11 Her First Lifetime (1)

Mai looked at the two boys, Gabriel and Nicholas. Likewise, the two boys stared back at her, curious as to the personality of the only heiress of the Hübschesherz household.

Gabriel was the first to speak. "How old are you, Lady Hübschesherz?"

Mai hesitated. She didn't know if Maria was the same age as her, and she didn't want the two boys to think that she's a liar. She took her time to answer, but before she could, Nicholas interrupted her. Mai's initial impression of a shy young man was overturned when he spoke to her.

Scoffing, he said, "Look at her. She doesn't even want to talk to you, Gabriel. I knew this wasn't a good idea."

"Shut up, Nicholas," Gabriel's face darkened. "Can't you see that she was trying to speak? Maybe she's just shy."

"Yeah, right. A noble's child shy? When pigs fly."

"Um," Mai tried to interrupt, but the two boys couldn't hear her due to their argument.

"Evolution, stupid. If pigs have an evolutionary advantage by getting wings, then they would be able to fly."

"That's wrong, Gabriel. That's only if the the pigs have that specific trait that it could eventually become the main trait of the population. Since pigs don't have the trait, then they can't ever fly."

"Ever heard of mutation? Maybe that's why you're so stupid."

"But a mutation that would specifically create wings? It's such a small chance that I don't even think-"

"Excuse me!" Mai yelled, finally unable to handle the boys' argument. The boys turned to look at her, stunned. Mai huffed and continued, "To answer your first question, I'm twelve years old. As to my second matter of business, were we not supposed to go somewhere?"

"Shy?" Nicholas looked at Gabriel, "Would a shy girl say all that?"

"Shut up, Nicholas," Gabriel looked at Mai. "We're going to a village on the outskirts of this town. But before that, we're meeting up with some of the other children."

"Who else is coming?" Nicholas asked Gabriel.

"Stupid," Gabriel retorted, "I already told you, remember?"

"But I don't remember anything that I find useless. Besides, you'll remember it for me."

"Fine," Gabriel sighed, shooting a look of 'can you believe this guy' to Mai, "There are a total of seven of us. You, me, and Maria. Then there's Fredrich, Elizabeth, Ivan, and Victoria."

"Ivan Henry from the household of Voor?"

"Yes-"

"Ugh! He's such a bore. Who invited that twit?"

Gabriel tsked and hit the back of Nicholas' head. "Don't be like that!" He scolded, "Ivan is a nice fellow-"

"He told his mother about the secret party that were making for all of the mothers on Mother's day."

"So? Just because he can't keep a secret doesn't mean that he's a twit."

Nicholas gave Gabriel a look that said, 'Are you sure you believe the crap that's spewing out of your mouth, because I sure don't'. Mai looked at Nicholas in amazement. She never knew that a person could convey so much with just a look.

"Well, let's move on," Gabriel said, sighing. "We need to quickly meet the others or else it will be too late to make it to the village."

"What are we bringing to them?" Mai asked. She remembered the types of things that the Kingdom of Ymir had brought to the village- uniforms, excess food, etc..

"Blankets. Clothes. Sometimes we bring food, but not this time,"was Nicholas' perfunctory reply.

Thinking back, Mai wondered how Dir and Teacher Claire were doing without her. She wished that she could tell them about her being saved.

"Wow, I can't believe you remembered that, Nicholas," Gabriel said.

"I don't like troublesome things, Gabe, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Yeah, yeah, Nick."

The three exited Mai's house and walked to a carriage. One of the servants that Mai had seen around the house was before the carriage's entrance. She remembered that his name was-

"Heith!" Mai said out loud. Heath looked at the Hübschesherz's heiress.

"I was told by the Madam to accompany you," Heith swept himself into a well-practiced bow.

Nicholas and Gabriel exchanged glances before they broke into a smile. "Welcome aboard, Heith!" They both chirped. The boys entered the carriage first, while Heith helped Mai enter the carriage next. Mai stumbled a bit as she was not used to the cumbersome dresses that noble young ladies wore.

"Why do you walk like that, Lady Hübschesherz?" Nicholas asked Mai.

Confused, Mai looked at the young boy. "What do you mean?"

"You don't walk like the other young ladies," Gabriel explained, "You hold your hands together a little bit in front of you as you walk. Most people just have them at their sides. But it doesn't look that bad."

