The royal palace was … where should I even start? The walls of it, cutting the noble district off from the royal palace were already extravagant. Although they were slightly lower than the other two, they were breath-taking in their own way. The gates were ornamented with figurines of brave warriors; the walls themselves were made, at least on the surface, entirely out of marble, which made this wall a prestigious object, rather than anything else. The maintenance costs for these things must be enormous as they basically were shining under the sunlight.

The display of wealth didn’t end there. As soon as we were checked at the gates, including our luggage, we found ourselves inside a lush garden, where symmetry reigned supreme. It was as if the monarch wanted to convey to the world that he could control nature as much as he liked. In the centre of the large, circular garden, there was this palace. It wasn’t the tallest building I ever saw as purgatory had quite a few of those, but it was definitely one of the eye catchier ones. Like the garden, it was probably meticulously planned to convey a very specific image to every visitor: That of a wealthy, powerful and influential royal family. The main building itself was as large as a town and even that wasn’t the end to it. Four towers were added to each of the corners but weren’t directly connected to the main building. Instead, four tall bridges were used to link all of them up.

Honestly, I should have been impressed at the sight. I should have marvelled at the pieces of art that stood in the front yard, or even the height of the bridges as we travelled underneath them. But I wasn’t impressed. Nobody needed a royal palace this large. In my and apparently Mary´s opinion as well, this here was a waste of money. We both thought so for very different reasons. I believed that all these ornaments, the costly marvel and so on, served absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Instead, they were more of a costly endeavour. If someone, a vampire for example, would try to wreak as much havoc as possible, then it would take years to rebuild all of this. On the flip side though, the economy must be booming then as all the artists finally got a job …

Mary noticed my disapproval insanely fast and voiced her own concerns, albeit quietly.

“If you ask yourself why we cannot afford an orphanage right now … there you have it.” I didn’t answer, mostly because this luxurious lifestyle of the royals probably helped me more than anything else. It was already painfully obvious that this city was not only divided by the walls but also in the heads of the citizens. There were the unfortunate in the slums, the rather fortunate in the commoner part of the city, and then there were the really fortunate inside the noble district. Making this class pyramid perfect was the royal palace, where the incredible fortunate lived. Being born here meant living a carefree life, no matter how you looked at it.

Servants were opening the door for us and even helped us to step out of the carriage. Reluctantly, I let myself be helped and thus didn’t jump out of the carriage like usual.

“Your Grace, Milady, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the royal palace.” One butler said as he led us away from the carriage. I seriously doubted his words as the king could squash this little rebellion in Mary´s lands with ease but didn’t do so for the sake of testing the new ruler.

“It is always great to be here again.” Commented Mary and left it at that. She probably had similar thoughts as her complexion turned a bit dark and she probably thought about all the victims this rebellion ruined. The butler, trying to ignore the sour mood, soon led us through a large, golden door which was elevated from the ground by twelve beautifully wasteful star steps. A few guards opened the heavy door for us, and so we found ourselves inside a large hall. I sighed quietly. Did everything have to be this large? I mean, I wouldn’t want to walk this long if I was working here…

I naturally looked around in curiosity as it was normal for a ten-year-old, but my interest was only caught by the security of this place. There was a larger balcony above the entrance and two guards stood on it, watching our every step. I waved them innocently which was apparently a bit improper as Mary soon took my hand and looked at me sternly. Apparently, I already fooled around a bit too much in her opinion.

Reluctantly, I scrapped my other mischievous plans and let myself be towed by Mary. My dislike for this palace grew by quite a bit, especially because we had to walk for fifteen minutes to arrive in front of the throne room. All this while, we were accompanied by guards, the butler and luxurious walkways. But even as Mary was a duchess, we had to wait in front of the door for several minutes. He naturally let us wait on purpose, there was no mistake there. The king wanted to show off his power as much as possible. At least it gave us the chance to tidy our dresses, for a few servants to comb my hair on Mary´s request and go through the protocol again. I was already annoyed by the situation and Mary´s actions didn’t make it better.

At least we were let inside after the sun had already set, which enabled me to put my sunglasses away and look less suspicious as we entered the room while watching our steps. Not too fast, but also not too slow, we walked inside the throne room, always looking ahead, full of pride for my apparent ancestry.

