For the next few days, Aeliana spent most of her time with her tutor. At first, she thought she wouldn't be able to keep up with how strict and fast-paced Madam D'Aramitz was but she was slowly getting used to it.
Though once she is done with her lessons, she would immediately need to take a long nap until it was dinner time.
Aeliana was woken up by Flora and headed to the dining hall. Upon reaching, she was the last to arrive however none of them had begun eating.
"Eli, you're here." her father smiled warmly at her.
She nodded and spoke, "I'm sorry for being late..again."
Cassian shook his head and gestured for her to sit beside him, "It is alright, Eli. Come, let's all begin our dinner shall we?"
Her thoughts had been preoccupied with her lessons so she didn't notice many looks given to her as she walked to her father and sat down in her seat. Dinner commences and everyone was chatting with one another except her.
It wasn't because she felt left out but rather her mind was preoccupied with remembering her dining etiquette.
'Right now we are having soup so the soup spoon should be on the right.'
"Leon, how are your studies? Are you prepared for the academy?"
"My studies are doing fine, father. I don't think I am fully prepared yet but I will be sure to work hard to be prepared soon."
"Haha...that's not what I mean but I'm sure you will do great, Leon."
'Oh my food has been cut for me already so I don't need to use the knife, that's good. I can't hold a knife well still.'
"How about you, Claude? Is everything going well for you?"
"Of course father! I'll definitely be able to catch up to Leon in no time!"
"I'm glad to hear that but don't overwork yourself too hard, understand?"
"Yes, father."
'Eat in small bites and don't chew loudly. Don't push the plate away once done, leave it in the same position.'
"What about you two, Marius, Darius?"
"Dad, I got praised for my swordsmanship!"
"That's great, Marius! Soon you will be an excellent swordsman."
"I read enough books that Mr Brooke said I have read around one-third of the library.."
"You are always very interested in books more than swords, Darius. It's good to have things you like to do."
'Hm the fork should be at twelve o'clock to show that I'm done eating.'
"Eli?"
'Or was it six o'clock?'
"Eli? Are you okay, Eli?"
Aeliana felt a tap on her shoulder which brought her out of her thoughts. She lifted her head up to find everyone staring at her.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Cassian let out a soft sigh, "I was asking how are you and your classes. Has Madam D'Aramitz been too strict?"
She shook her head, replying, "No daddy, she has been good to me although she is strict but I can follow!"
Cassian didn't seem to be fully convinced but smiled and nodded, "That's good to hear, Eli but don't always miss out on your meals. You need the nutrients to grow up well."
Aeliana hummed and nodded, "Yes daddy, I'll try not to miss my meals."
"My baby is such a good girl." he chuckled, patting her on the head.
Everyone else had gone back to focusing on their meal but Aeliana felt a long stare on her before it disappeared.
Not long later, dinner ended and everyone began to return to their respective rooms. Aeliana got changed into her pyjamas but didn't go to bed just yet. Instead, she stood in front of her mirror and tried to do a curtsy bow.
Aeliana stood still before moving her right foot behind her left, having it just slightly outwards.
She kept her left foot steady as she transferred some weight onto it in order to balance right. Slowly, she bends her front knee while keeping her eyes straight ahead not once looking down at her feet.
'Madam said I don't need to hold my skirt if I choose not to.'
Aeliana began to rise back up and return to her stance before sighing. She had been told countless times that although she had done it right, it still looked awkward and poorly done.
She sighed and decided to call it a day. Tomorrow was a Sunday which meant she didn't need to meet madam for her class.
She snuggled into her blankets and smiled to herself. Tomorrow she already decided she would go outside and relax under a big shady tree not far from her room window.
Just as she was about to fall asleep, the door to her room was knocked on loudly, like a banging sound. Aeliana peeked one eye over to it before letting out a big sigh and getting out of her blankets.
She waited a bit to see if there would be another knock and not to her surprise, there was.
"Who is it?" she called out as she held onto the door handle.
"Open the door!!"
Aeliana pinched her nose bridge as she heard her third brother's voice. She didn't turn the door knob and spoke again,
"Who is it?"
She could hear grumbling before a soft whisper replying back, "...Marius.."
Aeliana thought for a bit before finally opening the door. Surprisingly, Darius wasn't with him this time around. She tilted her head, confused as to why he came to her room.
"What are you doing here, brother?"
Marius held a finger up to his lips, signalling her to keep quiet before going into her room and closing the door shut softly.
"Brother?"
"Where's your teddy bear?" he suddenly questioned.
Slightly alarmed by it, she hurriedly ran to her bed and grabbed her stuffed toy, hugging it tightly around her arms. Marius didn't pay any heed to her sudden movement and instead grinned.
"Come with me!"
