It's been two days since I started living in Star Palace. I spent the first day resting and sleeping, which I admitted I really needed.
For my moving gift, Alistair bought me a whole new closet and jewelry. He even appointed a dozen new maids only for me. Isn't he spoiling me too much?
Elle had already recovered since I healed her with my healing magic.
She was very excited when she saw the gift that Alistair bought me, even more than me. She told me that her dream was to dress me up in nice and luxurious clothes that befit a princess, and that dream could finally become reality. Why do you have such a shallow dream, nanny?
Still, since I owed her a lot, I let her do whatever she wanted. Elle, along with one other maid named May whom I choose to be my personal maid, was busy dolling me up since morning.
Lucky for me, I was used to all of this. As I've been living as a celebrity most of my life, I was used to people getting me dolled up and dressing me up all the time.
But if it's any other random person in this position, I think they’d get overwhelmed just by how excited Elle and the maids were. They never stopped praising my beauty, Elle even almost broke out in tears watching me change from one dress to another.
I looked up in the sky and prayed to God or whoever was listening to give me more patience.
***
After a tiring morning playing dress up and having a nice breakfast, Alistair brought me to his office.
So here I sat at Alistair's side, for hours now. At least it felt like hours. Had it been hours? Gosh, I was bored out of my mind!
Meanwhile Alistair just sat there doing paperwork and looking over forms and documents. He worked at a steady pace, but more papers just kept being brought in.
I could tell the people who delivered the paperwork were uncomfortable with my presence. As were the people who came in to seek a short audience with him.
The only nice one was Cale Castello, the heir to Castello County and the crown prince's secretary.
He was quite a handsome man, with navy blue hair, sky blue eyes, and glasses. He looked smart. But I found it cute when he blushed when I greeted him. As expected, Bella’s visuals were the best.
Too bad, he scurried away as soon as my dear brother glared at him. So now I was stuck with only Alistair.
All I did was sit here.
Since I didn't want to be a bother, I prevented myself from asking too many questions, so I just sat there, bored.
What the hell was this? Bring your little sister to work day? Why?
I could never understand this main lead at all. Why did he have me just sitting here at his side, doing nothing?
I would sigh every once in a while. I almost felt like groaning out of boredom.
Gosh, I miss my cellphone...
If I were doing something or maybe reading a book it would be different. I was very active and always had a packed schedule in my past life. But now I was literally doing nothing!
I gave up. So I just stared at Alistair because I literally had nothing to do.
He’s so handsome.
It suddenly came to my mind that I would live face-to-face with this man every day from now on, and I am very grateful that it’s with that face!
My heart was pounding a little, but I couldn’t do anything about it because what I saw was so pretty.
He didn't notice at first. But as my eyes stayed focused on him, he began to blush a bit at the ears.
He was really handsome. He was truly the epitome of the perfect prince from a fairy tale.
I didn't expect him to blush though. It was nice.
He cleared his throat, and it made me slightly wonder if some honey lemon would help him with this issue. I used to drink that regularly to maintain my vocal chord and it worked wonders.
Alistair sat up straight and looked at me. "Like what you see?"
"Mmhmm.." I nodded. "My brother is handsome."
He almost choked on his spit after hearing me saying the obvious. Did nobody ever tell him that?
Alistair looked over at me inquisitively, and came up with an answer on his own. "You're bored."
"You think?" I sassed back.
"If you're so bored you can read something. I'll ask the servant to bring you some books," he replied.
That's a great idea, I was desperate to do anything other than just sit. "That'd be great. Can you ask them to bring some books about healing magic?"
"You seemed prominent at using your healing magic. Who's your tutor?"
He seemed quite curious, but since I didn't need to hide anything about that, it was better to just tell the truth.
"I don't have any tutor. I learned by reading books and practiced by myself."
Yes, Bella is a genius. From her memory, I discovered that she learned everything by herself from writing, reading, magic and even potion, because nobody taught her.
