Chapter 16 – The Capital

Countess Alvarez may be a horrible person but even her kind knows that there is also a limit on how she should act especially if the empress regnant herself is directly involved.

The day of Aurora’s departure has already arrived. She originally planned to hire a carriage and travel to The Capital herself but to her surprise, Empress Katya sent an envoy before the sun could even rise and announced their purpose of escorting her to the townhouse safely.

She felt bad for not needing the services of the coachman so she told Alexandro to make sure that he would still be receiving the payment she left him with. Her twin, who sees himself as not that much help at all, agreed without second thoughts.

The idea of leaving her hand maiden at the mansion with the countess does not sit well with her so when Agnes has been appointed by the empress regnant as her personal hand maiden, she’s more than thankful for that.

“I will be departing now, Mother. Please stay well,” she said, bidding her farewell even though she doesn’t really want to do it. It’s just that there are people from the palace around and she doesn’t want to give them even the faintest idea that the Alvarez household is no more than a beautiful shell outside, but rotting inside. She isn’t doing it for her. That is for her father’s honor.

“May the moon and stars of the empire guide you safely, my daughter.” Countess Alvarez answered sweetly. It took a lot for Aurora to not roll her eyes. Not wanting to see her mother anymore, she walked towards his twin brother and gave him a tight hug.

“Don’t do anything unusually stupid, okay?” she whispered to him. Alexandro tsked.

“What do you take me for? You know me!”

“Exactly.”

Her twin brother Alexandro may be a good person, but he’s like a wild stallion that no one can control. She doesn’t want to know about it but she’s been told how notorious his brother is when it comes to women and he’s that sort of fellow who doesn’t really like thinking of the consequences of his actions. Aurora knows that her brother’s swordsmanship is at par with her since their father personally taught them while growing up but of course, one’s skill could only do much.

After a tearful goodbye with the other hand maidens who’s honored to have served her, Aurora left for The Capital with no intention of looking back.

Since it’s still early in the morning, she firmly believes that they would reach The Capital in less than three hours especially that they haven’t encountered any traffic jams yet. The carriage is big enough for at least ten people to share it with but it’s just her and Agnes while the rest of her envoy are in another carriages. There are three of them in total and they are in between. It was strategically designed like that to protect her from any ambush. She may not be a relevant member of the imperial member but at the end of the day, she still shares the same blood with them so she’s still interesting enough to be abducted.

Aurora slid the carriage’s window open and let the cool breeze linger on her face. The sun has just risen and it amuses her how it looks like exploding any moment because it’s orangeness is darker than usual unlike the clouds around it which are complete opposite, giving her the calmness because of its purple-ish and light pink hues.

“Would you like me to grab a blanket for you, my lady?” Agnes asked when her hand maiden notice her lips slowly turning white.

She shook her head as she closes the window, still not tearing his gaze away from outside. The thought that she’s finally on her own, being free of her horrendous mother is supposed to be thrilling but she can’t help the lump building in her throat because of the heaviness she feels within her chest.

She misses her father and she would do anything at that moment to have him see her finally go to Xenon and fulfill their dream.

***

Just like what she predicted, the journey to The Capital is less than what she expected. Once they have arrived at the Leonhart’s Townhouse, there are several other servants there who quickly bowed down and greeted her. She greeted them back and let them handle her luggage. She isn’t tired but she would like to walk around the estate.

Once she entered the house, she’s quite surprised at how fully furnished and well-tended it is. Empress Katya has mentioned to her that the townhouse where she will be staying wasn’t used by anyone before but surprisingly for her it feels home already. When she opens the fridge, she even found variety of foods and even sherbets and expensive confectionaries crafted by a well-known chocolatier.

“My lady, I was told that your room will be the biggest one at the second floor. I will be bringing up your luggage please call for me if there is anything you need,” Agnes informed her.

“Oh right. I’ll come with you. I’d like to see the view of The Capital from above,” the two of them ascended the stairs while the other servants have started to busied themselves at the kitchen to prepare her meal.

The room is just how she imagined it. Extravagant. Everything is in high quality and at her comfort. Her vanity table is even made of gold with red gems tucked at every corner of it. She suddenly felt regretful at the sight. She was never fond of spending a lot of time fixing her hair or decorating herself with jewelries so she thought that the table isn’t really needed yet she doesn’t want to make a fuss out of it.

She walked instead to the window and looked further outside as much as her eyes can take in. Her family’s estate is a few hours away from there and since she doesn’t really have much reason to be at The Capital, she was not that interested about it.

But since this is going to be her new home, she intended to grow accustomed of it. She wants to know what are the best places she could go to, and the worst places she should not even dare to set foot on.