AlekAundra

  "Young master, Luca." Remlend smiled at me.

  I staggered back and shut the bedroom door in his face out of reflex.

  How long has he been standing outside my bedroom? Denise at least knocks. And Jasper simply barges in. But he just waited?

  I collected myself and opened the door again after a few moments. "Sorry, I forgot something."

  "No need to apologize," Remlend replied. He didn't look the slightest bit fazed and maintained his usual ordinary expression.

  There has to be something to him. Any normal person would exhibit some sort of reaction to having a door smmed in their face. Remlend, however, had his usual mundane smile.

  "I was coming by to check on the rest of your schedule," he continued. "Will you be attending your lessons today, young master Luca?"

  "No." I shook my head. "I will be heading out now."

  "Ah, very well. I will go and have the carriage prepared for you then." Remlend bowed his head and hurried away.

  My eyes followed him walk down the hallway.

  Even his walk is so ordinary. I should ask Natalia Ashford about him when I see her today.

  "Where are we going, young master Luca?" Henry asked.

  "To the Ashford Bakery," I replied.

  "Ah, that bakery is quite famous! I've always wanted to go there." Henry smiled.

  Round 7, and this fool gets excited about the same things. But I suppose that is only natural. I'm the odd one out if we're being honest.

  "Indeed." I pulled out a gold coin and tossed it his way. "Buy yourself whatever you like when we get there."

  Henry had the same stupefied expression as the st round.

  "Don't—" I cut him off before he could repeat the exact same words as before.

  "Just follow me, and don't say anything else."

  Henry nodded his head in response.

  "Peep!"

  Are we going to go eat more food?

  Leona stirred atop my head.

  I furrowed my eyebrows together.

  Is she pnning to stuff herself even more? We ate not all that long ago. Where does she even have the room inside her stomach?

  ***

  The carriage rolled to a stop, and I jumped into a familiar yet unfamiliar street.

  Rather than the bricks from Round 6, the Ashford Bakery was made up of yellow stucco. Large gss windows opened to the busy bakery inside. Young and old nobles sat around enjoying pastries and likely indulging in benign gossip. A rich scent of freshly baked pastries wafted through the air.

  The morning rush had ended, but a long line still stretched out of the bakery's doorway.

  "Henry, go stay in line. I'll go inside. I have another matter to take care of."

  "Peep!"

  It smells delicious! I can't wait to try some of the foods here.

  Phoenix stomachs really are built differently.

  I lifted my hands to my head and lifted Leona down. "Henry, can you take Leona and order her some food too?"

  "Peep!"

  Human! Why are you giving me away to this man?

  Leona refused to be handed over to Henry. Her soft yellow wings thrashed in my hands.

  "Where I'm going, I won't be having any food. So if you want to eat, you should go with Henry," I expined to her.

  "Peep."

  Hmph. Fine. If that's the case…

  Leona hopped over into Henry's hand and fluttered atop his head of bck curls.

  "Young master, your bird certainly likes to sit on one's head, doesn't it?" Henry smiled awkwardly. His brown eyes gnced around us.

  Some whisperings and giggles sounded nearby.

  Ah, well. Better than the reactions Leona would attract if anyone knew she was an actual phoenix.

  "I'll be inside!" I waved and entered the Ashford Bakery. My feet moved towards the same young man I had seen the st two times I was here. In this round, he wore a yellow vest instead of a red one.

  "Hello, welcome! How may I serve you today?" He smiled. "If you want to purchase baked goods, the line is outside."

  "I'd like the special menu, please," I replied.

  "Certainly. And did you wish to make an appointment?" He asked.

  "Is it possible to see her now?" I realized that I had come at a different time than Round 6, and may have bumped into a rather popur slot.

  The young man looked down at his sheet. "My dy is, unfortunately, all booked up for today. And her next avaibility won't be until two days from now."

  My heart sank.

  I needed to be able to see her as soon as possible. This missing Dayn prince was a massive catastrophe that needed to be taken care of. Since I managed to somehow create the mess regarding his disappearance, I also needed to untangle it.

  "Is there anything that can be done? Perhaps a short opening?" I asked.

  My hand reached inside my pocket, pulled out a phoenix eye gemstone, and slid it across the wooden host stand to the young man.

  "Ah, you know what?" The young man slid the gemstone towards himself. His mouth's corners curled up. "If you don't mind waiting here, perhaps her current appointment will wrap up early, and her next appointment might fall slightly te? I can squeeze you in between."

  "I don't mind at all," I said.

  Having an influx of expendable cash was rather lovely indeed.

  A phoenix eye gemstone was probably far too much, but I didn't have a problem with my cash reserves. And even if I managed to spend my small fortune, I knew of several ways to earn it back.

  "You are welcome to take a seat at the window over there. I will have a complimentary cup of imported premium tea, and a special pastry brought out," the young man motioned towards a seat near the host station.

  I took my seat and gazed at the long line of people waiting to purchase the bakery's goods.

  Henry seemed to have grown accustomed to Leona's presence in his hair, as did the people around him.

  "Hello, Luca Frey?" A plump woman came over.

  "Yes?"

  It was the same woman as the previous round.

  "Here is your complimentary order. This is a premium bck tea from the Sorvagur Region in the eastern continent. And the special pastry—." She smiled brightly.

  "Is it strawberry?" I cut her off, noting the red filling.

  It looked just like the pastry I had st time, but I had to make sure. These small changes in scenery on each new round extended to everything from decorations, clothes, and even food.

  "Yes, yes indeed!" She responded. "Fresh strawberries too!"

  I waved my hand. "Please take it away."

  "I'm sorry?" She blinked in surprise. "Could you repeat that?"

