[Dedicated to squidgirl458, my newest follower. ]

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Sunday: Picnic with Royalty

The air hanging over us all was shrouded in mystery next morning. Why wouldn't it be? My correct assumption was that word had spread about the attack last night.

Madam Alicia didn't survive her knife wounds. Thoroughly grieved, I asked Symphony to dress me up in a black gown.

Despite the horrified gasps filling the air at my entry into the Common Room, I calmly position myself on a sofa beside Harriet.

"I heard what happened." She begins, fiddling with the sleeves of her red gown, although we had been warned not to do that during our lessons on royalty.

"It's quite a sad news but I'm glad to have survived." I reply her.

"Do you think they'd call off the Choosing?" Oakley sides into our conversation, her piercing blue eyes flying from Harriet to me and back.

"It would be wise to do that at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if my parents come to take me home." Stella inserts, running a shaky finger in lines down her skirt.

"Parents? I thought your parents died."

Can someone tell me what to do to keep this girl away from me?

Our eyes rise to meet the sinister smile on Theresa's face which is heavily coated in make-up.

"They did. Do you want to join them?" Stella queries, cocking her head to the side as if daring Theresa to say more.

A slight frown mars Theresa's seemingly perfect face but then she quickly replaces it with a smirk. "Not at all. I was just thinking maybe you should have died with them in that fire. I hear your new family has been running into financial inadequacies here and there."

The venom directed at Stella annoys me, and I rise to defend her. "Okay bitch, I'm going to ignore the fact that one of your eyebrows is slightly higher than the other, but I'd ask you to leave immediately, you're not welcome here."

"And you are?" She laughs, throwing her head back.

Oh, how badly I want to slap her. If we were on the streets of Eaton, I would have left her face unrecognisable. But here...

"Wherever you go, trouble happens. See what happened last night. Madam Alicia died because of you."

What part did I play in all that?

Fuming, I step in close to her. "You delusional rat. I warn you to stay far away from me or I promise, those lips of yours won't function for week."

Shoving off the stares coming from other girls, I march out through the doors.

Isaiah follows briskly beside me. "Are you okay?"

"Can you escort me to somewhere quiet?"

I need to cool off before I cause some damage.

Wordless, Isaiah leads me.

Having nothing to do while the girls went on a picnic with their Prince, I changed into some casual clothes and snuck to the kitchen.

Already, the heat from the sun had fueled a pool of sweat on my forehead.

Everyone seems to be suffering from the same fate. Some even worse.

Ruth spots me immediately I walk in while the others intentionally overlook my presence, moving hastily around with plates, pots, pans or food. She makes me try several of the new dishes until my stomach presses against my gown.

"Thank you." I tell here while we sit on a
bench inside the kitchen.

The Master Chef eyes us from a distance but does not comment about Ruth's inactivity.

Ruth tells me so many stories about her self, the Palace and a few historical facts.

From the kitchen, I ventured into the library, the same one where I had encountered Alek.

No one was inside, and I gladly settled into the warm embrace of the books.

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Going back to the real world, I learnt we had a new Head for the girls.

Lady Joanne as everyone fondly called her. She was one of the Heads during King Jeffrey's Choosing, and Madame Alicia's assistant.

Now that she was dead...

Dinner passes another, consisting mostly of hushed conversations and renderings of the picnic today. The picnic which I skipped.

Harriet tells me all about it and Stella focuses more on Theresa's attempt at hijacking the Prince all to herself.

Other subject matters fly in, particularly about our ranking list. Theresa had overtaken my position as first, while I dropped to tenth.

At the end of two weeks, the Prince will pick the top five and that bothered me a lot.

My carelessness and nonchalance has cost me a lot, including my position at the top.

Missing on the picnic today, also subtracted marks from me.

I didn't realise how closely monitored we are. No wonder Theresa took to annoying me every single time.

Furious, I send a malicious glare at Theresa who's swimming in the attention of most of the girls seated at our table.

They seem to be competing for her good inside just in case she becomes queen and they didn't which is ridiculous.

Sensing my eyes on her, Theresa glances my way and sends a little wink across before resuming her conversations.

The remains of my mood was scaterred when Finnegan strode in and insisted on escorting Theresa for a walk in the Royal gardens.

That I thought sleeping in his bedroom meant anything.

"Are you okay?" Harriet nudges me.

My vision moves back into focus, realising it's just us seated at the table now.

"Yes." I stare at the mutilated olives on my plate.

It's unlike me to waste any bit of food probably because we had less than enough to eat at home.

However, this time, my appetite disappeared into some distant place.

Ripping of the napkin perched on my skirt, I harshly leave my seat and take quick steps to the entrance of the dining room.

Harriet manages to keep up but she utters no words.

That's until Isaiah speaks up.

"The Queen wants to have a word with you, Lady Alanna."

"What?" Harriet chokes out in surprise.

Struggling to remain calm, I nod. "Lead the way."

Isaiah after sparing Harriet a tender glance, escorts me to our destination.

The Queen's Waiting Room

What could she possibly want to talk about with me?

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What are your fair guesses?

How are you guys?

I'm hearing about the unsual heat on the news lately and solar flares too.

I can't think of the discomfort quite a number of people are facing right now 😞

We were warned about the climate changes and too bad it's worsening at a time when we're still recovering from the Covid.

I hope our earth gets better soon.

Stay safe guys.