-4-

Life is never an easy sail. Moreover, things sometimes take a turn for the worst. Why?

Shall all the bad things that happen in the due course of life get pushed on something like the vague idea of Fate.

We won't ever know the answer to tha Mr absurd question? 

But the one thing that is indeed clear, is that life does give us a chance to make our point. To decide the side we will choose while it is being rough on its sail.

And when life gave a choice to Isabella back then, what she chose brought her to the current day she was living in. 

That one day when life took the turn to her bitter fate that was going to get intertwined with people she never knew were going to further become a crucial part of life.

Five years ago, in the capital city of Kuravos, Illidan.

It was rather an ordinary day in the capital city of Illidan. It was known to be one of the busiest cities in the kingdom, and sure lived upto its name.

As her carraige passed to the bustling streets of Illidan, she could tell that she had finally arrived in the capital city or to put it more aptly - The City of Dreams.

The royal palace was the attraction of the city, along with the Hambas market which was the largest market in the whole kingdom.

It was a saying - "There is nothing that you cannot find in Hamabs", and maybe Isabella was soon going to be the witness of that very statement.

Her carriage soon arrived at its destination and came to a halt.

"Shall I drop your carriage off her miss?" The gentleman who was also her carraige master asked her.

She got down from the carriage as he lend her his hand and nodded in agreement to his question.

"Thank you so much Sir Vasquez." She said with a bright grin.

"Oh, oh no my lady. It is the pride of our village that you get to study in this prestigious school along with so many nobles." The old carriage master responded with shaking voice but a bright grin as well.

"It's just all the blessings of godess Kinodas. " Isabella denied his gestures with a small hand gestures. On the contrary she couldn't contain her happiness at all. She was on the cloud 9, for she herself could never deny that it was a stroke of luck for her to end up there.

To end up as a scholarship student in the School Of Royal studies.

It was a school which can pretty much be described at the gated community of the kingdom of Kuravos. Nobles lineage heirs, the sons and daughters of the ambassadors were the people who used go there to study. And it was the one time luck that she had for her to end up in the place like that.

The old man assured her and advised her to stay safe all while enjoying her time there in the School Of Nobles and Royals.

It was soon time for her to start the boarding of the dormitories and thus she waved the old carriage master a goodbye.

She turned around and the elegant and humongous building welcomed her. "So this is the School they have been talking so much about huh" she chuckled.

"Is this a dream though?" She pinched herself and let out a small scream "Oh ouch." She giggled - "It is not a dream. It is real." She was happy.

She decided to pick up her bag and walk to the gate of the school but someone came and tapped on her back.

"Young lady, do you need help to pick up your luggage?" Asked a gentleman with a warm smile and squinted eyes.

"May I know who you are sir?" Isabella became a little guarded and shifted her luggage to her another hand.

He noticed her subtle action and couldn't help but laugh - "You are Isabella Stanton right?" The man enquired as he adjusted his name tag.

"Yeah I am." Said Isabella as she observed him fix his tag.

"I am your assigned butler here. I will help you with your chores here, you can call me, Caleb." He grinned and forwarded his hand.

She was a little skeptical, but she thought it wouldn't hurt to atleast do a handshake. "I see you are still worrying, but don't worry, I am a student here as well." He showed her his gold badge.

"I am the volunteer from the sociology major. I will be pleased to help you." He grinned showing that he came there with no odd intentions.

Isabella took a deep breath and agreed. "Here you go Sir Caleb. Thank you for your generous help." She said with a wide grin as well.

They both walked through the gates and after doing a little walking they entered the dormitory area.

They didn't say a single word from the time they came there, but when they arrived at the doors Caleb turned towards Isabella, "I could only accompany you till here my lady. From here your lady-in-waiting will help you." He informed her.

"Oh is that so?" She turned towards him hastily.

"Guess that makes sense, but where will I find the lady?" She asked him as she took the bag from his hands.

"Meet... oh there she is.." He gestured to the lady standing just behind Isabella. 

"Hmm ? Where?" She turned around to where he was pointing, and that was the first time she met her.

"Good evening, I am your lady-in-waiting. You can call me - Regina, my lady." The person said as they made a small bow towards Isabella.

"She is beautiful.." That was the natural reaction that came as an instant thought in Isabella's mind.

She had platinum blonde locks, and pale blue eyes. She was rather a person with a tiny frame, but she looked so elegant.

"Hello Regina, I am Isabella." Said Isabella as she smiled warmly and forwarded her hand towards Regina.

"Let's get along together from now on." Said Isabella.

"Yes." Regina responded with a cheerful grin.

"So I guess ... it is the time for me to leave now right?" Caleb disturbed the time the ladies were having and gave an awkward smile. Isabella turned towards him and said - "Thank you so much Sir Caleb. I am thankful for your help." 

"You are welcome my lady. So I'll be taking my leave now." Said Caleb and left.

It was still early evening and the sun had a lot of time to set. The orange hue of the sky was only getting slightly merged with the blue. 

But Isabella wasn't noticing any of those things, for she was excited to become friends with someone like Regina.

"Let me carry your bags and lead you inside." Said Regina and took the bag from Isabella's hand. "Thank you Lady Regina." Said Isabella.

Regina walked ahead and Isabella followed her from behind. It was like she was showing Isabella the way to reach her bedroom.

"So you are the scholarship student?"asked Regina out of the blue.

"Yes. Apparently. " Isabella replied in short .

" That is indeed impressive." Said Regina.

"Umm" Isabella wanted to ask something too so she began, "Are you a sociology student too like Caleb?" Asked Isabella.

"Caleb?" Regina was a little bit confused, "We don't have.." she was about to say something and suddenly a lot of girls came running over to Isabella.

"So you are the scholarship student? You came from the countryside?" The girls started bombarding Isabella with questions. 

"Oh yeah. Yes. Yes I am.." Isabella tried to answer their questions and Regina had no option but to stand there silently. 

They apparently seemed to have a lot of doubts, but Isabella wanted to rest and talk later. "Umm ladies, if you don't mind can I invite you all over for a tea tomorrow morning?" She asked instead of denying to chat outright.

The crowd calmed down and they agreed. "All of you are invited, also I will send you a personal invitation as well to your rooms." She said with a polite grin.

"That will be fine." 

"Yeah we will look forward to it."

The ladies slowly agreed and started to disperse.

"You remind me of someone." One lady said as she stopped her feet from turning away. "You..." She looked closely as Isabella's face and squinted her eyes. "Who?" Isabella asked outright since the atmosphere was getting too awkward with the lady squinting her eyes to look at her face.

"Oh shoot. I don't remember. Anyways have a good evening ahead." She said and left.

Isabella couldn't help but smile awkwardly.

"I hope they are done my lady.." Regina said as she chuckled looking at Isabella's expressions.

"Hopefully." Said Isabella as she started laughing. 

"Anyways let's get going." She said and Isabella nodded.

She followed Regina and looked at the paintings hung in the corridors.

"They are so pretty. Everything here seems to be on a different level. Of course, it is the royal school afterall..." She thought to herself as she praised each passing by painting on the wall.

Soon both Regina and Isabella came to a stop.

"We are here my lady." Regina turned around and said. 

She took out a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. "Please come inside my lady."she dragged the luggage inside and made way from Isabella to enter.

The room felt spacious and the air was slightly cold in the room. The sun rays reflected perfectly on the walls and the floor was decorated with carpets.

"This entire room is designed by the preferred style ladies love these days, hope you like it." Regina explained to Isabella.

"Everything seems just so fine ..." she expressed her ecstacy.