I look at myself in the mirror, dressed up in clothes that were a gift from Lady Magnar. It reminds me of when I came to the Magnars' manor for the first time, when I was a very young child. “As I and my mother before you, you will be an attendant to the Magnars in order to learn to be a proper lady and run your own house one day.” Those were words that my mother told me years ago as we headed for this manor for the first time. My name is Helena Gracie, and I have lived a good portion of my live outside of my house, learning the proper way to be a noble lady of low ranking in the kingdom of Meridia.

That said, I did not spend the whole day being educated, and thus I spent a considerable amount of my childhood playing with Alexius, nephew of Lord and Lady Magnar. Apparently Alexius' mother died when she was giving birth to him and the healing magic used to on her miscast, causing a reaction that ended with her death. Some years later, his father then died during an expedition to kill a rampaging dragon. Being the direct heir to the previous head, he should have become head of the Magnar family upon reaching adulthood, but he refused, citing his own inexperience as a major point.

Honestly, I don't think Alexius really intends to ever become head of the house, to the point that I don't really see why his aunt is so intent on marrying me to him. I don't doubt my mother when she says that it is also a way of expressing gratitude to my family, which have served the Magnars so well. But on the other side, anyone with the smallest political ability can see that her primary objective is tying Alexius down with someone who won't have the capabilities of pushing him into taking the position of family head. She wants to ship us off to the family's castle as defenders of it, keeping us from the real power that lies in the capital.

Honestly, I don't really care too much about it, so I suppose that she really did judge me well. As long as I think that Alexius would be satisfied with his life, I wouldn't mind marrying him and living in some castle in the country. But I don't think that's what he wants out of his life. I have known him for a long time and I know well those intense eyes, gazing longingly at something far away. It is like he is seeking something beyond what life has in store for him. Is it that he holds some kind of ardent ambition? I don't think so, he never liked giving orders or taking other people's responsibilities as his own, as is required of a high-ranking noble. Is he brimming with self-righteousness and a strong sense of justice? I don't think so. I don't know what compels him to journey, but I do know what makes me want to accompany him.

I want to be with him. My friends tell me that I must then love him, but I am not so sure. But perhaps, it might be better if I stay by him, so that if the truth really is that I do love him, I will be able to act on it. As far as he knows, I want to go with him because I want to see the world and be free of the stuffy constricted life of a young noblewoman, and I suppose that this is not entirely untrue. Few are the people that do not sense even some craving for the different, for some adventure. But I don't think I am yet ready to tell him that the only reason I truly want to go on this adventure is because I will be with him.

A few light knocks on the door free me from my thoughts. Startled for a moment, I answer the knocks.

“Yes? Who is it?”

The voice that responds to my query is of a friend, a young girl who is also part of the Magnars' household in order to be educated.

“Young Lady Gracie, Lady Magnar wishes to know if you are ready for the dinner.”

Lady Magnar. Remembering that stern face that is able to find even the slightest of faults in anything if they're present, I quickly take one last look at my clothes, slightly turning in this and that direction. I don't really see any mistake and would really go so far as to say that I look really quite beautiful, though a proper lady would never say such a thing out loud.

“Yes, I am ready.”

Having opened the door, I prepared mentally to deal with the scrutinizing gaze of Lady Magnar. She regarded me from head to toe, her eyes going from one place to to the other, her gaze was stern, likely in preparation to point out the smallest flaw. It was a relief when she finally smiled.

“Good! You look like a proper high-ranking noblewoman. Now, if only I could make that fool Alexius see that...”

I put on my best smile and reacted with the humility that was likely expected of me in that situation.

“Please, Lady Magnar, I could not possibly be worthy of someone like Alexius.”

After a slight show of mirth, Lady Magnar responded as expected. A noble's life really was nothing if not well-rehearsed and predictable theatrics.

“Oh please, don't be foolish my dear. Surely no one knows Alexius better than you do. Who else would be able to support him as well as you? And it's also high time your family got recognized for their capabilities. There's no need to be so humble.”

Even if she said it just to reassure me, even if it's all just theatrics, even if it was just said out of convenience and to convince me to pursue the marriage of my own volition... I cannot deny that it made me happy to be told by her that I was the most suitable person to stand beside Alexius. But I knew that, for now, it was best to keep with the humble act.

“But, I have nothing really to bring to this family... My father holds no lands or any political influence. It pains me to admit to it, but I don't believe that we are able to prepare a dowry that is worthy of some that would marry into the Magnar family.”

But of course, she already had a good answer for that.

“Nonsense! We already almost have more land than we know what to do with. That boy has no talent for paper pushing and my husband is already up in his neck taking care of what we do have. As for influence, we already have way too many jealous eyes on us and keeping their owners at bay when Alexius' father died was hard enough, best not to attract even more animosity, really. And who cares about money my dear? Such a petty thing. Don't you worry, You are the most well-suited woman for that boy.”

