Two frosty encounters

"Good morning milady."

Then the dreadful morning light streamed into the room and woke me up. My sleepy eyes didn't take very well to the bright light, and neither did my body that just wanted to stay in my warm, comfy bed.

"What time it is?" I asked groggily as I looked up to see Mellie opening the curtains and Edna standing right next to me holding out a pretty porcelain cup. I slowly sat up and took the cup and saucer from her. It was a nice cup of warm tea, it tasted quite minty and refreshing.

"Thank you, Edna..." I smiled appreciatively. I gazed out the large open windows as I drank my mint tea. It was a beautiful day with clear skies, and everything looked lush and fresh in the morning light. Then Agnes walked into the room.

"Good morning milady." Agnes greeted me. She headed straight for the cupboards and opened their doors. "Which dress would milady like to wear today?" She asked.

I stared at the rack full of beautiful dresses, I had no idea what I wanted to wear.

"Umm... I'm not sure." As long as it wasn't a corseted one, I didn't really mind.

"Since it is a nice warm day, perhaps this white frock would suit you." She took one of the white dresses off the rack and held it up for me to see. I nodded, approving of her choice.

(the dress)

Mellie helped me put on the dress. I really liked the way it looked on me and how It framed my figure. Agnes also pointed out that I should continue to wear pale and pastel-coloured dresses because it made my dark hair stand out.

"It is important for you to create an aesthetic for yourself to distinguish yourself from the other nobles. Most noble ladies have a signature colour or a signature hairstyle... I think your aesthetic could be fresh pastel coloured dresses and of course your dark hair."

Edna then began to brush out my hair with a pretty pearl comb until my hair was nice and loose. She then plaited my hair until she had created some amazing updo, that coiled around my head. It was gorgeous.

Then Mellie started applying what felt like an oil extract to my face, slowly and gently massaging it into my skin. She then brought a little porcelain tub, that contained a red coloured balm. Mellie then took a small paintbrush and dabbed the balm ever so gently onto my lips. While she was working, I looked at my transformation in the mirror. In the matter of a few weeks, I had gone from frumpy college student to beautiful medieval Lady. I tilted my head and turned to the side so I could look at myself from all my angles. These ladies were the real magicians, how on earth did they make me look so pretty.

"The only thing that you need now is a hair ornament." Commented Edna.

"I saw a pretty crystal hairpiece in the trunk of jewels. I'll go and fetch it from the safe room." Said Agnes, she scurried out of my room to go and fetch it, but a few seconds later we heard her scream.

Mellie, Edna and I jumped up and ran down the corridor to go and help her, I found her just in front of the safe room.

"Agnes, what's wrong?" I shouted in a panic, "Why did you scream?"

She was breathing heavily, and she brought a handkerchief to her face to dab up her sweat. "I'm sorry to have alarmed you, I was just startled to this." She pointed into the safe room. I looked inside and saw three men, covered in black robes, lying unconscious on the floor.

"Yay! My spell works!" I clapped excitedly.

"Milady, that is not an appropriate reaction to this situation." Agnes scowled at me. I avoided her gaze guiltily.

"So... what do we do with them?" Asked Mellie from behind me.

Third Person

Alucard and Sinjin arrived on horseback to Lady Riley's mansion. They both rode their favourite black stallions, two brilliantly bread horses. They were such proud and strong-willed animals, it was almost like they too believed they were part of the Von Esterheim family.

Auberon and Rudyard hurried out to the entrance when they saw the two nobles arrive in the gardens. Rudyard took the reins of the two great stallions and lead them to the stables, while Auberon greeted the two lords.

"Lord Von Esterheim." Auberon bowed to Alucard first, and then he bowed to Sinjin, "Lord Von Esterheim."

Alucard and Sinjin regarded the butler but did not nod their heads at him, "Take us to Lady Riley." Commanded Alucard coldly. Auberon who had grown used to the warmth and kindness of Lady Riley was taken aback by their cold stern treatment.

"Yes, your lordship. This way." Auberon quickly showed the two lords to the library where Lady Riley had said she would spend her day. Auberon opened the door for the two lords and bowed to them as they entered the library.

