The Move (3)
Moreover, I was also supposed to learn how to host tea parties, garden parties, evening parties, though there simply wasn’t enough time. They told me that this tested my etiquette and artistic taste, so it was impossible with my current abilities. When they said “impossible,” I wanted to take up the challenge, but I couldn’t with the lack of time. I had wondered, “Then, what am I supposed to do once I am the Crown Princess and have to host these parties?” But my sisters strongly insisted, “Call us when that happens,” which was reassuring.
To put it bluntly, the Caliente family reached the conclusion, “It’s impossible for this daughter to become the Crown Princess. Rather, there is no use lamenting over this when it has been decided, but we cannot let her enter the imperial palace by herself.” As such, two relatives were assigned to become my maids. The first was Estecia, a countess who was slightly older than me, and the second was Ariess, the daughter of a viscount who was two years younger than me. Even though they’re my relatives, I had never met them before, but during the adhoc Crown Princess training, I got to learn more about them. Not having to enter the palace full of only strangers put my heart at ease. It was decided that Estecia would commute to the palace and Ariess would stay at the palace to take care of me. Aries was a fluffy blonde girl who was slightly shorter than me and was lamenting, “Living at the palace is so much pressure.” Estecia was a black-haired lady who was taller than me, and as expected of a countess, she didn’t seem as nervous as she was already familiar with the palace.
Estecia, rather than a maid, was apparently tasked with being my instructor and look-out for making sure I didn’t slip up. So, she would always let me know when I made a mistake, either big or small. Ariess was responsible for taking care of my personal matters, but she was far more informed about etiquette and manners when compared to me. Thus, I asked her questions whenever I got a chance. The two of them had witnessed my lack of etiquette and manners and seemed to understand my personality. They quickly began to interact with me without any hesitation or reserve. For what it’s worth, they were tasked by the family with the impossible task of stopping me before I made a mistake. They would experience the difficulty of this task over and over again once we entered the palace.
As we were getting ready in this chaotic manner, the day came where Cermiane and I moved into the prepared detached palace. On a side note, we had Jamal and Quemella continue to maintain our house in the meantime. Officially, that mansion would become our villa. Both Cermiane and I left some of our belongings back at our home — there was no point in bringing our commoner clothes and hunting goods to the palace.
Instead, seven carriages’ worth of stuff from the Caliente residence, such as the heaps of custom-made dresses, furniture, decorations, and a mountain load of flowers were brought in. The carriages themselves were luxurious, with the Caliente insignia embedded on them and the guards all dressed-up — it was so glamorous that people came to watch. I was also forced into a pure white dress that was reminiscent of a wedding dress, and forced onto a perfectly decorated open carriage. The people who had come to watch cheered when they saw me. I felt like I was being made a spectacle.
“Why do we have to make a show out of all this?”
“When a lady from a marquisate marries into a higher-ranking family, it is always like this.”
Mother, who got into the same carriage as my assistant, replied frankly. This meant that this was just a repeat of my marriage procession. Basically, since I was marrying into the imperial family, the small-scale marriage ceremony we had would taint the Caliente family’s reputation. So, they apparently wanted to at least do a new marriage procession so that they could overwrite it with this one. Personally, this felt like my third one: the one at the territory, the marriage ceremony, and then this one… Flowers were thrown from the frontmost carriage, and the spectators picked them up, tore off the petals, and threw them in my direction. I could hear people congratulating me. They were celebrating a new bride, it seemed. Though, I’ve already been married for a while… Cermiane was riding in the same carriage wearing his blue uniform, and he was also smiling wryly. Regarding this blue outfit of his — it turned out to be a military ceremonial uniform that only the imperial family were allowed to wear, and only the imperial prince who was affiliated with the army could wear it. Blue was apparently the official color representing the imperial family. The reason why he wore it at our wedding was because he wanted to wear his best clothes for our special occasion. Now that I think of it, it indeed was very gorgeous and made of high-quality, shimmering material. Apparently, His Highness the Crown Prince forced him to take it.
“Honestly, I was a little worried that the Marquis would notice. However, since no one had worn it for the last couple of decades, I had thought it would be okay and wore it.”
Father, why in the world did you not notice, hm? Though, if he did notice, that would also have caused a lot of problems too…
The procession entered the palace while being surrounded by the crowd’s cheers.
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