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Episode 3:
I Am a Mistress Now
SEVERAL MONTHS HAD PASSED BY IN A FLASH since that awful birthday party I hoped to never have to go through again.
For real, Grandfather! I’m begging you! Please, never again!
However, it had finally given me an opportunity to meet my lovely older sisters, which certainly was a treat. I did accidentally let my true self slip there a bit, but I couldn’t help it. I, a demon, was here all by myself and had no minions of my own. Perhaps I should try to summon some from another world? Surely that would be a mistake…
In any case, all’s well that ends well, so, whatever. But I had a feeling that word of my sisters’ antics had reached the royal family. I didn’t know for sure or anything, but Lady Elea seemed quite angry about it. She had been an acquaintance of my sisters’ mother and was planning on sending them off to the Academy of the Magical Arts in the Kingdom of Sigoules—which was where my aunt lived—before I started going to school.
Siiiigh. Not like I was depressed about it or anything. Truth be told, they weren’t fully ripened yet. I would give them a few more years to mature before I harvested them. But if we had been able to go to the same school together, it would’ve meant that, y’know, I could have had a teeny tiny sip of them, maybe. But I would try to do what I could to get them to return while I was still in school. Noble girls like them were very valuable, you know.
Еn̄um̀a . і d
Father apologized to me for what happened, but it didn’t bother me at all! If anything, I was more than ready to take them on! Father always had such a heartbreaking look on his face whenever talking about my sisters, though. He must have had very complicated feelings of love for them. Perhaps it would be best if I treasured my sisters from the heart and sipped on them little by little over the course of our lives, like some old guy who kept a cherished hidden bottle of sake.
Please be well, sisters. Or, at least, I’d have liked to think that. But as it so happened, they left me an annoying “parting gift.”
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“Are you listening, Yulucia?”
“Yeees, Father.”
Father had just returned to Toure and called for me. I ran as fast as my little legs could take me and Father picked me up into his arms and placed me on his lap as we sat down on the couch.
Huh? Why does he look so tired?
Е̇ n̊ ũ mа̂.і̌d́
“Do you know what our family of the Grand Duke of Versenia exports to the Kingdom of Sigoules, which is where your sisters have gone to now?”
“Uhh, alcohol and…iron!”
He patted my head as a reward for getting the right answer. “That’s right. You’ve been studying well. We export products made of iron and spirits, and import crops and fruit from them in return.”
Our lands produced crops and fruit too, but Sigoules was known as a major agricultural power, and they produced plenty of crops that weren’t fit to be sold. They treated these crops so that they wouldn’t rot during the journey and sent them to us to process into wines, ale, and the like, which we then sent back to them. I was pretty sure that Sigoules produced its own iron too, but we sent things like chisels and drills for precision cutting, not ores to be turned into weapons. The products we made all had the grand duke’s seal on them.
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“And so they want you, instead of me, to help out by going on a tour of the place where it’s all made. Does that sound okay to you?”
“I get to help out?” It would be my very first errand as the princess of the grand duke!
Еn̂û m_á . îd̄
Wait, “tour”? By myself? Were they serious about this? But I was just a good-for-nothing pureblood who had only ever been here and the castle in the royal capital.
“Do you want to hear more about it?”
“Okay.”
He explained that not everything we exported was produced within Toure. In particular, the iron ores usually never left the mines—they went through the entire refining and treating processes in that same area in an attempt to optimize production.
“It’s hard to ensure there’s enough fuel there for the whole thing, but the elves who live in the nearby forests cut down lots of trees and sell us the charcoal, so it works.”
“Ooh.”
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The salt-and-bean mochi-dumpling peoples, eh? I had assumed they would care about preserving the forests, but it seemed I was wrong.
Anyway, this on-site observation tour thing was an important part of Father’s job, but he had other matters to attend to, both as a grand duke and as a member of the royal family. He might even be called to go abroad if something happened, so he didn’t have time to travel around to different parts of our lands.
