"Where’s baby Valen?" Aristia asked curiously.
"He’s in the nursery. A maid is watching him in the anti. We’re still arranging for a nanny for him." Vasily explained.
After that incident with the previous nanny mistreating Valen, the family had beco very careful when it ca to choosing a nanny for him. They didn’t want a repeat of the forr situation.
"Okay." Aristia nodded.
She understood that after the previous incident, the couple would be less trusting of who would take care of Valen.
It wouldn’t be easy for them to choose soone.
After a few small discussions between them, Vasily began the lesson.
Despite that, the class of three hours ended in two hours because of her speed, leaving her with an hour of free ti.
The rest of the mansion was quiet since everyone else was either still having their classes or had gone out.
So she decided to take a short nap.
After her classes, everyone else had finished their lessons too.
By then, it was already late afternoon.
Wilson had been at the palace since Catherine left. He was the king’s chief Advisor and one of the king’s ministers, so he usually had work at the palace.
He wouldn’t be back until the sun set, but Aristia and Alaric got into a carriage.
"We’ll be back soon." Aristia said to the others who were standing in front of the mansion.
The children waved, watching as the carriage began to move.
Aristia turned away from the window and sat back down properly.
In case anyone was wondering, then no. They weren’t going to the palace.
"To the Anton mansion, Lucas." Aristia told her personal Coachman.
"Yes, princess!" Lucas said, riding the carriage out of the palace’s gates.
She and Alaric were going to the Anton mansion to stay with Catherine.
In no ti, the carriage arrived at the Anton mansion.
As Aristia and Alaric entered the mansion, they happened to see Lauren coming from the opposite direction.
Her eyes widened on seeing them.
Before anyone could blink, she hand bunches up her gown and run, stopping right in front of Aristia.
"Tia, Allie! You didn’t say you were coming! Aunt has been here since morning." She said with a wide smile.
"Surprise!" Aristia and Alaric said.
The both of them had just decided to co. They hadn’t even told Wilson or Catherine.
They had nothing to do at ho. The twins were busy with inventing, Kai was busy practicing his magic, and Owen was busy going through docunts.
To sum it up, everyone apart from them was busy, and they were almost bored out of their minds so they just made the decision in the spur of the mont.
Laurn quickly linked hands with Aristia, talking endlessly.
"And we wanted to co to visit you tomorrow." She chuckled. "It’s good that you’re here."
"Where is everyone?" Alaric asked curiously.
"Lily is helping Allen with his assignnt, I was watching them and just left to ask a servant to get us sothing to drink. Grandfather and Papa are in the palace. Mama, grandmother, and Aunt are with Aunt Evelyn. Mama and Aunt Catherine are helping Aunt Evelyn practice etiquette." Lauren finished.
Aristia and Alaric nodded to show they understood.
Lauren quickly found a maid, telling her to prepare so snacks for them.
The maid nodded, greeted Aristia and Alaric and turned to do as she was told.
Aristia and Alaric followed Lauren to the library.
Lilith was pointing at sothing on the textbook to Allen and explaining while he listened attentively, nodding to show he understood.
When the door opened, the both of them looked up.
Surprise filled their eyes on seeing the two.
"Tia! Allie!" Lilith exclaid, dropping the book in her hand and skipping over to Aristia with a happy smile.
She threw herself into Aristia for a hug, and Aristia hugged her back.
Children would respond to affection when given it, and ever since Lilith was three years old, Aristia would always shower with love, care, attention, and affection along with Alaric.
Once Aristia released her, Lilith turned to Alaric.
Before he could react, she pinched his cheeks. "How are you, Allie?"
Alaric froze. The audacity!
He held her hand, forcing it away from his face.
Only Aristia was allowed to pinch his cheeks. Lilith knew that too, but she just wanted to annoy him.
Allen also stopped what he was doing and walked to Aristia and Alaric.
"Hello, Tia. Hello, Al." He greeted.
Not only was he already smart, but he was young too, allowing him to not be too awkward when seeing them.
Aristia smiled, and just as she usually did to Alaric and Lilith, she pinched his cheeks.
Allen was stunned, but he didn’t pull away. His cheeks turned a bit red.
Since he and his mother lived in the Anton mansion, he had been hearing from his cousins about Aristia and Alaric, but most especially, Aristia.
A day couldn’t go by without hearing her na from the mouths of his cousins.
He couldn’t help but co to like them, especially since everything he heard about Aristia was so cool!
Aristia looked past them to the table.
"You’re studying?" She asked.
Allen nodded. "Yes, we were."
"How are your classes?" Aristia asked.
"They’re not too difficult." Allen said.
Aristia humd. Allen was intelligent. Maybe it was because of his gene. She could just tell.
He seed to be coping well with his classes.
They walked to the chairs around the table and sat down.
Alaric put the bag he carried on the table.
It was only then that Lauren and the others noticed that he was carrying a bag.
They looked at the bag curiously, wondering what was inside.
Alaric opened the bag and took a few books from it.
The books were actually their textbooks and assignnts.
He and Aristia had decided to head to the Anton mansion, but that didn’t an they decided to abandon their assignnts.
So they also decided to do the assignnts while they were in the Anton mansion.
Alaric got to doing his assignnt while Aristia did hers.
While she was halfway done with the assignnt, Aristia looked up from the book.
"Where are the adults?" She asked.
Lauren looked at her before replying.
"They’re in aunt Evelyn’s room." She said.
Aristia nodded. She was asking because they had been in the Anton mansion for a few minutes now, and yet none of the adults had shown that they knew they were here.
Maybe the adults were busy and didn’t know.
She concentrated on finishing her assignnt for the ti being.
Maybe she would et her mother later.
The maid Lauren had given the task of serving snacks soon entered the library.
She had seen Aristia and Owen, so she knew that she also needed to add their own too. That way, there was enough snacks for all of them.
She set the tray containing snacks, cups, and a jug on the table politely before pouring each person a cup of tea.
After serving the tea, she bowed and left.
The sll of food imdiately drew the children’s attention, and they put down their books, pausing their work for the ti being to have so refreshnts.
After soti, the snack bowl had reduced by half.
"I’ll be right back." Aristia said, excusing herself as she got up. "Let just see mama." She said.
"Mm."
"Okay."
The others nodded and Aristia got up, but not before filling her hand with a bunch of snacks to eat on the way.
Fortunately, she knew the way to Evelyn’s room. It was just beside her mother’s old room.
Her mother and Evelyn were sisters and twins, so their parents had arranged their rooms right beside each others.
Even though due to the sad, unfortunate event that took place when the children were littke, Evelyn never got the chance to use the room, her parents had left the room as it was.
They had probably been holding on to the hope that soon, they would see their lost daughter again.
[Co to think of it, I didn’t see Allen or Aunt Evelyn in my dreams of original Aristia’s mory.] Aristia thought.
She rembered that she was already seven years old in the mory, and had attended a banquet in the palace.
But there was no indication of either Allen or Evelyn in the banquet.
That could only an that Evelyn and Allen hadn’t been found in the original book.... Or maybe they just hadn’t attended the banquet.
She was leaning toward the first option though.
As she was thinking of this, she had already turned the corner to the corridor her mother’s room was on.
She quickly finished the pastry in her hand and wiped any crumbs that might have stayed on her lips with the back of her hands, then she walked toward Evelyn’s room.
As she stood directly in front of the door, she raised her hand to knock, when she heard sothing that made her pause.
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