Chapter 1
The lady in a lavish clothing, her long golden locks shimmering from the rays of the sun. Her ocean blue eyes sparkled with joy as she strolled through the busy streets of their Kingdom. As she walks past the people, she greets them. Everyone knew the daughter of the Duke Haithé of Narvana, the family who has been of great service to the Royal family for generations.
Aurelia walked her way to her favorite pastry shop. She walked through the entrance and looked at some freshly made pastries. A lady in her working uniform hurriedly walked towards her and positioned herself to properly greet the daughter of the Duke. She held the skirt of her dress and bowed her head. "Good morning, lady Haithé! What may I serve you today?"
"I?" asked Aurelia. "Are you the only one in service this time again, Linda?" Placing her hands on her hips, Aurelia looked at Linda with a displeased face. A drop of sweat appeared on her forehead as she struggled to answer the lady's question. "Uhh, Dina asked for a leave today as she needed to visit her mother. She told her mother fell ill again." Linda said in a slow pace, her eyes avoiding the lady's. She cursed Dina for always avoiding work, going around the city to flirt with strangers.
"I thought I gave enough money to give the finest treatment for your friend's ' 'ill' mother." her eyebrows raised in doubt. Last week, Linda's friend Dina made an excuse using her mother's illness to exclude herself from work to which Linda who manages the shop, allowed her to do so. Only Linda and Dina are the workers of the shop as the owner has been traveling from city to city to further promote their shop. Aurelia noticed Linda doing all the work and she was worried. She offered to help by using her allowance she receives from her family and gave it to Linda's friend to help treat her mother's illness. "Let me guess, she's avoiding work? I wonder where my money went."
"No! It was true Dina's mother fell ill but now thanks to you, she's doing well. Dina greatly appreciated your help." Linda explained. "Right now.... she snuck out and wandered around town." Linda finally said the truth.
"Oh, I see. Then tell your friend Dina, she needs to pay me back." said Aurelia. She wouldn't have wanted to make Dina pay back the money but if Dina continues to avoid her work, Linda will struggle to run the shop.
"Of course, milady. Oh! I almost forgot." Linda went to the kitchen where they bake the pastries they sell.
Aurelia sat on one of the seats wondering what Linda is up to. She looked around as she waited for Linda to come back.
"Forgive me for keeping you await milady." Linda came back with a basket full of different shaped cookies."I would like to give this as gratitude for helping my friend."
Aurelia gasped in excitement as she picked up and tried one of the cookies. "They're delicious! And it seems like these are freshly baked." she exclaimed as she picked another one and took a bite. "Mmm! You made this, didn't you?"
"Ah yes, milady. I'm glad you like it." Linda heaved a sigh of relief as this was already her 10th try after she failed to bake the cookies right earlier.
"Like it? I love these! Can I take these home? I'm sure mother would love to have a taste." she said as she continues to munch on the cookies.
"Of course, milady."
Aurelia walked her way back to her home while eating the cookies Linda made. It would've been much faster if she rode her carriage but she rather prefers to walk along the streets. She loves going around the town as she meets new people everyday. Everyone would greet her with smiling faces and laugh and talk with her. Her parents were first against this idea as it was dangerous to wander around the streets alone. Though eventually, they just let her be.
After an hour of walking, Aurelia finally arrived at the gates of of their mansion. "Welcome back milady." The guard bows as he greeted the young daughter of the Duke. "The King and the prince are here." informed the guard.
"Thank you for informing me, Harold. Here, have a cookie it's really delicious!" Aurelia said as she handed a heart shaped cookie to Harold.
Harold was touched when he saw the heart shaped cookie. He has been serving the Haithé family for 30 years and yet this was the first time a noble lady showed kindness to him and even smiles and greets him everyday. Harold gladly took the cookie and watched as the daughter of the Duke Haithé walk her way towards the mansion.
Aurelia walked straight to her father's office where he's usually at. He was about to open the door when someone called her.
"Milady, how may I help you today?" The headmaid asked Aurelia whilst she keep her head down.
"I'm just gonna see father." Aurelia assured the headmaid that she didn't need anything.
"Forgive me milady but I was ordered to not let anyone interrupt the Duke and the King's meeting."
"Is that so?" Aurelia wondered what could his father and the King could be talking about. She would've loved to share her cookies with her father as well as the King.
"Shall I escort you to where the prince and your mother are residing?" offered the headmaid.