The king, a middle-aged brown-haired man, who looked at us with a stern gaze wasn’t the only one there. Advisors, ministers and even a kid stared at us in this absurdly tall room as we made our way in front of the king. It was already pretty late, so the walls were lit with magical lamps and above us, multiple chandeliers hung down from the arched ceiling, shining in a gentle, slightly yellow light.

I watched everyone as we made our way towards the king, inspected their clothing, their stature and their emotions radiating from their eyes. Most interestingly was the king though, simply because he looked at us with a bit too much interest. His son, or whatever this brown-haired boy to his right was, didn’t spare much time to look at Mary but kept staring at me the whole time in anger. I seriously couldn’t grasp why though and chose to ignore this twelve-year-old kid. Quite unexpected though, this was fairly easy. I didn’t feel any desire to fool around with him like kids whatsoever, which proved once again, that Aska was way too knowledgeable about me. He knew my feelings would be contained to a select few, as long as pressured me correctly. By basically asking me to murder orphans, he successfully reduced any positive feelings towards others considerably, which was probably my way to defend against the shock I received during that day.

I hated it. I hated how I failed to predict my own emotions correctly, I hated this place, and most importantly, I hated to kneel in front of the king. True, it was symbolic, but it was still disgusting to do so. Reluctantly, I even closed my eyes, apparently a sign of submission as well.

“You may rise.” Mary stood up swiftly and I followed suit shortly afterwards. These damn traditions didn´t even allow me to stand up with Mary at the same time.

“Your majesty, it is an honour to be here.” As Mary was going through the formalities, I obviously had to shut up. I tippled from one foot to another, playing the nervous girl perfectly. I even made sure to look away from the king as he watched me to make sure he wouldn’t look behind the perfect façade.

“I´m glad you are so healthy. I heard there were some issues in your domain?” Uff… some issues? Was that his way of saying she gained his approval?

“Only minor ones, nothing your majesty has to concern themselves with.” Or simply put, don’t intrude in our affairs. Beautifully said, wrapped in a layer of honey of course.

“I see … though I have nothing but a simple question. Who is the princess of darkness?” Luckily Mary didn’t look over to me, but rather met the gaze of the king without any issues. I already assumed the king knew of my little stunt, but I didn’t think he would ask Mary such a question. Because in the end, I merely scared the soldiers a bit and didn’t deal any real damage. The connection to the White family should be hypothetical at best, he shouldn’t be able to trace anything back to me.

“Your majesty, please forgive this duchess, but I do not know.” Mary said firmly. There was not a hint of uneasiness in her voice, most importantly because I just didn’t tell her anything about my actions so far. And the king, well he believed her because there was simply no reason to doubt.

“Do no fret over these things, let us talk about much more joyful topics during this hour. I heard the White family has been blessed with a new successor?” Well, that’s certainly one way to express the sudden appearance of a bastard child. And who was said child? Oh, wait, that’s me! Elegantly, I curtsied in front of him and smiled giving my hardest to make it look genuine.

“My name is Lucy White, it is an honour to meet your majesty.” I explained swiftly.

“I heard you grew up with your father, who is …” He apparently forgot, or rather wanted to test me.

“A simple farmer, you majesty. I grew up among commoners, but my mother always made sure to educate me properly.” Or so was my backstory. He could investigate all he wanted, he would only find a burnt down house if he would send his men out now.

“And she achieved her goal perfectly. In any case, I assume you are searching for a few tutors?” Although my expression didn’t change at all, I was still incredibly worried. I knew perfectly well how troublesome teenagers could be and the boy was certainly not an exception. I begged for Mary to realize where this is going and deny the king´s approaches from the very beginning.

“Yes, we didn’t have the time to prepare much as we rushed here as fast as we could.” No … Mary, this wasn’t the way to go. I turned my head to look at her, but she just returned the smile I still had on my face. Couldn’t she see the dread I was in?

“Why doesn’t Lucy take her lesson together with my son? I´m sure both of them would benefit.” Mary looked at me one last time and as I didn’t react, she nodded swiftly. Did I have to make it even more obvious? I blinked twice, hoping she would get it.

“We humbly accept your offer.” She didn’t. I failed to find the right way to convey what I wanted to Mary while leaving the others in the dark. And now I had to deal with it …

“Perfect, Louis, how about you show Lucy around the palace?” And it all started way too fast …