Alicia found Tyra first, looking out a window dejectedly.
"What is wrong?"
Tyra flinched, having not expected soone to suddenly co behind her. When she realized it was Alicia, she sighed in relief.
The ever nosy Alicia looked out the window, looking for what Tyra had been intensely staring at.
"What were you looking at?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking."
"About what?" Alicia asked, concerned.
"Nothing." Tyra managed a smile and said, "You don't have to worry about . Where are you off to?"
Alicia noticed she was trying to leave that topic and decided not to push her to answer.
"I was coming to look for you and also for Susan. I was wondering if you girls were interested in joining to cook."
"Cook? I... don't know how to." Tyra said in embarrassnt.
"Of course, I didn't expect any better. You are a princess after all." Alicia said and flashed her a smile.
"But... you are a princess too." Tyra reminded her.
"Oh... that is true. Haha!" Alicia laughed awkwardly when she realized her slip. "I learnt it as a hobby. I will teach you. You don't have to worry too much."
"But... the guests are going to be arriving soon, and we have to be ready for whenever they call for us to co greet them. So... I don't think we can go there now."
"Oh! That's also fine. Maybe in the evening then?" Alicia asked hopefully.
"Princess Amber," Tyra called her gently and turned to fully face her.
"We cannot risk it. We have guests coming here. What if it gets to them that the princesses here are doing the jobs of servants?"
Alicia almost pulled out her hair in frustration. Did it an that her plans of getting to their hearts through their stomachs was going to be in vain?
With a resigned sigh, she said, "I will think of sothing. For now, I need to ensure the ingredients are properly preserved."
"I will co with you then." Tyra offered with a smile.
On their way, they t Susan, and, as expected, Susan didn't even wait to be invited before she joined them.
Alicia noticed Susan, who was walking on her left side, was unusually excited and got curious, so she asked, "Did sothing good happen?"
"What?" Susan asked, confused.
"You seem very excited this morning."
"My parents are arriving this morning. I have missed my mother a lot."
"Oh. That's nice. Are you going to be leaving with them when they return?" Alicia asked curiously while hoping that Susan would stay longer.
Susan paused to think about it. When her parents had suggested she stay back to receive lessons here alongside Princess Amber, she had hated it. She wanted to go back ho and live her carefree life, where she always snuck out of their residence and got involved in mischief. But they had insisted she stay back. Who would have thought that these past few weeks have been so eventful? She had had more fun than she usually did at ho, and it was all thanks to Princess Amber. No wonder it hadn't occurred to her to return with her parents.
"I don't think I will be leaving with them. I have barely learnt anything with all the changes of instructors."
"Oh! I forgot about it. How have you been learning?" Alicia asked, almost slapping herself at how distracted she had been at everything else happening around her.
"The Queen is going to assign a new instructor to ," Susan inford them.
"You can join and Harold," Alicia suggested.
"Ah!" Susan exclaid and shook her head, "I'd rather not. Thank you." She said with a forced smile that made Tyra chuckle.
"I am curious..." Tyra said as they began to walk again.
"What happened between you and Prince Harold after you left last night? Did... he get mad?" Tyra asked Alicia in a low voice.
"You shouldn't be concerned with their private affairs. You should be concerned about yourself, don't you think?" Susan asked Tyra, making Alicia raise her brow, wondering what Susan was talking about.
"Haven't you reasoned that the queen is probably going to try to find you a partner?" Susan asked Tyra.
Surprised, Alicia looked at Tyra and noticed how pale she suddenly looked while balling her fists beside her tightly.
"Really?" Alicia asked Susan before facing Tyra again. Did it an Tyra would be leaving anyti soon?
"There is a possibility. But I am not hoping for that." Tyra said before turning and continuing walking.
Alicia wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. She just watched Tyra's back and sighed heavily before giving a hand signal to Susan for them to keep walking.
"After checking the ingredients. We should go watch them welco the guests. I found a very good spot." Susan suggested, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Alicia didn't have a problem with that, so she shrugged. It was best to see the faces of those she would be eting later, and also, she knew Harold was going to be there welcoming them.
