New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 123: TO MAKE A SWEET ANNIVERSARY

Chapter 123: TO MAKE A SWEET ANNIVERSARY

After dinner, the servants showed them to the room they would be staying in, which Aristia found out were their own rooms in the Viscount Hemsworth Estate.

The children all gathered in one room as the adults went to the drawing room for some evening tea before retiring to their beds.

They were in Lauren’s room in the Hemsworth Estate. Liam, Lauren, Lilith and Alaric lay on the bed. The room was painted pink and red, matching Lauren’s hair and eye colour.

"How do great grandmother and great grandfather usually celebrate their anniversary?" Aristia asked from her position on the chaise lounge in the middle of the room. She lay lazily on her stomach.

Lauren answered even though she thought it was strange that Aristia was asking this. Shouldn’t she know? They did this every year.

"They have a celebratory dinner with the family on the day of the anniversary." She explained.

[Just that?] Aristia thought incredulously. She understood that different people had their own way of doing things. Maybe they enjoyed spending time with the family?

[But even so. It should be sweet and romanti... Blegh! What am I thinking? I can’t believe I’m saying this but I can remember how my parents back on Earth celebrate their anniversary.]

She turned to her cousins. "I have an idea to give great grandmother and great grandfather the best anniversary yet."

Liam and Lauren paused at her words and then leaned forward, looking both curious and interested.

"Really?" Liam asked, then his eyebrows knitted in confusion, "How?"

"It’s like this..." Aristia stood up from the chaise lounge, approached them and whispered. Alaric and Lilith also listened curiously.

"Gasp. That sounds very good." Lauren whispered.

"Thank you. If anyone has any ideas on what we can do, please tell." Aristia informed.

"I think I do." Lauren smiled.

"Then, let’s hear it." Liam nodded.

They listened as Lauren explained what she had in mind. It was a suggestion. "What if we prepare gifts for them? But we’d have to leave the Estate."

"Leave that to me." Aristia said thoughtfully. "Do you all understand your tasks?" Aristia asked.

"Yes, we do." Her cousins and sibling chorused.

"Good. Then, our plan is in motion. Well, from tomorrow." Aristia said. She laid on the bed facing the ceiling and listened to Alaric and Lilith who were now playing.

After discussing about the ongoing plan for the anniversary surprise, they all left Lauren’s room and returned to their individual rooms after wishing each other a good night.

Aristia opened the door to her room.

[Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Adeline ever since we arrived here. She should be taking a rest now.] Aristia thought.

Owen hadn’t come with them as he was handling The Vanilla Courtyard’s matters. Aristia wondered what Adeline was doing. She didn’t need her now, she just thought of her.

She entered into the room and closed the door behind her. It was warm as the fireplace was lit. The room was painted in purple and grey just like her room. The design was different from that of her room in her father’s mansion, but it was also impressive. A thought struck her;

[What if I also have a room in the Anton Estate and that is also grey and purple in colour? Just how many rooms do I have?]

While they were in Lauren’s room, she had noticed that the pink and red colour of the room matched the latter’s hair and eyes. She had no doubt it would be the same for all of the children present.

She laid on the bed and sighed while looking at the mist on the window due to the cold air. She covered herself with the thick duvet and continued to stare out of the window.

"Come to think of it," she wondered aloud, "I wonder how Marchioness Charlotte is doing. Wade too."

Marchioness Charlotte had taken her advice and started to attend tea parties and socialize instead of cooping herself up in the Oswalt mansion.

[It would have done her no good sitting alone at home all day and doing nothing but wallow in her misery. It would only make her feel more miserable.] Aristia thought.

Even though the Marchioness only attended tea parties hosted by her mother, her aunts Rowaine and Alistair, and their friends; Marchioness Eldridge and Marchioness Kiran. She was beginning to be welcomed into their circle as she would be invited to their private tea parties with just the Madams as guests.

It seemed Charlotte too was becoming more comfortable around them.

The fireplace crackled with warmth and its sound was like a lullaby, gradually lulling her to sleep. In just mere minutes, she dozed off.

The next morning when she woke up, she discovered that someone had come by to add some wood to the fire as the fireplace was still lit.

[Must be Adeline.]

