Chapter 4: The New Foal
IN Luducia, it was customary for aristocratic children to be accompanied by an adult when they went out.
Whenever Amy went to the royal palace on her own, she would either be accompanied by her mother or the Northland family butler. When the royal palace sent a carriage to pick her up, however, they would also send a knight guard and a maid to accompany her on the journey.
This allowed Amy to go to the castle even on days Isabelle and the butler were too busy to join her. She felt very obliged but also thankful.
Amy had wondered at first if it was really necessary to have a guard come along if a maid was already there to accompany her. However, try as they might to look inconspicuous, they were still very clearly riding in a royal carriage. Even Edward told her that the guard was necessary, and Amy finally came to understand that this was just how things operated in royal life.
Today, she would be riding in a carriage with Alyssa and a guard knight she had never met before. Alyssa had been the maid stationed at Amy’s table during the initial tea party held for the engagement candidates. Ever since then, Alyssa had waited on Amy almost every time she had visited the royal palace.
Alyssa was waiting for her in front of the carriage, the comfortable breeze rustling her ginger bangs. When she spotted Amy leaving the house, the two smiled brightly at each other.
“Lady Amy! It’s been too long! I’m happy to see you looking so well.”
“Thank you for coming, Alyssa!” said Amy, and then adding to the unknown knight, “I haven’t yet had the pleasure of making your acquaintance, have I? It’s very nice to meet you.”
“My name is Scott Kelleher, and I’ll be in charge of security today. I’m very happy to make your acquaintance.”
After exchanging brief pleasantries, the Northland family servants helped Amy settle into the carriage, and then the carriage set off.
Alyssa was the daughter of a viscount, and by this point, she had been working at the royal palace long enough to be considered a veteran. She was currently assigned to the Third Prince.
Alyssa never once laughed behind Amy’s back at her figure, and the two ladies enjoyed a very close relationship. Isabelle had once noted that when the two of them were together, it was like she was looking at two sisters attending the same elementary school, one in kindergarten and one in the fifth grade.
Quite some time after that first tea party, Amy had learned that the head maid of the royal palace, Hannah, had once been Isabelle’s governess. Amy suspected that Alyssa was so often assigned to her because Isabelle had taken advantage of that connection and requested it.
Amy would occasionally pass by maids in the royal palace, giving her scathing looks. Perhaps they were in some way connected to one of the other ladies whose names had been initially announced as Prince Edward’s fiancée candidates, or perhaps they even had hopes of marrying him themselves.
The maids attending Amy waited on her close at hand, and there were many chances for them to talk. But if she was met with a sour attitude every time she tried to be pleasant, the visits would be exhausting.
So, even though it was probably overprotective of Isabelle to interfere like that, Amy was rather grateful for it.
The fact of the matter, however, was that Amy’s conjectures were totally wrong—Alyssa had taken a liking to Amy at the tea party and had petitioned for the position herself. Amy, however, remained totally unaware of this.
Inside the carriage, free from needing to worry about the public eye, Amy and Alyssa could speak freely and easily.
As Amy wasn’t yet of age, she couldn’t casually go out and about, and on her days off, she usually just worked with animals. So during these moments, Alyssa, very up-to-date on the goings-on of the royal capital, would fill Amy in on the latest news. Alyssa had much to tell Amy about today, and she was particularly excited about the new pastry shop that had just opened.
“I went with a coworker who works for the crown prince when we didn’t have work the other day. She makes sweets from Bakr for Princess Sameen quite often, and she said the ones at the pastry shop looked and tasted pretty close to the real thing!”
“Really?” asked Amy excitedly. “I wanted to go, but I haven’t really gotten the chance lately. I was thinking I might try to go after the tournament is over.”
Inspired by the wedding of the Crown Prince and Princess Sameen, more and more shops selling foodstuffs and miscellaneous goods from the princess’ homeland of Bakr had started popping up in the royal capital. Even the new confectionary stores were selling exotic candies and sweets—including the pastry shop they were discussing.
“The interior design was really elaborate in the sitting area. You should definitely give it a visit! Men seemed to enjoy themselves there too—there were tons of people on dates and married couples… Isn’t it a shame that His Highness wasn’t able to come to the riding grounds today, Amy?”
“I-I—y-yes, it is. And, um…Hannah and Ventus went with him to the inspection, right?”
“Yes. Everyone went with him this time,” Alyssa replied, grinning.
Amy was still slightly flustered, but she was relieved Alyssa went along with the shift in conversation.
Edward had explained in his letter that he was going on the annual inspection for towns around the royal capital that usually took place this time of the year.
He would’ve been back already if things had gone according to plan, but some urgent matters came up at one of the locations that he needed to deal with, so his return was postponed until tomorrow.