I woke up stomach down in the morning.

Yesterday had been draining. I groaned.

Without a watch I couldn’t confirm it, but the days seemed to be way longer as I was used to.

Miss Tessa was stern but generally fair so far. This addressing was an annoying cultural habit. I yawned.

“Morning Lilly!” Milly piped up.

“Morning Milly!” I cringed at my squeaky voice.

“I hope I do better than yesterday with the dressing mess.” I grumbled.

“Dressing is never, never a mess, Lilly!” Milly scolded.

“Cute girls like dressing up!” She exclaimed.

I was blushing again.

“But ...” I wanted to object.

“No but. You’re going to learn that in no time!” She tried to encourage me.

I wasn’t convinced, but I should probably try to improve.

“It’s all easy, you just need some time to learn it.” Tilly chimed in.

“You will see. Trust me!” Another try to encourage me.

“Yeah. ’Trust me, I know what I’m doing!’. I get it.” I snapped.

“Hey! Keep calm. I’m just trying to help!” they scolded me.

Really? A whole sentence in sync? That’s uncanny.

“Sorry.” I sighed.

“I know, but it’s still annoying. It starts with hearing myself speak all day and goes on with dressing up.” I whined.

Eventually we all were down in the cabin. Miss Tessa seemed to be a bit tense.

She ordered us to dress up for the day.

I managed, taking my time, to put all the garments on, while Miss Tessa lamented about clothes having to impeccable.

I tried to pay attention what was wrong, but it just made no sense.

Finally my attire was impeccable.

“From now on it is your chore to clean up and clear the table! I will give a few pointers while you at it. Pay attention.” Miss Tessa propped her hands on her hips.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” we confirmed in unison.

I rolled my eyes.

“I will keep an eye on you, Lilly!” She shot me a withering glare.

I paled.

Satisfied she clapped her hands and we started to set the table under her tight scrutiny.

She gave plenty of advice about correct distances of all the stuff. There were even rules where to position stuff in relation to others depending what was available. It was just confusing.

Fortunately we had Tilly and her uncanny memory. It would take me a while to take all this in.

After that we continued learning the language, which was basically the language spoken in the empire. Nearly everyone spoke it, but there were local languages as well.

We started to relay an increasing number of simple messages around our daily routines over the time.

After a while Miss Tessa clapped her hands to get our attention again.

“Tilly! Don’t spread you legs while sitting wearing a dress. You shouldn’t show your private parts to the world! Just imagine someone would open the door. You would be on fully display!” She frowned at me.

Tilly blushed, pulling his legs together.

“Lilly. You’re even worse.” She glared my way.

I blushed as well as I quickly pulled my legs together. She frowned.

“Understood?” she snapped.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” Tilly and I squeaked.

“All of you will have to work on your posture!” she ran us down.

“Let’s throw in a bit posture training!” She smirked.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” We replied.

It was getting better and better..

About the next 30 minutes Miss Tessa spent on correcting our postures while sitting, while standing and while walking. She seemed to enjoy nudging my checks, my ears, my nose, my pigtails, my arms, my legs.

She only used the bracelet occasionally, thus we continued language training along the way.

Eventually someone knocked three time at the flap.

“Ah! We will soon reach the city of Trenton. You will go into hiding while we pass through.” Miss Tessa nodded at us.

“Certainly you wouldn’t want to go back that dungeon again. Do you?” She looked at us.

“No, Miss Tessa!” We certainly didn’t want to go back there!

“Miss Tessa?” Tilly gave her a timid smile.

She nodded at her.

“Could you tell us something about a Goddess, Solana?” he asked looking at her pleadingly.

“Solana?”Miss Tessa furrowed her brows.

“She’s a troublesome trickster Goddess. How come you know her name?” She looked at Tilly with wide eyes.

“Did you have contact with her in the summoning? Heroes often have bargains with the gods! Tell me.” She frowned deeply.

Tilly paled. No chance denying it at this point.

“She promised us to become truly exceptional heroes!” I exclaimed while pushing out my chest.

Miss Tessa looked at me disbelievingly. Then she shook her head and propped her head on her arm. Milly and Tilly nodded.

“Truly exceptional heroes?” she repeated.

“Oh my. I have to tell Erlaucht about it.” Then she shook her head again and chuckled.

“Most people are happy to avoid her attention, since she is known to trick people to propel themselves in their own demise. There are countless stories about that, some even about other gods.” We all looked at each other paling.

“Perhaps she meant ’Truly exceptional cute heroes’. It’s not wrong. She typically doesn’t lie outright. Long story short people typically don’t get what they expect in an humiliating way.” She sighed.

“Do you know anything about your powers by the way?” she inquired.

“We know next to nothing.” Milly shrugged.