*********
Harold almost yawned from boredom as he waited for the guests to arrive. It was quite funny that Ivan had been glaring daggers at him, probably pissed at being asked to welco the guests with him when he wasn't interested in it in the first place.
Alvin signalled with his chin to the top of the building and Harold looked up, where he was quick to see Alicia walking past a window. She was together with Susan and Tyra. Susan seed to be doing the talking while Alicia and Tyra were laughing, but Harold noticed there was sothing wrong with her. She didn't look very happy. Forgetting he was still mad at her, his eyes followed her until they stopped by a large open window. When he noticed they were about to look in his direction, Harold turned and kept his face ahead. At the sa ti, a carriage stopped in front of them.
The three girls watched Harold, Alvin, Ivan, Ivan's bodyguard, and the queen's personal bodyguard stand in line to receive the guests, but once the first carriage stopped, Ivan stepped forward to greet the guest, taking the shine away from Harold, who didn't even seem bothered.
"That is Sir Gregory. The most successful rchant in the moon kingdom." Tyra inford them as the man stepped down, adorned in a golden robe. "And those are his wife and his only child, Sir Lance."
Alicia could not help but notice the vague introduction of the wife. It was just as Harold had pointed out. Their only significance was giving birth to sons.
"Lance is so handso and is going to inherit his father's wealth. Too bad he has a nasty attitude." Susan said and Tyra nodded in agreent.
Alicia rembered seeing sothing about these people in the book, but she could not exactly rember what it was.
"If you want to be in the good books of the aristocrats, you have to make Sir Gregory be on your side." Tyra pointed this out to Alicia, who was observing the man and his family. The man and his son, in particular, both had this air of arrogance around them as they conversed with Ivan.
Alicia took note of the ugly eye they sent towards Harold's direction as they spoke with Ivan. Just great! They didn't like Harold already, so that was double work for her.
"Are you okay?" Susan asked Alicia curiously. She was unusually calm today.
"Yes. I am." Alicia assured her with a smile and looked ahead when she noticed a second carriage approaching as soon as Sir Gregory and his family were led away by the Queen's guard.
"Those are Princess Luciana's parents. Her father oversees the rural areas of the Moon Kingdom. So he is barely around." Tyra explained to Alicia when the couple stepped out of the carriage.
The three girls wouldn't deny the fact that they were eager to talk about what had happened last night, especially about Luciana. But since the king had said no one should ntion it, they all decided not to.
"They look kind." Alicia pointed out.
Susan scoffed imdiately. "Don't be too quick to judge anyone by their looks. He is far from that."
When they led them away, Susan looked at the next carriage approaching and bead, "I think that's my parents."
As soon as it stopped and her parents got down, she waved at them happily, but they didn't see her, so she excused herself from the girls and raced down to et them.
Susan t them halfway when they were being escorted by Alvin and imdiately ran into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly.
Tyra and Alicia watched them from upstairs, and while Alicia was smiling at the scene, Tyra looked sad, especially when she watched how Susan's parents were fawning over their daughter.
By this ti, the remaining ones were Ivan and Harold, waiting to welco the next guests since their bodyguards were leading the others to the chambers reserved for them and had yet to co back.
Two carriages stopped at the sa ti. An older man and a younger man got down from one, while an older woman and a teenage girl ca out of the other.
"That's the Minister of War, Sir Richard, and his son, Sir Harvey. And those two are his wife and daughter."
Alicia watched them curiously. This man seed to be the first person who didn't give Harold a stink eye but rather, willingly shook hands with him. But what caught her eyes was the teenage girl who was smiling shyly at Harold.
"Benedicta. She was Harold's chosen bride when they were younger."
As Alicia watched with a frown, Benedicta's older brother looked up at the window where the two of them stood. He squinted his eyes and stared in their direction with surprise.
"Why is he looking at us that way?" Alicia asked Tyra, who shook her head.
"I think... he is looking at you."
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