Aeliana was about to retort back but all her words got pushed down her throat as Marius swiftly pushed her out of the room with him.
Everyone was mostly fast asleep already except the night guards on duty and some servants finishing up their rounds. Marius was sneaky around quietly as if he had done this many times and perhaps due to the confidence he had, Aeliana followed him, trying to be as quiet as she can.
When Aeliana noticed they were all alone, she decided to quietly speak up as she tapped on his shoulder.
"Brother—"
"Shh!!"
Marius closed her mouth shut before she could say another word. Her eyebrows furrowed by this but then noticed a shadow figure not too far from where they were. Suddenly the shadow figure stopped moving.
Both of them held their breaths, hoping to not get caught by whoever that was. Fortunately, it wasn't long later that the figure began moving again and disappeared out of their sight. They heaved a soft relieved sigh before Marius removed his hand from her mouth.
"Follow me," he whispered to her and moved again.
Aeliana decided to just follow first and ask later.
After hiding and quietly moving around more, they reached to the back of the kitchen before Marius opened the back door which led to the outside.
He stepped foot outside and turned to Aeliana, waiting for her to do the same but she stood still, hesitant about it. Marius rolled his eyes and motioned her to follow.
"Where are we going?" she whispered unable to hold back her question any longer.
"You'll know when we get there, now come here quickly!" he whispered back in a slightly annoyed tone.
Aeliana huffed and finally followed him out of their house. Marius carefully looked around once more and then proceeded to grab Aeliana's hand, dragging her with him in a hurry.
After a while of trying to quietly run, Marius finally stopped. Aeliana was panting heavily as she hadn't run this much in a long time.
'I'm going to punch him in the stomach for making me run so much!'
However, that train of thought suddenly cut off as she looked up. She froze in place at what she saw.
The sky was shaded with blues and purples mixed in together with millions of stars painted in it alongside the bright moon. To Aeliana, the stars looked as if it was unreal, sparkling so brightly in the beautiful night sky.
Never in her second and current life had she ever paid attention to how beautiful yet detailed the night sky was. It was blinding yet her pink eyes couldn't stop admiring it.
"It's nice isn't it?" she heard Marius speaking.
He hadn't spoken a word since they arrived at the place he had brought her to. Aeliana glanced over to her right where he stood. He had his eyes fixated on the sky just like her not long ago. For the first time, she saw a smile that he had never shown before.
It wasn't his usual grin-like smile or when he was annoying her type of smile. This was a smaller yet more relaxed smile. As if he was at peace with everything around him.
Aeliana didn't point it out and turned back to the sky. She softly hummed in response and after that, neither of them said another word to one other. It was only when they started to head back inside did Aeliana speak up.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Her words made Marius halt his footsteps. He turned to her with a frown plastered on his face. Aeliana decided to not say anything more and raised her arms up.
"I won't ask then. Let's go back inside, brother."
He didn't say a word so Aeliana took it as a signal to continue walking back. As she walked away, he suddenly spoke; "...You shouldn't work so hard.."
"Sorry?"
Marius lightly jumped, not expecting her to be able to hear him although she had walked quite a distance already. He quickly cleared his throat and frowned,
"If you work this hard you will get sick and if— if you get sick, dad and Darius will be sad!"
Aeliana stared at her brother before smiling, "Brother, are you worried about me?"
As she asked that, the pieces began to click as to why he had suddenly come into her room and brought her to that specific spot to look at the sky.
Marius glared and furiously shook his head as he said, "Me!? No way! Why would I be worried and sad if you get sick!!"
She laughed at his words, shaking her head, "Thank you brother, I'll try to take care of myself so I won't get sick."
Marius rolled his eyes and picked up his pace, heading back inside quickly. Aeliana was still laughing as she trailed behind him, noticing the redness in his ears.
The next day, Aeliana was stuck in bed with a cold. She let out a loud sneeze before sighing. For some reason, she could faintly hear Marius' voice shouting at her about how she easily got sick and how weak she was but it didn't bother her the slightest.
A couple of days later, Aeliana recovered from her cold and returned to her lessons with Madam D'Aramitz and every day she continued to improve. Aeliana felt proud of her improvement, working harder to continue improving.
And when she was free, she would either stay in her room or play with the twins. She tried her best not to bump into Leon or Claud.
Today she didn't have any lessons with Madam as she had an important meeting to attend thus, she was free. The twins were busy practising their swordsmanship with their teacher so Aeliana headed over to the library.
She walked around the library looking at the genres attached to each shelf. Thanks to her lessons with Leon, she was now able to read books that had a higher vocabulary. She grabbed a book she hadn't finished and sat down on a nearby seat.
She flipped through the book until she stopped at where she had remembered reading from. The library was silent with the sound of pages being flipped every so often. Aeliana read the last page before closing the book shut.
