Walking the Long Road of Fate

The carriage traveled far faster than Fatenai had imagined. Perhaps that was Mana at work too—an ordinary carriage would have taken a week, but they reached Dryden in less than three days, including rest stops, though the journey itself hadn't been particularly pleasant.

It felt like being trapped inside a little iron box for days.

The Gabriel Family, where Lelia lived, had a residence in Dryden, situated on First Avenue in the city center. When Fatenai arrived, Empress Moon wasn't a month with any major festivals, and most people went out to work in the late morning. There was hardly anyone on the broad street paved with bluish-gray tiles.

It was a white mansion, without extravagant or exaggerated decorations. Instead, it carried on the Wisdom Family's tradition: understated yet grand.

"I hope you're prepared." The carriage stopped before the residence. Lelia sat upright inside, having voiced no complaint over the long journey. "There's still time to turn the carriage around."

"Of course." Fatenai smiled.

Lelia glanced at Fatenai. Today, Fatenai wore a red, patterned gown with a full skirt, which gave some life to her pale complexion, like a flower about to bloom. Unfortunately, Lelia wasn't in the habit of praising others, nor did she say anything more to Fatenai. When the butler opened the carriage door, she stepped down, casually responding to him while her thoughts remained on Fatenai.

This girl's performance over the past few days had been so outstanding that it made her uneasy. Was she really a twelve-year-old child?

Lelia had deliberately increased their speed along the way, cutting down the time spent traveling. In truth, from Heivag Fief to Dryden, ordinary nobles disliked rushing and often took more than half a month. A sense of urgency was unpleasant to nobles, yet Fatenai hadn't shown the slightest impatience. She had even finished a philosophy book in the carriage.

That made Lelia feel that Fatenai was somewhat like herself.

Lelia Wisdom—ever since marrying into the Gabriel Family, the already independent and capable "Wisdom Flower" had shone even more brilliantly. Her competence had even allowed her to participate in political affairs, and by now, no one raised too many doubts about her proposals.

"I truly don't understand why you want to marry Fatenai into the Arrenieu Family." During Empress Moon, after hearing that her niece had been declared incapable of using Mana at her awakening ceremony, she had also received a letter from her brother. Once she had settled matters within her estate and rushed to Heivag Fief, this was the first thing she said to Duke Wisdom.

As usual, Duke Wisdom stood before the window with his hands behind his back. When he turned around, he pointed at the cup on the table. The teapot silently floated up and poured tea into the empty cup.

Afterward, Duke Wisdom told her something that made Lelia, who had always believed herself never far from the center of power, keenly realize how grave the situation was.

"You're placing your hopes on Fatenai?" she asked doubtfully after hearing him out.

Duke Wisdom fell silent for a while before saying, "It can only be this way. Fatenai can't use Mana. If she can't be married off now, she won't find a good family in the future either."

Lelia revealed nothing and didn't continue the discussion with her brother, but she found it deeply strange. The Wisdom Family's bloodline was noble, yet Fatenai, who had inherited those blue-violet eyes, couldn't use Mana...

"Lady Gabrielle." Lelia froze as someone interrupted her thoughts. She turned toward the butler of the residence, her expression questioning. Anxiety showed in his eyes. "Miss Fatenai isn't in the carriage..."

"What did you say?" Lelia immediately turned around and walked to the carriage. Seeing it completely empty, she was both startled and confused. "Send someone to find her."

"And, my lady... there's a letter for you. It's about the produce from Eaton Estate a few days ago..." the butler added.

"What about the duke's letter? We'll discuss it inside." Lelia frowned and strode swiftly into the residence.

The servants eventually found Fatenai in an alley beside the street. By then, quite some time had passed.

"Where did you go?" Lelia had returned to the drawing room to wait for her. Only when she saw Fatenai return with the servants did she remove her gold-rimmed round glasses and rub the bridge of her nose. "I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation."

"I... I'm very sorry... I accidentally..." Fatenai looked frightened, though no one knew what exactly she had encountered.

Lelia frowned. Just as she was about to ask more, her head suddenly began to spin. She couldn't help rubbing her temple. "Forget it. Go rest first."

Fatenai nodded, shrinking her neck slightly as she followed a servant toward her room. Lelia watched her retreating figure, for some reason feeling that something was off.

But there were more important matters at hand... She looked at the letter resting on her lap and frowned.

Dryden was the Kingdom of Luther's most important royal territory. Hundreds of years ago, after the Holy War ended, the land was scarred and homes lay in ruins. The king brought his family to this village far from the fighting. From then on, nobles built new castles around the village and guarded their lands.

After a century, the royal Dryden Palace had been perfected in every way, becoming an architectural marvel endlessly praised by nobles—a tall, pure-white block of a building standing on Dryden's outskirts, its sculptures

painstakingly carved by artists, day after day for centuries, around a theme nobles never tired of: the goddess, symbolizing power.