You mean it’s not because you’ve been coming home so often to see me instead?
Though that was a justifiable reason, so there was no helping that. But when I asked why me, apparently the people there had requested it. Uhh?
What should I sing? Wait, what? You mean I’m not going there on tour as an idol? Then why? Oh, because they’re demanding me as the Saint?!
“People can get pretty hurt when working in the mines and ironworks. We have been helping people who can’t return to their jobs find different work instead, but they were wondering if you could help them. Of course, I’m sure that just seeing your face would be enough to lift their spirits,” my father explained.
Е núm̆ а̊ . і̂ḋ
“I see.”
So I would be more like an idol going to a hospital to cheer people up. But surely they had places of healing or pastors or priests who could use holy magic, right?
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Well, it turned out that it took many castings for a regular priest to be able to mend a broken bone, and so they couldn’t heal great numbers of people at once like I could—not to mention bringing people back from the brink of death. This was why the people desired the rumored Saint to heal their bodies and hearts.
But…
“Am I really the Saint?” I hadn’t been officially recognized as the Saint by any religion yet, so it was embarrassing to hear people call me that.
“People are working hard to figure that out, so don’t worry. The Saint is a special title here in the Holy Kingdom, so we don’t call just anyone that.”
W̆е́ b n о̌v е l̊ Е̂ ñu mӓ
“Okay.”
That just made me more scared! None of the religions were going to start treating me like an enemy, right?
“I’d like to tell you more about the Saint now,” Father said.
“’Kaaay.”
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The simplest reason the title of Saint was not easily granted was because our nation was recognized by all as the religious Holy Kingdom. I didn’t really get it, but it was like how unbranded wine was worth less than the kind made by a brand name—everyone saw the Saint, who had the Holy Kingdom’s brand, as special.
The very first queen at the time of the country’s founding had been the Saint, so the Saint was admired just as reverently as the royal family was by the people even today. Because of this, hundreds of years ago, each religion had their own Saint and began squabbling among themselves. The king at the time was tired of it and went off to fight the Daemon King all on his own, which cost him his life. Well, that was dumb of him.
Ëňûm à . id̀
If I remembered correctly, the daemons weren’t humans who had done bad things, but actually some kind of savage species? I wished they had picked a better name that didn’t give demons such a bad rap.
But I digress.
Anyway, there was some stupid legend about how all of the Saints ran away or died, and now all of the religions were scared of picking the wrong person to name as Saint and having their recognition revoked by the Holy Kingdom. As a result, they were now very careful about who they gave the title to.
“And it’s for that same reason that there’s another title that’s rarely granted. Do you know what that is?”
“Uhhh, the Daemon King?”
“I…guess so. Yeah, that’s certainly not a title we would commonly grant.”
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Seemed I’d guessed wrong.
It was the Saint’s job to name the enemy of humanity, but apparently there had been another title meant for striking down our enemies. It seemed that there had been a ton of such enemies at one time, but they had been cast out with the Saints, never to return.
“They’re the person who’s supposed to stand by the Saint’s side. Think carefully, now.”
“Okay.” I had no idea what it could be, though!
“And this is why I’ll be assigning four personal attendants to you.”
“Huh?” Attendants? Like how Vio is to Mother?
Wе̂bn_ȯv̂ёl̄ Ӗ nu m а̃
I presently had Vio or one of the other two with me whenever I went somewhere. It was mainly because I was Mother’s daughter, so I was basically borrowing them from her. I also had Sarah and the other knights as my guards, so I thought they were attendants, but they were for protecting me, not tending to my needs.
Not that I minded having my own personal attendants or anything, but… Father? Why are you looking away from me like that?!
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For some reason, Father grimaced like he had a stomachache and, suddenly, his explanation about the attendants ended without another word. He just went back to work. How suspicious. There must’ve been something wrong with these attendants—I had no doubt about it.
