New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 57: PLANNING AND SCHEMING?

Chapter 57: PLANNING AND SCHEMING?

Alaric was confused,

’But Tia does not like meeting with the other aristocrat children.’

He knew his sister did not really like to gather with the aristocrat children, so that sentence was a lie. But, she was his sister and the cousin sister to Ivan, Beatrix and Serina, so saying that she wasn’t was also a lie.

Maybe his sister was starting to like meeting with the aristocrat children. That must be it! Alaric thought, feeling like he had suddenly figured it out. That meant this was the truth, and the one about her not being his sister was indeed the lie.

Aristia didn’t say anything, just smiling at their guesses. She was telling the truth, after all, she wasn’t really their sister and cousin. The last one was a lie. Heck, she didn’t enjoy meeting with those aristocrat brats at all.

"Which one is it?" Beatrix asked.

"You all... guessed correctly." She said with a small smile.

"It is my turn," said Serina. "I like to spend time with you all. I dislike animals. I am afraid of the dark."

Serina waited for them to guess.

"I think the lie is... I am afraid of the dark." Aristia and Alaric had the same thought.

"I dislike animals, that is the lie." Beatrix smiled and Ivan gave a nod of agreement. She knew her sister very much.

"That is correct. I do not dislike animals, especially the very adorable ones." Serina smiled.

"Then, it is my turn now..." Beatrix announced. The sleepover progressed satisfactorily, each of them enjoying the time spent together.

***

The sound of birds chirping happily was heard outside the window of one of the rooms in the royal palace.

The figures sprawled out on the floor gradually stirred awake. A bowl rolled on the ground when a hand came in contact with it, and a piece of sugared popcorn fell out.

Ivan, whose hand had hit the bowl, slowly opened his eyes. He blinked rapidly, still confused and a bit disoriented from just waking up on the ground.

"I’m not in my bed." He muttered and sat up, looking up at the blanket above. "Oh, Tia’s sleepover."

His hand felt numb and heavy. He looked beside him to see Alaric sleeping beside him and hugging his arm, then turned to see his sisters lying on different spots inside the blanket fort, in funny positions.

He gently freed Alaric’s hand that was gripping his arm and started to crawl out of the blanket fort, carefully avoiding the other empty bowl of chocolate popcorn lying upturned on the ground beside a glass still containing orange juice.

They had ordered the servants not to disturb them so no one had come to clean the place up even though the morning had arrived. He walked out to the door.

He opened the door just as a hand froze in front of him, slightly startling him.

"Good morning to Your Highness, the Crown Prince." Adeline retracted her hand that was just about to knock on the door.

Ivan put his finger on his lips, indicating for the other servants behind Adeline who were about to greet him to keep quiet. "They are still asleep."

Adeline nodded in understanding, reducing her voice to a whisper. "Pardon our mistake, Your Highness."

The sound of shuffling was heard and they all turned to the room to see a head peeking out of the blanket fort. Alaric covered his mouth and yawned, then crawled out of the fort. Following behind were Aristia, Serina and Beatrix.

"Good morning to Your Highnesses." Adeline bowed in greeting.

"Good morning to Your Highnesses." The maids chorused simultaneously.

The royal children nodded in reply to the greeting. The maids walked into the room and into the bathroom, each carrying buckets of water.

"Are we going to take a bath?" Alaric asked.

"Your Highness, please follow me to your chamber." Cassandra bowed.

"Why?" Alaric asked, staring at her pointedly.

"So that we can assist you in taking your bath, Your Highness." Cassandra explained.

"But, I can take my bath here." Alaric said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms, thinking that Aristia would be taking her bath there.

"The princesses will take their bath here, prince Alaric." Cassandra explained, referring to Beatrix and Serina.

"Then, I will also take my bath here." Alaric said stubbornly.

"Allie, you cannot bath here." Beatrix tried to reason.

"Why can’t I?" Alaric knitted his brows and turned to her. "I bath with Tia all the time." He tilted his head in confusion.

Aristia started coughing when she choked on air. Her eyes widened.

[Seriously, Al?!!] She thought in disbelief.

The rest of the people in the room also whipped their heads in their direction with widened eyes. Did they hear correctly?