Once again, I find myself flattered by those words, even if deep inside I know that their real meaning is “You're the most well-suited to make Alexius as small a threat as possible to my children.” and for a moment I was almost swayed. No, I won't try to tie down Alexius. It's not what he would want. I will just smile and play my part to the minimum necessary.

“I understand. If that's how I am thought of, then I will not present any more objections.”

Lady Magnar seemed satisfied by this final response.

“Good. Now, let us head to the dining room, I believe that we have kept the men waiting long enough.”

As we made our way to the dining room, I caught myself worrying about Alexius. How did he plan to make his aunt give up on her plans? I couldn't really see it ending well if he directly confronted her. It also didn't seem possible that he could convince her that he wasn't really interested in holding authority and power within the family.

“Ah, there you two are.” Lord Magnar looked like he wanted to say more, but after a slight sign of hesitation he merely covered the bare minimum of etiquette. “Shall we eat then?”

Alexius, on the other hand, displayed a completely different attitude as compared to any other meal I had seen him take with his family.

“Uncle, you almost seem impatient to eat. You wouldn't think of hurrying a pair of ladies as they dress up for dinner, would you?”

Instead of the usual apathetic, sometimes almost hostile demeanor, this time Alexius showed a quite jovial smile as he even joked with his uncle. That was probably part of his plan. As for Lord Magnar, he shot a glare at his nephew. He likely didn't appreciate getting used as a foil.

“Oh my, Alexius, you seem to be in a rather good mood today. Is it the clothes I prepared for Helena? Perhaps now that you can properly appreciate her, maybe you will be more reasonable and actually consider the responsible thing to do, which is marriage.”

Of course, she would go right into the attack. As the servants served the first dish for all four of us, Alexius kept his smile at his aunt and answered sounding quite unconcerned.

“Why, dear Aunt, I see that my taste is quite underestimated by you. Even without these beautiful clothes, which really do compliment you quite well, Helena, I've known for quite some time that my friend is quite beautiful.” For some reason, his emphasis on the word friend bothered me, but I was still happy with the compliment. “And also, I don't think I have ever done anything that would make me marrying her any sort of responsibility. You know I would never do something that would hurt such a precious friend's honor.”

Lady Magnar seemed unfazed by that response.

“Oh, far be it from me to imply such a terrible thing. It's just that, as you just illustrated, you are very close friends.” For a moment, Lady Magnar's expression took a slightly more sinister look. “Some people may very well misunderstand such a close friendship between a young man and a woman. As such, there is the very real risk, that should you decide not to marry her, poor Helena might have a hard time finding a suitable marriage partner.” I felt a slight chill in my spine. She wouldn't really? “Even if you completely disregard these kinds of rumors, there's also the inescapable fact that if you, her childhood friend, refuses to see her as a suitable partner, then who will? It would break my heart if this poor girl were to be thought of as to have something wrong with with her...”

What am I thinking? Of course she would be capable of doing such a thing in order to force Alexius to marry me. Even if he's not responsible for it, I could see the guilt eating at him enough that he breaks and accepts the marriage. Slightly overtaken by panic, I said something quite stupid without meaning it.

“Well, I could always go to a nunnery if such a situation were to arise, so do not worry for me.”

Everyone's mask cracked for a second and shock could momentarily be seen.

“Absolutely not! Nobody would wish to see you interred in such a way!”

For a fleeting moment, it could be said that Alexius and Lady Magnar were in complete agreement. What an incredible thing.

“How right you are, my dear Alexius. It would be a crime to lock a woman of your kind in a nunnery, Helena. So, you see, would you really relegate her to such a fate just out stubbornness?”

And in the end, she managed to use it as more ammunition. I'm sorry Alexius.

“Well, that's the thing, my dear Aunt. It seems that you are misunderstanding a good number of things today. I haven't said anything tonight about refusing to marry Helena.” I would comment on how shocked everyone else looked for a moment, but I must confess that at the moment I was too bewildered by my own thought to worry about other people's reactions. Was he giving up on his journey? What was going on? “Now, I think it would be reasonable to say that there is no real rush for the marriage, and the proper thing to do would for there to first be an engagement, no?”

Lady Magnar bought some time to recompose herself by pretending to clean something on her cheek with a napkin.

“Why, yes, of course. There's no need to hurry with the wedding.”

Alexius looked completely satisfied by that answer.

“Thus, while I will have a more formal proposal later... Helena, would you accept me as your lifelong partner, once I have journeyed and discovered myself?”

I must admit, I didn't really pay attention to his last few words.

“I... Of course!”

I suppose that in a way, it was a happy ending after all, sort of. Except, I am wiling to bet that the Lord and Lady Magnar will be quite surprised and confused in the morning.