So that was a stressful teatime. Mom really wasn't going to let any of it go. We were thinking of doing a tour of the house and show off our writing and reading skills, but we agreed that my Mom wouldn’t settle down until we got some alone time with her. So we made our way to my room.

  “This is my room,” I said. Pointing to the bed and desk.

  Mom stared daggers at Emilia. I waved my hand, and Emilia excused herself.

  I sighed. “Mom, Emilia doesn’t deserve that. She has been invaluable. I can’t even get dressed properly without her.”

  “She dresses you?” Mom asked.

  I nodded as I pulled out my green dress, showing her the positions of the laces and where they needed to be tied.

  “That... that is asinine!” she shouted.

  “Does seem like a lot of work. What’s wrong with the dress your mom made?” Dad asked.

  Dad… I wish I could wear it. I took a deep breath and put on a big smile. “On that note, I actually would like you to hold onto my dress for the time being.”

  “What? But… you were so happy when you got this dress? You like these puffy dresses better. Is that it?” Mom said, her voice rising.

  “Mom! That isn’t it. Just… I don’t want to risk losing it or getting it damaged.”

  “Why or how could that happen?” She asked.

  Ugh. “I don’t know exactly. But I know it will be safe at home and right now, well,” I pulled out my red dress. “I got more than enough clothes here.”

  Mom sat on the bed, holding the dress, and carefully brushed it with her hand. “Julia. Sit down.”

  Ugh, this wasn’t good. She wanted answers, but I couldn’t give her any. I could tell her that either. Evelyn might be watching, as she told me. I must always act in a way that can be watched, and I know Mom is thinking that now that we are alone, I can just revert to who she remembers.

  I softly sat on the bed. “Yes?”

  “What happened? What is this job? You can tell me!”

  “Mother,” I said sternly. It would be too hard to argue with her otherwise. “I thought it was made perfectly clear last time. I promised not to share my job details. You’d ask me to break such a vow?”

  “I expect something. This was a mark of pride for you. And you're giving it back? What am I supposed to think?” she said. She was nearly crying.

  “Badge of honor,” I said. “For women, it is called a badge of honor. Mark of pride is only for boys.”

  “Says who?” Mom asked.

  “Everyone. Everyone not from Hatula,” I added. I touched the dress in her hands. “It is still a badge of honor for me, Mom. I love it. But I need you to hold onto it for me. It isn’t what I want.”

  “And you can’t explain?” she asked.

  I nodded. I looked up at Dad, but he was simply rubbing his hand up against the furniture. Dad was always like this. He would just get busy whenever Mom argued with me or my siblings.

  “So, is the job almost done?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Julia! It has been a full month. One more and it will be harvest. What is taking so long? You will be home in time for harvest at least, right?”

  I… my words didn’t want to come. My throat felt clammy. I knew that much. I would be in the capital for harvest. Meeting the king, my debut, which was the last thing I wanted. “I won’t be home for harvest, at the soonest. I will be two weeks after harvest, but… I doubt it.”

  “That is six weeks. That makes ten in total. That is almost a full season. I don’t care what this gift is! I want to know what is happening to my precious baby girl! Give me something.”

  Dad sat in the chair. He nodded. “We can speak softly, if that is a concern. But you should tell us something.”

  Crap. If Dad were siding with her, then that would only embolden Mom. Looking at her, I could already see the fire intensifying in her eyes. I just wanted to enjoy our letters and talk about writing. Was that too much to ask for? Lady Evelyn didn’t say I had to keep all the details a secret. Plus, if they found out that letters were going to take longer. Then they were going to freak out. I guess I could tell them that.

  “I am going to meet someone for harvest. Actually, we plan to leave in three days. The trip is much further. It is going to take two full weeks to get there,” I said.

  “Two weeks! Where on the gods green earth are you going?” Mom asked.

  “Two weeks, in one direction? How much of the world would you see with that?” Dad asked.

  I grabbed a map with a smile. “I can show you. Look!” I unrolled the map and showed them where Hatula was and where we currently were. As well as where I would be going. I couldn’t read a book yet, but I could read maps. I had even learned to read Hatula. Map reading came a lot more naturally to me.

  Not normally a skill a young noble lady would prioritize, but a Maiden for the gods was expected to travel, and the fact that I enjoyed learning made it a lesson Lady Evelyn focused on much sooner than she would have otherwise.

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  “Can this person not meet you halfway? You could come home for a bit before leaving, then?” Mom asked.

  I shook my head. “People from all over Anlage are coming to see him—more than twice the number in Hatula. Even if we could convince them, we would be burdening all those people for nothing. I have to go see him.”

  “Is this about your ring?” Mom asked, and she rubbed my hand while doing so.

  I didn’t want to lie but… I couldn’t put her in danger. “Mom. Don’t worry so much. You raised me well. You would do well not to underestimate how strong I am.”

  Yeah. I thought back to everything: the King, Lady Evelyn, and even Baron Malatise. So many things had happened. So many things that made me puke or cry. But I was stronger now. I may have cracked, but I never broke. I had to do this.

  “After you meet this person? Then they are helping you with your ring and you're coming home?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know. We are talking about six weeks from now. I can hardly be expected to speculate on something so far away,” I said. Lady Evelyn said that after I debut, it would be time for me to start looking for a husband. I didn’t know the exact details, but I figured it would take at least a little while.