Near dusk, there were quite a few people in the palace garden, where the flowerbeds had been trimmed into a maze. They were well-trained maids, yet even they couldn't conceal their anxiety at this moment.

"Your Highness?"

"Allentia above, where is the little princess?"

The maids regretted agreeing to the princess's request to come out and play. But they could only obey orders, even if the one giving them was merely a seven-year-old girl.

Now that they had lost the princess, what were they supposed to do? The head housekeeper's questioning was more than they could bear.

"What is going on?" Though anxious, the maids still had to maintain proper, calm appearances as they searched everywhere. Even though they suspected the princess had done this deliberately—this wasn't the first time—until a gentle voice pulled them from the mire of their distress, they couldn't help looking gratefully toward the person who appeared in the garden.

He was a blond young man in a well-tailored white suit. His handsome face—high nose bridge and golden eyes—was striking, and from head to toe, there was nothing about his appearance anyone could criticize.

"Her Highness... Her Highness crawled into the flowerbeds again, and we can't find her," the maids said, struggling to remain composed.

"Lucy... I was just about to look for her. You can go attend to other matters." The young man smiled knowingly and headed toward the maze. The maids bowed one after another, then turned and left. Their movements were calm and reserved, but one could imagine how deeply grateful they were to him—after all, even the finest maids would grow weary of dealing with the mischievous princess every day.

"Lucy, they've all left. If you don't come out, I'll let Daisy finish all your Ata Cakes at afternoon tea." The young man walked through the flowerbeds. As he turned corners, his movements were elegant, and the untrimmed branches seemed to possess awareness, slowly moving aside for him.

He wasn't worried in the slightest and simply walked on until a rustling sound arose from the flowerbeds. A little girl sprang out from among them. Her long golden hair fell over a beige dress adorned with a modest bow at the back. Her lovely face was full of displeasure as she glared at the young man with golden eyes, thoroughly angry.

"Oh, don't be mad." The young man dropped to one knee before her. He waved a hand in front of her, and in the blink of an eye, a flower appeared. His attempt to coax her was painfully obvious.

The little girl wasn't buying it. With a cold huff, she turned her head away, while the young man maintained his pose and waited patiently. In the end, she still threw herself into his arms. "Brother Mise is so mean! You're going to give Lucy's Ata Cakes to Daisy."

Mise handed her the flower, smiling as he took her hand and led her out of the flowerbeds. "Don't worry. There'll be lots of Ata Cakes soon."

"Why?" Lucy asked curiously.

"The social season is beginning. Lots of people will come to pay respects to Father," Mise said. "Don't run around lately. You're already seven, so you need to pay attention to how you appear before outsiders."

"Ah, you're saying that too! My teacher is obviously bullying me—she puts forks against the back of my chair if I don't sit up straight!" Lucy cried. "I hate social season! Those women are all staring at you and Brother Graydon. It's awful!"

Mise laughed. "That's etiquette training. As a noble, it's something you should do..."

Lucy knew her brother was about to start lecturing her again and covered her ears. "Oh, Brother Mise, at times like this, I'd rather Brother Graydon had come looking for me... But what has he been doing lately? I haven't seen him in so long!"

Mise led Lucy back to the palace and said casually, "He's still busy at university. He'll be back in a few months."

"University? Those schools commoners attend? I remember Father doesn't like them very much... And why would he go to a commoner school?!" Lucy said.

Mise said nothing further because, as he pushed open the palace doors, he realized the young ladies who had come to pay respects had already arrived. He had still wasted too much time looking for Lucy. The hall, papered with ancient and intricate patterns, was full of girls in plain white dresses. They had traveled here from all over the kingdom, across great distances. It wasn't only girls preparing for marriage who came here; more often, girls of suitable age came to pay respects in order to take part in the social season.

The girls wore plain white dresses, with white veils trailing to the floor and two or three feathers tucked into their hair as decorations.

"Take Lucy back to her room," Mise told the maid standing by the door. Then he turned to Lucy. "Go back and get some proper rest. I'll play with you tomorrow."

Lucy was dissatisfied but helpless. After all, she was the princess.

Only after sending his sister away did Mise let out a breath. He straightened his hem slightly, making sure no bits of leaves from the flowerbeds clung to it, before heading upstairs.

"Ah—" Mise had intended to go upstairs, but someone came down from above, and they collided. Hearing the other person's startled cry, he immediately raised his hands and caught her.

Only after catching her did Mise see who it was, and he couldn't help staring. She was a frail girl—truly just a girl, seeming only a little older than Lucy. Her plain white dress made her already pale skin appear even more fragile. Her platinum-blond hair was so light it seemed colorless, and only her blue-violet eyes gave her any hint of life.