Chapter 159 - Development (2)

"What will you do starting now, Alexandra?" Christian asked her.

Alexandra and Christian are currently inside the library. They just arrived in the library 10 minutes after they left. Since her brothers who just arrived still haven't eaten breakfast yet, they went to the dining room with father. Christian already ate breakfast so he is here in the library with me. They are currently looking around for books and not sitting in their usual spots, Alexandra wanted to borrow one if ever she found something interesting so she is roaming around the library. Despite visiting this place almost every day, she still hasn't roamed around. She would usually head towards her usual spot and read the books that were stacked on her desk.

The library was way too big for her. What about the public one? Where anyone can freely enter? Is it as big as this one? This one was her family's private library and only a few people were allowed to enter this place. Well, she still hasn't roamed around the palace and outside, she was only able to reach the garden, the courtyard, and the main entrance of the palace or the front door. I wonder what the other mansions in this palace look like, she thought to herself and tried to imagine it. Is it the same as the other mansions that she would see in her previous life or is it completely different? Well, judging from these settings or time or era that she is currently living in, she thinks it would be big and somehow, medieval.

"Just the usual. I would try to get close with them and approach them every day, I would give them gifts but for Brother Gilbert and Brother Chandler, I wouldn't give them one every day. I don't want my library to run out of books and artifacts just because I gave it to them. Those are also precious for me and I like them," Was what Alexandra said as a response to what he just asked her. Well, she has a point anyways. The books and artifacts or antique things that he would give Chandler and Gilbert are old and they are really precious. If you sell it in the market, you will get a huge sum of money.

Alexandra stopped in front of the bookshelf, staring at the row of books and not moving at all.

Especially the antique jewelry that she would give Chandler, those are really expensive and you could donate it to the museum but she decided to give it to Chandler. She could have been very rich if she decided to sell it but then she doesn't know what to do with the money anyway, she got tons of dresses in her wardrobe or closet, she got tons of jewelry, hair ties, ribbons, accessories, books, and she got a palace for herself. She wondered if her father hated her when she was born. She got everything that she wanted.

Her train of thoughts was cut off and she was pulled back to the reality that she was in when Christian called out to her name. He noticed that Alexandra was dozing out as she only stared at the bookshelf in front of her. "Alexandra?" He said and Alexandra turned her head towards his direction, he was standing beside her and looking at her with a worried look plastered on his face. "O-Oh, what is it?" Alexandra responded with a smile on her face.

"Are you thinking about what to give them? I can help you with that, I am not going to give them gifts every day anyways," Christian said and smiled back at Alexandra. Alexandra hummed before she responded, "Then what do you think should I give Brother Gilbert and Brother Chandler? I don't have any problems with Brother Calixander since he likes sweets and Diana always gives me sweets every day before I go to this palace in case if I get hungry. I could ask her to double to amount since I am going to give some to Brother Calixander. Brother Chandler doesn't like sweets and I don't know if Brother Gilbert likes sweets, too," Alexandra said. She looked troubled and she doesn't know what to do.

Her eyebrows were knitted and a frown was forming on her thin lips. She narrowed down her eyes as she was in a thinking pose, she held her chin with her thumb and index finger as her arm was propped up by the back of her palm on her other arm. She hummed, she looked like a person trying to solve a puzzle or thinking about the answer to this question in her exams or a detective staring at the murder scene thinking about how it happened and who the criminal is.

"That's true, Brother Chandler doesn't like sweets but it doesn't mean that he hates them. He doesn't like it when it's too sweet or too salty. Brother Gilbert, I don't know about him, to be honest. It's hard to read and understand him since he is always quiet and would always have a blank look on his face. You could either find him reading something or just sleeping in the garden. Well, he is different from Brother Calixander. Although he would always have a cold or expressionless look on his face, he isn't that hard to read. I completely understood why he hates and you and why he wants us to avoid you as much as possible," Christian said as he made different hand gestures while talking.

Calixander hates Alexandra and wants his brothers to avoid them because of the rumors that he had heard. It is said that something bad will happen to you if you became close to her, maybe you'll die the day after you talked to her and became close to her. Since it was unusual that she was born in their bloodline. Aside from that, there are also other reasons which she doesn't know. Maybe it's just his eldest brother's instincts going off when he heard about her existence.

