The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family - Book One: Pandora

Chapter 16: As I Have Promises to Keep

As she got up in the morning, tired and with a mind far too preoccupied with things other than getting ready, Rowena let herself be guided through the process of washing up and getting dressed. She wondered if she would ever be able to do all of this on her own if this continued.

Chasing the thought away, she looked around. There was an unknown maid who had helped her along with Norina.

"We need to check on Ava," she said, more to herself than to anyone else. She hadn't barged in on her during the night because everything else had distracted her, but now she needed to know if she was healthy enough to get back on a carriage.

As she left the room, however, the polite smile of the girl with the dark brown hair greeted her. "Good morning, my lady. Did you sleep well?"

"Oh, I was just about to find you..." As the young noble looked her up and down, she seemed fine, but you never knew. "Why are you up already? Do you think you can travel again?"

It was a straightforward question. If she wasn't well enough, she would be left behind, that was for sure. Of course, she could lie either way. If she didn't want to go, saying she wasn't well was the easiest thing to do.

But Rowena didn't like risks, so she'd rather leave her behind than try to force it and make things worse.

"I got up so as not to be left behind, my lady." Ava had woken up about two hours ago, having spent the last few hours sleeping comfortably.

With a doctor and a High Priest monitoring her regularly during this process, there was no way she wouldn't recover from a slight bruise on her head. Well, a scratch at most, in her opinion.

"All right, if that is what you want and the doctor has given you a pass, then we will leave together." The servants of the estate had already collected all the luggage from the bedroom and taken it downstairs.

The sun hadn't even risen yet, but the whole manor had gone into a state of frenzy. They were preparing a filling and nutritious breakfast for all the members of the envoy. This would be the first time she would even see the other people who went with her.

She hadn't met them after getting off at the estate, as she had been taken somewhere else with her substitute carriage. They hadn't eaten together the night before either.

When she entered the dining room, she cared enough about her manners to pause for a second and acknowledge the people sitting around the table, while her two maids stood behind her. There was a young looking man, a man in his fourties, as well as an old man.

And then there was Alan, who stood out the most. A quick glance at her first brother revealed that he was watching her from the side, but he hadn't said a word.

"One of your guards will be absent from the delegation until further notice," he said as she finally sat down in an empty chair and waited for tea and food to be brought in. "Mr. Logan Randall of the first division will have to be excused. He asked me to inform the lady."

She took a cup and didn't even look at him as she nodded, trying to appear surprised but unaffected at the same time. Like a noblewoman who didn't want to seem bothered at all.

"From the first division? That is a great loss. Was there a reason?" The oldest man spoke instead of her, who had been addressed first.

It wouldn't have been his concern, since etiquette dictated that her guard was her responsibility, but as they already had to involve her brother, since he was the member with the highest authority in terms of security on this diplomatic mission, it had become a problem that involved all of them.

The old man was Hilmond Cyrus Klein, a count who had been chosen as the new ambassador of the Arlen Empire in all matters concerning the Lodden Empire.

From the books, Rowena already knew that there was a different ambassador for each country they had close relations with. There was one for the Aurora Empire as well, but there hadn't been one for Lodden because they had never had serious relations with each other. Originally, there was no ambassador present when they had these negotiations in the book.