I followed the servants who were jogging through the maze. The blue dress I was wearing was tripping me making it hard for me to keep up. I hated this era. My nausea was still fresh and my stomach was queasy.
The journey here was long and tiring. The countryside roads were rough and broken. The carriage shook and I was tossed around. If they can't invent cars, they should at least have seatbelts or modernize the roads. It was a relief when we arrived.
The servants who greeted me were quiet and formal, they had no warmth in them. They did not want me here. I did not blame them. She led me through a beautiful but too perfect garden that led to a white gazebo where a family of four sat waiting, my in-laws, I presumed.
I bow my head and curtsey as is the norm out here. The man, who I assume is the grand duke, signals for me to take a seat, which I do. My legs had started to wobble and my back was aching. To hell with the coachman who rushed the poor houses. A servant pours me a cup of tea, and its fragrance hits my nostrils. I take a sip, and I'm swimming in its aroma and sweet taste.
"How was your journey to the country?" the grand duchess asks. "I enjoyed it. The scenery here is quite beautiful and the wind blows differently here," I lie. She offers me a smile and passes me a plate of macarons.
"This place must not compare to the city. You must already miss home," the grand duke says. Was this a test? This place was grander than any estate back in the city. "I already love it here. The landscape is beautiful, and I get to enjoy such delicious tea," I compliment.
"That is mother's famous chamomile tea," the young lady am seated next to boasts. She had been shooting daggers at me since I got here. Everyone except the master and mistress of the house was passive-hostile to me. But I understood their sentiments.
"My son is not around. He had some business to attend to in the capital," the grand duchess says. I breathed out a sigh of relief. I was not ready to meet him, the man I was supposedly engaged to. I was not ready for any of this but I had to escape the city somehow.
Ever since I woke up in this world I have been alert. I needed to save myself from the fate that I bestowed on the villainess, Iris Tahenna. She was the villainess of a book I wrote when I was fourteen. I was young and cruel and I ended her life in the most brutal ways I could think of.
I had to drop the book off the website because of how much the book was hated. "The plot was messy and lazy," some reviews read. Ten years later, I would be a bestselling author, and a year later, I would die for my work. Star Baraka would be no more.
Iris Tahenna had cultivated a terrible reputation for herself. She was a green-eyed monster who fed on the tears and pain of others. That explained the cold stares and empty smiles.
"You must be exhausted, our head maid will show you to your room," the grand duke announces. I am dismissed, what a warm welcome. I follow the head maid and am led through a hallway with carpeted floors. The guest room is lavish but feels unfamiliar.
A young lady in pigtails and the maid's uniform walks in. She bows at me and then walks to stand beside the headmaid. "Lady Iris, this is Louisa, the maid who has been assigned to serve you," the head maid announces. I nod at her. I am too tired to utter a word.
I plop myself on the bed and oh, the things money can buy. A knock makes me sit up. A six-foot, masculine, clean-shaven, handsome man in uniform walks in. He looks at me and does an elegant bow.
"I am sir William Lotting, your knight," he grumbles. He walks out of the door and I am filled with worry.
He is not supposed to be here. Where was Joel? Or was it Joe? Something was definitely off with the plot. He was not supposed to show up till later in the book.
Had I really forgotten the content of my first book?