The Royal Deal

Chapter 3 - First Mistake

'What happened to me? Where am I'

She was desperately trying to sort things out in her head and to get a grip on her emotions when a girl, 'Yellie', placed her hand on her bent head.

Heeyeon looked up at her and saw genuine concern in her eyes. 'Count Lohikin? Yellie? Attend....to me?

She couldn't make sense of what the woman was trying to tell her; she tried to recall the names of the characters in the novel that she had been reading. 'But there was nobody called Lohikin or Yellie.'

'Is this not a novel? Then... where am I?'

Even as she frantically moved her head sideways to look at her surroundings, trying to figure out if they seemed even vaguely familiar, the maid Yellie, managed to steadily comb her tangled hair and tie them neatly with a navy-coloured ribbon.

As she helped her into a light blue chiffon dress, it occurred to Heeyeon that Yellie must have prepared the clothes, the night before. The dress had an off-shoulder neckline, decorated with lace and looked beautiful.

Yellie then escorted a bewildered Heeyeon out of the bedroom, into the hallway of the mansion. Her mistress looked lost-Heeyeon was taken aback by the decor; she had never seen anything so exquisite before.

Pieces of decorations that hinted at the mansion's antiquity. Adding to that, hallways were made more enchanting by evenly spaced out glass windows creating patterns on the carpet as the sun shined brightly through them.

Outside the window, she saw spring in full bloom as the branches of large trees swayed lightly in the wind, in a neat and well-kept garden. Although she was witnessing this scene in front of her for the first time, she could have sworn that it felt familiar to her.

Her head moved from one side to the other, taking in the details of her surroundings as she followed Yellie into the dining hall.

Just as they were approaching the dining hall, Yellie mentioned that 'Young master Matin and Young Miss Merrild had had a fight this morning. So, the Countess is not in a good mood; best that you be careful today and do nothing to aggravate her temper.'

She nodded, suddenly feeling anxiety creep up her back.

Upon entering the dining hall, she instantly recognized Count Lohikin, as the middle aged man and a lady seated next to him as the Countess; she looked younger than the him and had hair the same color she had seen, a few minutes ago on herself in the mirror.

Next to the two, were a girl and a boy younger than herself, presumably Merrild and Matin, who awaited their turns to greet the Count and Countess with a kiss on the cheek.

Both of them looked up at her arrival; Merrild smiled in greeting, genuinely happy to see her while Matin grinned mischievously, at her. At once, she could tell he was a naughty boy.

'Count Lohikin must have two daughters and one son; I must be the eldest.'

The Count called out to her as she stood at the door, staring blankly at them.

"If you're here, come in and sit down. Are you going to keep standing there?" The count's tone of voice was both gentle and firm.

"Ah...! Yes." She said, flustered.

As she took a seat consciously, the maids standing by, came to life and started to serve delicious-looking food.

"Amethyst. I can't believe you overslept. You're already twenty years old... As a mother, I worry that you will continue doing so even when you are married."

'So, my name must be Amethyst. But if I am twenty now... Oh my god! I'm sixteen years younger now?! Yaayy!'

She hadn't dared to ask Yellie her name and age; it would be even more suspicious since she kept saying Amethyst was being odd today... What a relief I found out naturally!

"Yes ma'am. I will be more careful in the future." She replied more cheerfully than she had intended.

"Hmm? How unlike you, to use honorifics. Are you still mad about what happened yesterday?"

'Oh no..., mistake no. 1!'

Amethyst did some quick thinking to cover her slip and while speaking, prayed that she sounded authentic and believable.

"Ah....! Not really....I mean I'm older now.....so I just thought I should be more careful with my words...."

That's when she decided to remain silent as much as possible. 'Remember, speak only when spoken to. No more than required.' She chanted in her head.

Carefully lifting the spoon, she brought the clear creamy soup to her lips, hoping not to attract any more attention.

The warm soup was delicious! It suddenly reminded her of how hungry she was, and she quickly spooned some more.

"Tsk tsk. Since we are on the topic. You're already twenty years old and there's the thing we talked about the other day." Count Lohikin broke the silence and Heeyeon only looked at her with piqued interest. It's about time we start looking for your partner.

"I heard that the second son of Marquis Crenson's son recently finished his studies in the academy. I'm not sure if you are aware but Marquis Crenson's son is skilled in his swordsmanship and has good looks as well. We have decided to set a date soon, you should know...start getting ready..,"

"No!" A horrified expression and the word had automatically burst out of her mouth, even before Count Lohikin could finish his sentence.