"Is that true, Tia?" Serina asked with confusion and disbelief. A thought entered her mind and she smiled. "Tia, you can also bathe with I and Beatrix." Serina said and Beatrix nodded eagerly in agreement.

"I..." Aristia opened and closed her mouth, feeling speechless.

[Is this karma?] Now she knew how Wilson felt in the parlour the first time she came to the palace about three months ago.

"Then, it is settled." Serina didn’t even give her a chance to either agree or disagree. She linked their arms together and turned to the servants. "Tia will bath with us."

"Then, what about me?" Alaric pouted sadly, turning to follow along. He’d tell his father he didn’t want to stay in the palace any longer since they wouldn’t let him bath with her. They wanted his sister to themselves!

His eyes turned red and he sniffed, feeling wronged.

Aristia’s heart tugged at his expression.

"Uh...?" Serina didn’t know what to say.

Before she or Aristia could say another word, someone else spoke,

"Why don’t you come with me, Allie?" Ivan walked forward and held Alaric’s hand and started to lead him toward the door, but Alaric resisted, causing him to be surprised.

But he pressed on, "Did I tell you about how Shadowfax came to be?" That successfully got Alaric’s attention and all forms of resistance ceased at once.

[Seriously, Al?] Aristia was incredulous at how quickly his attention was shifted, but she also felt a bit relieved.

Ivan’s next words caught her attention.

"Shadowfax was born unexpectedly. I was in the stables when I felt a new energy. It was an unknown but strangely familiar aura. That was when Shadowfax manifested. He..."

Aristia couldn’t hear anything more as his voice trailed off as the door closed behind them after he and Alaric left the room.

After hearing his words, Aristia remembered that the daemons were not found like regular animals. They were manifested from the aura of their owners.

Now it was only the girls in the room.

"Your highnesses, the bath is ready." A maid announced when she came out of the bathroom.

"Good," Serina said. "Let’s go." She turned to Aristia and Beatrix.

Aristia who was still mulling over the information Ivan had divulged snapped out of her thoughts.

As Serina led her to the bathroom, she kept chanting in her head, [They are just children, I’m in the body of a child, they are my sisters.]

It didn’t take as much effort to convince herself as it did with Alaric because they were girls.

[Enjoy your second chance at childhood. You have the chance to spend time with fellow children and make real friends.] She reminded herself. She was getting used to this.

As usual, Adeline was the only maid to help her.

"Why is Adeline the only one bathing you?" Serina asked curiously as a maid washed her hair and another washed her feet.

"I just like it that way. I prefer to be bathed by Adeline alone," Aristia replied with a shrug, when she just wanted to say,

’Girl, I only need one hand on my body.’

[Besides, why do you need all these people just to take a bath?] She wondered incredulously.

Apart from their personal maids, Beatrix and Serina each had about two other maids attending to her, making it three people bathing each of them.

Hearing Aristia’s words, Adeline felt a bit of pride. She was the only one Aristia allowed to help her.

After they were done with their bath, Aristia, Beatrix and Serina left the bathroom and returned to the bedroom where the maids assisted them in getting dressed.

"We can go to the square to see the festival." Aristia suggested to her cousins as Adeline gently brushed her hair.

Beatrix had expressed interest in the coming festival being held by the commoners in the square in celebration of the upcoming anniversary of their kingdom.

"I am not quite sure that Papa will permit us to do so," Beatrix replied skeptically, shaking her head.

"Then we can disguise ourselves and sneak out." Aristia lowered her voice to a whisper. "I and Owen usually disguise ourselves as commoners when we want to conduct a secret check on the progress of the restaurant."

Adeline’s hand on her hair didn’t stop for a second, but Aristia felt the comb almost miss her hair by just a breadth.

Both Beatrix and Serina’s eyes lit up with interest.

"You’re right, we can." Serina said, but then she stopped. "But won’t anyone notice that we are not in the Palace?"

"The real question is: do you want to attend the festival or not?" Aristia asked.

The twins exchanged glances, then looked back at her and nodded firmly. "We do."

"Then, do not worry," Aristia smirked, "I will take care of that."

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