Very well, then. It was time to forget about focusing on somewhat bothersome things and keep a positive outlook instead. Today, I had decided to get our book-loving maid Min to teach me all about the monsters in this world, since I had been wondering about them for some time now. After all, given that I was going on an idol tour into the countryside—er, I mean, since I was going to have to travel on an observation tour of our land—a time might come where such knowledge would be required. I knew about daemons, but they were different from monsters, so I was looking forward to learning about them!
“Lady Yuuul, I’ve brought a book called The Traveler’s Dictionary of Versatile Monsters.”
“Yay!”
Е n ū m ă
I’d known Min would come through for me. And what she’d chosen sounded like the perfect book too.
“First up, here’s a jackalope,” Min said while opening the book.
“Ooh!”
“They’re fast and usually run away the second they’re spotted. However, their meat tastes really good!”
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“Ooh…” That just sounded like a regular rabbit. “What about the one on this page?”
“This is a wolf. They approach travelers they see, and if you give them food, they’ll keep watch for you all night long.”
Wĕ b̈ n̄ o̊ vе̇l Ѐnu ḿа̇
That didn’t sound very wild of them.
“What’s this one?”
“This is a boar. They’re a bit tough, but their meat is very tasty.”
So that was what the title meant by “versatile” monsters…
“Oh, wait, were you perhaps hoping to learn about the more dangerous kinds of monsters instead, Lady Yul?”
“Uh, yeah.”
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Don’t look so surprised. It’s not an unusual request coming from me.
Min ran off and soon came back with a book called The Traveler’s Dictionary of Perilous Monsters instead.
Oh, good. I’m glad that kind of book actually exists.
“This is a tiger. They’re cautious creatures that are rarely sighted by people; however, you have to be careful since they try to attack horses.”
“Oh, my!” The forests had such fearsome animals? How scary!
“This is a rhinoceros. They attack travelers with their horns.”
Ẅ ѐbnó v̄ё l̇ Е̇ n um̃ ǎ
“Ooh?”
“And this is a hippopotamus. They charge straight at travelers the second they see them.”
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“Huh.”
“This is an elephant. They like to attack travelers in herds.”
I fell silent.
What was the meaning of this?
Е n̄ŭm̃ ӑ
These were monsters? Really? But they seemed so…normal!
No, wait, that wasn’t what I should have been focusing on; there was a bigger problem here.
These animals attacked people? On the roads through the forests? You mean to tell me that travelers got attacked by rhinos and hippos?! Uh, that was actually a really terrifying thought! They actually sounded scarier than lesser demons!
I had asked Min to teach me about this kind of thing, but this wasn’t exactly what I had wanted to learn.
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“Ooh, wait, were you actually hoping to learn about dangerous monstrosities instead?”
“Yeah.”
E̊_ṅ ŭ m̃ a.і d́
Even I was surprised now. But this was very interesting. Hippos and elephants were ordinary animals, but treated as monsters because they were dangerous creatures. If this was the standard here in this world, then I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from pointing and laughing if the Daemon King came riding out on a hippo.
And so, life went on and a few months passed. I was already a big girl by now, I’ll have you know. Not that I understood why I was growing up, since I was a demon.
At long last, my father finally brought my prospective attendants to meet me, though he had been very vague about the whole thing. Father, I trust you, okay?
I was silent in the face of them.
“Since they’re going to be serving as your attendants for a long time, we thought it would be best if they were close to you in age.”
They were going to attend to my every need, right?
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These children…
As if to avoid my stare, Father had brought the four of them before me. They didn’t seem scared of me, but they didn’t really seem interested in me either. So I asked them, “Uh, could you all introduce yourselves to me?”
The first was the group’s only boy. There was something unpleasant about the way he smiled. He almost seemed to be rubbing his hands together as he said, “I am Noir, the heir to the former Baron Lutre. I am to be your chamberlain-in-training, Lady Yulucia.”
Noir was eight years old. He had dark brown hair, which I supposed made him a brunette? He gave a courteous enough greeting, but there was a questionable glint in those bluish-grey eyes of his. Not to mention, the whole time he was introducing himself, he kept glancing at Father instead of me.
