The best thing that happened during the party was seriously my short conversation with the second prince. He suddenly came up to Hannah and me as we were making fun of a few interestingly dressed men and women alike.

“Hey, I can stay up however long I like today.” He said, boasting about his achievement of … what exactly? Ageing a day?

“… cool.” That was really a thing? I understood the necessity for the orphans to get into bed as the housemothers needed some kind of order, but the second prince? Couldn’t he go to bed whenever he liked? “I still need to go to bed early.”

Needless to say, Hannah and I left quite early for a noble party at around one o´clock. Still, I think I did achieve my goals. I told the king I grew a little and told him ‘The Crown’ was working to defeat these monsters. Additionally, in their warped view on fashion, I apparently looked quite good in this dress and left a long-lasting impression on the nobles and was sure that despite everything, a few would help the orphanage out a little bit. Thus, all the money spent was somewhat worth it.

As soon as we stepped back into our carriage, the eternal smile on our faces vanished and we both stared at each other, wondering who would mention anything bad first about the freakshow we visited.  

“I want to get wasted so badly right now.” Hannah said, exhaling loudly while I began to laugh loudly.

“Wow, you really did become like me!” I exclaimed and threw my hands in the air. It only took a few murders and I had someone to get wasted with.

“And yet, you don’t want me to become like you fully.” Because that would break her in more than one way.

“Ehh? If there is someone like me on this planet, I am sure we would be at our throats sooner rather than later. I have no other choice but to be unique.” I said jokingly at first but then realized there was some truth in that. Aska and I fitted perfectly together … but somehow or another we were always arguing with each other.

“More like two individuals of your ego cannot possibly exist on the same planet.” She said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s why I struggle to get through doors as well. They need to be extra wide for my ego.” We looked at each other for a second and then burst out into laughter.

“At least you aren’t stroking it as the prince did. Oh, look at my cousin, isn´t she beautiful? She looks much better than your elf, my dear saint.” Hannah imitated the second prince clearly a bit too well.

“Oh, my prince, don’t flatter me too much. I can barely stop laughing at your attempts to please your father.” I said and held my hand in front of my mouth.

“Don´t worry, I am already his angel. Since my birth, he always taught me that others are there to be bullied by me, but you my dear Lucy are one of a kind. And I am so saddened I cannot bully you anymore.” She said, wiping away the imaginary ears in the corner of her eyes.

“Even though it was so much fun?” I asked pleadingly.

“Even then … it hurts my heart so much, but I will marry someone in the near future and then, we won’t be able to play around anymore.” She said, nearly weeping in the process.

“Oh, my, being married for political gain sure sucks, doesn’t it?” I asked jokingly. Girls weren’t the only ones being married away. Everyone was. Even the king under the right circumstances.

“Serves them right.” Hannah answered, turning only slightly hostile against them.

“I guess so …” And yet, none of us had any intentions to change them. Hannah wouldn’t need to put up with them for too much more and I would fall into coma. Changing humans itself is quite a hard task, especially in a rigid system that was nobility. Thus, we couldn’t give a damn, even though Mary´s future worried me a bit. I still hadn’t told her what would happen to me as I rather did it from eye to eye. And even though I hated to admit it, my time with her would be short as we maybe had a week where we could spend our time together in peace.

“Hey, Lucinda, what are you thinking about?” My maid asked as I looked out of the window into the little forest.

“The future, like always.” I stated and opened the door as the carriage came to an abrupt halt in front of the stairs leading up to the door. Together, Hannah and I climbed these stairs into a completely deserted mansion. The magical lamps were lit, but other than that, there were no signs of life there.

Sighing, I took the first step into the mansion, then my second and my third. This mansion truly wasn’t the same without Mary. A bit saddened, I walked towards my room, grabbed Hannah at the back of her dress just as she wanted to escape into her own and dragged her behind me until I stood in front of the mirror.

Reluctantly, she pulled out all the flowers in my hair, brought me a wet cloth to wash my face and proceeded to get rid of her own hair ornaments while I threw this wretched glittery piece of clothing away from me.

 “So what now?” She asked after some time, as I was already sitting on the bed, gulping down a whole bottle of wine slowly. Only for answering her did I stop drinking.

“Mary isn´t here, so I have a rather large stash that needs to be eradicated from this planet!” I exclaimed and at the bottle onto my mouth again.

“This is so wrong, on so many different levels.” But even then, she took the bottle of wine out of my hands and drank.