Chapter 4: The Rewrite in which I get an Apology from a Duke

The Prince announced shortly after the birthday party that Autumn was no longer a simple candidate, she was his official fiancé. The girl herself was of course overjoyed, and wandered the house in a daze the entire day after hearing the news. I trailed behind her with a smile, ensuring that she didn’t bump into anything and hurt herself. I was enjoying the peace and quiet while I could, since I knew that a big nuisance was headed our way. 

“Good morning, Miss Katrina.” The big nuisance said with a cheerful smile. I returned the expression with a polite curtsey. 

“Good morning, Your Grace.” 

He handed me a letter. “This is for Miss Autumn from Coron. It’s an apology for what happened at her birthday party, among other things.” He straightened up, looking me in the eye with a serious appearance. “He also wishes me to convey his deepest apologies to you, and to thank you for preventing him from accidentally killing his future wife.” 

I nodded, “I appreciate the sentiment, but it is unnecessary. I was simply doing my duty.” 

He looked at me with an odd expression for a few moments, but before the silence could start to feel awkward, I led him over to where Autumn was waiting. She was curious as to his presence here, and was concealing it poorly, but I had the benefit of being the author, so I had already expected his arrival. 

With her now being the future Queen, the Prince had dispatched his closest friend and most trusted advisor to train her in court etiquette and prepare her for the political battle she was about to be thrust into. Of course, that was not to be spread around. Officially he was there as a magic tutor. Duke Harrington was well known as a magical prodigy, and was keenly sought after by most for a few moments of training. Most people didn’t know that Autumn had no magical power; in fact, she was impervious to any form of magic. This rare magical canceling ability is what first attracted the Prince’s attention. She was a queen who could never be assassinated by Magic, or controlled to betray him. She had a natural advantage. So not needing any magical training, all of her focus could be devoted to preparing to live in the royal court. 

James explained all this to Autumn in detail, while I listened on. 

“Is that agreeable to you, Miss Autumn?” 

She looked briefly at me and when I nodded my approval she looked back at James and agreed. 

“Great.” He snapped his fingers and a stack of books appeared on the table between them. “Then let’s get started.”

“… Pardon?” I almost laughed at her expression of shock. It was obvious that Duke Harrington, although he could be called many things, a procrastinator was not one of them.

As they got started I went to the kitchen to prepare snacks. The chef, typically protective of his territory, simply smiled and waved me over. Years of studying cooking at his side had paid off. I made some quick desserts and headed back to Autumn and her new teacher. 

“But why do I have to stir my drink three times before every toast, that seems like such a useless rule!” I had only been gone a short time, but she was already frustrated. The Duke stared at her firmly. 

“Miss Autumn, although its true that many of the rules of royalty are useless and outdated, just as many are there for a reason.” He grinned, “The important things is to understand what the rules are and why they are there. Only then can you know which ones you can bend, which you can break, and which are absolute.”

She frowned. “Which category does to drink stirring rule fall into?”

“The absolute one.”

“That’s ridiculous, why?”

“Poison.” I set down the tray of desserts on the table between them, speaking briefly. 

Autumn looked stunned. “What do you mean, Katrina?” 

“As part of the royalty you will be provided with a special silver spoon. Stirring your drink with it is a quick test for poison. If the spoon blackens in color, you know the drink is not safe for consumption.”

James applauded politely. “Very good, Miss Katrina! There aren’t many who understand the purpose of a silver spoon.” 

I shrugged. “Of course, in the end it doesn’t matter. You can still be easily poisoned.”

His polite mask cracked just a little. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I wanted to poison someone royal, I would just use Territe root. 

“Territe isn’t poisonous.” He frowned at me, as if annoyed at the interruption. I handed him a tart from the tray. 

“No but if mixed with poison, can render it inert to silver.” I passed a tart to Autumn, who accepted it with a broad smile. She really was enjoying me arguing with him a little too much. 

“That’s… that actually could work.” The duke glared at me. “I feel like I should arrest you for the safety of the realm.” 

“If you’re nice enough, one day I’ll teach you how to counter it.”

“…”

Autumn broke in the uncomfortable silence. “This is delicious, Katrina! Your desserts are always the best!” 

James stopped mid chew for a moment, then carefully swallowed. “You made this?” 

Autumn answered for me. “She is an excellent cook. Chef often laments that Katrina refuses to be her successor to the kitchen.”

“It’s not that impressive, Lady Autumn.” I shook my head. 

“Even better,” she ignored me and kept talking with a mischievous grin, “There’s no peanuts on it.” 

“…”

“…” 

Ugh, Autumn, don’t look so pleased with yourself for making him uncomfortable. I massaged my temples to decrease the headache that was starting to form. The Duke stood up, his face solemn. 

“Miss Autumn, I realize that you have already received His Highness’s apology in that letter, but I have not included my own.” He placed a hand over his heart and bowed solemnly. “I am sorry for our error that day.”

