Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I understand that you are heading to the capital of the Sada Empire for the annual Spring Hunt, but it would be my pleasure to invite you to tea so that we may become better acquainted once you return.
Please be aware of the enclosed invitation for your family, the honourable House Vermillion. It would be an honour for us all if they were to attend your welcome ball, and I humbly request that you pass along the invitation when you see them in the capital.
With great hope that we may meet soon,
Your friend,
Viscountess Elena Evsea
P.S. – If you haven’t heard, your policy framework has been accepted by the five houses you chose to head the committee. Emergency funding is being organised for the residents of Baldor Village as I write this, and we will work diligently until Your Ladyship returns from the capital and we can meet again. Word has spread of your contribution amongst the people, so your debut cannot come soon enough. Congratulations, Lady Alicia. Stein will be a better place for having you as the Grand Duchess.
I pressed her letter to my face to hide my smile.
They liked my policy.
They’d accepted my policy.
They were distributing funds based on my work! What I’d done was going to help people.
I dropped the letter and pressed my hand to my mouth to quell the emotion that was rising within me.
It was fine. It was okay. I was all right.
I needed to respond to her sooner rather than later, so I tucked away all those feelings and responded that we would indeed have tea on my return so we could become friends.
A friend.
Was I really making a friend here?
I was. After all, she’d signed her letter off with, ‘Your friend.’
Given her request that I deliver an invitation to my father, I had no choice but to write to him ahead of time and request that we meet.
I reached for another sheet of writing paper before pausing, letting my fingers hover over it. He hadn’t written to me at all, and I didn’t think he would have the same reasoning as my friends did. He likely didn’t care to, given how easily he’d sold me off for a trade deal.
But it would seem wrong if I didn’t seek an audience with my father on my first return to the capital, and I did need to notify him of the welcome ball. Not to mention that I kind of wanted to find out for myself exactly what was happening in the family, so I had no choice.
I blew out a long breath and pulled a sheet towards me, bracing myself for the chaos I knew this meeting would cause.
Dearest Father,
Forgive my lack of letters since arriving here in Stein. I have been exceptionally busy settling in, getting to know the Grand Duke, and have even spearheaded the creation of an aid policy for the victims of monster attacks across the Grand Duchy. It’s been graciously welcomed by the nobles here, and I am most looking forward to working with them to refine and implement it.
As you’re aware, His Highness and I will be returning to the capital for the Royal Hunt in a few days. I would consider it a great honour if you were to make time for the two of us to meet for tea during our visit. I apologise for the short notice, but it would be wonderful to spend some time with you.
We will be staying at the Rose Palace and Rose Villa for the duration of our trip. I’m unsure whether your response would reach me prior to our departure, so please direct your correspondence there.
Please also keep your diary open for the sixth day of the next month. Viscountess Evsea, one of the nobles assisting with my aid policy and purveyor of the Evsea wine you enjoy, will be hosting a ball at Stein Castle in my honour. As the event is to welcome me as the Grand Duchess, she has kindly bestowed me with an invitation for House Vermillion to attend. I will bring it with me to the capital.
With love,
Your daughter, Alicia
I tucked his letter away and addressed it, adding the third and final letter of today to the pile.
I’d get to the others later. Word had spread amongst the nobles of my policy, and many of the letters I was receiving consisted of invitations to events. It seemed as though every noblewoman in Stein wanted me to attend their event, although I suspected it was for the bragging rights of being the first to have me.
It was exhausting—and the ones I saw weren’t even all of them. Bella, Annie, and Lydia were sorting them daily and only giving me the letters from the most important ladies to personally reply to while they handled the rest.