A huge frown appeared on Alucard's face as he took in the sight before him. He hadn't expected to see this when he and his brother had planned to come and visit her. This wasn't at all what he had expected.

Sinjin, on the other hand, felt very amused at the sight before his eyes. His older brother had told him that lady Riley was an unusual case and that Sinijn would have to use his authority over her to keep tabs on her. And to Sinjin's amusement, she was turning out to be everything and more than what he had expected her to be.

Riley stood at the other end of the library, in front of the three men she had found unconscious in her safe room. She had just finished tying them to the chairs with rope and had fastened them all down onto the chairs with some dark magic, just in case.

Riley jolted and slapped each of their faces in order to wake them up, "Hey! Hey! Wake!" She raised her voice a bit so that they would hear her.

They moaned loudly and groggily opened their eyes and looked up at the beautiful dark-haired woman in front of them. Riley called out to them again, but they wouldn't answer her, even though they were awake.

"Are you listening to me?" She asked perplexed at their silence. She hmphed realising that she wouldn't get any answers out of them.

"Well, what do we do with them?" Riley asked giving up on finding answers, they were probably just after the jewels anyway.

"We'll get Bard to take them to the Gismead Guard. The guard handles instances of crime, such as this." Agnes said.

"There is no need for that. We will gladly take them off your hands." Riley whipped around as she heard that familiar sultry tone.

"Lord Alucard." She said a bit flustered as she turned and found him a few paces behind her. "And Lord Sinjin. What a surprise..."

Riley.

I sucked in a breath and curtseyed to them, not quite sure what to do or say.

"What exactly happened here?" Asked Sinjin, while he raised his silver eyebrow at me.

"Um, well I found them in my safe room this morning," I said awkwardly.

"So, they were trying to steal your jewels... I see. Still quite brutal of you to knock them unconscious." Sinjin said with a naughty glint to his eyes.

"I didn't knock them unconscious," I chuckled, "I cast a spell on my safe room so that anyone who entered without my permission would fall asleep." I chuckled.

"Clever." Sinjin had a very piercing gaze.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Our reason for coming here was to make sure that you had settled down well in your new home," Alucard interjected.

"Thank you that's very kind of you both," I said, a little surprised at the courtesy he had shown me.

"We also wish to discuss some more private matters... If you have a room where we can sit and chat for a while." I nodded and looked at Agnes. Agnes immediately knew what to do as she led us to another drawing-room. It was one of the rooms I hadn't seen before.

I took a seat in one of the cushioned armchairs, while Alucard took a seat of one of the blue couches and Sinjin took a seat on the other blush couch.

I was grateful when Agnes, Mellie and Edna entered the room carrying trays of some tea time snacks: cakes and pastries - all of which were from my recipes. And also three scoops of the ice cream from last night. Each ice cream cup was adorned with fresh fruits and cream.

I saw Sinjin eyeing it curiously and I was excited to see what kind of reaction he would have to the ice cream, or how Augustus says it 'iced cream'. I think I preferred Augustus's way of saying it, I mean it was a new world, I could definitely change the name of ice cream to 'iced cream' if I wanted to.

"This looks interesting..." commented Sinjin as he held up the desert in front of him. "What is it?" He asked and looked at me.

"It's called iced cream. It's a sweet vanilla-flavoured dessert." I said, eager for him to try it, "It's very good." I urged him on.

He slowly scooped up some of the ice creams onto his spoon and slowly put the spoon into his mouth.

At first, he didn't react, but then a genuine toothy grin broke out into his face. He was really handsome when a smiled.

"Brother try it." He said, grinning at Alucard. I watched eagerly as Alucard brought a spoonful of iced cream up to his thin lips. Then I giggled when I saw him try to hold in his smile, but his grin soon broke out into his face. I laughed happily and so did Sinjin. I liked seeing them smile.

"You said it was called iced cream...?" Asked Sinjin as he continued eating it.

"Yes." Goodbye ice cream and hello iced cream.

"Would you be willing to hand over the recipe?" He asked grinning slyly at me.

"Well, I'm not sure..." I teased him.

"Well as your senior at the Mage Society, I must insist that you hand over over the recipe." I laughed. Sinjin could be quite charming when he wanted to be. "Mother would love this, wouldn't she brother?"

"She might." Alucard was hilariously acting as if he didn't like the iced cream, even though he had finished his bowl before Sinjin and I had.

"Would your lordship perhaps like a second helping...?" I teased him. I really wanted to milk this moment; where I got to see the funny, playful side of Alucard.

He hmphed at me and turned his head, too proud to admit even culinary defeat. Sinjin and I laughed giddily at him.

"On a more serious note," began Alucard, straightening his collar, "In a few weeks time our family will be hosting a weekend soireé at our family home. A few nobles will be coming including Alice Marcellus, who I believe is a chum of yours. We are here today to extend the invitation to you." He said, but I somehow felt that it was more of an order to go than an invitation inviting me to go. "Would you be able to join us?" He asked, his frost eyes looking right into me.

"I would be honoured," I said, accepting the invitation.

"Excellent!" Said Sinjin as he finished off his ice cream. "And in another note, as I am now your Mage Advisor, I am in charge of making sure that your magic progresses and that your talents are sharpened and refined. To ensure your progress we will have to meet every week to practice magic together. Our meeting places can take place in the home, my home or at the Mage society." I nodded taking in all the information. "Let's schedule to meet every Day of Water until you take the exam at the end of the year." Exam...

"There is an exam?" I asked starting to feel nervous already.

He nodded.

"Don't worry, with my teaching you will pass easily." He assured me.

I smiled.

"Well, we have many things to do before the day is over, so we must sadly leave you." Said Alucard sarcastically. They rose from their seats and so did I. On our way to the front door, they took the three thieves with them, they said they would take them to the guard for me, which I thought was very kind of then. I waved as I watched they ride off with the three thieves tied behind the horses, who had to run to keep up with the horses' trots.

I was glad that they had come today, I had really gotten to see a new side of Alucard, a side of him that I really liked. Also, I enjoyed getting to know Sinjin better.

"Milady this is truly wonderful... To think that the Von Esterheim's came to pay you respects and then to invite you to their annual weekend soirée... Milady these are exactly the type of connections that you need to be making." Said Agnes proudly.

"Speaking of the soirée, I must contact the dressmaker to come and make you some more clothes." She said.

"More clothes?" I asked shocked.

"Indeed! Not just clothes, you will need shoes, bags, hats, jewellery. Everything must be perfect for your trip to their house." She looked like her brain was going into overdrive, thinking about all the things she would have to get done.

I headed over to the greenhouse to see how my medicinal garden was coming along. I was surprised to see how good the greenhouse looked. The weeds and invader plants were all gone and had been replaced by my beautiful new medicinal plants. "Fantastic work gentlemen!" I cheered for Auberon, Rudyard and Bard who had been working on the garden.

"It's our pleasure Milady!" Replied Auberon enthusiastically. Auberon then continued with his work: he used water magic to manipulate to the water to wash over the panels of glass and the dirt on the walls, thus creating a quick and effective waif cleaning. He had magnificent control over the water magic.

"You are very talented with water Magic Auberon." He was truly impressing me. "You should join the Mage society." I wondered why he hadn't joined already.

"Well, I will one day Milady, but I want to get good enough so that when I apply, I know I will get in." Auberon was really a hardworking guy, he reminded me of Edgar a bit.

"Well, I would be happy to teach you some water magic if you would like that," I said, hoping I could be of use. His whole face lit up when I said that.

"Thank you so much, Milady!" He exclaimed and bowed a low bow to me. "To be honest, Milady, the reason I came to work with you was that I saw your water magic in the Mage tournament and was completely in awe of your power. I am really a fan of yours." He scratched the back of his neck, seeming to be embarrassed about his confession.

"That's so kind of you to say Auberon. I will be glad to teach you anytime." I said.

Third Person

Alucard and Sinjin drew their horses to a halt, deep in the forest where nobody else could see them. The three thieves behind them had been struggling to keep up with the horses' trotting and were panting and wheezing after the.

Alucard dismounted his horse and then sliced the rope with a sharp gust of wind magic, thus releasing the thieves that were tied to the horses. Alucard then stepped closer to the first thief and with one swift brutal motion, he slapped the man across the face.

The man toppled backwards from the force and fell onto the ground. He cupped the side of his face, feeling a searing pain run across his cheek. When he lifted his hands he saw that there was some blood on it, the blood was dribbling out of his mouth. He felt that rich taste of iron in his on his tongue and spat out the blood that had welled up into his mouth from the tooth that Alucard had managed dislodge when he slapped him. The thief growled, he should never have taken a job from nobles, even if the money was good, this wasn't worth all the trouble that he had gone through.

"Filthy peasant." Said Alucard disgusted that he had gotten some blood on his hand, he took the handkerchief for inside his pocket and vigorously wiped his hand. "Honestly, how exactly did you manage to fail this mission?" He glared at them, "it was simple, all you had to do was get into the safe room and steal the trunks."

The thieves were angry that the boss had just been humiliated and on top of that, they were disgruntled that they had failed so miserably at stealing some jewels.

"You didn't fucking tell us that the magic level of the safe room would be so high!" Shouted the second thief.

"Yeah! If we had known we would have been better prepared!" Said the third thief, frustrated.

"What the hell do you want her money for anyway... you're also a noble, you have plenty of your own."

Alucard scoffed at the low man in front of him, a pathetic thief who couldn't even do his own job. "Why we wanted the trunks are none of your concern. As of now our dealings with each other are over. You may keep the money we paid you, even though you did not fulfil your duties, such is the grace and honour of the Von Esterheim name. We will never see you again. Do you understand?" Asked Alucard. His steely gaze could terrify the thieves.

"Yes." The first bowed his head.

"Then you are free to go." Said Alucard, a thin sly smile on his lips.

The thieves scrambled off into the forest.

"That plan failed miserably brother... she really is special, isn't she." A small smile lit up Sinjin's face as he thought about Lady Riley. She had completely squashed their plans when she captured the thieves. He found him a very intriguing woman.

"Hmm, it's a pity. If she hadn't caught them and they had managed to steal the trunks, she would have been distraught and would have asked for our help when we arrived this morning. Then we would have gotten back the trunks for her, and thus she would have been in our debt." Alucard was quite disappointed that his plan had not worked. He could tell that Lady Riley would one day be a very important figure in Girannon. If they had succeeded in her owing them a debt, it could only have helped the Von Esterheim's in the future, when she would achieve more success.

"I suppose we will just have to make friends with her then." Smirked Sinjin, he was actually glad the plan failed, now he could take the opportunity to get close to her. "Tell me brother, which disappoints you more: the fact that you didn't get another serving of her iced cream or that your plan failed."

Alucard suddenly remembered the sensation of cold iced cream melting in his mouth. He was truly sorry that they hadn't gotten the recipe from her. He also remembered how beautiful she had looked in that white dress, she was truly enchanting...

"Oh shut up Sinjin." Sinjin laughed as Alucard indignantly mounted his horse and rode away. Sinjin followed behind him, still laughing.

They rode all their way back to the mansion and the first thing Sinjin and Alucard did was try and explain iced cream to their chefs.

Hidden in between the shrubbery, Rudyard watched at the two nobles left on their horses. He was truly surprised that it had been them who had planned the robbery. Rudyard mused that he would have a lot to report to the princes and the king, at the end of the week.

Riley

After I left the greenhouse, I went to one of the unfurnished rooms in the castle, I was going to turn this room into my lab or alchemy study. I was going to use this room to develop the new healing potion. Yesterday when I had been looking through the book that the king had gifted me, the tenebris intellexerunt, I had come across the section of the book that was about healing magic. The book contained two different types of healing potions: the very cheap poor quality one that the general public use, and the other, a very powerful yet extremely expensive to produce potion that was actually very effective. My goal was to create a new potion that was as effective as the second potion, but inexpensive to produce like the first potion. I already had an idea on how to accomplish this, but I needed the help of an alchemist to execute my plan. So, I decided to head out to the Mage society headquarters to enlist the help of an alchemist.

Hey there, be honest are my chapters to long? Should I make them shorter? Also, I feel like the plot is dragging a bit... should I speed it up?