The Move (1)
Three months after that eventful day, it was decided that Cermiane and I would move into a detached palace inside the inner palace.
After discussing with His Majesty and Her Majesty a few times, it was decided that Cermiane would enter the palace as an imperial prince, and immediately start working as the deputy Crown Prince. Then, when His Highness the Crown Prince passed away, Cermiane would become the Crown Prince.
I disliked the idea of planning with the assumption that someone is going to die, but empire affairs cannot afford to stop running, even for a single day. The Crown Prince was a public position, and the Crown Prince’s Office was a public institution. Continuing to run empire affairs wasn’t a means to cope with this unfortunate turn of events, but was our duty as the sovereigns of the Empire.
Even up until the day we moved to the palace, we weren’t able to continue living our lives the way we used to. We were too busy preparing for our new lives.
A while before we moved, Cermiane’s affiliation changed from the Knight Order to the Crown Prince’s Office, and began to take over as the deputy Crown Prince. Everyday, he would go to the palace by carriage, and wouldn’t return until very late at night. That was because Cermiane had only worked as a knight before. Now, he was suddenly the deputy Crown Prince, and he needed to memorize mountains of information. Moreover, His Highness the Crown Prince was already in no state to fulfill his duties, so Cermiane needed to do that too. The government cannot stagnate at any time. Cermiane came back utterly exhausted every day due to his new, unfamiliar job. By the way, the reason why we couldn’t move into the detached palace for three months even though Cermiane was so busy with transitioning into his new role was because they needed to prepare the detached palace for our arrival.
And if you ask if I was just idling around while Cermiane was busy, then the answer was no. Not by a long shot. I was also really busy and overwhelmed.
A couple days from that fateful day, I was called back to the Caliente home. When I went back, since there was no reason not to, my entire family, headed by Mother and Father, were there, and they started interrogating me with bloodshot eyes. It was understandable. Though, even with that said, there was too much that I also didn’t know, so I couldn’t answer them satisfactorily.
At the conclusion of our grand family meeting, it was an honor to the Caliente family to produce a Crown Princess as well as a good opportunity to increase their political influence. As such, it was agreed that the Caliente family would fully support Cermiane and me. Thank you very much.
With that decided, I tried to go back home, but things didn’t turn out that way. I was firmly grasped by Mother and my sisters. W-what’s their deal?
“There is no way we can let you enter the imperial palace the way you are! It will be an embarrassment to the Caliente name! From today, you will become the epitome of the Empire’s ideal lady! Prepare yourself!”
At that time, I was wearing one of my nicer blouses, a bodice, a skirt, and a pair of boots. It was one of my nicer outfits, but it was still commoner clothing. Indeed, I wouldn’t be able to enter the palace in these clothes.
“Oh, it is fine, Mother. When I go to the palace, I will wear a dress, don’t worry.”
“What nonsense are you spouting! By dress, you mean that dress I made you bring when you moved out, don’t you? That kind of cheap dress does not suit the dignity of a Crown Princess! We must order a tailor-made dress immediately!”
“And do not forget about etiquette and manners! You mustn’t lumber around like that in the palace! Think of each hand-raise and step you take as representing our family! You will undergo intensive training! From today on, you will come here every day!”
Yikes! Th-things have gotten out of hand. Mother’s eyes were dead serious, and true to her word, I underwent intense training at the Caliente residence since they sent a carriage to my home everyday to prevent me from skipping. A countless number of top-quality dresses were made, and it was a big fuss just to get the fitting and basting done. Mountains of jewelry were brought over, and while putting them on me, they drilled in me that this was that jewel, that was from this mine, this jewel has a lot of counterfeits so be careful, and things like that. Having an eye for jewelry was apparently required as a noble lady.
Regarding etiquette and manners, they instructed me even on how to raise my hand and lower my feet. How to speak wasn’t just simply pronunciation and inflection. They taught me how to phrase things, and even how to express myself through subtle pauses. I learned for the first time that there was a way to send a signal to a maid just by how you opened your eyes. I even had to pay attention to my fingers when sitting down, and there was only one thing I was sure of: there was no way I would be able to remember any of this.
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