The second was…
“I’m Big Brother Noir’s little sister, Ninette. I’m, uh, your guardian knight-in-training, I guess?”
Ẁ е̃ b́ n̆ o v еl̇ Еn ú m̄ ӑ
Ninette was also eight years old. She had the same hair and eyes as her brother. While Noir seemed shady, Ninette seemed very confused about herself. She hadn’t even tried to hide a yawn from Father and me. Maybe she was supposed to be in-training to be both my attendant and my guardian knight?
The third…
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“I’m Christina, the eldest daughter of the former Viscount of Celda. I will be in training to become your lady-in-waiting.”
Christina was five years old. She was the same age as me, yet she could speak very well. This was the first time I had ever seen golden ringlet curls in real life.
Perhaps it was the azure of her eyes, but there something strangely apathetic about her—dangerous, even. Not so much that it aroused my appetite, though.
And the fourth and final one…
Ёn ù m а. ĩ d̃
“So, I’m Fantine, the third daughter of the former Baron Rhoan, I guess? I’m in training to become your lady-in-waiting like Christy, and your maid too!”
Fantine was five years old. Also the same age as me. She sure was cheerful, which was great and all, but she seemed kind of oblivious to her surroundings. She was pretty, but—maybe because of her silver hair and blue eyes, or the somewhat stilted way she moved—she seemed more like a heartless doll than anything.
Father and I stared at one another in silence for a moment. He eventually averted his gaze.
So these four were to be my personal attendants? They all sounded like they were from noble families, but what was the “former” thing that they had all mentioned?
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“Okay! Now that introductions are out of the way, the four of you are to take care of Yulucia! You try your best to get along with them too, Yulucia!”
“Ah! Father?!”
Wе̃b nо̀v е l Еn ǔ.m̈ à
After that announcement, Father grabbed his cloak from Butler and went back to work before I could stop him. Was this really happening right now?!
I had reached out to him, but now I lowered my arm, putting a smile on my face as I shifted into princess mode while I slowly turned around to face my attendants. “I look forward to getting to know you all.”
“Yes,” replied three of them.
“Me too, my lady!” Fantine added.
Would I be able to become friends with them? Perhaps we should aim to become an idol unit?
These four children weren’t bad kids. At the very least, I didn’t sense any antagonism toward my family from them. They seemed determined to obey not only my every order, but those of Vio and the others, who were teaching them what to do.
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They weren’t naughty at all.
But there was something about them…
“Lady Yulucia, on today’s schedule, we have your tutor on etiquette coming this morning.”
“Okay.”
Noir? Is that all you had to say about today’s schedule? You can just go back to work then, you know? Why are you just staring at me like that? Moreover, why are you looking at the baked sweets on the table? I’m not going to give you a treat just because you did such a small thing for me.
“You can have some,” I said, motioning to the treats.
Еňǔ m а̂. і̃ d̄
“Thank you, my lady!”
Perhaps they weren’t feeding him enough? Fer and Min were always pleased by the sumptuous meals they received here, though.
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Crash!
“Oh, I’m so sorry, my lady. I broke the vase.”
The clumsy Ninette had broken something again. This child was so easily distracted that I wondered if she was able to concentrate on anything at all. And she was supposed to be my guard?
“Ninette, could you please not bring your practice sword indoors?”
En̊ u mа̌
“But I am your guard, my lady… And…I like swords.”
“Uh, okay.”
I didn’t ask what you like. What I’m trying to say is that you’re such a scatterbrain, you’re going to end up breaking all kinds of things walking around while wearing something like that on your hip.
“Don’t worry, Lady Yulucia,” Noir interjected as he gave a bow. He seemed to be trying to cover for his sister. “With the wealth of the grand duke, surely a broken vase or two is nothing to cry about.”
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Excuse me?
“Yes, I’m sure you’re right. I’m so glad I get to work here,” Ninette said.
