Page 64 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
If I was going to survive with my sanity intact, I needed to know more about the people who worked here.
I’d read more than enough novels in my past life to know that there was always one disgruntled employee looking to poison the main character.
I wasn’t the main character in this world, but I was in my life.
And for me, that was more than enough to suspect everyone in this castle.
Even those who were nice to me.
***
The next week passed smoothly.
Bella and Annie quickly adapted to life at Stein Castle, and I busied myself with learning about the operations of the castle. I spent a lot of time visiting with the staff so I could memorise their names, and my sincere compliments to the kitchen staff had resulted in the head chef apparently crying with happiness in the pantry.
Not only that, but I also made a point to visit the knights’ training ground every day to observe them.
I wasn’t sure what else I could do without Kalon being here. I didn’t know what authority, if any, had been granted to me in terms of the household, but I was also wary of exerting such a thing without him present.
Not that I cared if he were here or not. My escape plan was still my focus—I had every intention of delaying the wedding under the guise of me learning my role, and I was going to drag that education out as long as humanly possible.
That didn’t mean I wouldn’t collect allies along the way.
The maids had been informed of my intention to rotate them weekly to choose suitable attendants, and they’d been nothing but sweet to me during my explorations of the castle. It almost as felt as if some of them would personally put on a suit of armour to catch me a dragon if I requested it, and I didn’t even know if dragons existed in this world.
Even the Stein Knights had put on their best efforts when they’d seen me observing them. Presumably because they weren’t just showing up for the lady of the house, but for a lady of House Vermillion at the same time. Never mind that I couldn’t wield a sword to save my life—I was a fan of archery in my past life, but I hadn’t quite built up the confidence to use the archery range yet.
But somehow, I’d built up a rapport with the knights. They were always happy to see me and greeted me with gusto, although that might have been because I’d exploited the head chef’s happiness to bring them treats. Nevertheless, I’d truly enjoyed watching them push themselves to their limits, but nobody in the knightage had captured my attention like the silver-haired lady had.
Dame Alexandrina Draper.
The third child and only daughter of Count Draper, one of the noble houses that had survived Stein’s surrender and assisted with the empire’s conquering of the land. Unlike the empire, Stein placed little restrictions on who could be admitted to the knightage, but that didn’t mean the knights were awash with women.
They were few and far between with many women, especially noblewomen, choosing to follow the path of marrying well and bearing children to better their households. Many even married into the empire with the hopes of their children marrying up.
Stein’s people were progressive, but the patriarchal society of the empire was still prevalent here.
It was still better than in Sada, though. After all, Blair was only able to practice her swordsmanship because she was a member of House Rainforth. When it came down to it, Blair’s dream of becoming an Imperial Knight would never be recognised because the laws simply didn’t allow it.
Maybe that was why I was drawn to Dame Alexandrina.
In her, I saw my friend.
I saw the dream my friend wished to have for herself.
But there was also something about her—something magical. She was the only female in the First Order, and I’d watched daily as she’d held her own against the others, even beating some on occasion.
And unlike our first meeting, she was one of the few who paid me little attention during my visits to the training ground. Gone was the shy woman who’d blushed at some mere eye contact. It was almost as if she entered another level of consciousness when she had her sword drawn.
The more I watched her, the more I knew she had to be my personal knight.
Nobody else would do.
It was a shame I couldn’t finalise appointments until a certain someone returned from his monster slaying trip.
If I were a cynical woman, I’d think he was deliberately delaying his return.
Unfortunately, I knew little about fighting monsters, so I couldn’t say for sure.
