Father's News

After attending the afternoon tea banquet this afternoon, Nivea has now returned to her residence. She had just arrived at the doorstep of her magnificent house. Seri, who had been standing there for a few minutes, was finally able to feel calm down when she saw the carriage carrying her lady walking closer and closer.

“Ah miss, you’ve finally arrived.” as her hand guided Nivea to get down from the carriage.

“What’s wrong, Seri? Have you been waiting here all this time?”

Nivea began to step inside, followed of course by Seri behind her body.

“Yes, I’ve been standing there for quite some time waiting for you. I wanted to tell you that duke Eduardo asked you to meet him in the study if you had already arrived home.”

Nivea’s steps halted, taking Seri by surprise. The girl in the lilac dress turned her body to ask her personal maid.

“Is there a problem, when I’m not home?”

Seri shook her head blankly, “No, miss! I think your father... He just wants to have a chat with you.”

“Alright, I’ll see him right away. And you, please just prepare some water for me to take a bath.”

“Yes miss.”

The two separated a few steps after that. Nivea turned right about to approach her father’s whereabouts in his study while Seri remained straight to the back of the house.

“You were looking for me, Father?” Nivea gracefully lifted the front of her dress, stepping into the study.

“You just arrived, girl?”

“Yes, just now.” she sat down on the chair in front of duke Eduardo.

“I hope you are not surprised if I tell you this.”

“What is it, Father? Of course I would be surprised if you said something that might... surprise me.”

“Very well! His Majesty the King has invited us to dine together. Tomorrow at the palace. He would like you and Prince Edmund to establish a relationship.”

Nivea widened her eyes, but found herself laughing in the next second.

“Hahaha. What kind of relationship do you mean?”

“Be a little serious, my child!”

“Okay, Dad. Can you say it more clearly? What kind of relationship is His Majesty is referring to?”

“He wants you to marry his son.”

“Me? Hahaha. I’m marrying Prince Edmund? Why do I have to hear this joke, Father?”

“I’m not joking, Nivea. Come with us to the palace tomorrow!”

“No, Father!”

“You dare disobey me?”

“I don’t mean to be insolent to you, Father. I just don’t want to attend that dinner invitation.”

“You’re so arrogant Nivea, a king invites you and you don’t care? I don’t know how they will judge me and your mother. Maybe they’ll say that we didn’t manage to educate our daughter. Yes, whatever! Whatever you want, do whatever you want!”

Nivea sighed at the end of the long sentence she heard from her father’s mouth, after before she just stared at her father who was talking.

“Alright! I’ll come with you this time. But that, solely only because I want to preserve your dignity, Father. It’s not that I want to establish a relationship with Prince Edmund. Let alone marry him. If you have nothing more to say, I will excuse myself, Father.”

The girl even got up from her seat before hearing any reply from her father. Duke Eduardo could only round his eyes, stunned at his daughter’s increasingly unruly behavior. He remained where he was as Nivea moved away from his presence.

“What’s the matter, dear?” asked Duchess Elvira when she saw her sour-faced daughter.

“How can you say that His Majesty the king wants me to marry the prince?”

“So, Eduardo told you?”

“Yes, Mother. I... I already regret enough being born into the of a duke’s family. How can I go on with my life, if I get married to a prince.”

“You regret being my daughter?”

Nivea sighed, “That’s not what I meant ma’am. It’s just that I... If I could choose which family to be born into, I would definitely choose to be a commoner. They seem happy to be able to do whatever they without having to care about other people’s judgment.”

“So all this time, you were unhappy Nivea?”

“Not entirely Mom. I’m lucky to have a mother like you in my life. But I feel like all this time, I’ve had to be very careful about my behavior. Because I’m the daughter of a duke. Almost everyone in this country will scrutinize my behavior. Maybe even other things about me. Honestly, I find that it’s very silly, Mother.”

“I understand Nivea. You can’t change your destiny, girl.”

“I’m going to the palace tomorrow. But I’ve already told father, that I’m doing it only because I’m preserving her dignity before His Majesty the king.”

“As you wish Nivea. Go take a bath and rest!” duchess Elvira gently kissed Nivea’s forehead and then left first.

An hour passed.

Nivea has finished cleaning up, she has now put on her nightgown and sits on her bed. She rests her back of the foam-covered bed. Her signature burgundy-colored hair was flowing sweetly a little past her shoulders.

“You’ve missed your dinner, miss. I brought you some biscuits and chamomile tea for you.” Seri placed a tray that on the wooden nightstand, beside Nivea’s bed.

“Thank you Seri. But, just take the biscuits with you. I don’t want to eat anything. Leave the tea there, I’ll drink it.”

“You’re not hungry miss?”

Nivea just shook her head.

“Yes miss, I’ll take these biscuits back to the kitchen. Good night, may you sleep well.”

The girl sighed after her personal maid closed the door to her room from outside. She immediately took a sip of the warm cup of tea Seri had brought for her. But the taste was not as delicious as usual, Nivea added white sugar with the help of a spoon that had also been provided on the tray. After stirring the tea, she did not continue drinking.

Instead, she daydreamed, making herself unaware that the teaspoon in her right hand had curved, bending into the cup. The beautiful spoon made of nickel and copper, she easily made the spoon curved.

“Oh my! How stupid. Why am I daydreaming? What was I thinking?” she hurriedly lifted the poor spoon from the cup and began to drink the tea in small sips.

It was that kind of thing that made her late grandfather used to warn herself to be more careful in touching things. Because of the miraculous power that she possessed could often damage the objects around her. Or even because of her power, Nivea can harm other people.

No one knows where Nivea got that power from. Her late grandfather accidentally found out first, when he realized that several times already little Nivea had bent his tools. Until now, the secret that Nivea’s secret is only known to her late grandfather, mother, Seri and maybe... Matias, who still couldn’t figure out how Nivea could unlock the broken carriage with only her bare hands.