“The people at the summoning told us about having red mana as far as I remember.” She smiled slightly.

Tilly nodded.

“Truly exceptional cute heroes!” Miss Tessa repeated smirking.

“Now hurry! Hide!” She clapped her hands.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” We answered drooping.

In trance we entered the hiding spot.

A long time no one said a word.

“Good rescue!” Milly finally piped up.

“I got the impression she would want to get rid of us.” She groaned.

“Erlaucht will make the decision.” Tilly tried to cheer us up.

“We won’t get far if they abandon us.” Milly sighed.

“That goddess!” I exclaimed, feeling stupid.

“Shush! You don’t know if she listening in!” Tilly warned.

“Does it affect our plans in any way?” Milly sighed deeply.

“Not really. We continue to struggle to get out of this mess. The question is what Easter eggs will pop up over the time. We haven’t any influence on that. What stays is a lingering feeling of dread!” I felt betrayed.

“Yes. It’s useless to agonize over it. We cross these bridges when they appear!” Milly huffed.

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” I cried.

“Language!” Milly scolded.

“We had plenty of this energy and next to nothing we got from it. She said the energy was useful and we even maxed it out!” I ranted.

“Calm down, Lilly!” Milly cooed.

“We have the power of total cuteness!” She exclaimed.

I decided not to comment on that.

“Yeah!” Tilly exclaimed.

“And remember. We do have some healing power. In addition we will be able to do magic!” She boasted

“It’s unfair!” I retorted fuming.

We were silent for a while. My thoughts ran in circles all the time coming to no result. Eventually I calmed down.

“Fine. We take what we get. Let’s talk about something different. I need distraction.” I grumbled.

“Sure cutiepie!” Milly sang.

Is the any chance to resist her teases? I blushed. It surely was distracting so I couldn’t even complain.

After that we chattered about other stuff to put our new language skill to an use.

Eventually we were back in the carriage.

Miss Tessa was in a somber mood. We started to practice brief talks. After half an hour I noticed her glare down below. Looking down I noticed my legs were spread wide apart. I paled, quick pulling my legs together.

“Lilly! Do you have anything that’s working in this little head of yours?” she scolded.

“You’re not able to do the simplest things!” Miss Tessa frowned deeply.

She got up and stepped up to me. She stood there pushing her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

I though about simply sinking in the ground.

After a few moments she squatted down in front of me while pulling a leather strap from the pocket of her apron. With practiced moves tied my knees together tightly. She stepped back.

“You keep that until bedtime. The first time each day I notice you spreading your legs while sitting again I’ll tie them together again! As long as it takes!” She sat down again frowning at me.

After a few minutes of awkward silence we continued our conversations.

Every time I noticed the tied down knees I blushed. I noticed them every time I relaxed my legs. It would be long day.

Later on it started to rain steadily. We could hear the drops hitting the roof of the carriage. Miss Tessa started sewing something she took from a drawer.

We talked about etiquette later on. It was all about when to curtsy, whom to face, how to approach and how to retreat.

We did some practicing as well. It was rather awkward with my knees tied together. Miss Tessa insisted on me practicing, totally ignoring my predicament. Her mood lightened slight over the time.

I was blushing constantly feeling embarrassed.

Eventually it was dinner time. Setting the table in my current condition was awkward. I had to be on my toes not to fall or drop something.

We had a brief dinner.

Immediately after we were done cleaning the table Miss Tessa tucked us in. Normally we had a bit time after dinner. She removed the leather strap finally.

“Miss Tessa was scary this afternoon!” Milli grumbled.

“I suppose being the target of her wrath was worse.” She moved in her bed.

“It was scary. Especially because she exploded on this inanity.” I sighed.

“This is no inanity!” Milly objected.

“Cutiepies like you mustn’t flash your private parts to the world. This is totally unacceptable!” she scolded.

“Yeah, yeah” I groaned annoyed. ‘

‘Stumbling around with my knees tied was absolutely ridiculous!” I whined.

“It was cute!” Milly sang.

Milly! Stop that!

“I consider tying you up myself one day!” she added with glee.

Milly. What are you doing? Why do I feel excited? I blushed furiously.

“I don’t want to!” My voice was slightly quavering.

“Aww! Imagine laying yourself on the bed, tied up in a snug hogtie!” she cooed.

“Milly? What are you talking about?” Tilly chimed in slightly flustered.

“Envious?” Milly asked.

“I’ll tie you up right next to her!” She chuckled.

For a while no one said anything. I was to aroused to trust my voice. I tried to breath deep and slow to keep my heart beat under control.

“Night.” I finally whispered.

“Sleep well” Tilly whispered back.

“Sweet dreams!” Milly sang.

I needed quite some time fall asleep. Milly certainly feeled aroused. I had to calm down first.