“Have you ever wondered how it is to be a bird? To live freely and fly through the skies?” Hannah asked, dressed in her usual maid uniform and looking out of the opened window.
“It´s nice until you fly against some glass window and crush your spine.” I commented, still laying underneath the warm blanket while staring at the ceiling.
“You are quite cynical sometimes …” She added, but couldn’t help to chuckle herself.
“If you want it more metaphorically: Gravity pulls even the mightiest birds down to the ground after some time. There is not a single race capable of escaping reality forever.” I claimed. Maybe the gods were … but I was sure that I would bring reality to them someday.
“What about ghosts?” She asked, which honestly surprised me a bit. Sure I read about ghosts, but as far as I was concerned, they didn´t exist as I have never seen one of them so far and I couldn´t find any definite proof yet.
“You believe in ghosts?” I asked, quite concerned about her sanity.
“Sure, you don’t?” Shocked, I needed a few seconds to prepare my answer carefully.
“Haven´t seen one yet … on a side note, can you tell the cook to make breakfast for two? He knows what to do.” I asked while dragging the blanket unto my chin while trying to enjoy the bit of warmth still under it.
“At once, milady.” She bowed deeply with a haughty smile and swiftly ran out of the room as the first pillow came already flying. Her behaviour as a maid was questionable, but so was mine as her master. If both of us would follow half the rules, we would basically follow all the rules, no?
Sheepishly, I finally let go of the blanket and began my usual morning routine. Cursing silently as I hit my toe at the bed frame, ruffling my hair as it wouldn’t sit properly again and hoping I would grow someday in front of the mirror while applying my makeup.
After half an hour of doing that and more, I dressed in all the things I threw out of the bed yesterday, walked out of the room and found Mary in the hallway who apparently had the same thought as I did.
“Scrambled egg?” She asked, scratching her cheek drowsily.
“Scrambled egg.” I replied and trotted towards her. Standing up in the morning was seriously exhausting, especially because I usually didn´t need to stand up. Together, we strolled towards the dining room, greeted all the maids on our way who all looked at me differently now. They didn´t exactly distance themselves from me as I was as friendly as before, but they still dealt with me with more respect than previously, if that was even possible.
Inside the dining room, we merely had to wait a few minutes until Hannah brought me my food and someone else brought the food for Mary. What can I say? I was kind of happy that meal was finally over? I wouldn’t call it shit anymore as the chef certainly improved since I got here … but still. Scrambled eggs weren’t that hard, and he still couldn’t make them good consistently.
“And, what are you doing today?” asked Mary, her mouth half-filled with food.
“First, I apparently still require these tutoring sessions … and then I´ll go to the academy.” I said and clapped in my hand, leaving half of my food on the table.
“I´ll advise against that.” She said and slid me the newest newspaper over. “You are more of a celebrity than I am now.” Indeed I was. Maybe I could get some free food because of that … anyways, I was already happily eating as I picked up the newspaper and began to read the front page.
‘Truth or lie? Is she the real deal, or did she fake her selection?’ For a short while, I wondered how much alcohol the journalists took after reading the headline, but then I read the whole article. Apparently, they interviewed seemingly random nobles on the streets, some supporting me, others claiming I was a hoax. Nevertheless, I would be wildly known starting from today which meant a lot of hassle for me. Disgruntled, I opened the second page only to see exactly the same occurrence. Only the last page, praising some sort of beauty crème was actually different. At least nobody on this planet managed to print any pictures yet, otherwise I seriously wouldn’t be able to go out anymore.
“Eww … maybe I´ll don’t go today. Doesn’t the next semester start in a few days anyway? I think I´ll go then.” I stated and slid the newspaper back to Mary. My tutoring session would still take place, but I seriously didn´t want to go outside too much until all the ruckus around me died down somewhat. This may take a week though if they were still writing so much about me in the newspapers after all these days.
And thus, I changed my plans considerably and chose to spend my time with those who couldn’t read in the first place. Those pitiful creatures …
“Hannah, I told you about the thing I wanted to do, didn´t I?” I asked and turned my head around to look at my maid who stood behind me.
“You meant visiting a fashion show?” I cleared my throat loudly and looked at her in confusion. Yeah, I did want to go there, but mostly to murder those who were driving the trend for bright colours.
“No, the other one. Can you prepare everything?” Hannah nodded after a short break and quickly went to gather all the things we needed while I asked someone less fortunate to do my hair for me.
A godforsaken half an hour later, Hannah and I were on our ride towards the royal palace. This time, it was a lot different than usual. Reporters for the newspaper, quite a lot of clerics and a few low born nobles waited in front of our gates. Despite all of Mary´s hopeless attempts to keep my location hidden, they seem to have gotten a hint from somewhere … or they were there for all the time I was inside the curch.
Well, it was already clear to me this would happen, and so I wasn’t too bothered by it. Instead, I closed the curtains of the carriage and simply waited for the guards to deal with the mess. On the contrary though, Hannah got a lot more nervous than I did. Her hands wandered more than once to the hidden dagger beneath her maid uniform as some of our unwanted visitors got too close to the carriage and hit the wood with their hands.