He raised his brow. "It's amazing that you can reach that level without any tutor."
"Let me tell you, your little sister is quite a genius, you know..." I said smugly.
Now that I felt more comfortable with him, I started speaking casually. Fortunately he doesn't seem to mind.
He chuckled. "Yes, you are."
He called one of the servants that was stationed outside of the room. He told the servant my request and not long after that he was back with a stack of books about healing magic.
I immediately engrossed myself in the book, trying to concentrate despite the distraction of Alistair's handsome face.
A few hours had passed in silence when suddenly my stomach grumbled. I blushed and held my belly right away. Gosh, it's so embarrassing!
Alistair looked up at me. "We forgot lunch and it's almost dinner time." He stood from his seat and offered his hand to me. "My sister..."
I looked bashful as I took his hand. Did he really need to escort me everywhere? As a modern independent woman, it bruised my pride to be treated like a damsel in distress. I didn't think it was his intention though. It was just how things work here.
So in the end I held his hand all the way to the dining room. I could guess what the attendant thought about me. I almost groaned, it seemed like whether it was in my past life or in this life, gossip will always follow where I go.
***
"The princess won't be skipping any meals in the future," Alistair notified the butler. "Please prepare a light lunch and a good sized dinner, and if she is not in the dining room at serving time, then bring the meal to wherever she happens to be." Then he added as and after thought, "The same applies for breakfast. Everyday."
I was dumbfounded. Did the main lead have a sister complex that I don't know about? Because it seemed like he couldn't bear to have me skip meals.
When I read the novel, it was mentioned that he had a rigid relationship with his sister Adellia. But why did he treat me like this? I'm supposed to be the villainess, you know.
I watched Alistair eat without saying anything. Whenever the long white finger holding the spoon moved, I had to constantly remind myself of what I was seeing. The dignity of Alistair's actions was so oozing that I wondered if eating could be so elegant.
"Why are you not eating? Is it not to your liking?" Alistair stopped moving and looked at me.
Did I look too much? I mentally slapped myself.
"No, no.. I like it very much." I immediately grabbed my utensils and started eating my steak.
It was true though. I was very happy that I could enjoy many kinds of delicious food here. In my previous life, I couldn't eat this kind of food no matter how much money I earned because I was constantly on a diet. I pitied myself when I remember the time I tried to survive by only eating ice cubes for a week just for that damn underwear CF.
It was so extreme that whenever I laid down on the bed and tried to sleep, I was scared that I wouldn’t wake up again.
Then when I transmigrated into this world, with how much money those servants took, it was impossible to afford a proper meal. So this is luxury.
"Thanks to brother, I could eat these delicious foods."
"There's nothing to be thankful for."
We continued to eat in a very good atmosphere.
After eating, he asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Do you need anything or maybe something that you like?"
"Something that I like..." I mumbled.
I looked up at the ceiling and thought for a while. Honestly I had never thought about what I really like. So, I could only think of one thing that I think I liked.
"I wish to have a musical instrument. It can be piano, guitar, or violin."
"Instrument?"
"Yes.." I nodded.
Since I had lived as a musician for a long time, it was strange now that there was no musical instrument around me.
"I'll get that for you."
I liked how he didn't ask too many questions and just complied with my request. What a reliable man.
"Bella,” he called my name.
"Yes, brother?"
"It might be uncomfortable right now, but I hope you'll adapt to the new environment soon,” he said. "My room is next to yours, if you have anything to tell me, you can come to my room anytime."
Woah, you’re even inviting me to your room. Aren’t you being too nice to villainess?
Of course I didn't say it out loud and instead just smiled at him. "Of course. Thank you, brother."
A pair of amethyst eyes stared down at me coldly. His mouth formed a thin line as he watched me being dragged to the center of the plaza. Not an ounce of mercy could be seen in his expressionless face.A beautiful woman with long reddish brown hair and emerald green eyes was standing beside him. It was really a sight to behold. The male lead and the heroine.And here I was, the pitiful villainess that would soon meet her end. I could neither move nor scream as the executioner forced my head to stay still under the guillotine.It happened in a flash. My eyes still transfixed at those amethyst eyes that mirrored mine as the cold sharp blade cut down my neck, separating the head and the body.