Е̌ n̄ u ḿ а̀
What are you two trying to imply?
“Just get this cleaned up already,” I ordered, trying not to let my annoyance show.
“Yes, of course, my lady. Come on, Ninette. Get this cleaned up,” Noir said.
You do it, Noir. You’re the one not doing anything.
“Right away. I’ll call one of the maids,” Ninette said with a quick look around.
I slowly massaged my brow. As the twins tried to pass the job off onto someone else, I felt my aura attempting to leak out and did all I could to hold it back as I quietly smiled at them. “I want the two of you to get this cleaned up. Now.”
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For the first time in the five and a half years I had been alive, I was angry.
“Christy, could you make me some tea?” It might not have had any flavor to me, but even demons got thirsty.
“Right away, my lady. By the way, my name is Christina.”
“All right.” So I can’t call you by your nickname? But Fantine can call you “Christy”?
“You need to tell me what your preferences are for tea or I won’t know what to pick.”
“Just pick some herbal tea.”
Е̊ nu ḿ а. і̆ḋ
“Very well, I shall go make you some herbal tea.”
“Where’s Fantine?”
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“I do not know. I shall be back in a few minutes.”
“Ah—”
She shut the door and was gone.
Christina was so good at her job that it was hard to believe she was the same age as me. But she was very particular about the details. Maybe I would even go so far as to call her fussy? She was a cool-headed and calm kind of person in a way, but there was a world of difference between her and Vio, who also had the same kind of personality.
Е̄ n ũ ḿа̃ . і̂ d
As of this moment, she was one hundred percent tsun and her dere was nil.
Hmm, I don’t sense any malice in her. She’s just a perfectionist.
I hoped!
As for my other lady-in-waiting and maid, there were some days where I didn’t see her at all.
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“Fer, have you seen Fantine?” I asked Fer while I was having some tea.
She tilted her head to the side like she was trying to remember. “I saw her digging a hole in the flower bed in the courtyard this morning. Did you ask her to do something there?”
Ẃ еb ñ ov̌е l E n u mа̀
“No?” What the heck had she been doing?
The two of us exchanged confused looks, and then the other maids who were present spoke up.
“I saw her fetching confections for you in the kitchens, but I do not see them here.”
“I saw her going somewhere with a blanket.”
“Now that you mention it, she was the first to get breakfast this morning. Was she given permission to not be attending to Lady Yul’s breakfast?”
“And I saw her walking somewhere with one of Lady Yul’s coloring books and some crayons. She brought them to you, right?”
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I fell silent. What are you doing, Fantine? She was acting like a child playing at a relative’s house!
Was this just her way of doing things? Still! Fantine was the least objectionable of the four of them, but for now, I needed to have a talk with her. Not that I knew if she’d understand me or not.
I was sure that these four kids would shape up once I got them to open up to me. Surely they must’ve had some good points about them, since they were human.
And all five of us were still children. Forcing children to work was just asking for trouble. I was sure that in several years when we were all grown up, they would turn out to be acceptable, unruffled attendants.
But the question was, would I hit my limit first?
The day was drawing closer too for my departure on the tour of our lands…with my four attendants in tow.
Еń ů m̈a.і d
I wished I could run away.
***
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Nearly every son and daughter of Talitelud nobility with a magical gift went to school at the main campus of the Academy of the Magical Arts in the royal capital of Versenia. Some noble families owned a villa in the capital or rented a manor there, but the school was also fully equipped with dormitories for the children of middle-ranking families from the countryside or of lower standing.
One of the children living at these dorms was a fifth-year named Seri, who was the third daughter of Baron Varun. One day, she received an invitation.
“Oh my?!” She covered her mouth with both hands as she nearly shrieked with surprise when she saw the name of the sender.
Her family possessed a small bit of land in the north and had no particularly big industries to speak of. As such, they weren’t wealthy enough to have their own villa in the capital. As the third daughter of the family, she managed to somehow avoid going to the academy’s branch school in the north and attend the main school in the capital instead, but she had to live in the dorms.
