The adventures of Sophia de Leiden

Chapter 1- The beginning of a long journey

The ship finally landed at the port of Leisenburg. It has been three days since it left the port of Leiden, and aboard that cruiser was the three princesses of Leiden's Kingdom who set out on this journey in order to attend university in Leisenburg in the hope of learning the lives of the ordinary citizens. The three cousins all gathered their belongings and luggage, cleaned their wagon quickly and rushed to line up in the queue.

Three hours passed and it was finally the three cousins' turn to deck out. " Oh my finally out of the ship, Santa Maria that was a long wait, I nearly fell asleep while waiting for our turn to deck out!" exclaimed Judith. " Patience dear, well although I do agree with you, I nearly fell asleep too and Lord knows how much of a sleepy head I am that I even hibernate during hot summer days." Said Mathilda, " Oh wow, This is Leisenburg, a country different from ours, aren't you excited? We ought to visit the whole country and go sightseeing during the week we have before starting university, what do you say?" Asked Sophia and the others who weren't as energetic as Sophia gave out a sigh of exasperation.

' dring dring' the sound of the young newspaper boys' bicycles could be heard all over the market place and the main city of Leisenburg known as 'port de liefde' " newspaper, the daily gossip on sale for half price and the daily mail newspaper for free, newspaper, newspaper!" called the several newspaper boys from their bicycles. " Oh I'll take the most recent newspaper, one of each please for today's date that is." asked Sophia to one of the newspaper boys, " Here you go milady that will be 2 pounds for you." said the newspaper boy. " Milady? Quite the little charmer as I see eh newspaper boy? May we also ask for directions?" asked Mathilda politely. " Oh why, sure, of course milady, how may I help you? Oh you look like you're not from around here with all those luggage. I'm Peter, 13 years old and part timer at the lotus mail company, pleased to meet you. *bows*" said the newspaper boy, " My my, how polite and virtuous. Pleased to meet you Peter, I'm Judith and these are my cousins Sophia and Mathilda. Thou hath a keen eye, certainly we are from Leiden, just decked out of the port." said Judith. " Oh Thee art from Leiden, no wonder. Which directions doth thee want me to giveth thee?" asked Peter, and then the three princesses responded " To the train station that will take us to the city of Red-Lanterns, that's where our hotel is." in unison. Peter gave out a smirk and nodded. They then took a cart to transport them to the train station. " Here? So we part ways here? Thank you for your help Peter." Said Sophia before boarding the train. " Oh you got it wrong Milady. I am to escort you and serve you till you go back to Leiden. Mathilda, Sophia and Judith de Leiden." said Peter with a smirk and boarded the train with the three cousins. " H-how did you know our full names? Who art thou?" asked Sophia shocked. " I already introduced myself, I just didn't tell you the important part. I am Gilbert Evergarden's younger brother Peter Evergarden, therefore I am your relative. If I remember correctly Princess Sophia, your father; the king of Leiden asked my mother who is his sister to take you in and hide your real identities, so you will be living in our family hotel and take the name of Evergarden as of now until you go back to Leiden." explained Peter. " Impressive. So you're telling us you came to Port de Liefde disguised as a newspaper boy only to find us?" asked Mathilda. "Oh no, you got that wrong Milady, I do work as a newspaper boy at port de Liefde on the weekends. Until princess Judith here introduced yourselves, I had no idea who you were, so meeting there was pure coincidence." explained Peter. They then went to their wagon, carrying all their luggage, this time with Peter's help.

The landscape of Leisenburg was full of beauty; green mountains, forests, ponds, flowers, markets, pretty country houses, gardens and parks, beautiful churches and Mosques, the architecture were simply breath taking. This was the first time the three cousins actually took a train in their lives or their first time ever free to go out on their own as they were always confined in the castle, training for the title of future queen and training as royals of Leiden, being home schooled. Even the journey from the castle to the port, they couldn't see much of the landscape as a royal cart transported them there, and on the cruiser, they dared not leave their wagon since it was their first time travelling alone after they parted ways with their parents at the port, scared of the outside world full of mysteries, they dared not leave their wagon until an announcement was given that they have reached their destination.