My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 57- Secrets and grievances

There were several adjectives I could attribute to princess Odette: condescending, whiny, most inconvenient, entitled.

Essentially, she was a hellish bully.

But whenever something pissed her off, she would never let it go. Odette was the most stubborn. Even more than me. It was the only thing that we shared, though neither she nor I would ever admit to such similarity.

Her trying to sabotage me had long been expected. Actually, it was more shocking that she hadn't tried to do it sooner. Not that I was terribly worried about it. Her ideas, as much as her, were childish at best and annoying at worst. They fell more into the prank category than caused any actual damage.

Some misplaced ink, some foul smell, some sugar exchanged for salt in our tea... SOMEONE messing with MY SWEETS.

It was nothing that was not soon fixed by the helpful government officials loyal to the duke.

It was more that I was FUCKING tired of her shit.

Tired of her coming every afternoon to take me for tea and away from my work. To have to listen to hours of her rambling about me, how I didn't fit in, how she would prevail, how the princes would fall so low if they continued to hang out with me... And more blah blah and blah from her I did not bother to listen to.

Her tirades like her pranks were too childish to bother me, and I loved to see her face twist whenever she realized her words meant nothing. But enough was enough. And today I was not feeling capable of restraining myself and no matter how many maids we caught helping with her pranks, they never stopped and they never snitched.

Hard to prove it was the princess when she uses them as dispensable shields. Even when we all knew who was behind it.

So I escaped, before she appeared for her session of torturous tea time. I felt sorry for the others. However, seeing I was the primary target, I knew Odette wouldn't stay for long.

I just needed a place to hide. The Royal Academy was the closest place besides the Utility buildings. But I couldn't go to either, on the first I had the risk of running into a fox, who for sure knew of his sister's plans to have tea with me and I couldn't take the chance of him pulling me into that dreadful afternoon agenda.

The second was even worse. There was no maid I could trust, since I didn't know which one worked for Odette. There was a list, but it had only names and it was too long for my short-lived attention span.

The solution was, without a question, anywhere but those two places. And Odette's palace, and Francis.... and the Empress...

For such a vast place, it sure lacked places to hide...

And before not, I realized had gotten lost... Because of course, I did...

I let my feet wander. My mind contemplating on how to commission a map of the Royal Palace without causing a commotion.

It would be extremely useful and also clearly forbidden.

I felt the little paws of princess Lola on my back and remembered she was still hidden under my dress. Since last time, she had never wandered off to avoid princess Odette. She had sulked the rest of the week after the duel when she found out about it. Now she was always close and... this time, she was my only help.

I took her in my hands, her fluffy body tickling my palms, and I smiled at the curious little spider. But before I could ask her to find a nice spot for us to hide, my eyes caught a familiar back.

Cedric.

I looked around trying to locate myself, wondering if I had fallen back close to the Royal Academia even though I was sure I had run the opposite way. I was near the facade of a building, white as fresh snow, laced with gold and intricate details that blazed with each ray of sun. It could be any of the several royal residencies since, up close, they all resembled each other with tall arcs and cold stones. And gold everywhere.