Surprised, Mai looked down at her hands. She guessed that she was still attached to her old life; furthermore, she never got to tell the God that demanded a sacrifice from the village that (s)he was stupid. But, from what the voice told her, there were multiple Gods. Plus, how was she going to tell that God about it when she's once more in the land of the living? She'd have to find some way to contact the voice.

"There she goes again," Nicholas said, "Do you often daydream?"

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry. I guess that I do have a bit of trouble paying attention," Mai said.

"No worries," Gabriel grinned and pointed a finger towards Nicholas, "He can be much worse."

"Hey!" Nicholas replied. He hit Gabriel on the shoulder before turning towards Mai. "So, why do you walk like that?"

"It's a habit," Mai replied faster than she could think.

"Oh." Nicholas said.

"Oh!" Gabriel gasped and everyone looked at him. He sheepishly glanced at Mai and Nicholas before he pointed towards a restaurant out of the window. "That's the restaurant that we're meeting the others in. Driver!" He popped his head out of the window and called out to the driver. "Please stop here!"

"O'course, sir," the driver grunted, then he pulled the reins of the horses.

"I heard that the restaurant's supposedly really good. Is that true, Gabe?" Nicholas asked, intrigue on his face."

"I have no clue. Victoria's the one who told me about this place. She says that it has really interesting foreign food." Gabriel turned towards Mai, "Have you been here, Lady Hübschesherz?"

Mai shook her head, "No." She hesitated before she spoke up again, "Why do you two call me that?"

The boys exchanged a glance. "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, apologetically.

"Lady Hübschesherz. Why not my first name?"

The boys looked at each other, surprised. "You mean that you'll let us say your first name?" Nicholas asked, a weird look on his face.

"Yes...?" Mai said, "Is there something wrong if I do?"

The two of them shook their head no. "Actually, Elizabeth and Victoria don't let us say their first names," Gabriel chirped.

"Yeah," Nicholas agreed, "We only say their first names when they aren't here."

Mai tilted her head, "Why?"

Nicholas and Gabriel shrugged. "Victoria says that ladies must get respect from men, and that we aren't respecting them if we say their first name instead of their noble title," Gabriel said.

"Well," Mai said, "The two of you can call me Maria." She decided against telling them her real name.

Nicholas grinned, "Well, Maria, we should probably get out of this carriage. The poor driver's getting antsy."

The boys jumped out of the carriage, while Heith walked out to help Mai get off. Still not used to touching the opposite sex, Mai hesitated, but she ultimately placed her hand on Heith's gloved one. She needed to get used to this world and its customs. She needed to be like the chameleons of one of the voice's stories.

"Nicholas! Gabriel!" A young girl's voice called out. All three of the children turned their heads towards the girl, and Mai first saw flaming red, curly hair.

"Lady Winshire," Gabriel said, sweeping into a bow. Nicholas followed suit, and Mai stood there awkwardly, unsure of what she should do.

"What took you two so long! Honestly, you're all such-" Lady Winshire stopped when she spotted Mai. "Is this Maria von Hübschesherz?" Lady Winshire was looking at Nicholas.

However, it was Gabriel who answered. "Yes."

Lady Winshire beamed and walked closer to Mai. She swept into a curtsy and introduced herself. "I am Lady Victoria Winshire. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Mai awkwardly bent down in a curtsy as she also introduced herself, "My name is Maria von Hübschesherz as you have already said. It is also a pleasure to meet you, Lady Winshire."

"Oh Maria! It's alright if you call me Victoria!" Victoria shot a look at the boys, "The only people who can't are boys." She said the word 'boys' with disgust. Maria's eyebrows shot up before they furrowed. She couldn't understand what was the point of discriminating against the boys for just being boys. It was infuriating when individuals went from one extreme (discriminating against girls and women) to the other extreme (discriminating against men). She hasn't ever seen a happy middle.

"Lady Winshire," Mai sent a brilliant smile to Victoria, "I'm afraid that it would be inappropriate if I would call you Victoria while the other boys are required to call you Lady Winshire."

Victoria pouted, "Fine. Be that way." She then turned and tapped her way towards the restaurant.

Gabriel and Nicholas both sent looks of thanks to Mai. Mai nodded her head and smiled at them.

"You've become quite talkative, my Lady," Heith whispered as he held the door open for Mai.

Mai froze before she quickly answered, turning her head to look at Heith. "Of course I've changed, Heith. Everybody changes." Entering the building, Mai failed to see the look of intrigue on Heith's face.