The sky showed that it was already about the time of dawn, meanwhile Alistair still couldn't sleep a wink. His heart was in turmoil.He couldn't erase the foreign feeling that he felt when she hugged him. Her platinum blonde hair simmered under the moon, and her milky skin that was soft and delicate. Her beautiful eyes that glistened with tears provoked something inside of him that he didn't know he was capable of feeling.He hated to see her tears. Anyone or anything that made her sad and cry, he wanted to get rid of it. Everything that hurt her, he wanted to stop all of it, whatever it is.'But what if I can't stop it and you get hurt anyway? Then what am I gonna be to you?'This kind of emotion, he al
"My lady, what happened to your eyes?" Elle gasped when she saw my darkened eye bags.I massaged my throbbing temples. "I couldn't sleep last night.""Oh my, that's not good. What should we do? Do you want me to call a doctor?" she rambled in panic.Elle is a nice lady, but she's seriously exaggerating everything. If I was still Cho Sarang, she would be the type of staff that I hate the most.I once ordered my manager to leave the room just because the sound of his breathing was too loud. Yes, I was a bitch.Maybe this was my karma.I sighed tiredly. "No.. Just bring me some water
The morning of breakfast with the emperor, I decided to get up early. But it was a morning far from refreshing. Since receiving the invitation from him, I have been nervous and have not been able to sleep well.I feel so tired. In the end I couldn't sleep properly for two consecutive nights.My head was heavy. I blinked blankly and sighed.Damn this breakfast with the emperor!Just in time I heard a knocking sound."Come in."Elle and May along with two other maids stepped into my room and said their greetings to me."
It has been a week since Alistair left the palace for the monster subjugation. Meanwhile I've been busy with my study, potion making, and also with my music in between.I was a workaholic in my previous life. So, no matter how much I loved to give myself a break, I couldn't really stay still and do nothing for too long. I'd end up getting anxious if I do so. So I just did anything to keep myself busy.But still, as a woman from the 21st century, it was very hard for me to adjust to this medieval environment without electricity, cell phone, or internet.Bored. That was my worst enemy.Do you know what girls in this era usually do in their free time? Painting, embroidery, reciting poems, hostin
The person standing in front of me looked so unreal, with hair that glistened like pure gold in the sunlight and golden eyes that reminded me of the sun. It made me wonder if someone painted him using the blood of Gods.If that was the case, would that man standing in front of me be the result? His face really is the work of art. Sharp features, clear skin, pink lips, and a jawline that could cut-"Are you okay, my lady?"His voice snapped me back to reality.I was so grateful that I was wearing a hood, or else, he'd see me blushing. It'd be super embarrassing."Ehm, yes. I'm fine."
"What did you mean by my other identity?" I asked calmly, despite my pounding heart."Ahh, I’m sorry for my presumptuous question. I was just curious because this is the first time I saw such an interesting soul."She took a step closer, her expression was gentle, yet I couldn't help but be wary of her."Maybe I should change my question,” she mumbled to herself, then she leaned forward to whisper. "Is this perhaps not your first life?"My eyes widened in shock."How did you-""I thought I saw incorrectly. But as I expected, I wasn't," she spoke.
Three days passed since my last mental breakdown at the temple and I've been coming every day ever since.Visiting the temple to help with the restoration has become my new routine.Let's say that spending time outside the stuffy castle, listening to Priestess Elena wise and kind words, meditating in the temple and helping the orphan childrens was my self-made therapy to cope with depression.But of course, just when I thought 'what possibly could go wrong', destiny surprised me again with its own ways.Surprise, surprise... I have been invited by Empress Sophia to have afternoon tea with her.Elle was quite worried, but she did a great jo