EFFECTING THE PLANS

After the embroidery class, Aristia went to her room to take a bath. As she lay in the bathtub, she sighed as she thought of what to do. She had never been so free doing nothing before, and she wasn't used to it.

She got out of the tub, got dressed and lay in bed. She had dismissed Adeline, saying she wanted to be alone. She needed time alone to sort out her plans.

After she had rested and sorted out her plans, she got up and walked to her father's study. She knocked on the door and opened the door upon receiving permission to enter. She was greeted by the scent of cedarwood as she entered the clean and neatly arranged study.

She was surprised to find her mother there too, but that would make things easier for her. After greeting her parents, she walked over to the sofa and sat down as her father ordered the Butler to prepare another set of refreshments for her.

Shortly after, the Butler returned with another set of teaware and filled up a cup for Aristia. Aristia nodded in thanks, and the Butler left to give them privacy.

"Father, Mother." Aristia called seriously and the Imperial Prince and Princess paid more than the usual attention as this was the first time their daughter had addressed them that way, notifying them that she was about to say something that she wanted them to consider seriously.

"What could the matter be, Tia?" It was her mother who replied.

Aristia took a sip of her tea and swallowed before she said, "I would like to add a few more classes to my schedule."

"Classes?" This time, it was Wilson who spoke. "But, you are already learning all the classes required for noble ladies. You also have the best tutors in the Kingdom. I made sure of that." That was true. Wilson had made sure that all her tutors were the best, praised in their various fields of tutelage.

"I am aware of that and I greatly appreciate. But, I want to add classes like horse riding, swordsmanship and archery."

I could learn them secretly." She added to make things easier as she knew that those were meant for the males of nobility and their society wasn't accepting of a female learning what the males were required to learn.

"Why do you want to learn them?" Catherine asked when she had finally gotten out of her surprise that her daughter was actually not joking.

Aristia was already prepared as she knew she'd be asked this, so she answered with ease. "For self defense, plus, it will not hurt to possess these skills."

"That is what the guards are for– to protect you." Wilson said.

"Yes, but the guards cannot always be with me, can they? Unexpected situations might occur, though I do not wish for that, and then I will be helpless." She said sadly, pouting her lips and alternating her gaze between the two of them.

"You do not want that, do you Mama, Papa?" She blinked her watery eyes at them and reverted back to her usual 'mama' and 'papa'. She drew out her voice in a babyish tone just to convince them.

Her parents frowned at the image that formed in their heads. Their cute and lovely daughter lying on the floor helpless and tears streaming down her face as she cried out at them, 'Mama, Papa, you refused to let me train, now look what happened. It is all your fault. I hate you!' The mental image wailed and beat her chest, grabbing onto their clothes and then falling back on the ground again.

That, and the fact that she cutely blinked her big eyes and called them mama and papa, made them give in to her.

[Yes!] Aristia thought as she smiled victoriously which didn't go unnoticed by her father who just smiled and shook his head at her antics.

***

"Gosh! I didn't expect to say so many words." Aristia muttered when she was out of the study.

[On the bright side, I got my schedule from Mrs. Cedmond and I managed to convince Mama and Papa to let me take those other classes. Though, they said I would only start the classes a week later, but that is fine by me.] She thought as she walked to the garden in a good mood. She needed to train her body. She didn't know when she might need those skills.

She had changed into a light dress as she strolled around the garden, breathing in the fresh floral scent in the air, caused by the surrounding flowers.

When something crossed her mind, she changed direction to the training ground. It was fairly empty as her father had given the knights a day off. So, Aristia assumed position as she bunched up her dress in her hands and began to run around the field.

[I could have been conducting my morning runs and regular exercise even without the classes being set up, but it seems like I have become lazy during my stay in this world.] She thought as she began to run.

She hadn't even run half the size of the training ground when she started to pant for breath. [I haven't even run halfway and this body is already tired. It was to be expected though, as I'm sure this is the first time this body is engaging in exercise so it probably isn't used to it. Plus, this dress is not making this easy.] She scoffed.

At the age of five, she had already gotten used to short distance, little morning runs as she would always join her brother whenever he was exercising. She reminisced.

She ran until the body was almost at its limit and then she stopped, panting for breath as she tried hard with her palm on her chest to calm her racing heart which was beating quickly due to the vigorous exercise she just had.

Meanwhile...

From a window in the mansion, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess watched their daughter as she ran around the field.

"What is my daughter doing, Henry?" The grand Duke asked his loyal Butler the obvious, his hand wrapped around his beloved wife.

"It seems that the princess is taking a run around the training grounds, Master." The Butler, Henry replied.

"Hmm... it seems she is serious about wanting to train. Perhaps, I should really agree with her request." Wilson muttered, clearing his throat a little when his wife turned to stare at him.

"Oh. Perhaps you should really agree with her request to train, huh?" The Grand Duchess narrowed her eyes as she stared at her husband with a smile that made his throat dry and he gulped nervously.

"No! That is not what I meant to say. We have both already agreed to allow Tia train. How could I have second thoughts about it?" Wilson smiled flatteringly, trying to placate his wife and choosing his words carefully.

"Hmph." Catherine huffed and removed his arm from around her. She turned away from the window to walk away and Wilson followed behind her as he implored pitifully, "Wait for me, my love."

As they left, the Butler shook his head with a smile as he caught the small smile the Grand Duchess tried to hide.

"Only the Madam can make the Master act this way." He said, as he left to bring the little princess a glass of water.