Chapter 57 - Second (1)

The next day came.

Diana opened the door for Alexandra who was enthusiastic and happy as she skipped her way towards the door. "Good morning, Carlos!" Alexandra happily greeted the knight who was guarding outside her room as she stepped outside while Diana followed her from behind. Her voice gained Carlos' attention and he turned around with a smile plastered on his face, his hand was casually placed on top of the hilt of his sword, and his hair was combed neatly. "Good morning, Miss Alexandra," Carlos responded and Alexandra just smiled at him. She continued walking with Diana beside her and Carlos behind them. They are on their way to the dining room for Alexandra to eat breakfast.

Upon arriving, Alexandra made her way towards her chair and sat on it. Her breakfast looked yummy and mouth-watering, it was her favorite—Eggs and Slices of bacon. The usual or common meal to eat during the morning. Alexandra started to eat quietly, the sound the spoon and fork emit as she ate resonated inside the room but Alexandra didn't mind it.

After eating, she decided to head towards the garden and walk around. A morning walk isn't bad, she thought to herself as she made her way towards the garden while Carlos followed behind her quietly. Since the palace is busy for the party later, she can't go to the palace to have her afternoon tea party with her father because there would be many people that might see her and her father might be busy too. It would cause an uproar if someone saw her aimlessly walking around the Diamond Palace with a knight as she heads towards the emperor's office, news about her mysterious identity might come out and she will be the gossip of the empire having the same looks as the Everly Family.

The stressing part is that if people learned about her identity suddenly, they might hate her or think of her as a curse or bad luck because of some things. Her father might handle all of these things and she doesn't know what he will do about it. He might decline and say that she's not her daughter or he will tell everyone about it and tries to gain their trust. Alexandra hoped that will never happen not until she gained all of her brothers' trust and love as well as her father. That will be a difficult situation for her to handle if she still hasn't met her other brothers and make them love her as their sister especially the oldest one who might be the hardest one to handle.

It sounds like I'm using them or hypnotizing them but it's not like that, she really does want to gain their love because first of all, to survive, and second, I—

Her thoughts were cut off by Carlos who suddenly spoke and called out to her, "Miss Alexandra, we have arrived at the garden," Carlos said and Alexandra was pulled back to reality. She looked ahead of her and saw multiple flowers in her field of view. The place wasn't blanketed or covered with snow because of the gardener's magic. "O-Oh," Was the only thing Alexandra said before she started walking around while admiring the flowers while she recalled what happened yesterday and it made her smile as she remembered. Right, I still haven't opened the gifts, I will do it in the afternoon, she thought to herself and plucked out a flower.

She wondered what was inside of those gifts especially Christian. It's good that he was able to but everyone a gift even though she just told or invited him the day before yesterday. She wondered if he asked his personal knight to buy it for him or if he went out of the palace and buy those. He even bought all of the maids a gift, how did he know there were 10 maids? Did he ask someone about it? Since he doesn't know what the maids like, he might have bought them daily necessities or something that they might love like perfume.

It was fun and she had a great time. Harrison came to give her the gift and since she's still awake, he brought her to the frozen lake where the scenery of it was enchanting and she was able to witness the winter star appear at the sky. Well, the horrible experience and feeling of teleporting were still there, she can still remember what she felt back then. Her insides turned upside-down and she suffered for like 10 minutes which is 5 seconds before they were able to return, Harrison once explained to her that time is slower when you are teleporting . 1 second is equal to 2 minutes. The time that it would take and the amount of mana that will be used depends on how far the chosen location is. To be able to teleport at a place, they should be or one of them had visited the place or location.

Harrison tells her so many things about magic and some facts about it. Alexandra wondered if she has the same ability as her brothers and father like being powerful when in terms of using magic or mana or if she was just like the other girls who are weak and had low mana. It's not like she wants to have magic or high mana but she was fascinated by the idea of it. Being able to control magic and being able to protect others with the use of it or use it at some other things, she was fascinated about it and when she witnessed someone use magic, she was amazed.

As Alexandra strolled around the garden, she thought of so many things, random things to be exact. She decided to sit on the chair along with the picnic table she would usually sit on when she decided to read outside or if she asked Yulli to help her or teach her some things that are related to flowers like making a flower crown or flower arranging. "Miss Alexandra," Carlos finally spoke. He was silent the whole time, maybe he ran out of stories since he would always tell her some things like his horrible and stressful training as a knight. "Yes?" Alexandra responded as she sat on the chair and looked up to Carlos.

