“How was it at Salstar?” Ariana stayed in the lounge after dinner and waited for her father. There were some unresolved issues that she would like to know more about. She knew that Daniel also wanted to talk to her father, so she didn’t plan to keep him long.
“What exactly do you mean?” Her father answered her in a slightly stern tone. How Ariana had talked to him before dinner was still going through his mind, and his wife’s words were ringing in his ears. As a mother, Daria quickly coped with the change in her daughter’s behavior, but Peter couldn’t do it. He still saw his little girl, whom he wanted to protect at all costs.
“What about Marcus? Did you fight him? Did he follow you to the capital? I want to know what he did.” Ariana quickly laid out her cards on the table. The information
“We’d like to see the city to find a home of our own,” Daria brought up during their dinner together. The mention of the guards during the visit to the city was about Ariana, so Daria hoped if it was just the two of them, without their daughter, Daniel would let them go in peace.“You are more than welcome in my house. Is there something that doesn’t suit you?” Daniel immediately asked. He thought the servants did not treat them with respect, which would amaze him. He also thought that they didn’t feel comfortable here, which also made him sad.“It is not like that. The castle is amazing. The rooms are big and spacious, but it’s not our home. We would like to find something for us. Besides, sitting at home and doing nothing is not for either of us. We would like to find some useful work in the ci
“Take care of yourself. I don’t know when we’ll be back. I guess your father and I will stay in town for a few days. We will sleep in a boarding house.” Her parents had planned to leave without her from the beginning. Ariana didn’t understand what was happening for a moment. Yesterday during dinner, she prepared a long speech about how she didn’t want to go to town with them. Even before going to sleep, she discussed the arguments with which she would support her position, and to her surprise, her parents only came to say goodbye.“What do you mean, you stay in town? After all, you don’t have any money to pay for the boarding house, so where do you want to sleep? Besides, you don’t even have the money to buy a house?” Ariana asked the questions that had occurred to her yesterday in the evening, but she did not want to discuss their financial
“They are gone.” Ariana almost cried just remembering today’s morning. Although her parents originally came to say goodbye to her, the farewell didn’t even happen. The entire conversation took a bad turn and Ariana didn’t even know if they broke up on good or bad terms.“I know. Trenton wants to show them the town and the houses he knew were vacant. When they are with him, you don’t have to worry about them.” Daniel tried to calm her down. It hurt his heart to see her so sad.“I’m not worried about them. I’m rather sad about how they left. It looked like we had a fight instead of saying goodbye. What if they don’t want me as their daughter anymore? What if they have had enough of my uselessness?” Ariana suddenly couldn’t think of anything but these black thoughts. Da
“Don’t you know how it turned out for my parents?” Ariana brought it up the next day at dinner with Daniel. She hadn’t seen her parents since yesterday morning and was sorry she hadn’t heard from them. Perhaps Daniel could help her with this.“Trenton showed them about three houses yesterday. Two were bigger. He guessed they might like to use the space later, you know, when there are more grandchildren...” Daniel paused, waiting for her reaction. To his surprise, Ariana blushed almost immediately. He knew that she would have her hands already full with her first child, but he hoped that his own children could follow soon.“However, in the end, they took the smaller one. There is still one extra spacious bedroom where you or their grandchildren can sleep.” Daniel finished, eyes still on his partne
Ariana put on a casual outfit before heading out for breakfast. Last night she pulled off a pathetic scene at dinner that she was honestly ashamed of this morning. Daniel must have thought she was childish and did nothing but cry. She spent most of the night honestly thinking about everything Daniel had told her yesterday. He was right about one thing. It wasn’t her parents that Ariana didn’t trust. She didn’t believe in herself.“Are you going somewhere?” Daniel asked her the first thing as soon as he saw her in the door. She hadn’t worn this kind of clothing since the day they arrived in town.“I’m going to visit my parents.” Ariana simply announced her plans for today. Daniel smiled gently at her. There was determination in her voice and there were no traces of yesterday’s insecurities.
Ariana walked down the long aisles behind Trenton, who led her to her parents’ new house. Although she wondered if she should really go to them, especially when Daniel reminded her of them remodeling their new house. She wasn’t even sure if they would have a place to sit.“Here it is.” Trenton stopped in front of a slender, two-story house. From the outside, the house looked ordinary. It fits in stylishly with the entire street. Simple pastel shutters and flower pots on the windowsills, currently without flowers. It was obvious no one had really lived in the house for a long time. Ariana saw a set of windows that her mother hadn’t washed yet. She couldn’t see inside through them. The windows on the second floor were wide open. This marked the ongoing reconstruction of the second floor. According to Ariana’s assumption, her parents first wanted to restore the
Leaving her parents’ new home, Ariana made her way to the tavern she passed as Trenton led her to the house. The tavern was not far. It was basically right next to the house, exactly as Daniel had described. Just a little walk down the street.“Hello. What will you have, lafdi?” Ariana had to control herself a lot not to laugh. The young woman’s speech reminded her of the speech of the farmers who came to the town to sell their crops. The last word Ariana didn’t even understand. She didn’t know what the girl told her. The first part, including the greetings Ariana could decipher, thanks to being partially used to this kind of language.“Do you have lemonade?” Ariana asked her, hoping she could drink something cold. Spring started only a few weeks ago but the weather today was warmer than she woul
Ariana wasn’t quite sure what to do. She could not endanger her unborn child, so fighting the girl was out of the question. As they exited the tavern and made their way straight away from the inn, Ariana became confused. They didn’t go back to the castle, nor did they go towards her parents’ house, where she could discreetly signal her father. They just went deeper into the smaller backside aisles.“Where are you taking me?” Ariana wanted to know. She kept her emotions under control and tried to think rationally. There had to be a way out of this mess, but she hadn’t seen it yet.“It is not important. Smile nicely and nothing will happen to you.” The young woman replied in a low tone. All the while, she subtly looked back to see if anyone was following them. She felt someone’s eyes on her, but sh