"Mm. Feels good to feel warm." She stretched on the bed and pulled the blanket away from her body.

The door opened after a knock and just as she had expected, Adeline walked in.

"Good morning, princess." Adeline greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, Linny." Aristia greeted back, then got down from the bed and headed to the bathroom.

After a bath, the family gathered at the dinner table for breakfast. The family dispersed after breakfast and went to carry out their various activities.

Aristia and her cousins, Liam and Lauren left the Estate and headed to the market.

"Why are we going to the market?" Lauren asked, confused. Aristia had said they were going to get things needed for the anniversary plan. She didn’t know why they chose the market instead of a store.

"We need to buy baking ingredients." Aristia replied simply.

"Baking ingredients? What for?" Lauren asked again.

"To bake, of course."

Before anyone could ask more, the carriage stopped at the marketplace and they got down and the carriage moved away. Aristia was not surprised that Lucas was the Coachman.

She looked around the market. The marketplace was rowdy and there was a lot of people moving about, buying and selling.

"Out of the way!" A man pushing a wagon through the snow yelled. They quickly moved away. He glared at them as he walked past.

Some children ran through the crowd, their feet digging in the snowy ground. "Wait for me!" One of them yelled, trying to keep up with his friends. They almost bumped into Liam as they ran past.

"This..." Lauren couldn’t keep her mouth closed.

This was her first time in a marketplace. She could only look at the crowd from the carriage on the times she headed out in the Capital, but to be in the midst of the hustle and bustle was a whole different feeling.

So much rowdiness. It was different from the prim and proper way of the nobles, and aristocrats as a whole.

"Stay close," Aristia’s voice snapped them out of their thoughts. They turned to her. "You’ve seen what happens and the crowd here. You could get lost easily or pushed about."

Her cousins nodded and stuck close to her. Even though they couldn’t quite understand why their cousin who was younger than or the same age as them seemed so experienced, she was the only one among them who knew what she was doing. They subconsciously listened to her.

Aristia didn’t need to purchase flour and some other ingredients as they already had it in the Estate. She just had to purchase some specific ingredients needed for the things she wanted to make.

Back at the mansion, they organized the materials needed for the surprise. Or it would be better to say that the servants organized it under Aristia’s supervision.

***

The next day.

While they were having breakfast, Aristia exchanged subtle glances with Lauren.

Lauren nodded and discreetly tapped Lilith who sat beside her, passing on the signal to her younger sister.

Little Lilith understood. She turned excitedly to their great grandmother.

Aristia smiled and exchanged a knowing look with Lauren and Liam, who both nodded in silent agreement. The plan had now been set in motion.

"Great grandma, can you please paint a painting for me?" Lilith asked, her eyes shining with anticipation.

Roxanne was known for her talent in painting in her younger years. She had coincidentally promised Lilith that she would paint a new painting in her presence and Lilith had brought it up today to aid their plan.

Roxanne had a conflicted look on her face. The painting could take a long time. Painting could consume her for hours, and with the anniversary dinner looming, time was precious.

It was a known fact that once she started to paint, she could stay in the art room for long hours and the anniversary dinner was in the evening. But still, she couldn’t disagree because she had promised her great grandchild and she couldn’t refuse her great grandchild’s earnest request.

’Well, I should be done before the evening. There should still be enough time left.’ Her brows relaxed at the thought and she sighed.

"Alright, Lily. Perhaps sometime after breakfast." Roxanne finally relented with a warm smile.

Lilith beamed innocently as she glanced at Aristia and then at Lauren.

Aristia gave her a thumbs up from under the table.

Alaric then turned to Zender. "Great grandpa, let us watch great grandma paint together. Maybe great grandma can paint us."

He sounded especially cute making such a request, just like Lilith. Sender and Roxanne couldn’t resist!

"Hmm..." Zender pretended to think. Then, he laughed. "Alright."

It wasn’t frequent that his youngest great-grandson made requests. He also wanted to spend time with his great-grandchildren whom he didn’t see often, and his wife.

[That’s my brother!] Aristia thought proudly.

"Aren’t you going to join us?" Zender inquired, addressing the other great grandchildren who had made no attempt to voice their interest.