It was a beautiful apology, but Autumn simply stared at him with a severe expression. She did not look impressed. 

“It’s not me who needs the apology. Katrina saved my life and you repaid her by mocking her publically. Even then she didn’t expose you or even let me say anything to clear her, taking all the blame on herself.” Autumn looked angry, I hadn’t realized that had affected her so much. She really was such a sweet girl, I couldn’t help but smile thankfully at her. 

James looked uncomfortable, but turned to me and bowed as well. “I apologize for our error to you as well, Miss Katrina.” 

“I see.” Why was this apology so much less sincere sounding than the one he just gave to Autumn? Our error, huh? So he’s just going to forget all the horrible things he said both in public and once he found me in private? I shook my head. “Don’t mention it.”

It was not an acceptance of his apology, and we both knew it. His face spasmed briefly but he quickly locked a polite expression into place. 

“Why don’t you two finish the lesson?” I prodded gently. Once they got started I could disappear. I felt that the less time I spent around the Duke, the better.

“Sure, Katrina!” Autumn grinned at me. “After that I would appreciate it if you showed Duke Harrington around the estate.” 

What on earth was this girl thinking! I had wanted to escape. I opened my mouth, about to give some polite excuse, when the Duke spoke up first. 

“That would be wonderful, thank you Katrina.” He smiled at me, the expression lighting up his handsome face and despite myself I felt my heart skip a few beats. Stupid crush. Well, so much for escaping.

“I would be honored, Your Grace.”

Later that afternoon, I took him around the mansion and the grounds. Fortunately, my explanations of what we were looking at and the inner workings behind them prevented us from having to make small talk. As we passed by one of the dining rooms, we were interrupted by the head butler. 

“Miss Katrina, there was an issue with the contract of the newest hire.” He handed me a paper to look over, not sparing a glance to the noble guest behind me. 

I looked it over. After two years by Gertia’s side training, she had started delegating more and more household tasks to me. This had unfortunately included household accounts and new hires. I made a few corrections to the paper in front of me, and handed it back to the head butler. 

“This should be more than satisfactory. If he doesn’t agree, tell him we’ll find someone else.”

“Thank you.”

Ignoring the Duke’s wide look of surprise, I moved on, taking him out to the gardens. 

“Miss Katrina!” This time it was the gardener. “The Rentril herb will be finally ready for harvest tomorrow evening. You were absolutely correct that the soil was too dry, they are growing heartily now.”

I smiled. “I’m glad to hear that, I’ll make sure to be present to help you harvest them.” 

“Thank you! Also, Healer Gale also wanted me to pass on that once you have the Rentril herb to stop by so you two can attempt to formulate that new antipyretic medication.”

“She’s really not wasting any time.” I nodded. “Tell her I look forward to working with her.”

“Will do! Here, you and your friend take some sweet fruit! I just picked some!” He tossed us a couple of bright red fruits. “Have a good day!”

I kept moving, the Duke followed closely, a strange expression on his face. 

“Miss Katrina, what is…” 

“Miss Katrina!” Whatever the Duke he was about to say was interrupted as we were surrounded by a group of guards. 

Seriously, even though this was normal for my daily life, it was a bit irritating to have interruptions one after the other when all I wanted to do was finish giving this stupid tour and pass off the Duke to someone else. 

I sighed loudly. “What do you need guys? I don’t have any cookies today.” 

One guard named Jorl stepped forward. “Miss, we wanted to thank you for the cake you sent over yesterday, and to make a request.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Yes?

“Please spar with us today! You haven’t been by training in over a week, and the Captain is starting to look sad and mope around.” 

“…” I stared open-mouthed at the guard. 

“Just who is sad and moping around, huh?” an angry voice interrupted my train of thought. We all looked over to see Captain Alexander, his face grim, standing there with his arms crossed. 

“Captain, don’t be sad, Miss Katrina will come spar with us today!” 

“Guys…”

Alexander looked torn between exploding with anger or dying of embarrassment. His face began to turn bright red. Feeling bad, I stepped in. 

“I’ll be happy to go a couple rounds with you guys, but first I have to finish showing this guest around the grounds. I promise I’ll be back shortly.”

Just as I was about to walk away, the Duke spoke up. 

“We don’t have to delay them. I actually would like to see you spar.” 

What was this idiot saying? I glared at him briefly but his polite mask was on at full force, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking. After a moment of consideration I nodded. 

“Sure, allow me to change and we can begin.”

I went into the guard house and changed into my practice clothes, I had long ago modified a guard uniform into a loosely fitting shirt and pants that covered me enough for this world’s standard of modesty while still allowing me freedom of movement. I would be nice if I could wear such clothes all the time, but unfortunately societal rules wouldn’t allow it. 

Stupid younger me, next time write a world which I can wear pants in! 

As I walked out, picking up a blunted dagger from the practice rack, I could hear them talking in hushed tones. 