  Ah. Refusing a rare strawberry pastry was the equivalent of refusing to accept a pouch of gold. And I didn't feel like expining my allergy.

  "Could you wrap it up for me to go? I already ate and am too full to enjoy it properly."

  "Ah." A relieved smile appeared on the woman's face. "That's what you meant! Certainly. I'll have this wrapped up for you and ready for when you head out."

  I took a sip of the tea and continued to gaze out the rge window. The tea had a delightful fragrance: a vibrant bck tea with uplifting citrus notes.

  "I'm so upset about the royal guards coming around this morning and taking my Floofy." A young woman nearby was talking with her friend.

  "I heard about that!" Her friend replied. "My brother snuck his cat out of the capital st night to avoid it being taken away."

  "I understand that a deadly disease is spreading among the cats, but it has to be only those on the streets and those living on the Eastern side. My Floofy is always inside! There was no way it could have been diseased."

  A disease? Among cats?

  I frowned.

  I don't remember anything like this in my original life.

  I sipped my tea, continuing to enjoy its rich citrusy fvor.

  Then again, I was busy mourning Micah back then. And then, after that, I was busy coming to terms with being the new heir of the Frey Merchant Guild. I didn't have time to pay attention to any so-called cat diseases that were spreading around the capital.

  "Oh? Did you hear? Anastasia bought out every article of clothing at Archie's Boutique." The young women continued their conversation.

  "No! I was pnning on going there ter today. I wish I had been born into the Genuiver Dukedom and had that kind of wealth. My parents give me a measly thousand gold a month."

  I choked into my tea. A thousand gold was quite a sum.

  I gnced over to see who these pampered and spoiled girls were, but I didn't recognize either one. They blended into the crowd of other spoiled rich children from other Western families, all eating pastries, drinking their tea, and gossiping away.

  "I heard a rumor that Anastasia has an older brother. So perhaps there's hope to be the next Duchess instead of Anastasia?"

  "Oh no." The other girl put her cup down with a loud clunk. "He's deranged, I tell you. Have you ever met him?"

  Her friend shook her head.

  "I met him when I had just entered society. He's the por opposite of Anastasia, and not in a good way. I don't like Anastasia, but her brother scares me." The girl made a show of shuddering. "He has a huge scar across his face, and I remember him being creepy. There's a reason his family has kept him from attending any formal events since then."

  Huh.

  I finished off my tea.

  I didn't even know that Anastasia Genuiver had any siblings. Especially not an older one. I wonder why he was passed over as the heir? Perhaps as the girl said, he was deranged and thus unfit to take over the Dukedom? Not that Anastasia was fit in any manner, either.

  "Luca Frey?" The young man in the yellow vest came over. "My dy is ready for you."

  A robed individual walked out from Natalia Ashford's private tea area.

  I couldn't see the person's face but recognized them from the st time I had come by on the second day of Round 6. It must have been a long conversation, given how I had come st time in the morning, and they arrived after me.

  ***

  "I was going to ask if you needed help with the menu, but it appears you already understand how this works?" Natalia Ashford was seated across from me in the wisteria garden. Her fingers, with their long purple nails, wrapped around a cup of tea that she lifted to her smiling mouth.

  "I do." l leaned back in my chair, not bothering to gnce down at the menu in front of me with its bogus prices.

  "I also hear you paid a premium to see me." Her eyes twinkled, seemingly perpetually amused.

  I nodded.

  "I have some urgent gossip I'm looking for. And in exchange, I have some gossip of equal value that I can share with you," I said.

  "Very well, let's hear it," she said. "Depending on what you have, I'll reciprocate accordingly."

  I cleared my throat and recounted the same information I gave Natalia in Round 6 regarding Lord Bnche's neckce and the mana stone theft he was undertaking to fund his gambling habit.

  She had the same serious expression and reaction when I completed speaking.

  "Well then, what would you like in exchange?" she asked.

  "The missing Dayn prince. Do you know where he might be or where he was seen st?" I asked. I didn't bother expining which Dayn prince; this was Natalia Ashford. She was likely well aware of the concerning situation we were in.

  She sighed. "You're not the first to ask about him. I will send you a note once I get more information, but I can tell you that the st time he was seen was yesterday morning, in the bakery. He was seated at one of the tables near the entrance."

  It was likely the same pce he sat when I had seen him in the st round. I guess he really likes this bakery.

  "When did he leave?" I asked.

  "Well, that's the odd part." Natalia leaned across the table. Her golden curls moved around her round face. "He never left. He went to our bakery's restroom, and that was it. Poof. He vanished."

  "What about his guards?" I asked.

  "Guards? Ha!" Natalia leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her tea. "Oh no, he came by in the morning all by himself. Didn't even bother taking a carriage."

  "A Dayn prince? Walking around a different country without a single guard?" I balked.

  Natalia shook her head. "I do not understand it either. However, I did hear that the prince has been acting rather peculiar as of yesterday morning."

  "How so?"

  "Chase Dayn is the youngest of the Dayn royals, as you might know," Natalia said.

  Ah, so that's what his first name was. That's right; it was Chase.

  "He is the fifteenth child, has grown up quite pampered, and has lived a very sheltered life. He's a rather quiet type of young man."

  "Quiet?" I scoffed. I remembered the eccentric young man from the ball.

  "Oh?" Natalia smiled. "So you heard? His guards said he was rather bold and free-willed yesterday morning, unlike his usual meek demeanor."

  Meek? That prince that I met was, at some point, meek?

  "You don't suppose he lost his mind?" I asked.

  I knew he would go mad in the future, but it wasn't like I knew exactly when that occurred.

  Perhaps he had lost his mind earlier than I thought?

  "Who knows." Natalia shrugged. "But ever since yesterday morning, Prince Chase Dayn has been behaving very much unlike himself."

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