Under the Roses

Chapter 12

A/N: Feedback please?

I didn't see Alyn at all the next day, surprisingly. For someone who was so involved in the palace, I figured I would run into him at least once. But I had other things to occupy my mind— namely the literary salon tomorrow. Tea would be present, as well as multiple noblewomen that I needed to impress so they wouldn't go back home and report me to their husbands for being an unsuitable princess and an appalling server-of-tea. I already had Louis lurking in the shadows waiting for me to mess up on my dance routines, and I didn't need a slew of barons and dukes coming after me.

Okay maybe the part about Louis was partially untrue, but like many current things, I didn't know how to interpret recent interactions. First the unexpected lecture from Louis after the banquet in which he shows genuine concern for me, then the earrings from Alyn— were they just random flukes in their behavior, or was it all sincere? Trying to figure out their motivations and deciphering their words required even more brainpower, and I didn't have time to apply new developments to their profiles since the potential army of barons and dukes was a more imminent threat.

With all the emphasis on this literary salon, I wondered why Giles even bothered stressing me out about the coronation ceremony and the banquet if a room of women was more intimidating. In preparation for an afternoon of tea, gossip, and tests over my knowledge of various matters, I was slated for three total hours in Giles' study, then a lunch break before I was thrown into another four hours in Leo's office. Because I was so eager to dedicate an entire day to remembering Wysterian history and delivering actual opinions in the most inoffensive manner. Fun.

However, I knew I really didn't have room to complain. Compared to all the bureaucrats, my workload was probably light, and I just hadn't adjusted yet. It was definitely a big leap going from tutoring children and teaching them instruments to memorizing intricate aspects of government and simultaneously attempting to achieve such things, but I was making it work. At this point, I felt that my approach to this whole thing was adequately summed up in "Do First and Learn Later".

But after all this time, my words to myself and to the king were still not lost. I wanted to prove myself to everyone, and I needed to show that being a commoner doesn't influence with my abilities. Just because I wasn't raised in the palace doesn't mean I can't compose and comprehend proclamations.

Besides, if I voiced my concerns to Giles, he'd probably wonder if I possessed any self-esteem at all, while Leo would just keep telling me to stop worrying and that I was fine. I knew he meant well, and of course, I was constantly in need when it came to the confidence-boosting department, but I was starting to wonder if he was some kind of parrot. Or at least, maybe a part-time parrot. I smiled to myself at the thought of him just throwing back his chair in the middle of a pointless meeting and transforming into a red macaw.

Kind of like the one that just flew inside.

I meant to scream, but a strangled sort of sound came out instead, while Leo merely glanced up from his book, his feet still up the desk, and watched it glide onto the perch in the corner that I'd never noticed.

"Sebastian, meet Adelaine," he said, and I saw his small smirk at my reaction. Well at least one of us found me being almost scared to death amusing. At his words, the bird squawked, spreading out and readjusting his wings.

"Addie! Hi princess!" I couldn't help the smile.

"Hello Sebastian, nice to meet you."

"Work, work!" He settled on the perch, seemingly expecting me to start reading, and I turned to Leo. Parrots only said what they'd heard, and I was assuming that Sebastian was Leo's pet.