"Sure." The headmaid showed the way and Aurelia followed. They reached the garden house where her mother and the young prince played with each other. "Mother!" She towards them and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.
"Done with your morning walk? What have you brought, dear?" Gretchen asked her daughter when she saw her putting a basket on the table.
"They're freshly baked cookies. Have a try! It's really good!" Aurelia happily gave the basket filled with cookies.
Her mother took a bite of the cookie and she hummed in agreement of her daughter. "It really is good! Did you get this from 'that' pastry shop?" Gretchen already knew how her daughter loved to go to her favorite pastry shop almost everyday. She couldn't argue as the pastries made by them were indeed one of a kind.
"Yes, mother. It was made by my friend, Linda. I knew she's a great pastry chef." Aurelia grabbed another cookie and crouched on the grassy ground where the young prince sat playing with his toys. "Have a bite Henry, say ahhh."
The young prince Henry opened his mouth and took a bite. He hummed in joy and grabbed the cookie from Aurelia's hand, munching on it.
"Mother... How about we take Linda as our pastry chef." Aurelia said as she sat on one of the other seats looking at the young prince playing.
"Hmm... That would be great idea but you once mentioned that Linda only runs the shop. She never had any experiences as a pastry chef has she? " Gretchen replied. In some occasions Aurelia would talk about her friend Linda that she is a worker of her favorite pastry shop.
"You're right...." Aurelia went silent for a moment in deep thought before saying, "How about our current pastry chef take her as an apprentice until she gains experience." Aurelia desperately wants to take Linda as their own pastry chef. That way, she will be close to her and they can always see each other.
"Hmm... I'll talk to your father about that, maybe he'll consider." Gretchen suggested and her daughter agreed. They then went back on playing with the young prince in garden house.
A few minutes passed by and the young prince finally got exhausted and fell asleep. A maid who was in charge of taking care of the son of the King, picked him up as it was time to go back to his father.
Gretchen, her daughter Aurelia and the maid who carried the sleeping prince walked back inside the mansion, on their way to where the Duke and the King are when all of a sudden, they heard a loud noise coming from the Duke's office. "What's going on in there? Aurelia—"
Aurelia quickened her pace and walked to his father's office. She didn't know why but she had a bad feeling of what could be happening in there. She reached the door and she quickly opened it to see his father on the ground, blood all over him. Her eyes darted to a tall man holding a sword covered in blood. His eyes looked menacing that made Aurelia unable to move.
"Au...relia..." Aurelia heard his father call her name but she couldn't even move her face to look at him. Her eyes were fixed to the man who had stabbed his father with a sword.
"RUN!" was the next word she heard from his dying father and without a second thought, her own body moved in an instant and ran back to where she left her mother and the maid who was carrying the prince. When she arrived there, they were gone. She looked around to find no one.
The next thing she knew was she started running out of the mansion and into the streets. She heard two armored men chasing her from behind. She continued to run, holding the skirts of her dress up and leaving her heeled shoes to fasten her pace.
Aurelia panted as she kept on running, leaving the town and into the forest. She didn't even know where to go as the only thing she knew was to run, the last word she heard from her father. Her feet began to bleed because of the sharp twigs and stones she ran on. She kept on running until she reached a cliff. She looked down to see the deep blue ocean. She heard the footsteps of the soldiers who were chasing her.
Aurelia didn't know where to go now, she's trapped. She saw a soldier running towards her. Her body flinched and the rock she was standing on gave up and she fell from the cliff.
The two soldiers reached the edge of the cliff where the daughter of the Duke once stood. They looked down to see a splash caused by the rock but the lady was nowhere to be seen. "I'm sure she's dead." said on of them.
"A lady who has never been to an ocean won't be able to swim." the other soldier continued before they left the forest and back to the Duke's mansion where the King was waiting.
"Your majesty." said the soldiers as they kneeled down to the King who stood just outside the Duke Haithé's mansion.
"Where's the lady?" said the King in a loud voice, upset upon not seeing the daughter of Duke Haithé captured.
"Your majesty, she's dead. She fell down the edge of a cliff into the deep ocean." explained one of the men.
The King sighed, "Forgive me, Duke Haithé." he muttered as he went back to his carriage. He turned back to the soldiers who still kneeled. "Bring the traitors to the dungeon and no one in this Kingdom is to know about this incident." He commanded before climbing in the carriage.
