Our second world- Book two: War is coming

Chapter-3

~Marylyn~

After talking with Grace, who I now called Auntie, I was on my way to the rose garden where Haren and August were supposedly hanging out. They usually moved around the house a lot, but I decided to check there anyways since it was one of their favorite spots to relax. As I approached the door, I heard noises coming from outside and I knew immediately they were there. Slowly, I opened the door and crept over to the tea table where I sat watching the two of them spar on the grass. They had such different fighting styles and were pretty evenly matched skill wise, so it was always fun to watch them as I would often do whenever I got the chance. Of course, their matches always lasted a while so I brought a hair brush with me as something to do while I watched. While I was brushing my hair, I noticed it was getting pretty long and was about to my ribs, which was when I would usually cut it, but for some reason I decided I was going to grow it out.

"Hey, Mary. watchya up to?" Haren called to me as he and August, apparently done with their match, came to sit at the table with me.

"Nothing much, I was just watching you. I figured maybe I could pick up a few things to better my own skills by watching you two, but you're both so fast it's hard to follow you sometimes." I said, pushing my bangs behind my ears," Oh, and Elizzabeth wanted me to tell you it's almost time for dinner."

"Really? I didn't think it was that late already." Haren muttered," Well, we should probably head over to the dinning room pretty soon so she doesn't get angry again,"

"Ok. Meet you there," I replied, jumping off my chair at a run.

"Hey, be careful!" Haren called after me.

"Yeah, yeah. I know Dad," I shouted back.

Instantly, my cheeks felt hot and I realized I was blushing. Without waiting to hear his reply, I sprinted as fast as I could to my room and slammed the door shut. Panting slightly, I flopped down on my bed and buried my red face in the pillow.

"I can't believe I called him Dad out loud!" I groaned internally," Well, it's not like I don't think of him as one, August too, but they probably don't think of me in that way."

My thoughts were interrupted by a short knock on the door," Lady Mar- Mary, dinner is ready." Klara called from the hall. I heard her catch herself before calling me by my official title. It was only recently that I had asked the maids to start calling me by my name, so it was still habit for them to refer to me by my title.

"Ok, I'll be right down!" I replied, rolling out of bed onto the fluffy rug. I lay there for a moment before standing, smoothing out my wrinkled skirt, and shuffling out to the hall.

When I got to the dinning room a few minutes later, I took my seat next to Haren at the end of the table. Both the table and the chairs were a little taller than normal ones, and with me being almost nine, I was a little short and practically had to jump to get up on them. Once I was comfortably situated, I took small portions of the steak and potatoes. Ignoring the rest of the food that was on the table. I had never been a very big eater, and still wasn't, so anything more than the small amount I took and I wouldn't be able to eat it all. Because my portions were always so small, it was normal that I finished before everyone else and was first to be excused. After clearing my plate of food, I jumped down from the chair and pushed it back into the table before heading back up to my room.

Too tired to change my clothes, I flopped down on my bed, pulled the curtains shut, and fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow.

~Early the next morning~

I woke from one of my nightmares with a start, a shaky, sweaty, mess of tangled sheets that ended up strewn across the floor as I hurried to the bathroom before my stomach could rid itself of dinner on my bed. Thankfully, I made it.

Coughing and groaning, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand before washing them in the sink. My hair was a mess from all the thrashing about and my dress was completely wrinkled, but it was nothing new to me. Ever since the death of my parents, I'd have awful nightmares that left me a shaking mess when I woke up, so it was probably a good thing that I couldn't remember what they were about.

After cleaning up the bathroom a bit, I shuffled back out to my room to find Klara re-folding the purple sheets on my bed.

"Did you get sick again?" She asked when I walked over.

I nodded as I sat back down on my bed. I could still feel the burn of it in the back of my throat," I'll be ok now." I said, my voice a bit hoarse.

"Alright, but you know how to find me if you need me," She replied, handing me a change of clothes.

I nodded again and waited for her to leave before discarding my lavender dress in the laundry basket and slipped into the new nightgown. It was soft and probably made with silk, like most of my other clothes.

Now in something slightly more comfortable, I huddled down under my covers. Falling into a dreamless sleep.

~The next morning~

The next time I woke was after nine, and for the first time in a long while, I was too tired to get out of bed. Which was weird since I was usually such an early riser, but today, something felt different. 

For some reason, I had a bad feeling about today.