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Nevertheless, we got out of the crowd without harming anyone, largely because nobody knew who was inside in the first place which probably reduced their eagerness to die for seeing the one inside tenfold.
Like the previous times, the butlers at the royal capital had the professionalism to treat me like an esteemed guest, but their view on Hannah changed completely. They were indeed very friendly as I dragged her out of the carriage and they said nothing demoralizing to her as we both ascended the stairs to the main door. The implication was clear: She was a guest as well. Someone who didn’t need to use the servant entrance.
An elf, walking up this path was completely unheard of, but neither the servants nor the other nobles around said anything, nor searched us for any hidden weapons. Naturally, I forced Hannah to leave her dagger behind as it could only cause trouble if it was found out. Ten minutes later, we arrived in front of Mr Schlaumeiers room without any interruption.
I paused a moment and then indicated Hannah to wait outside while I snatched the object out of her hands she was carrying the whole time. Happily, I opened the door and closed it behind me swiftly afterwards. Mr Schlaumeier raised an eyebrow as he saw me but otherwise seemed almost disinterested while the prince ignored me completely. Slightly frustrated about the development, I placed the wooden elephant in front of the prince and sat down beside him.
He flinched slightly as I did so but otherwise tried to keep his cool. Meanwhile, Mr Schlaumeier finished grading the test he apparently gave the prince and slid the paper over to me.
“What do you think, your holiness?” He asked while pointing towards the test about simple macroeconomics.
“I prefer Lucy. And I also prefer not to grade the tests of my friends.” I said and looked to my side. Louis was more than displeased with my wording but didn´t outright deny it. Which was … progress? I guess? I didn’t really need this boy anymore as my beloved gods presented me with another way forwards.
“Well spoken. And?” Mr. Schlaumeier wouldn’t let me remain silent, would he? More and more, I got the feeling this test he graded wasn´t for the prince, but rather for me.
“Financing infrastructural projects through higher taxes seems like a great idea on the surface, but we always have to question who we are taxing. These new streets marked on the map you gave out primarily link the big cities between each other. Therefore the merchants would likely profit from these streets. Taxing the nearby villages is therefore a wrong decision, but asking ‘How should the streets marked on the map be financed?’ itself is a wrong decision. They shouldn’t be financed at all, especially because there is just nothing to trade. We are talking about shortening the travelling time between two major grain-producing areas for … about half a day?” I concluded and slid the paper over to the prince.
“You have an interesting approach, Lucy. Louis, even though Lucinda´s claim is indeed correct, you nonetheless answered the question very well. You may leave, for now. Please come back on time tomorrow.” The prince, slightly frustrated, grabbed the elephant and the test, only to storm out of the room swiftly afterwards. He didn´t even say anything towards Hannah as he must have realized her presence, but rather walked away angrily. A few seconds later, Hannah peeked into the room but closed the door swiftly afterwards as I shook my head.
“I assume you don’t want any interaction between me and the prince?” I asked, realizing this may have been the start of living without the prince …
“We live in a secular state. There will be questions if the second prince and the saint meet regularly, so I fear you and your so-called friend will not meet in the next few years very often.” He concluded. This development was quite troublesome as I needed the brat for one last thing, but I did hope to find an alternative from that quite quickly.
“Is this an order from the king?” I asked with a slightly saddened expression.
“Yes.” He said, not really bothering to look at me at all.
“Huh.” So the king had already begun to be wary of me. He knew far too little about me to see me as a threat yet, but he also wasn’t sure I was his ally.
“But he also tasked me with your education … starting next week, I will teach you alone. Until then though … have a nice holiday.” He said and stood up to walk towards the next bookshelf. A holiday? It was exactly what I needed. Without replying I stood up as well, curtsied, but then changed my mind.
“Mr Schlaumeier, how would you teach someone to read and write?” I asked slightly concerned about Hannah´s progress. I sadly had to admit I wasn’t the best teacher there was.
“Start with the alphabet, then go over to simple words which you will commonly find on the streets. The rest comes naturally.” He said slightly bored.
“Do you have any advice regarding the churches?” I asked. I mean, he was an intellectual, so why not? At first, he hesitated to open his mouth, but then he faced me directly.
“… don’t trust them.” He said while frowning. I was a bit surprised by his words, especially because the relation between the state and the churches were rather good.
“How come?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder.
“They are lying. You may see me as a conspiracy theorist or so … but the world isn´t as old as they claim it to be. Every single pope knows, but they all hide it. And there is no doubt there is more as well.” He claimed with an uneasy expression.
So I and the elven king weren’t the only one who found out. In fact, quite a few apparently knew, despite being a well-kept secret. There weren’t any hints in any books, no religious texts about it … there could be only one explanation why the churches wanted to hide it.
Their scriptures were written over two hundred years ago, meaning they existed before the time this world even came to be. Every word thus must have come from the gods themselves … including that this world was way older than it actually was. And the gods … they would never lie, would they?