The adventures of Sophia de Leiden

Chapter 2- normal citizen's life is not that easy but fun

*Bang*

on hearing that, Peter rushed to the kitchen, " What was that? A gunshot?" He looked down to find a broken glass on the floor and finally scolded the culprit, " Judith..... again you broke another glass? How many has it been since yesterday? I lost count, oh my god, this one is from the new set of glasses I bought this morning. That's it, you can't serve the customers at the restaurant here, out of the kitchen, I'll teach you how to wax the floors instead." Judith smiled like a little clotpole and followed after Peter. Sophia who was talented in cooking and baking gave out a sigh of exasperation and cleaned up after Judith. "Alas, I alone now, oh cousin Judith, why? I shall ponder in a corner for a while then come back to my task, but alas without Judith here, the liveliness hath disappeared. Mathilda is in charge of the reception so we can barely see her... *sob* and I was looking forward to sightseeing Leisenburg..... what an utter bummer." said Sophia to herself.

"Good morning. I made a reservation at this hotel's restaurant yesterday, to host my daughter's wedding. I want so see if the preparations are ready." Asked a classy old woman at the reception's desk. 'Shit, shit, shit.... I forgot to inform about this to brother Peter and Aunty Wynter..... got to procrastinate first...' thought Mathilda. "Well madam, I'm sorry to inform you that you are not allowed to see the preparations while still in progress, however you may see it after it's done. If thy wish is to wait for it, then we kindly advise you to remain seated in the lobby and we can arrange for you some books from our library to keep you entertained." Said Mathilda with a smile on her face. "Oh, is that so? Well I can't do nothing about it then. Well I have my business to run so I cannot afford the luxury of leisure here right now, my sons are useless and my husband died two years ago. May I come back in four hours?" said the classy old madam. " Six hours." responded Mathilda. " Oh, very well then, I shall take my leave." said the madam then quickly marched out of the building. ' Ha got you, now let's sort this situation out.' thought Mathilda with a sly smirk. She then wrote a telegram about the situation and asked the indoor telegram bell boy to deliver it to Peter. The telegram boy carefully placed the envelope on a golden plateau and speed walked to find Peter.

"Whaaaattttt? Art thee Joking? seriously, it's only now I'm informed of this situation? And only six hours to prepare the banquet hall and newly weds' room? This hotel will go bankrupt.... Molly get Sebastian, he's our last hope." cried Peter. Molly is the maid in charge of laundry there and Sebastian is the number one top butler of the world's butlers, so his skills are inhuman and unimaginable. "You called for me young master?" asked Sebastian while bowing to Peter. " Raise Sebastian, we have an emergency, take a look at this telegram." said Peter then handled him the telegram. Sebastian read it while frowning first then let out a sigh accompanied by a smirk, "Good grief, six hours is plenty enough. This lady Mathilda saved us here, she's quite sly and quick witted. I'll take the help of Molly, Holly, Draco and finally lady Sophia for this." Peter nodded then went along with Sebastian to gather the maids, the butler and Sophia together to discuss the plan of work. "Let me explain. Lady Sophia will be in charge of the food, desserts and cake, Holly and Molly clean the hall and wax the floors, Draco get me the most beautiful table cloth and take out the silverwares. I will change the curtain, buy the necessary ingredients and flowers and decorate the hall and set the tables myself. Also lady Sophia, I will guide you with the recipes, we'll use my personal recipes and you can help me with setting the tables. Clear?" ordered Sebastian. Everyone nodded and rushed to start their assigned jobs. Sophia accompanied Sebastian to the market place to buy the ingredients and flowers.

"Wow this market place is most wondrous. Hey Sebastian, let's take a rest and eat some street food, I want Wonton." Said Sophia all excited. "We barely got here lady Sophia. Let us shop for the finest ingredients and most fresh flowers first, then we can eat some Wonton if we have the time. Remember we only have six hours and trust me, you need a keen eye to be able to find the most fresh ingredients ever. I will teach you today, just watch me." said Sebastian. They walked and walked all around the market place, Sebastian was able to get his hands on the finest of all ingredients and flowers despite the vendors trying to sell off the rancid ones so desperately. Rumors has it that the vendors are all quite scared of Sebastian and cannot ever win a bargain or deal against him. "Oh my god, no wonder he is the top butler, how scary...*tremble, tremble*" thought Sophia. " Now then we completed this task in an hour only, let's go eat Wonton, then return back to the hotel. We indeed need to fill our stomachs for we have a lot of work to do once we get back." said Sebastian with a satisfied look on his face.