“What is she wearing?”

“Ah, yes, Miss Katrina designed it for sparring practice. You get used to it. We were all shocked in the beginning but we don’t even notice it anymore.” 

“Still… “

I broke in, idly spinning the blade on the palm of my hand. “My attire is not anyone’s concern but my own. For goodness sake it covers more than my usual dresses, but you guys act like I’m running around naked…”

“Jorl stepped forward, waving his arms. “Miss Katrina, you can’t say things like that around the Captain, he’ll get embarrassed!” 

“Shut. Up.” Alexander cradled his head in hands, but through his fingers I could see his ears were bright red. He was too cute. I was glad he only had a year before the love of his life showed up. 

I started to spar with the guards. The first to face off against me was Jorl, who was one of the stronger fighters. He used a practice sword while I kept my dagger. 

As we circled around each other, looking for an opening, I heard the Duke ask “Isn’t this a little unfair? His weapon far outreaches hers.”

Alexander answered him. “She insists on fighting this way. After all, if she ever must defend the mistress from harm, she likely will only have a short blade on her and will be fighting at a disadvantage.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, she can handle it.”

Well now the pressure was on. I blocked out everything else and focused on my opponent. I slowly closed the distance between us, watching him closely for signs of an attack. He made a few feints, which I ignored, but finally started with a low strike towards my knees. 

His blade did have a longer reach, but I was a lot faster than him. I jumped up, stepping on the blade which drove it into the ground, and sprung towards Jorl while his weapon was out of commission. I kicked the side of his knee to destabilize him, and while he was off balance I threw him over my shoulder, using his weight against him. He landed with a loud thud on his back, and before he could recover my knife was on his throat. 

The rest of the guards cheered, while I helped Jorl back up to his feet and cheekily took a bow.

The Duke looked shocked. “That was amazing.”

“That was nothing.” Alexander grinned. “You should see her take on 3 opponents at the same time.” 

I fought a few more matches under different conditions, before begging off and changing back into my normal clothes. 

Before I left with the Duke, I patted Captain Alexander on the shoulder. 

“Only one year left, friend. Hang in there!” 

He stared at me shocked while I walked away. I chuckled to myself, thinking of how happy he was going to be soon. 

“What was that ‘one year’ about?” James asked. 

I was distracted and answered truthfully without thinking. “In a year he’ll meet the love of his life and get married. Then he can finally grow out of his silly infatuation with me.” 

“So you can see the future?”

I realized what I had just said. Coughing uncomfortably, I tried to cover my tracks. “No, just women’s intuition.” 

“I see.” He stared at me suspiciously, and obviously didn’t believe me, but thankfully he let it drop without further comment. 

I showed him a few more areas, with no further interruptions to my great relief, and then finally stopped near the front gates to the front gate. 

“Well that should be everything. I will show you back to the mansion.”

“Thank you for taking the time, it was… very educational.”

I flushed, “Sorry about all the interruptions.”

“No, don’t apologize.” He grinned, throwing me off balance. “It seems as though the rumors about you are completely unfounded. No wonder you found me so irritating at our first meeting.” 

Shaking my head, I quickly tried to correct him. “They weren’t unfounded. I was a willful child, arrogant and spoiled. It wasn’t until I was sent here 2 years ago that I came to my senses and started trying to make up for lost time.”

“Cooking, gardening, sparring, poisons, you seem to have done a lot for such a short period.”

I was a little taken aback by the compliment, but I couldn’t help but let out a satisfied smile. “All it requires is sufficient willpower and motivation. This much is the minimum that could be expected.”

“Is that really so?” His expression was complicated, his gaze steady on my face. It was a little uncomfortable. I cleared my throat nervously, and tried to think of a topic to change the subject to. To my surprise, before I could, he spoke again. 

“It seems like I have really mishandled this whole situation.” He sighed softly, before straightening before me and performing a formal bow. “Allow me to apologize sincerely for my actions. I am sorry that I took rumors about your character at face value, and treated you poorly. I am sorry for my public words of admonishment, when all you had done was protect your mistress, not to mention myself and the prince.” 

He straightened up, looking me directly in the eye. My heart rate increased a bit, but I kept my face expressionless. “But most of all, I am sorry for my arrogant words when I insulted you after the party. I assume you came to kindly inform the Prince’s servants about his error, to quietly settle the matter, and instead you had to deal with my idiocy once more.” 

“It’s al…” I was touched, and started to accept his apology, when he interrupted.

“It’s not alright. Please, Miss Katrina, I owe you a favor. What can I do to make this matter up to you?” 

I thought about it carefully. A favor from a Duke was not a small thing. It might be worthwhile to hold on to it. The more I thought about it, however, the less that idea appealed to me. He was a good person, I didn’t want him to feel indebted. Coming to my own answer, I smiled and replied with confidence.

“Teach me magic.”