Alexandra couldn't help but let out a sigh. "What about cookies? Cookies aren't that sweet and Brother Chandler might like it," Alexandra said and she looked at Christian. "Well, that is a good idea. I saw Brother Chandler eating cookies before and it seemed like he liked it," Christian responded and he smiled at Alexandra. Alexandra smiled back and she nodded as a response, "Sure. I will tell Diana about it, should I give some to Brother Gilbert too? We will not know if he likes it if we don't try," Alexandra asked him in a curious tone of voice.

It doesn't look like Brother Gilbert hates sweets at all. It probably depends if he likes the taste or not, Alexandra thought to herself. Well, as far as she can remember, Gilbert once joined them in their tea party before and she saw him eating some of the macaroons, cookies, and cupcakes.

"Sure, why not?" Christian said and he shrugged. After their conversation, they decided to continue looking for some books that they found interesting before they went to their spot and read what they picked.

--

Later that night.

Diana was telling Alexandra a story since she couldn't sleep at all no matter what she does. Diana's voice conquered the silence of the room as she spoke in a gentle tone of voice which sounded loud to her ears since she was the only one speaking and her voice is the only thing that she hears.

"…Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair."

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. "If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I will for once try my fortune," said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair."

Immediately the hair fell and the King's son climbed up.

At first, Rapunzel was frightened when a man such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her, but the King's son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, "He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does;" and she said yes, and laid her hand in his.

She said, "I will willingly go away with thee, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with thee a skein of silk every time that thou comest, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and thou wilt takes me on thy horse." They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day.

The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, "Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young King's son—-he is with me in a moment." "Ah! thou wicked child" cried the enchantress "What do I hear thee say! I thought I had separated thee from all the world, and yet thou hast deceived me." In her anger she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day, however, that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress in the evening fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the King's son came and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair,"

She let the hair down. The King's son ascended, but he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above, but the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. "Aha!" she cried mockingly, "Thou wouldst fetch thy dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it and will scratch out thy eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to thee; thou wilt never see her more." The King's son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair, he leaped down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell, pierced his eyes.

Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did nothing but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterward, happy and contented."

Alexandra never knew that the story about Rapunzel also existed in this world. She has never read the book and she was only able to watch the ending of the story before so she completely doesn't know what happened. Right after Diana finished speaking and telling her the story, Alexandra felt drowsy and she yawned. But she remained strong since she still has to tell Diana about something.

"My, my, aren't you going to sleep, young miss? You already looked sleepy yet you are trying to keep yourself awake. That is bad for your health," Diana said and she caressed Alexandra's head. "I still have something to tell to you, it's a request actually," Alexandra said and she looked at Diana. Diana's interest was piqued when she heard what the young miss said to her, "What is it?" She asked, curiosity lacing her tone of voice as she spoke in a gentle voice.

"About tomorrow—" Alexandra was cut off by herself when she suddenly yawned. She just can't stop it. "—Sorry, I just couldn't help it," Alexandra apologized. "No, no, it's okay. Just continue what you were trying to say," Diana said and she let out a small chuckle.

"As I was saying, for tomorrow, could you bake some cookies for me in the morning? More than what you usually make since I am going to give some to my brothers when I go to the palace," Alexandra said and Diana nodded. "Sure, I am sure that they are going to like it. Are you going to give one to Prince Christian too?" Diana asked.

Alexandra hummed before she responded with a nod, "Yes. Actually, I am going to give one to my father, brothers and Arthur too, you know, the one that I became friends with and is teaching me, is that okay?" Alexandra said and she yawned right after she spoke. "No problem, young miss. I am glad that I can help you but I think it would be better if you tried to do it too, you don't have to worry about not knowing how to do it, we can teach you," Diana said. Well, it's not like she is forcing the young miss but she just thinks that it would be better if she tried to do it, you know: effort.

Alexandra just hummed and Diana bent down to kiss her forehead. "You have to go to sleep now, good night," Diana said and Alexandra replied with a good night.

She just hopes that everything will go well tomorrow.