Sir Arthur

• Six

Time had flown too quickly. Too fast to Kim's liking.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and she was sprawled on Faye's bed her hands hanging out at the edges and her legs tangled in the soft covers.

She stared out at the window wandering what this evening would bring. The night of the royal ball was just hours away and there was no running away.

The carriage that would ferry them to the palace would soon arrive at the manor before dusk. Anxiety was was eating her away as she watched the lovely trees outside that brushed by smoothly as the wind blew.

They were carefree and Kimberly wanted just that at the moment.

Her dress had been delivered a day before from town. It was a silk floral gown that completely enveloped her small frame with glitters that glistened as she moved around.

She had tried on the gown just as it arrived under her mother's watchful eye to make sure that it was the right size and perfect.

It fit ravishingly. Faye had said so and Kim didn't ponder much over how she looked. That was the least of her worries. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

She had not spoken to Lily since their little run in at the seamstress's shop. She thus did not know whether their little plan tonight was till intact.

Kim groaned loudly grabbing the covers and squished them into her anxious stricken face as she rolled over the bed.

The door to Faye's room opened once again and Kim ignored it assuming that Faye was back from picking out her accessories from her room that she had to put on for the event.

Kim solely depended on her tonight since she hardly knew what colours matched and the different ornaments that accompanied them. She was utterly clueless to matters that concerned beauty.

The covers were roughly dragged out of her face making her squint her eyes open as she shot daggers at Faye. It would have been better if she had asked her to sit up nicely.

However, it wasn't Faye's face that she met.

Madame Paula glanced down at her narrowing her eyes as she looked at her unprepared self. Her hair was sticking out unbraided and her dress had slightly risen. "You'd better get up and start preparing!"

Kim jumped off the bed and rushed back to her room not bothering to put on any shoes. The last thing she wanted was get on Madame Paula's bad side.

Kim stumbled into her room and released a tired yawn as she carelessly stretched her arms. Her room was slightly messy with a few books littered on her small desk. She had forgotten to clean it earlier that morning after ruffling through her bookshelf trying to get hold of a good book.

It always took ages to find a great book from the recommended books her father fed into her room. She would occasionally come across books on sewing, needlework and embroidery.

She would fold some of the pages on them, so that they wouldn't look new to convince her mother that she had gone through them when she would just toss them across the room as she searched for interesting topics.

Earlier today, she been researching about some medicine that she had discovered. She had been going through most books on her shelf to get the book she had been currently reading only to find it missing.

Someone must have picked it out or replaced it with something feminine. Her father perhaps. He was always concerned about the books she read and that's why he always oversaw the books that were brought to her shelf.

She had forgotten to put the books back in place afterwards leaving the desk a whole mess.

However right now there was no time for that. She quickly took a bath as the sun was just about to set and dressed faster than usual since she didn't have Faye's aid.