Sophia was eating like a glutton, that got Sebastian irritated and finally when he could not take it any more, he took her spoon from her and glared. "W-what?" asked Sophia; surprised. "How can a young lady eat like a glutton? eat with the proper etiquettes. You're a princess, are you not? Don't you have any sense of shame?" scolded Sebastian. "Well, yes but right now I am Sophia Evergarden, not Sophia de Leiden. I am a normal citizen now so I shall act like one. Furthermore I cannot eat as much as I want because of being a princess and all, so now I shall make the most of the situation and eat to my heart's content." explained Sophia. "Not on my watch lady Sophia." said Sebastian firmly while crossing his arms and still glaring at her. "W-well, alright then, I'll eat properly, give me back my spoon and let me finish my meal. It is also proper etiquette to finish the meal and not leave a grain of rice or any residue as per respect to the cook's efforts." said Sophia while shivering. Sebastian then loosened up and gave her back the spoon. " By the way Sebastian, how can you tell apart fresh ingredients and flowers? Is there anything special about them? I saw them all the same, well kind of." asked Sophia all curious. " Well it is my pleasure to teach you. Naturally thou cannot tell them apart since the finest and most fresh of all were always being brought to the castle, so you saw only those. Basically fresh ingredients looks bright and alive, rancid ones looks dull and dehydrated, some even looks leathery and smell off. fresh ones will smell like fresh earth. same goes with flowers, rancid ones will wilt thus being smaller in size. Of course there's more however all of this cannot be learned through an explanation only, you need to assist an expert in action, that's how you will develop a keen eye as well." Sophia was amazed by all this and smiled then said she'd like to assist Sebastian in this in order to learn properly.

The banquet hall was ready in time. The floors waxed and shiny, the white table cloths embroidered in flowery patterns, the clean silverwares, shiny glasses made with diamonds, the candles, the white porcelain, the silver coloured blackout curtains, the white coloured veils, the red and white roses, the pillars decorated with Jasmine flowers and leaves spiral, the red carpet, the beautifully garnished food banquet, the 5 storey wedding cake, the fine porcelain teapot and tea cups, the delicious smell of brewed tea and coffee, the podium with more flowers, the bible and a luxurious vintage sofa, the fake waterfall and pond, and last but not least the numerous butlers and maids all dressed neatly in their new suits made with the finest fiber and by the finest tailor of Red-Lanterns city. "Wow, so shiny, looks like you have followed my request even to the minor details." Said the classy old Madam upon seeing the hall. "Yes and that will cost you seventy thousand pounds Madam Laflaque." said Sebastian. Upon hearing the price, Madam Laflaque frowned a little but eventually paid the required amount.

The wedding ceremony was finally over and Judith along with Sebastian and Peter escorted the newly weds to their room. There leisure, romantic music, games and library facilities were also provided. Sebastian cleaned up the banquet hall with the help of the three cousins and Peter. "I'm so knackered!" exclaimed Mathilda, throwing herself on a chair. "Working is sure tiring, but it still is quite fun Teehee." said Judith. "We never had to work back at the castle, no one would allow us to do anything saying it's too much labor so we just played around all day after our harsh training hours." complained Sophia. "Well this is just the beginning dear princesses. So brace yourselves. After you start University, you will not only have to continue helping the Evergarden's family business, but also find some other part time jobs. This is how you learn a normal citizen's life." said Peter. "Eeeeehhh? If that's the case, when are we gonna go sightseeing and shopping then?" asked Sophia discouraged yet hyperactive. "Well you need to earn your own money before you can go shopping, that's why you need to find part time jobs, the money earned with the hotel's business all go to the business and to my parents, it is then spent on family stuff, like education, food supplies, and hotel management stuffs too, as well as end of year family vacations during the Christmas period." explained Peter. "Oh so is that why you part time as newspaper boy on Sundays at port de liefde?" asked Mathilda. Peter nodded and also revealed that he works part time at a café too on Saturdays, then handed the three cousins the job vacancies flyers he had collected.