“Hey Ria, good morning.” I gave my girlfriend a hug at our usual meeting spot down the street of her house. I'd been able to sleep pretty well after my phone call with Em the night before and was in a pretty good mood.

“Good morning, Rora.” She hugged me back and then went in for the kiss, for which I was very willing to oblige.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Mhmm.” She nodded as we then started walking to school. “How about you? Aren’t you nervous?”

“For meeting your parents?”

Ria nodded.

I shook my head. “Hmm, not really. Not at the moment at least. Alessia called me last night and it sounds like she’s got everything planned and in order. Have your parents mentioned anything?”

“Not really.” Ria shook her head this time. “They said that they had an important meeting this evening. They’ve also been really on edge since, too.”

“How so, have they been working it out on you?”

She shook her head again. “They’ve just been acting nervously, yesterday even more so than usual. It’s hard to explain, but normally they like chatting about business during dinner. Yesterday, they were almost completely quiet.”

“Huh, I guess it’s a relatively good sign that they are being nervous about it, it means they must see it as something real.”

“Technically you really did get adopted though. So it’s not even a lie.”

“Well, I suppose.” I chuckled. “Let’s call it a half-truth, then.”

“Deal.” Ria smiled and gave me a quick kiss on my cheek.

“By the way, do you want to hear about this cute thing Em did yesterday evening.”

“Of course!”

“Auro! Ria!” Em waved at us, she and Karin had been waiting for us just behind the school gate.

“Hey Em.” I walked up and gave her a good old hug and kiss combo.

Ria did the same and then just smiled at her, but just a tiny bit too much not to be suspicious.

“What’s wrong?” Em squinted her eyes.

“What’s wrong with what?” Ria kept smiling. “I’m just smiling.”

-You are not making yourself any less suspicious by saying that, Ria.-

“Really…” Em then looked at me.

I just shrugged with a smile on my face.

“Oh…” Em started blushing. “You told her I fell asleep on you, didn’t you?”

“I may or may not have done such a thing, yes.” I replied. “I couldn’t possibly keep such a cute thing for myself, could I?”

“My sister shouldn’t use her phone when she’s that tired.” Karin replied dryly.

“I couldn’t have just hung up on her, could I?” I answered. “By the way, how are you doing? Em told me you were sick yesterday.”

“I feel fine now, I was just a bit under the weather.”

“You were sick? Why didn’t you tell me anything?” Ria pouted.

“You were busy.” She answered, short and to the point, like always.

Ria pouted a bit more. “But I want to know if my best friend is not feeling well.”

“Okay.” Karin nodded.

Ria then started smiling again and flew around her best friend’s neck for a big hug as well. I didn’t even have to worry about her catching Karin’s bug, because, well… immortality and stuff…

With that we moved on to the classroom to meet with Claire and Pres who were already there for another day of the usual classes. A couple of the teachers had noticed that I’d studied up a bit which was pretty nice, I should definitely do that more often… if I had the time and the mind to do so at least. I guess I was somewhat lucky to have been bored enough to study…

The midday break and the afternoon classes went over fine as usual too, it was just your good old normal day at school.

“So, what are you up to this evening, Aurora?” Claire asked. Pres had already left us to do some class president business.

“I’m meeting up with Ria’s parents, actually.” I replied.

“Oh? Why’s that? They don’t like you very much, do they?”

“That’s why she’s meeting up with them.” Em answered and then continued to do a basic explanation of what the plan was.

“An adoption, wow, that’s definitely something. Won’t the school be notified of that too?”

“I’m pretty sure they will but those are worries for later. Now I really need to go, though, Alessia asked me not to spend too much time after school dilly-dallying around.”

“Fair enough.” Claire gave me a fist-bump. “Good luck with the meeting.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and then waved Claire off as she turned the other way, probably to meet up with Anya first.

“Do you want Helen to drop you off at your house?” Em asked while we walked in the direction of the school gate.

