Chapter 25

Just as the carriages entered the huge gates, Alice saw people looking at them curiously as they passed. Well, it was not easy to ignore so many carriages. There were street vendors, shop owners, buyers, people who coincidently passed, looking curiously at them.

Alice felt amused as they looked with wide eyes. A look at them tells that they are living well. People are healthy, with a wide smile. Kids looked with big eyes sneakily from the rooftops. All wore fairly good dresses and carried things that look affordable.

There do not seems that there are any problems in the fief by the quality of living of its people.

It was nearly midnight when they stepped out the carriage. Thought they entered the fief in the morning, travelling all the way to the mansion took a lot more time than expected. It has been three months since they left the capital, and today it is finally the end of their long journey.

The mansion was as big as the one in the capital, though it looked less grand, it still looked beautiful. The garden around it was magnificent, much beautiful then the one she saw in the capital every day. Her room was shifted to first floor, so she doesn't feel any discomfort in moving around.

As Alice lied on the bed after she finished her bath, she thought of her future here. The room she was given was beautiful, luxurious, decorated by many rare antiques. Her bed was big and soft. Her dress was made of silk and her drawers were filled with expensive ornaments.

She was much better than the princess in the fairy tale. But the difference, the princess will be treated like that because of the prince, and she is being treated this way because of her family she is suspicious of.

She sighed.

Maybe due the tiredness of the journey or the fact that she is tired of overthinking, she drifted into sleep before she realized.

When she woke up next morning, Emma greeted her. She called for maids to help her master get ready for the breakfast. When she went down, she was greeted by her parents and younger brother. Stella showed up late because she overslept.

"Huh. How stupid!" Daniel muttered.

"Did you just call me stupid?" Stella asked glaring at him angrily.

And so began the start of their fight today.

After breakfast, the duke and the duchess went to their chambers to complete the mountains of work waiting for them. The duchess is planning to change the interior designing of the mansions as it looked old fashioned. While the duke, thought he gave up his post of prime minister, he still has the responsibility of the fief on his shoulders.

Daniel played for sometime but then left to practice swordsmanship. Stella then left to greet her new teachers who will be teaching her here. Snowball slept like a log on his new cushion. Left alone, Alice could not help but wander around the mansion.

After an hour of touring, she felt tired and stopped for rest. Just then Ben, the butler, saw her sitting alone, taking the sip of the morning sun.

"Good morning, milady" he greeted.

"Good morning" she greeted back.

"Why are you alone here? Where is Emma" he asked.

"I asked Emma to run an errand. You see there were few things I wanted so I asked her buy those" Alice explained.

"I see. Do you need anything?" he asked.

"Are there any books in this mansion?" Alice asked with a hope to kill time there.

"There is a library in the mansion. It is the biggest library of the entire kingdom. If you do not mind, I can take you there" Ben suggested.

"Thank you."

Throughout the journey, she always observed Ben as a quite and obedient butler who did his duty extremely well. He always listens to others and immediately grasps what they want. Someone who smiled even when he faced problems. And unlike Maria, he does not openly show his disgust towards other. So she could not read what he thinks of her.

As she observed him, they reached the library. It was on the third floor of the mansion. The door was bigger and harder than that of other rooms, showing its prominence in the mansion. The room inside was a maze of shelves filled with books. The room was big enough to take an entire floor for itself.

"Tell Emma my location when she arrives" Alice ordered.

Ben nodded and left the room. Alice looked around curiously. There were many genres of book filled in the library, from politics to history to economics to accounts. She even found many novels and poems in there. Unable to understand which one to read, she picked the thickest book of all.

The history of Keletish.

As she opened the book and read it, she got to know many things. It took her two months to complete the book, as she read only in her free time to escape from boredom. Ever since she came to this world, she was curious about the structure of the world and held many questions inside. And the book answered them all.

The kingdom of Keletish was found a century ago under the rebellion of seven great warriors. The leader of the seven warriors, became the ruler who ruled this kingdom since then. The other six warriors became the dukes having their own fief.

But due to frequent wars with Lessetia kingdom in the north over the years, the two duchies collapsed and merged into the third. So currently there are five great families in Keletish. The royal family, the Kelestish, the Duke of East, the Etkinson, the Duke of West, the Herlane, the Duke of South, the Jackfrow, and the Duke of North, the Vernillon.

The royal family may seem to look like they have the absolute power on other duchy, but the real power lies in the hands of the Dukes. When combined, they can take down even the royal family. In short, they keep the power of the royal family in control.

The Duke of East, Alicia's family, is the family of scholars. All their heir has been prime minister since the establishment of the kingdom. If a person wants to be a scholar or wants to be educated in a particular subject, he visits the Duchy of the east.

The Duke of west in the family of knights. They have complete authority of the royal knights and takes care of the protection of the royal family. It is also Alicia's maternal family.

The Duke of South is involved in trade because of the Thetor ocean in the south. It takes care of the foreign relationships and affairs. If a person wants to become a businessman, he goes to the southern Duchy. It is the Duchy who will help heroine to make a comeback into high society in the future.

And lastly the Duke of North. They rarely attend any events in the high society. They have the power of army, that consist of common folk who tries to protect the kingdom from the enemy nation, Lessetia. They do not show any interest in politics and only concentrate in protecting the borders of north.

As Alice looked towards the ceiling, thinking of her new home and new kingdom, she closed her eyes accepting the reality.

Thought she still many questions, but she also has a lot of patience. She will find those answers in the future. For now, she will live the life as the noble lady of Etkinson. Some one who lives in luxury, have a good family and respectful position. She does not want to be curios anymore.

From now, this is her new world.