NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Just Be Yourself
-KRISELLA-
Today is Saturday.
I'll finally have my weekend off from school. I wonder if I'll also have a weekend off from my training sessions...
I tried to enjoy sleep as much as possible, but before I could even think about it, someone grabbed the blanket from me. My eyes are still closed as I tugged the blanket to keep it in place, but the person who's disturbing my sleep right now is much stronger than I am, thus he was successful in getting the blanket from me.
"Wake up, you sleepy head." said that familiar voice of that heartless, cold jerk. Yep, I'll add the word 'heartless' to his character description from now on.
"Mmmmm..." I mumbled before turning to the other side.
Suddenly, I felt as if my body has left the bed. When I slowly took a peek, my eyes instantly flung open when I saw my body floating several inches above the ground and out of the bed. My eyes then landed to the lad who did this floating spell to me, with his right hand now raised upwards.
And without a warning, the heartless cold jerk dropped me off right this instance, creating a soft thud as I hit the solid ground.
"Ow, my butt." I groaned as I gave my butt a gentle stroke. Then, with a swift motion, I turned towards this... jerk... who did this to me early this morning.
"If you think you'll also have a weekend off, then you're wrong," said Alex, as if he could read my mind right now. "Now, get up and prepare for your training sessions. Again, your stay here is not for free and you're sleeping in the prince's room for heaven's sake."
As usual, after his quick sermon, he walked out without uttering any other word. I was left here again, hanging, with my butt still hurting from that fall earlier.
---
As soon as I was able to dress up as the prince in his casual- yet still fancy- apparel, I met up with the gang in the prince's office.
Now here's my new schedule for today...
---
From 6:00 am to 7:00 am, we started off the training session with yet another round of table manners session. Like, ARRGGGHH! Do I always have to eat while minding what spoon to use, what are the do's and don'ts in the table, and how to eat with grace, beauty, and poise?
"Don't slouch while sitting. Always remember to still have a proper posture even when eating." Lancelot would always say to me every time we have this kind of training session. This was what I mean earlier by poise!
Unbelievable!
---
7:00 am to 9:00 am, I started to have my magic skill training session with the heartless, cold jerk. For today's lesson, he has taught me how to generate and utilize the four elements of magic, which are water, earth, fire, and air.
"Again!" Alex instructed, for the 50th time I think.
Feeling frustrated, I forced myself to follow what he instructed for the 50th time as well.
"Aguamenti!" I chanted, with my hands stretched forward. This is the basic spell used for generating a small water ball from your hand. But instead of a water ball, only drops of water came out from my palm.
Next element...
"Terrae!" My hands are still stretched forward to move the rock placed above the table. However, the rock didn't budge a bit. Wahhh!
Alright, next element...
"Incendio!" I chanted to create a flame. Unfortunately though, only smoke came out from my right palm. Wahhh, why can't I do this right?!
Okay, maybe I'll have luck with the last element!
"Nebulus!" I attempted to create even just a small fog out of the air that I can gather all around me, but only a small amount of dot-size fog only formed out of my efforts to gather its source.
In the end, I can't really do anything much but to weep mentally and slouched my body in complete surrender. There is no way for me to get this all right.
---
9:00 am to 12 noon, it's time for Lucas to train me regarding vocabulary.
"In behalf of my people?" I said, unsure what preposition to use.
"Eeenkk." Lucas made a fake buzzer sound. I caught a glimpse of Alex who smacked his forehead with his right palm.
"The correct preposition to use is the word 'on' " Lucas gently instructed. Huhuhu, I somehow appreciate Lucas' patience in teaching me, unlike that heartless, cold jerk!
"Noted," I beamed.
"Alright, again." the lad said out loud.
---
And finally, I got the time to have a break from 12 noon to 1:00 pm.
Luckily for me, Alex and Lucas left me to do their own high-ranking duties, thus I was able to own this whole spacious room all to myself just now. I was almost teary-eyed as I finally got the chance to lay my head above the table and relax my mind.
Now, I started to feel exhausted from all these work that they are putting over my shoulders. But as I have said, backing out is not an option for me now. Not now where I don't have a single penny with me to use.
"Krisella..."
The moment I heard Lancelott's voice and felt his presence inside, I automatically sat up straight and looked at him.
"I swear I am not sleeping earlier!" I barked an explanation yet I was kinda surprised to hear Lancelot chuckled at how I acted just now.
"Quit the apology. You may sleep and rest in your break," he said, still chuckling. "Here, I brought you a home-made cinnamon roll and some hot chocolate drink."
As soon as he mentions food, that's the time I noticed the tray he's currently holding with a plate of cinnamon roll and a cup of hot choco drink placed above a saucer plate.
And as if on cue, my stomach begins to growl. My face flushed while it did so.
"Aww, our poor Krisella is already hungry." Then Lancelot placed the tray above my table. "Here, help yourself with these."
"Okay! Thanks!"
I started to dig into the food that he served for me while he looked at me with an amused expression.
"You know, that's also the kind of expression that the prince is showing when he eats the home-made pastries that I serve to him."
I just took a big bite from the cinnamon roll when I heard him say these things. With my mouth still munching the food, I turned to face him with a curious look plastered on my face. I tried to swallow the cinnamon roll first before decided to speak up.
"Do you think I would do fine in this upcoming royal gathering?" I asked out of nowhere.
There was a moment of silence between us as if Lancelot is also trying to think first of some appropriate words that he'll be saying to me.
Waahhhhh, what if the archbishop says "No, you're really hopeless since you're slow to pick up things that we're teaching you. Just pray to God that you'll somehow be able to pull this one off!" in a stern, pissed voice... like that of Alex's.
"Well..." Lancelot finally opened his mouth to speak.
"The best thing that you can do to pull this one off... is to be yourself, Krisella." Lancelot finished off his sentence with a friendly smile.
"And also, always remember the ones we taught you." he quickly added.
I smiled back at him. "Thanks for the tips! I really appreciate that!"
As soon as I was finished with my food, Lancelot willingly got the empty cup and plate from me and excused himself for a while to wash them off.
While he's gone in the meantime, I tried to recall the things he said to me a while ago.
Hmmm... just be myself, huh?
I think... I can do that.