THE VILLAINESS

TEN

LATER THAT day, I realised it would be sensible to invest in studying anything I needed to be knowledgeable of. Despite having a long and exhausting morning of training, I could not waste any moment resting just yet. It was definitely a satisfying duty to be a major, I could feel it were something I truly desired. There were no records of any "princess-majors" in Alkebulan which made it all the more worthwhile.

In my spare time before this new life, I had read plentiful but I had never studied. Mukisa and Charlotte had the privilege of attending the best institutions for royals abroad, but my father excluded me.  A private tutor was out of the question and I was far too old for a governess. As much as I pushed myself to be capable of everything and anything; personal education concerning royal and imperial etiquette would prove useful. Knowledge is one of the greatest weapons after all.

The royal library was vast, it was almost a world of its own. It had pillars upon pillars that held dusty, thick ancient texts and books of all sorts. In fact, the first thing one would smell was the heavy scent of papyrus most writings were made of. The royal library was only reserved for those in royal lineage, so it was typically empty. Mukisa would rather die than stay even a second in a library. Whereas I found myself spending a full hour just passing through each row of shelves and picking out things that interested me. When I finally settled down into a corner of the library—with a delightful amount of books—I made a home out of a mahogany desk.

Before I knew it, another hour passed. I had spent hours reading a book about parenting and the needs of children. I learnt a few groundbreaking things, Mali was right. Children required figures in their lives. They needed someone to guide them, for instance, a mother and father. Children needed affection and protection—they needed other children to be socialised with too. And most importantly, they required education. This was a worrisome enlightenment. I had been deprived of all those things as a child. It seemed reasonable for me to crave providing such things to Kira. But was it even possible for me to be a ''mother". If anything the sheer thought of becoming someone's mother was very uncomfortable. It was never within my objectives. But the truth was, part of me wanted Kira to have a better life than the one fate originally gave him. A better life than I had. I took him under my wing, therefore I was responsible for him. It was wrong of me to abandon a child to train for hours amongst grown men in the name of knighthood.

I continued diving into more books, this time, maps. After several agonising hours, I had managed to memorise the geographical position of Hadvaria and Reina. Although I would have to study them consistently to retain my knowledge, I now knew the basics.

Hadvaria was a plain of ice, even in spring and summer, the frost would linger. That explained why all Hadvarians possessed pearly white skin. It is believed that the imperial family of Hadvaria are descendants of the goddess of snow and the north wind, Khione. Allegedly, that's the reason why the imperial family carry rare genetics that represent Khione. These include ivory eyes, white hair, and some sort of ancient power. Hadvaria has been the most influential nation for thousands of years, so it served as no surprise when they began conquering other nations to expand their empire. Renia was similar but quite the opposite to Hadvaria, their summers were fiery and their winters mild. Reinish people are most notable for their exceptional knowledge of medicinal herbs and treatments. Despite being a smaller nation than Hadvaria, their amount of exports are almost equal. Of course, there are plenty of other nearby nations such as Lao and Iganga too; but it made sense to prioritise my research on the ones I planned on going up against.