Walking towards the table that had all of the other six children, Mai sat down in-between Gabriel and a girl that was supposedly Elizabeth.

"Hello," the girl said, sending a smile to Mai. Mai returned the smile and nodded.

Victoria quickly raised a glass and used her fork to tap it, making multiple clinks. "Now that everyone has arrived, I believe that we should make introductions, especially for the individuals that don't formally know one another." Victoria swept a glance towards Mai. "I'll begin. I am Victoria Winshire." Victoria look to her right to the young girl with long, wavy, brown hair. She had a sprinkle of brown freckles on her face.

"Hello. I am Elizabeth Antoinette Rachel of the Household of Clore." She turned towards Mai.

Mai nodded her head and swept a glance towards everybody at the table. "Hi," she gulped, "My name is Maria von Hübschesherz. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Turning her head, it was Gabriel's turn. Then it was Nicholas' turn.

Finally, it arrived to a skinny young man with acne over his face and a manbun. He seemed to be a bit older than the age of the others of the group. He stood up for his introduction. "My name is Ivan Henry from the household of Voor."

Mai nodded at him and then turned her head to the young man right next to Ivan. He had closely cropped black hair and deep brown eyes with flecks of gold. When Mai looked at him, their eyes met. She gasped- she recognized his gaze. Inadvertently, she spoke out of turn. "Dir?!" she stood up out of her seat.

Everyone glanced at her weirdly, and Mai quickly realized that she wasn't on Earth anymore. Composing herself, she blushed. "I'm sorry," Mai said. "I-I thought that you were someone else," she told the young man.

The young man chuckled, "Don't worry about it. My name is Fredrich from the Beaumont family. It's a pleasure to meet you, Maria."

Maria faintly smiled, but she could still feel the burning blush on her cheeks. She scolded herself. There was no way that Dir could be here.

Victoria once again clinked her glass. "Now that we've finished with out introductions, let us eat and then go over our itinerary."

The food was then served and all of the children began to eat. It was at this point of time that Mai noticed that Heith was not sitting down to eat. She turned to him.

"Why aren't you eating, Heith? You could always grab a separate chair and join us."

Heith looked surprised at first, but then he broke out into a smile. "No need, m'lady. A chaperone accompanies an individual. They do not 'join in the fun' like you kids like to say."

Mai nodded, but still felt awkward in the inside. She promised herself that she would save a piece of bread and some slices of meat and cheese for Heith. She couldn't imagine having to watch children without even having a moment to eat!

The break for lunch went by quickly and they separated to enter separate carriages. Victoria had explained to them their itinerary which spanned over two days. The last hours of the day would be spent going to a town that is the nearest to the village that they were visiting, while the next day would be spent entirely with the villagers until lunch time where they would return to the town. They would then spend the rest of the time returning to their homes.

The children boarded their carriages, and Gabriel and Nicholas returned to Mai's carriage.

"What do you think about Victoria. A riot, right?" Nicholas asked, grinning.

Mai nodded, "I think she's a good girl. A bit controlling though."

"What about Elizabeth," Gabriel blushed, his pale skin emphasizing the red of his cheeks. Mai raised an eyebrow.

"She was quiet, but I could tell that she has great etiquette."

"Right!?" Gabriel replied, a light shining in his eyes. "Isn't she just amazing!"

Nicholas leaned in close to Mai's ear and whispered, "He has a slight crush on Elizabeth."

Mai nodded, "I could tell." They shared a nod before turning back to Gabriel.

"Where are the supplies?" Mai asked.

"Victoria is the one who has the supplies," Gabriel replied. "She's usually the one who organizes everything."

Mai nodded. It did seem like something that Victoria would do.

The rest of the ride to the town nearest the village went by smoothly with small talk exchanged between the children. It wasn't until the sun was nearly setting they arrived at the town.

All three of the carriages stopped before a nice looking inn. Elizabeth and Victoria shared the carriage that stopped before the inn first, thus, they were the first ones to enter the inn. The carriage shared by Fredrich and Ivan was the next one to stop before the inn. Mai's carriage was the last one to stop.

When they alighted, Mai heard a scream. Whirling around, she noticed men with large weapons surrounding a young women whose clothes were torn. Surprised, Mai looked on dumbfounded until one of the men noticed her.

They glanced at another man before they both nodded, menacingly walking towards Mai.