New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 157: CHARLOTTE & GEORGE (6)

Chapter 157: CHARLOTTE & GEORGE (6)

When morning came the next day, the servants of the Oswalt household were surprised.

The madam was joining the master and young master for breakfast at the dining table after a long time.

George was pleasantly surprised. Even though she sat at the seat furthest away from him, at least she was seating at the table.

Charlotte was mostly silent during the meal. It was just George and Wade doing most of the talking. George was asking Wade about his studies and how he felt about the added classes.

Charlotte, as the madam of the household, was supposed to be in charge of overseeing the child’s classes along with the household management. However, the head maid had been tasked to oversee the child’s education instead for reasons everyone knew.

After breakfast, George left immediately as he was heading to the Imperial Palace for some official duty.

"Young Master Wade, a letter from her highness, the third princess." The butler handed an envelope to Wade shortly after he was done with breakfast.

Wade visibly brightened up when he heard that the letter was from Aristia. He collected the envelope and cut it open almost effortlessly.

"An invitation to the Grand Duke’s mansion for a ’chill session slash hangout’?" He mumbled with question marks over his head. He didn’t understand what that meant, but he was excited nonetheless.

His eyes landed on the last sentence at the bottom of the letter.

"P.S; come with a set of your casual clothes." His brows furrowed, wondering why he needed to take another set of clothes.

Charlotte who was standing behind him read the contents of the letter clearly. She shook her head in amusement. Even when writing a letter, you could feel how languid the princess was.

Only by the tone and style of writing, even without the seal showing who it was from, she would have believed it if she had been told it was from the third princess even though she hadn’t received any letters from her.

She turned to the butler. "Prepare the young master for his meeting with her highness." With those parting words, she left the mansion for a walk in the garden.

Wade got dressed with the help of the head maid and his personal maid. He sat in the carriage heading to the Grand Duke’s Mansion an hour later.

He kept lamenting in his heart about why the carriage was so slow, when in fact, the carriage was moving at normal speed.

The carriage finally arrived at the Grand Duke’s Mansion much to Wade’s relief. He got down from the carriage almost immediately it stopped.

He held the neatly folded bundle of clothes in his hand and followed the servant who would lead him to wherever the chill session and hangout would be held.

The servant bowed and left, not moving forward but gesturing to Wade to continue.

Wade nodded at him and headed further through the path the servant had asked him to.

As he walked along the pathway surrounded by plants and flowers, he stopped on a large clearing, revealing a gathering of children, all with smiles on their faces. There were about twelve children.

Wade scanned the faces of the people present. All the children from the Anton family were present, so was those from the Eldridge and Kiran. Even the royal prince and princesses were present.

They were engaged in various activities in little groups.

"Wade is here." Nova was the first to notice him, looking up from a table she was standing in front of. Wade could tell what she was doing.

"Finally," he heard Aristia say. "I had been waiting for you for so long that I thought you wouldn’t come." She was clearly exaggerating.

"Don’t just stand there staring, come over." Aristia waved.

Wade made his way toward her, still holding the wrapped bundle of clothes.

Aristia’s gaze moved downwards, noticing the bundle. She smiled. "Go change."

Wade just stared at her with a dumb look.

Aristia rolled her eyes. "Seriously, just staring at me like that." She pointed to a dressing screen for changing clothes. "There. Change into your casual wear over there."

Wade nodded his head, still a little confused as he went to stand behind the dressing screen to change his clothes.

Aristia headed to the middle of the clearing. A large blanket was spread on the ground and pillows were also on top of it.

Alaric was sitting down surrounded by Lilith Anton and Juno Kiran, reading aloud from his storybook.

[Thank God there are no ants or insects. I think.] She thought, scanning the arrangement. She had been planning this gathering for a long time.

She swept her gaze in the direction of Ivan and Liam and saw that they were engulfed in a game of chess, looking deeply concentrated. Clearly, none of them wanted to lose.

Beatrix and Serina were on the other side with Paige Kiran, and Lauren, Alicia and Nova were drawing and painting on paper on the table.

Aristia approached them. Her gaze was attracted to Nova Kiran’s sketch.

[Hmm. What’s she doodling?] She rubbed her chin and contemplated. She snapped her fingers, [Ah! I got it.]

"Your ball is pretty, Nova." She praised, "but it’s a little rough around the corners."

Nova looked at her as if she had suddenly grown two heads. "It’s a flower." She stated.

Aristia, "..."

Alicia and Lauren stifled their laughter.

"I have changed my clothes." Wade approached at that moment, turning their attention to him.

Everyone gathered was dressed in casual wear. Even though it was called that, the clothes still were expensive. It was just simpler than the regular clothes worn during formal events.

"Good." Aristia nodded. "We were just about to engage in other activities."

Aristia stood beside the blanket spread out on the ground in the middle of the clearing.

"Alright everyone, gather around! We’re about to start our scavenger hunt." She announced.

"Scavenger hunt? What’s that?" Alicia asked.

The others were also curious about what she was talking about.

She began her explanation. "Scavenger hunt is a fun game where participants get a list of specific items to find in the garden. You have to hunt for them without buying anything. Usually, participants work in small teams or groups, and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll cast lots to determine which group each person will be in."

Following Aristia’s words, Adeline came forward.

The children drew lots. Ivan and Alaric, Lauren and Paige, Liam and Serina, Beatrix and Juno, Nova and Lilith, and Aristia, Wade and Alicia.

"What kind of things will we find?" Nova asked curiously.

"I was just about to get to that," Aristia handed each group a list of items to find, while saying. "These are the lists of items you have to find. There are hidden hints to help you find the items. The group that finds the most items on their list within the time limit will be declared the winner. There will be a prize for the winning group."

Everyone looked down at their lists.

The items to find in the Scavenger Hunt were:

- Flowers

- Small toys

- Feathers

- Shells

- Note with symbols

- Ribbons

- Beads

- Butterfly

Aristia explained further as they skimmed through their lists. "Things like shells, flowers, small toys hidden around. Simple, right?"

Ivan asked, "When do we start?"

Aristia patted her hands. "Right now! Each group should work together to search the garden for their assigned items. You must return to the designated meeting spot with the items you found within the specified time, so bring back everything you find to the meeting spot in, let’s say, half an hour." She looked at Adeline, gesturing as she held the pocket watch in her hand, ready to monitor the time.

Aristia straightened up, "Alright, everyone scatter and search! And remember, have fun!" She said in a singsong voice. "Got it? Then let’s do this!"

Everyone scattered around the garden, still together as a group.

Aristia and her group headed into the garden near shrubs and bushes in search of the first item on the list; a flower.

"I think we found a clue. It says, I’m colorful and bright, a beauty in the light. Same as all, but different as well. Find me where petals dance in the breeze, where bees and butterflies love to tease." Wade picked up the note hidden between some flowers in a flower patch.

"This is a riddle for the flower. Come on." Aristia raised her brows. Owen was really good at this. He was the one to organize the hunt when she told him about it. She herself, had no idea about where the items were hidden so the game remained fair.

They thought carefully about the riddle. "Same as all, but different as well?" Alicia furrowed her brows.

"Let’s search carefully." Aristia said.

In Paige and Lauren’s group,

"What’s this?" Paige picked up a piece of paper from under some twigs on the ground. She turned it over to see the words written on it. "With wings of gold and blue, fluttering where flowers grew."

Lauren gasped, causing Paige to look at her in surprise, wondering what was wrong.

"This is a clue." Lauren brought out her list. She pointed at the word butterfly and explained, "for finding the butterfly."

Hearing that, Paige beamed. "So now, we have more chances to find it."