W е b̈ n̆ оv́e l̊ Ẽn̄u m̈ӑ
The daughters of wealthy families who owned their own manors in the capital or wealthy merchants attended tea parties practically every day, discussing the latest fashions and music in the capital and enjoying tea and confections from the highest-class shops.
However, countryside girls like Seri were hardly ever invited. Seri, her friends of similar circumstances, and the commoner girls would all hold their own pretend tea parties in the dormitories instead, dreaming of what living a life of luxury must be like. At these parties, they talked about everyday things, school, handsome boys, and listened to what real tea parties were like from the lucky older girls who had received the rare invitation before.
Seri and the other girls all especially longed to know what it would be like to attend one of the Moonlit Tea Parties they had heard so much about. They had heard that you didn’t get to go to this party by ordinary means. Girls from the upper nobility had been rejected when they asked if they could attend.
It all started with receiving an invitation.
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Invitations could be received regardless of birth or whether a girl personally knew Lady Mylene. Those who were chosen to receive an invitation by Count Auber’s daughter and able to participate in the Moonlit Tea Party always came back with dreamy looks on their faces, telling others how wonderful the tea party had been. At the Moonlit Tea Party, the girls had been greeted by young gorgeous butlers and pretty maids who looked like fairies. They were served wonderful beverages, lavish food, and sweets in a luxurious garden of blooming roses. And they were charmed by the beauty of the hostess, Lady Mylene—the Silver Princess.
However, there was a covenant to be followed in order to attend a Moonlit Tea Party:
W е b ǹ о ṽ е l̃ Е_n ũm̃ а
One, you must not show the invitation to anyone.
Two, you must not tell a single soul that you were invited until after the tea party.
Three, you must not allow yourself to be seen by anyone that night until the moment you stepped into the coach that would take you to the party.
If you broke any of these rules, no one would come for you and you would never receive an invitation ever again.
To receive such an invitation to such an exclusive party…
“Th-this is unbelievable.”
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The invitation with illustrations of silver roses had been slid under the door to Seri’s dorm room, and now she clutched it to her chest. Feeling the same kind of fear as someone who had been suddenly entrusted with a great sum of money, she hurriedly hid it under her underwear in her dresser drawer.
“Oooh, I want to tell someone sooo badly!” Seri plunged into her bed and started rolling around with excitement. She was afraid that she might let it slip if she went to dinner with her friends, so she lied, saying she had no appetite, and hid in her room.
And then, that night…
“Wow!”
Seri got into a coach that looked just like the pretty ones she had seen in picture books as a child and was ushered to the unfamiliar, yet beautiful garden of an extravagant manor she had never been to before. Everywhere she looked, bright red roses bloomed, and she liked the elegant music she could hear coming from some unidentifiable place.
Other girls holding the same silver-rose-adorned invitation sat at a table made of white marble with white chairs made of thin metals. They looked enthralled as they were waited on by beautiful butlers and maids.
Еǹ uḿа
“Welcome, Miss Seri.” A silver-haired girl wearing a black-and-purple dress walked over to Seri as soon as she arrived.
“Th-thank you, Lady Mylene.”
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She had sparkling silver hair like moonlight. Her skin was so pale, it was practically transparent.
She’s so beautiful.
Seri stopped in her tracks, completely captivated by the girl’s beauty. There was a bewitching gleam in the girl’s purplish-silver eyes and then Seri’s heart melted, with an expression to match, as she too became as entranced as the other girls.
“Come, join us.”
W̊е̊ b̆ novе l̊ E n̆ u m̀а
The girls awoke the next morning in their beds in their rooms.
However, they all found the proof that showed that last night had not been a dream or a fantasy: a single rose tied with a silver ribbon. The girls all then went on to tell all of their friends and families about the previous night, describing in a dreamy state of mind just how wonderful the Moonlit Tea Party had been.
That is, all but the few girls, including Seri, who had not been returned home…
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