He immediately fell on his back.
“Lord Clarke? Lord Clarke?!” I called out, panicking. I began to shake him, but he stopped me.
“Lettie, where did you learn to do that?”
“Someone did this to a prince in a storybook!”
“Well, don’t do that to other people in the future, okay?”
“Um, okay?” I wasn’t sure why, but I agreed anyway.
He got up and smiled. I was so happy I had to hug him, and he hugged me back.
“My goodness, how adorable! Someone fetch the royal painter immediately!” the lady said.
“Oh, it’s far too early for her to be kissing his cheek!” my father whined.
“A man must know when to resign himself to his fate,” Your Majesty said.
The hug was nice, and I was happy, but the grown-ups kind of ruined it.
✦ ✦ ✦
I’d had a really nice day! And a really nice night! And now it was the next day.
“Lettie, you’ll be starting your princess education today,” my father told me. He looked sad.
“What’s an ‘education’?” I asked him.
“It’s lessons,” he explained. “You’ll be studying to be a bride.”
“Like, um, how to be a homemaker?”
“Oh, so you know that word,” my father said, staring into the distance. “Right, so, about that education...”
“Hmm?”
“You’ll be the wife of a king someday, so you have to learn lots of things.”
“Okay?”
“Oh. You don’t understand, do you?” my father asked, trying to think of how to explain it. “Well, either way, I think it’s far too soon to start your princess lessons, so don’t worry. I’ll tell them no.”
A third person entered the conversation. “You can’t.”
“Nadir!” my father said, very surprised by the sudden appearance of my brother, who hadn’t been home since yesterday.
“Leticia will begin her education today. Arrangements have already been made.”
“You’ve gone behind my back again!”
“I only did what was proper. Now, father, kindly return to our territory.”
“Wh-What are you saying?! I’m staying here!”
“His Majesty has decreed that I handle affairs at the capital and you handle affairs in our territory. Now, please, father, go home.”
“Nadir!”
“The carriage is ready and waiting for you. Go.”
“N-No! I’m not leaving Lettie!”
“Don’t be stubborn!”
“You monster!”
As my brother dragged him away, my father yelled my name. Apparently I wasn’t going home, so I waved goodbye. He yelled for me harder.
My brother shoved our father into the carriage, then turned back toward me.
“Is father going back to our territory?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Don’t I have to go back?”
“You have work to do.”
“What work?”
My brother grinned at me. “Shall we head to the palace?”
✦ ✦ ✦
I’d just been to the palace yesterday, but now we were heading there again. This time, it wasn’t my father holding my hand. It was my brother.
“Are we going to see Lord Clarke?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. At the end.”
At the end?
I was confused, but I was also really happy because I’d get to see Lord Clarke.
My brother pulled me to a small door, different from the one I’d seen yesterday.
“Is this where Lord Clarke is?” I asked.
“No, it isn’t.”
I tilted my head. Hadn’t we come here to see Lord Clarke?
“Listen, Leticia,” my brother said. “This is something you need to do. The sooner you start, the better.”
“Okay?”
“Even if it gets tough, you need to get through this. You understand, right, Leticia?”
“Okay...”
“If you run away, it’ll only get worse. Okay, Leticia?”
“O-Okay.”
He was just saying the same thing over and over.
“Now work hard,” he said as he opened the door. He stood right where he was, which meant I had to go in alone.
I nervously made my way inside. The door closed behind me, and I heard the sound of the lock clicking. I couldn’t get out through there anymore.
Scared and trembling, I wondered what would happen next. I lifted my head, and in front of me stood a tall woman wearing glasses. She bowed when she saw me.
“Lady Leticia, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am called Laila, and starting today, I am to be your tutor.”
“U-Um, I’m Leticia.” I returned her greeting nervously, and she pushed her glasses back up.
“That’s not right!”
“What?”
“Greetings are the most basic of basics! You must state all the necessary details clearly, and keep the correct posture!”
“Huh?”
“Now try again! Repeat after me! ‘I am Duchess Leticia of House Dorman.’ Say it!”
“I-I am Duchess Leticia of House Dorman.”
“Too quiet, too timid! That’s not good enough! Again!”
“Eep...”
“Do not make ridiculous noises!”
“O-Okaaay...”
“Do not draw out your words! Enunciate properly!”
“Wahhhh...”
“Do not cry!”
I didn’t know why I was there, and I didn’t know why this stranger was yelling at me. I was scared and confused. I cried and cried.
✦ ✦ ✦
It had been a dream.
I’d woken up in my bed, trying to sort out my scrambled thoughts.
It’s okay. I’m Leticia Dorman, seventeen. Yes. Not seven.
I double-checked that it had, indeed, been a dream. But still, hadn’t everything in that dream been something that actually happened in reality?
Yeah, it had, right? It matched the old story the queen had told me. She’d embellished it a little, so it wasn’t an exact match, but I was sure that what I’d seen in the dream was what had actually happened.
I, uh, had kissed the prince on the cheek, while all the adults watched.
Oh! The embarrassment! And I’d blurted out that I loved him! Embarrassing! Mortifying!
I was so ashamed that I rolled around in bed. Then I bumped into something at the edge of the bed, and immediately stopped rolling around.
Slowly, I pushed myself up.
“Lettie! Good morning.”
It was Lord Clarke.
“E-Eek!” I shrieked, throwing my pillow at him. He caught it easily. “Wh-Why are you here?!”
“Maria said that you weren’t waking up, and she was worried about you. You were mumbling in your sleep, so I came to check on you. Were you having a nightmare?” he asked, peering into my face.
Reflexively, I backed away. “Um, it wasn’t so much a bad dream as...”
“Yes?”
While he waited for my answer, I looked at Lord Clarke, and saw the reflection of the boy from my dream.
I’d kissed him. On the cheek.
“Urk...”
As I stared at his cheek, a puzzled Lord Clarke spoke up. “Lettie?”
“It...”
“It?”
“It wasn’t a bad dream! It was so embarrassing I want to die!”
I took off running.
“Lettie?!” Lord Clarke exclaimed in shock.
I wasn’t stopping, though. I mean, come on! Why would my brain do this?! Why make me remember that part of the dream?!
Covering my reddened face, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
It was only a while later that I heard Lord Clarke’s voice behind me, calling, “You’re still in your nightgown! Leticia! Your clothes!”