nothing like the area near the market square." "I'm sure we're close..." "Should we ask one of the patrol guards for directions?" "They might get suspicious and send us back!" "Wouldn't that be better than being lost?" "But we'll be punished!" "Fine, then ask someone when they walk by." "But what if they also get suspicious and report us to the guards?" "Not everyone is suspicious of us!" "You don't know that..." "Fine, I'll keep following you for now, but if we don't find it soon, I'm gonna ask someone where to go." Tasha looked relieved and happy that I wasn't going to ask for direc
After two weeks of being locked away in the estate with no sweets or Tasha as part of my punishment, I couldn't stop myself from being overwhelmed by boredom. After the first couple of days of my punishment, I started spending more time with my brothers. But, of course, I mostly spent my time with Dan since he didn't have to go to school anymore since Crimson was teaching him personally at home, and Tom was still going and didn't get back until late in the day. But the three of us still managed to spend the occasional day together, usually at the end of the week when Tom didn't have school. During those weeks, when I spent some time with each of them individually, they showed and taught me different things they had been learning. Since Tom was talented with magic, he started teaching me simple tricks to control my mana. Still, it turned out I wasn't naturally gifted with mana control and only had average talent, so his simple tricks were complicated to understand for me. Dan showed
After another two weeks, Crimson told me that Tasha could finally start coming down again. She also sent a letter to Clair telling her Tasha was allowed to start visiting again. The day after Crimson sent the letter, Tasha arrived at the estate and rushed to the door, almost tripping over her dress due to her excitement. After she was let in, she ran out to find me when she was told where I was. Tasha ran outside and over to my personal garden, where she saw me sitting around my table talking to Dan. When I saw Tasha rushing over to me, she had a very desperate look on her face while shouting, "Sash!" The moment she got within arm's length of me, she immediately started hugging me far too tightly, "I missed you so much!" Since she was crushing me, I could barely talk, "I... missed... you... too..." After a few moments, she let go of me, allowing me to breathe again. She then sat beside me on the empty chair, "What happened in the month I was gone?!" "Nothing." "But something mus