“Probably not. Just in case Alessia is waiting for me in front of my house. It would be best to avoid questions for now.”

“Could you drop me off?” Ria asked instead. “My parents want me to be ready as well.”

“Yeah, sure thing.”

“Are you going to be at the meeting, Ria?” I looked at my shorter girlfriend. Just a bit surprised at the sudden development. I’d expected her parents to keep her aside and do the talking themselves. But then again… if a high class noblewoman presents her daughter, wouldn’t the other party do the same?

“Mhmm.” She nodded. “I got a message on my phone.” Ria showed me her screen. The message had been sent this morning but as the good diligent student she was, she’d turned off her phone during classes.

“Alright, we’ll try to get you home as fast as possible then.” Em nodded. “Say hi to Alessia from me, would you?” Em took Ria’s hand in her hand and was prepared to turn right towards Helen’s car.

“Of course.” I nodded and looked at Ria. “See you later, Ria. It’ll all go fine, so don’t worry.”

“I know.” She smiled, yet her facial expression did show a little bit of concern.

I gave her a quick kiss to banish her concerns. It definitely seemed to work, as her smile flared up a bit brighter.

“Bye Rora.”

I gave her a last wink before I let Em guide her away towards the car. I went on by myself and turned into the next street. Not that long afterwards a familiar car drove by, I waved shortly and with a smile as it did.

As I had expected, Alessia was already waiting for me in front of my house, leaning against the hood of her car. But she was not alone. She was conversing with her head maid Rosemary and the blonde haired maid I’d sadly forgotten the name of.

“Ah, good, my daughter is here.” Alessia smiled as she saw me walk up to them.

“Hey Alessia.” I greeted her.

“That’s not a way to greet your mother, Mistress Beaumont.” Rosemary teased me as usual.

“It’s Aurora. And hello to you too, Rosemary.” I smiled and then looked at the other maid. “I’m very sorry, but I can’t remember your name.”

“My name is Stephanie.” Stephanie smiled politely.

“It’s normal, you’ve only met her once before.” Alessia replied. “But you’ll get to know their names better after you’ve spent some more time at the castle.”

“Yeah… to be honest, I think I only remember Rosemary’s name…”

“We can always make you some memory cards.” Stephanie proposed jokingly.

“That's probably not a bad idea.” I chuckled.

Alessia smiled and then motioned her arm towards the front door. “Shall we? We still have a bit to do.”

“I thought most of it had already been done?” I walked towards the door, key in hand.

“It is, but the Devil is in the details.”

“And I take it it’s the details why Rosemary and Stephanie are here?”

“That’s correct.” Rosemary nodded.

“Huh…” I opened the door and let the ladies inside.

I locked the door back behind me as Stephanie and Rosemary quickly started unpacking a couple of things. “Uhm, I suppose I’ll go and take a shower first?”

“That’s what I was going to suggest. In the meantime, Stephanie will be taking care of your clothes.” As Alessia said that, Stephanie took out needles and thread.

“Uh… It fitted pretty well when I tried it on.”

“It’s to embroider the family crest.”

“Ah…” I looked down the hallway towards my room. “Do you want me to go and get the suit for you?”

“No, we will find it.” Rosemary replied quickly. “Just focus on showering.”

“Alright…” I quickly went to my bathroom, almost while jogging, as I felt rushed by the maids. I suppose that was their intention.

A quick shower later, I was drying myself off when someone knocked on the door. Before I could even answer, Rosemary entered with a black rolled up mat under her arm. I could cover myself up just in time.

“R-Rosemary? W-what are you doing here?”

“Alessia has asked me to do something about that rugged look of yours.” She stated matter-of-factly as she rolled out the black mat on my bathroom countertop. In it were multiple tools like brushes, scissors and even a small metal hair dryer.

“R-rugged? What does she mean with that?!”

“No complaining, quickly now, be a good heiress and be still for a while.” A devilish look appeared on her face as she equipped a brush in one hand and the hair dryer in the other.”

-Uh oh…-