Road of the Heavenly Light

13-2: Seashell

Sigrid woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed. She took off her sleeping mask and looked around the comfortable room she had been given to use for her time at Royale High. The beds were certainly a lot better than any inn could ever hope to offer, which was to be expected of the most prestigious school on the continent. She rose from her bed with a loud yawn and began rummaging through her luggage to find her toiletries. Instead, she took out the seashell she had with her. It was white with shades of pink and orange on the inside. A shell beautiful on the outside and inside, just like her, she had once been told. Now it only caused her pain, as it was a reminder that she could never be happy. That did not stop her from always bringing it with her, though. She could not bear to part with it.

Sigrid quietly departed from her bedroom, as Christian and Adrian were still sleeping, and made her way into the bathroom, where she got herself ready for the day. When she finished, she saw that she still had some time left until breakfast began, so she decided to take a walk in the school gardens. They were quite lovely, though nowhere near as unique as the ones found in Aurion. It was also a lot colder in Divinia, but it was nothing her beauty would not survive. After passing by a small pond, she came across Glen, who was doing a morning run.
"Felix told me you managed to secure a dorm," he commented.
"No one can resist my skills of persuasion," Sigrid replied with a charming smile.
"It's quite unusual to see you without Christian and Adrian."
She did not like the implication that she was an odd sight to behold in her own right, but she remembered that Glen did not think very highly of her, so that could not be a common view of her.
"I wanted to go for a walk, and they were still sleeping," she nonchalantly commented.
"That sounds about right. I imagine having to fight over your attention has to be very tiring."
Glen left her no room to respond, already preparing to run away again, but there was one question Sigrid still needed an answer to first.
"Do you know Princess Audrey well?"
"I would stay far away from her. She is a notorious gossip who spreads rumors like wildfire and tries to uncover every secret she can find. How she is going to have to rule a country one day is beyond me."
"Thank you for the warning," Sigrid said, allowing Glen to leave.
Apparently Audrey was even worse than she suspected, and that did not bode well for her.

Breakfast proved to be another taste of the menace that was Audrey. While Sigrid was busy discussing new competition ideas with Christian and Adrian, she caught Audrey staring intently at her whenever the princess thought she wasn't looking. Perhaps being the mysterious visitors staying over was not the best role to play at this school, as it made them easy targets of intrigue and curiosity. Sigrid narrowly avoided making eye contact with Audrey and looked around the cafeteria instead. She saw many people she recognized as royalty, others as people she had her debutante ball with in Falmar a few months ago, and many new faces. It was quite unfortunate that her parents had never considered sending her to Royale High, but at least she could still indulge in the revels of having two attractive young men vying for her hand in marriage.

After finishing her breakfast, Sigrid gracefully made her way to the exit, her admirers trailing behind her from a slight distance. She was about to be relieved from Audrey's gaze when she saw her coming her way from the corner of her eye. Sigrid pretended not to notice, confidently striding on, but the princess was faster and passed by her. She felt a note being slipped into her pocket, and upon reading it, she saw a message instructing her to come to dorm 5 after lessons were over without her suitors. Sigrid let out an audible sigh. Just what kind of terrible mess had she gotten herself into?

Sigrid felt her heartbeat increasing as she knocked on the door of dorm 5, hoping desperately that this was not some sort of cruel prank. She had not seen Audrey all day, as she had gone with her admirers into Earth for some shopping while also trying to see which of the two could carry the most bags for her. Adrian ended up winning, putting him one point ahead of Christian in the race. She had told them that she was going to meet up with some lady friends in order to be able to go to the dorm alone. A girl with short red hair and green eyes who was certainly not Audrey opened the door, looking extremely confused.
"What are you doing here?" she asked bluntly.
Sigrid took the note from her pocket and showed it to the girl.
"Princess Audrey gave me this."
The girl immediately turned around, leaving the door open for her.
"Audrey, the new girl is here!" she shouted while Sigrid followed her into the dorm.
Audrey quickly emerged from her room with a smile on her face when she saw Sigrid.
"I'm glad you decided to come."
"Look, if you wanted me here to turn me into the latest juicy gossip story for you to spread, you should have chosen someone more naive to target," Sigrid bluntly stated.
Audrey looked quite offended by her words.
"I don't know who you have been talking to, but I am not like that at all. I would never spread any secrets."
The girl loudly scoffed as she walked into her bedroom.
"Ha! Since when?"

"What do you want from me?" Sigrid asked.
"I'm only curious to know which of the two noble heirs you're going to choose."
Sigrid had no desire to talk about this again, and Audrey's curiosity about the topic was quite frustrating.
"Who says I have to marry either of them?" Sigrid angrily said.
"I knew it!" Audrey exclaimed loudly, "I knew you were just leading them on. And now I want to know why you would let two men fight over your hand when you don't intend to choose either of them."
Sigrid realized her mistake too late. It would be hard to convince Audrey of anything else now.
"I didn't mean it that way, you're twisting my words," she tried to explain.
"No, you're lying, and not just to me, but to those two men too."
"Then I'll tell you a bit of truth. You're a nosy and spoiled little princess who doesn't care about other people's feelings at all, only that she's entertained and the center of attention!" Sigrid shouted.
Audrey seemed undeterred by her insults.
"Well, that would make two of us, since you're a manipulator taking advantage of two young men and their feelings for you."
"Don't be ridiculous, you know nothing about my life and all the difficulties I've had to face!"
And with those words spoken, Sigrid stormed out of the dorm. She ran straight back to her own dorm, past her admirers, and locked herself in her bedroom. Christian and Adrian tried talking to her, but she did not respond. She was furious. With Audrey, with the world, and with herself.