Chapitre 9: Off to the Capital
"I'll write to you," I promised Edmund as we hugged each other goodbye.
He would be away at school for another year and a half. Out of all my siblings he would be the easiest to contact once I ran away since the earl and countess wouldn't be around to spy on his mail.
"Find yourself a good husband, Katie. Charles seemed to like you, you can't really do better than him!" he said with a wink.
I was horrified. Charles?! Duke Orla?! Putting my disgust aside, I managed a sweet smile. "I don't think he was really THAT interested, Eddie."
"Oh, he was. He talked about you quite a bit on the ride back to the academy. He fully intends to look for you at your debut," he said cheerfully.
Fantastic. Just what I was worried about. The last person I wanted to be shackled to was a known villain's accomplice.
I laughed awkwardly and tried to brush him off. "Don't tease me, brother. Travel safely."
"And you. Be sure not to trip in front of the queen," he said with a wicked grin.
I stomped my foot. "You're the worst, Edmund du Pont!"
"Yeah, but you love me anyway!"
And those were the last words I heard from my brother before his coach headed in the opposite direction of the capital. Why did I like him again?
"We best be going as well," Percy said with a sigh.
He hated traveling by coach, far preferring to ride on horseback, but the countess insisted it was too far of a ride and it would be undignified. So into the coach he went.
It was crowded with four people and horrible awkward. The capital was four hours away and those four hours of silence were among the longest of my life. I used that time to think about what was waiting for me.
Catherine du Pont was gorgeous. What if I had really pushy suitors that tried to snap me up before I could get a job at the bakery? Would anywhere else accept a girl without references that obviously looks like a noble?
There would be a rough few months ahead of me. I had been living pretty well up to this point, mostly relaxing around my home, but now I was heading into a battlefield.
I very well might meet more people involved in the plot of this novel.
I'd already met Duke Orla—it was impossible to think of him as Charles, he was too intimidating. At the very least I'd see the crown prince since he would most likely accompany his parents at the debut.
What about the other main characters? Marcy Grandin, Prince Alpheus, Sir Luken Marino the royal guard, the diabolical archduke…I'm sure there were more I wasn't remembering at the moment.
Anyone involved in the palace servant conspiracies or who sided with the crown prince…I didn't want to meet any of them. The only people I wanted to meet were Marcy's hardly-mentioned coworkers at the bakery.
When we arrived in the city I could hardly contain my curiosity and peered out the window. The buildings were primarily made out of gray or white stone—granite? I really didn't pay that much attention in my one geology class—and it seemed much cleaner and less chaotic than I would've expected.
My imagination leaned towards ramshackle stalls in the streets selling things but it looked like all the vendors were set up inside actual buildings. This world was more advanced than I originally thought.
My breath caught in my throat when we turned a corner and I caught sight of the blue-green ocean in the distance.
I knew the capital was near the ocean but I'd never seen a beach in this world. And it had been years since I'd been to one in mine. I wanted to go!
"Percy, I want to go to the beach!"
He looked at me, puzzled. "Beach?"
Ah, they might not use this word here. "The seaside," I amended. "I want to see it for myself. I've only read about it in books."
Lady Catherine had never been far from the earldom before so of course she'd never seen the ocean.
"Mother, may I take Catherine to the seaside today?" Percival asked very properly.
The countess' boredom glazed eyes finally focused. What on earth had she been thinking about?
"I suppose. The fresh air would make her livelier and she needs to be at her best to meet the king and queen in the morning."
"Thank you, Mother!" I exclaimed happily.
Going to the beach was something normal people did in my world. I craved a taste of that normalcy.
After we arrived at the house set aside for the earldom of du Pont when the family stayed in the capital the servants set to work unpacking our things and I dragged Percy out the door immediately.
"Someone is certainly eager," he observed.
I was giddy with my bit of freedom. "Come on, you're too slow!"
He shook his head at my antics while suppressing a smile. I have his number. I know he thinks I'm cute.
After being cooped up for so long we walked the mile and a half it took to get to the beach to stretch our legs. It wasn't very comfortable going over the brick roads in high heels. I really needed to talk to a cobbler about better shoes.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone