Beginnings

Feeling Alicia wash her body, Beatrice couldn't help but smile and close her eyes.

"Wash this spot," said Beatrice as she pointed to a place on her left hand, where some parts of her experimental subject had landed, this was the spot Alicia failed to clean Beatrice properly before.

Without saying anything, Alicia began once again gently cleaning Beatrice's pale hands, as if scared to damage them.

Suddenly, a knock on the door of the bath was heard.

"Enter," said Beatrice before another one of her maids entered the baths.

"Prepare me one of the black ones," said Beatrice before the maid even asked the question, causing the latter to exit the baths as quickly as she entered them.

"You should be more careful, don't make such a mistake next time Alicia, you are the only one who can wash me properly," said Beatrice, as she moved her hand, touching Alicia's face with the back of her hand.

Feeling the hand of the young miss, Alicia's face couldn't help but blush, but even so, she continued to honestly clean Beatrice with a blush on her face, the latter to chuckle.

...

Feeling the complicated dress tightly wrapped around her body, especially her chest, Beatrice could feel it was a little too tight, but even so, she could not be bothered to change into another one, as that would take too much time.

"Increase the size of the dresses by one," said Beatrice as she walked out of the room, leaving the room followed by Alicia, leaving the other maid alone.

After walking for a while, Beatrice arrived at a large ornate door, with two guards on either side, and as soon as the two guards saw Beatrice, they immediately made way and allowed her to enter, bowing as their young miss passed by.

Not doing anything, Alicia then stood at the door, alongside the two guards and began waiting for her young miss to finish eating.

Without saying anything, Beatrice walked up to her specially prepared chair on the long table.

"Mother, how was your day?" asked Beatrice as she looked at her mother with a rarely seen smile on her face.

"Very good, things are going well," said Iris as she looked at her now fifteen-year-old daughter with a smile on her face.

After this, Beatrice did not say anything else, merely looking at her father and two-year-old brother with a slight smile on her face.

As she took a small bite of the meat on her plate, a surprised expression appeared on Beatrice's face, and after gracefully eating the rest of the meat Beatrice asked a question.

"Father, did you hire a new chef?" asked Beatrice as she remembered the extremely tender and juicy meat she had just eaten.

"Yes, so I see you like his cooking," said Renald as he took a bite of the meat himself before frowning.

"If it's to your taste I can have him make your meals," said Renald as he wondered why the meat tasted slightly worse than usual.

"No no, I want to ask him something about the food," said Beatrice as she let out a gentle smile.

After this small discussion, the meal continued.

Looking at her daughter, who was eating with a smile on her face, Iris couldn't help but take in a deep breath.

"You don't have to keep the smile up," said Iris, looking at her daughter, who for some reason, no longer smiled after becoming three old years old.

Back then, upon noticing this, both Iris and her husband, had brought the best doctors from the entirety of the Lyon kingdom to check on her.

But none of the doctors could find anything wrong with their daughter, as such, they could not do anything, only have her and her Husband smile more around their daughter, so as to hopefully make her more likely to smile.

Somehow, this somewhat worked, but sadly, Beatrice only really smiled when her experiments were a success or when she became stronger.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room slightly fell, as the smile on Beatrice's face disappeared

"Thank you mother," said Beatrice, causing Iris to smile.

Even though no smile could be seen on Beatrice's face, Iris could see the love hidden deep inside of her daughter.

She knew, that even though Beatrice tried to hide it, she loved her family.

After a few more moments, Renald couldn't help but ask a question.

"Have you prepared everything you need in your journey?" asked Renald as he looked at his daughter.

"Yes, everything I need is ready, and if something's missing, I will get it in the capital," said Beatrice as she couldn't help but look at her little brother in the corner of her eyes.

Suddenly, tears seemed to begin forming in the corner of little Frederick's eyes, causing Beatrice to frown before letting out a smile.

Seeing the smile on Beatrice's face, the tears in the corners of Frederick's eyes disappeared, but even so, Iris was not happy.

Suddenly, Iris knocked thrice on the table, causing a door to the room to open, allowing an old maid to walk in.

"Elizabeth, take Frederick to his room," said Iris, causing the old maid to walk next to the young child.

"Young master, will you come with me?" said Elizabeth, prompting Frederick to climb in the arms of the old maid.

Moments later,

Looking at the back of the old maid, memories from his childhood couldn't help but appear in the mind of Renald.

"How is Alicia?" asked Renald as he turned his head to his daughter.

"She's young but quite good," said Beatrice as she took a bite out of her food, causing Renald to smile.

...

"Miss Beatrice, tomorrow morning you need to begin your journey to the capital," said an old maid as she followed Beatrice around.

"I know Elizabeth, you don't need to remind me anymore," said Beatrice before taking a good look at the maid behind her.

Looking at the grey hairs that appeared on Elizabeth's head in the past few years, Beatrice sighed.

"You should leave some more tasks to your granddaughter, Alicia is already qualified you should rest a bit more," said Beatrice before entering her room.