  “I got to use the pot, where do you keep it?” Mom asked. She turned to Dad. “Aren’t you gonna say something?”

  “Pot? Oh, uhm,” I paused. Ever since I learned Zureinigen, I hadn’t been using it. “I… forgot.”

  She just stared at me. “Now don’t you lie to me. Julia! Is this actually your room? You don’t just go living in a place for a month and forget something like that!”

  She was starting to jitter. My Mom was never good at holding it. She was always more irritable in winter as a result. Oh, why not? Royal experience and all. “Zureinigen.”

  At this point, curving mana around my shoulder and to my finger was beyond a simple task, and a brief light shone before my Mom just stood still.

  “What… what was that! What did you just do?” she asked.

  I raised my finger and flowed mana into it, causing it to glow a bit. “Zureinigen. It is a cleaning spell. It can completely clean up anything. Even inside your… well, yeah. Oh, spell, right. Magic?”

  “You can do magic?” Dad asked.

  “Uhm, yeah, but just that one spell. I am not ready for any other magic,” I said, rubbing my head.

  “How?” Mom asked.

  “I am curious too,” Dad added.

  I leaned back as they got closer to me. “Is it that big of a deal? I mean, even back home, a few people can use magic, can’t they?”

  Dad shook his head. “Barry can. He said he gained it from his dad. The priest, too, but I assumed it was the same. Since priests move in.”

  “Priests move in?” I asked.

  Mom nodded this time. “Our current priest has been at this village longer than you have been alive. But he doesn’t have a wife. They trade them out every twenty to twenty-five years. We figured he would get married when he leaves. To keep the magic alive.”

  Oh wow. That isn’t how magic works at all. How was Hatula so bad at it? What do I even say?

  “Are you my Julia? Or are you just pretending?” Mom asked.

  I clenched my dress. “Mom. Don’t say that…” I just couldn’t. I couldn’t keep acting like I was a noble if it meant she legitimately thought I wasn’t her daughter. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to worry you. But… this was a test. See if I could handle that act this whole visit. I guess I failed.”

  “That doesn’t explain how you do magic?” Dad asked.

  Mom just stared.

  “I was taught. Magic is a skill. I don’t know a lot, but from what I see. Anyone can learn it. They taught me cuz taking this dress off to use the bathroom is a hassle.”

  Dad looked at all the lace on the red dress slapped over the dresser. “That does look like a pain. So I could learn magic?”

  “Might be better to ask my teacher that one,” I said. Elise had said it wasn’t against the law or anything, but they usually charged, and I didn’t want to get in trouble by answering without consulting them.

  Mom just stared at me, her eyes squinting. “Why a test? This visit was for us, wasn’t it? What does failure mean? Are they threatening you?”

  The last words, Dad turned to face me. He was usually passive, but if he thought I was in danger, I had no doubt he would fight until they killed him for me. That wasn’t fair! The big idiot. I couldn’t be the reason my siblings didn’t have a Dad. So that was the one thing I could never admit. I placed my noble mask back on.

  “Mother! Father! How many times must you ask me the same question! Do you suspect me of being a liar? I shall not respond any differently now. I am here because I want to be here.”

  “Honey,” Dad said. “She can handle whatever this is.”

  “What are you saying? Don’t you-”

  He grabbed both Mom's and my hands and pressed them together. “Don’t you see? You're the one making this harder? Julia has always been special. I knew it ever since she got bit by a viper when she was nine.”

  “Dad! Shut up. I… I cried for days,” I said, fighting back the tears in my own eyes. I wasn’t special. I was just a normal village girl. Why did everyone think I was special! I cried just as much as any village girl would have.

  “Aye, you did. But you asked me to make you a stick, and as soon as you healed, you went back to that meadow. You remember what you said?”

  I looked into Dad’s eyes. Of course, I remembered. “Ain’t no snake gonna keep me from that pretty sunset.”

  He nodded. “I knew right then. You were special. Hatula was too small for someone that big. So, hearing you're gonna be traveling. I've been expecting it for a long time.”

  Mom began slapping his shoulder. “You never told me you thought she’d leave! She is our baby girl.”

  He smirked. “She is and always will be our baby girl. But she knows magic now. Look at her speaking like the other people here, in less than a season. She is more than just our baby girl.”

  The clicking of Mom tapping her foot against the ground told me it was over. She couldn’t fight him any longer. This was the power of my papabear. He didn’t speak that often, but it rang out all the louder whenever he did.

  “You are still writing us letters then, right?” Mom asked.

  I smiled. “I hope so! But I haven’t asked about that yet. I guess we can ask before you leave.”

  Mom pulled out the stack of letters in her bag. Gosh, there must have been twenty of them. How did we send so many in just one month? I opened my drawer and pulled out my own stack of letters. We’d show them to Alexandra later. She wasn’t there when they were written, and I just couldn’t read well enough myself.

  Not that I couldn’t read at all. I could read our names and a few words here and there. I was shocked to learn that my parents couldn’t read more than our names. And they couldn’t even write each letter yet. Mom showed her her penmanship, and it was sloppy at best, but still better than Dad’s, which was oversized and inconsistent in size.

  Compared to them, mine was like that of Evelyn’s quality. Mom was left speechless, and Dad just added it to the list of reasons he knew Hatula was too small for me. I know he meant it in a good way, and hearing Dad be proud of me certainly warmed my heart. But that phrase also made me feel a little cold. Why did Hatula have to be too small for me?