“Yeah, but there’s a fee to take the exam. It’s one rhom.” She held out her hand, and I gave her a silver one-rhom coin out of the money she’d just given me. “Don’t you get an allowance? Anyway, the exam starts tomorrow at ten. There’s a written portion and a practical portion, so you’d better study up.”
Mary’s coming to escort me home tomorrow.
“What time will the exam end? My family will be sending a ride for me.”
It took a moment for Ms. Makias to understand what the problem was.
“Oh, you live in the dorms. You get an hour for the written portion, then you can do the practical portion quickly, so it shouldn’t take long.”
In that case, I can probably let her know to come around noon. I’ll find Samuel and have him pass the message along.
The music club had a wrap-up meeting to close out the end of the spring term. Because of the proposal, I was a bit nervous about seeing President Albert, and I was relieved that he was treating me no differently than usual. That actually earned him some points. I guess you can say that his only true love is music.
“We’re going to play ensemble pieces during the Harvest Festival again,” President Albert announced. “Make sure to practice the instruments you’re not as familiar with over the summer. Also, don’t forget to prepare new pieces. All right, have a good summer, everyone.”
Oh, I guess I’ll have to practice the lute.
Since President Albert wrapped things up quite quickly, I prepared a letter for Samuel to pass on to my house.
“I’m going to be taking the novice apothecary’s exam tomorrow, so I need to be picked up later, around noon. That’s what this letter says. Can you have it delivered to my butler?”
“Sure,” Samuel replied, taking the letter from me. “By the way, Princess Margaret said something about us visiting the summer palace?”
I guess Princess Margaret is getting everyone else on board to give me no other choice. She doesn’t have to do this. I was already planning to go, just once.
“Yes, well, when I told her that I would be spending the summer in Northcourt County, she invited us to visit her at the summer palace. That reminds me, could you also have these letters delivered to Aunt Lilianna and Lady Lucene? Lady Angela has been invited as well.”
I pulled out two more letters, which I had written last night. Unlike the quickly scribbled letter to Wyatt I’d prepared today, these were written with a lot more detail.
“Sure, I don’t mind, but...am I really coming along to the summer palace?”
“Yes, you are. Even Prince Keith said he is excited that you will be coming,” I reassured him.
Samuel’s face turned bright red.
“I see... I’m really going to the summer palace.”
He probably hadn’t realized that nobles were allowed to visit the summer palace, since it was a place of relaxation where the royal family took a break from their official duties.
I do hope we can keep the visiting to a minimum. I want to spend as much time as I can with my angels.
After the music club gathering, Princess Margaret left with Zofie. I still had another club wrap-up to go to.
“You’re late, Patience!” President Caesar said. “Meet Mikhail Dungarde.”
Mikhail was a third-year student in the junior division with curly red hair. We had been classmates last year when I’d skipped ahead to the second year of the junior division, but we’d never spoken before.
“I heard that the bicycle was your idea, Lady Patience,” he said. “Are you thinking of making any other machines?”
He seemed to be as much of a gearhead as I’d heard he was.
“Yes, I’m actually thinking of making a machine that sews pieces of fabric together. However, I’m having trouble sketching out the diagrams.”
I showed Mikhail my in-progress sketches of a sewing machine, and we began brainstorming together.
“I see... So you step on this pedal, which is connected to an axle that moves the needle up and down. It sews fabric together by wrapping the top thread around the bottom thread.”
Wow, I can’t believe he understood the intention behind it just by looking at these vague diagrams! Mikhail proceeded to fervently inspect the diagram of the bobbin case.
“Did you come up with another new idea, Patience?” President Caesar asked, intrigued by what we were working on. The other members joined in, and we all began discussing the sewing machine together.
“If this works, it’ll become so much easier to manufacture clothes!”
Yeah, that’s right. Everything is hand-sewn right now, so clothing is all really expensive. The fabric is all woven by hand too... I don’t remember anything about how a power loom works, though, so I can’t be of much help there.
“Oh, that reminds me, I’m sure we’ll all be visiting our family’s territories or traveling for the summer, but if you do want to use the clubroom, you can visit Powell at the Burns Trading Company store, and he’ll lend you a key. I’ll also be back by the end of July, and I’ll probably spend the rest of my summer here. If you ever want to work on any experiments, you should come by.”
I was surprised by how deep President Caesar’s love for alchemy was. There’s Albert, Caesar, and President Marcus of the glee club. Senior Division Year 2 is full of really big personalities.
“Even if I can only get a little bit done, I want to try doing some more research on Magius’s cape,” Caesar said.
Oh, that’s probably a part of the reason he wants to be here during the summer. That’s a project that’s definitely going to take some work.