She stretched her body before heading to the shelved to find another book. She looked around before grabbing a book which caught her interest. The previous book she read was about magic but this time the book she had chosen was the geography of the Alston Dukedom.
"Oh my, are you learning about the geography of the Dukedom young miss?" Aeliana heard the voice of the librarian, Loran.
"Hello Loran, yes the book caught my attention."
"I see, well if you're looking for more books that are closely related to this book, I have a few more at the top of my head at the moment."
"Oh it's alright—"
"Wait right here young miss, I'll find them for you." Loran without waiting for another second, left before returning with a bunch of other books.
He placed it on the table and smiled brightly at Aeliana, "Here you go young miss! These are just a few but I hope they will be helpful for you."
Aeliana looked at the stack of books before awkwardly laughing, "Thank you very much, Loran. I'll be sure to look through the books you have recommended."
Loran's face brightened even more at her words, "I'm glad to be of great service young miss! It's been so long since I am able to recommend books to someone. The last time I recommended books was so long ago I can't remember! Well, then again I'm already in my fifties so it's quite hard to say haha! Oh! However I do remember recommending some to Lord Alston though I'm not sure if he did come to read it since he's working very hard and..."
Aeliana didn't take the librarian to be a chatty person. She didn't know what to do so she listened to him continuously talk until he finally left her to read.
She opened the book, reading the table of contents before flipping to the first page. After a couple of minutes, she was fully immersed in the book, reading the information given mixed with a few pictures of the location.
She continued to read until she felt a presence sitting opposite of her. She paused and looked up. Sitting opposite her was Leon. He had his left arm resting on the armrest while his right hand flipped the pages of the book. He didn't look up at her but spoke in a rude tone,
"What are you looking at?"
"Uh..nothing, sorry..Leon."
"...hm."
'So awkward..'
Aeliana shook her head and looked back at her book. The part she was at talked about the different kinds of crops that were only able to grow in the dukedom and not in other territories.
"You're reading that?"
"Huh?"
Aeliana got startled by Leon's voice. She gazed up to see him staring at her. He had a cold look on his face as he waited for her response. She hurriedly held up the book and showed him the title. He hummed in reply before tapping his finger on his book.
"The lessons must have helped you greatly since you are now able to read those books."
"Oh..yes, I am able to read books with harder words thanks to you."
"Hm, keep it up."
That was the last thing he said before closing his book and leaving the library. Aeliana raised an eyebrow at her first brother's actions but didn't take much into consideration, going back to reading her books.
Minutes later, a maid came in and placed down a tray of cookies and a cup of milk. She stared at it before calling out to the maid,
"I didn't ask anyone for these." she said with a confused look.
The maid smiled and replied, "Lord Leon has requested them for you."
"Brother has?"
"Yes my lady, I will be taking my leave now." the maid bowed and left.
Aeliana's eyes fell on the cookies and milk. Pondering for a moment, she reached out and ate one. Her eyes brighten as the sweetness bloomed in her mouth.
She continued to read while enjoying the snacks. She couldn't help but wonder if she had grown a bit closer to Leon after all the time they spent together in the library.
***
Leon was in his room, reading another book as usual. As he finished a book and was about to read another, he heard hums coming down the hallway.
Frequently, he could care less about this sort of sounds however this time, his curiosity had peaked slightly. Following it, he opened his door. Aeliana was humming to a random tune down the hallway before disappearing from his sight.
He knew she was going to the library as that was the way to the library. He went there often that he would reach the library with his eyes closed.
Leon closed his door shut and returned to reading his books however his mind at times wandered back to Aeliana.
His only sister and the one that was left behind once his mother passed away from giving birth to that child. He fluttered his eyes shut, recalling his mother's words;
"Leon my dear son," she started, staring down at her round stomach in a loving manner.
She had a warm smile plastered on her face although it was pale and had obvious signs of fatigue.
"Always remember to take care of your brothers and your new sister when she comes, okay?"
Leon fluttered his eyes back open and slowly got up from his chair. He left his room and quietly headed to the library. The door was slightly ajar, enough for him to look inside. Not too far to the right, he saw Aeliana listening attentively to their librarian ramble on. She had a smile plastered on her face and nodded at times.
Not long later, the librarian bowed and returned to his work, leaving her alone with her book. Leon gazed a bit more before deciding to return back to his room. He furrowed his brows and shook his head; why was he suddenly so interested in his sister, the one he had been giving a cold shoulder all these years?
Then flashbacks to the days he spent his time with her came to his mind. The time when Aeliana hugged him was vivid in those flashbacks. He gazed down at the book he had in his hand and pondered for a solid minute before walking inside the library and taking a seat opposite of Aeliana.
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