"Are you bored?" That was a rather strange question to ask, she thought to herself before she responded. She shook her head and with a gentle tone of voice, she spoke: "No, I just want to rest after so many things which happened yesterday,"

Carlos hummed and he thought for a moment before he responded, "Do you know the kings and queens of the kingdoms in our empire? As well as their sons and daughters?" Carlos suddenly asked her another strange and unusual question. Alexandra shook her head as a response. Of course, she doesn't know about who are the kings and queens but she knows the name of the kingdoms, the bloodline which rules the kingdom, and its background. The capital or the center is where the Diamond Palace and most nobles live, the Queenilia Imperial Academy and Queenilia Formal Academy is found here. This is where Alexandra is currently. This is like the most important and significant place in this land. Most of the important things and events happen here.

There are 8 kingdoms, each one ruled with strong and powerful members of a powerful bloodline. The Everly Bloodline ruled this land ever since it was first found and it still continues to do so. The king of all kings, they say.

Granaria Kingdom is ruled by the Evergreen bloodline. Octavia Kingdom is ruled by the Carmaine Bloodline. Rium Kingdom is ruled by the Carter Bloodline. Athreal Kingdom is ruled by the Felix Bloodline. Florandel Kingdom is ruled by the Schuyler Bloodline. Clara Kingdom is ruled by the Arsenia Bloodline. Morraine Kingdom is ruled by the Chester Bloodline. And lastly, Luminaria Kingdom is ruled by the Cowell Bloodline.

Each one of the kingdoms has their own unique backgrounds like the Morraine Kingdom that is being ruled by the Chester Bloodline who are very strong and powerful warriors or users of magic. The Luminaria Kingdom is the most powerful out of them all because the members of this bloodline who ruled this kingdom are very powerful users of magic and are intelligent people. But they are not as strong and as powerful as the Everly Bloodline. Once in a month, the emperor will hold a meeting with each one of the kings of the kingdoms to discuss some things related to the empire, like taxes, production, supply, and such events like a storm destroyed half of a kingdom under Queenilia Empire.

"Why did you ask me that?" Alexandra asked Carlos who smiled at her, "Nothing, really. I met one of them before, the Athreal Kingdom's king, King Damiel II. He's actually very friendly and he was also intelligent. He also loves to read books and has a huge library for himself," Carlos said in a gentle tone of voice as he looked at Alexandra. This piqued her interest, in this way, she could learn about the kings. Carlos continued to talk and blabber about the kings and queens of the kingdoms under the Queenilia Empire as well as the prince and princesses. Although his knowledge about the prince of princesses of the kingdoms is limited, he was able to tell some useful information about them.

This continued until it was time for Alexandra to eat her lunch.

--

After Alexandra ate her lunch, she decided to go upstairs to her room where she will open the gifts. The sound of their footsteps resonated inside the hallway as they walked and made their way towards her room. Upon arriving in front of the door, Carlos opened it for her and she stepped inside. Carlos closed the door and was left outside to guard.

Alexandra stared at the pile of gifts on her couch and heaved a sigh, her eyes darted at the gift that was placed on top of her bedside table and she walked towards it. This was Harrison's gift, I wonder what's inside, she thought to herself as she picked up the gift. She walked back towards the couch and sat beside the pile of gifts. The room was quiet and it felt relaxing. The place was surrounded by a bubbly and light atmosphere and the scent of fresh flowers filled the air.

As she picked the gift placed on top, a sudden voice startled her and made her yelp due to shock.

"Are you opening them already?" The voice sounded monotonous and it rang inside Alexandra's ears. The owner of the voice was actually Harrison. He was standing behind her and he leaned forward as he spoke. Alexandra looked behind her and hit his arm with an annoyed expression. "I told you to not suddenly appear, you are giving me heart attacks," Alexandra said and stopped the urge to throw the gift she was holding at his face. "I'm sorry, I guess," Harrison said nonchalantly and he walked towards the couch opposite from hers and casually sat on it as if he owned it. His arm spread and placed on top of the couch and the ankle of his right leg placed on top of his left thigh.

Alexandra was shocked when he said sorry, although it sounded sarcastic and he added 'I guess' at the end, he was sincere. It was unusual, unlike before, he would just ignore what she said and insult her or tease her. This is unusual, she thought to herself as her eyebrows creased for a moment as she stared at Harrison. "What?" Harrison asked when he noticed she was just staring at her.

"Did you ate something bad today? Did you swallow poison that it messed with your mind?" Alexandra asked and Harrison narrowed his eyes at her seeming like he was glaring but Alexandra was already used to it, so she didn't mind it. "Why would I swallow poison? Do I look like I'm that crazy and stupid to you?" Harrison replied and wondered what she meant by her question.

"Maybe," Alexandra shrugged. "You just said sorry and it was pretty unusual since you would just ignore me," Alexandra said and Harrison hummed as a response. He didn't respond and just watched Alexandra open or tear the wrap of the gift which revealed what was inside.