Father's News

After attending the afternoon tea banquet, Nivea had now returned to her residence. Having just arrived at the doorstep of her palatial home, Seri, who had been standing there for several minutes, finally calmed down when she saw the carriage carrying her ladyship approaching.

"Ah miss, you've finally arrived.", as her hand guided Nivea down from the carriage.

"What's wrong, Seri? Have you been waiting here all this time?"

Nivea began to step inside, followed of course by Seri behind her body.

"Yes, I've been standing there for quite some time waiting for you. I wanted to tell you that duke Eduardo asked you to meet him in the study when you got home."

Nivea's steps halted, taking Seri by surprise. The girl in the lilac dress turned around to ask her personal attendant.

"Is there a problem, when I'm not home?"

Seri shook her head blankly, "No, ma'am! I think... your father... He just wanted to have a chat with you."

"Alright, I'll go straight to him. And you, please just prepare some warm water for me to bathe in."

"Yes ma'am."

The two separated a few steps later. Nivea turned right to approach her father's whereabouts in his study while Seri went straight to the back of the house.

"Are you looking for me, Father?", Nivea gracefully lifted the front of her dress slightly, stepping into the study.

"You just arrived, son?"

"Yes, just now.", sitting down on the chair in front of duke Eduardo.

"I hope... you won't be surprised if I tell you this."

"What is it, Father? Of course I would be surprised if you said something that might... surprise me."

"Very well! His Majesty the King has invited us to dine together. Tomorrow at the palace. He wants... you and Prince Edmund to establish a relationship."

Nivea widened her eyes, but found herself laughing in the next second.

"Hahaha. What kind of relationship are you talking about?"

"Be a little serious, my child!"

"Okay, Dad. Can you say it more clearly? What kind of relationship does His Majesty mean?"

"He wants... you to marry his son."

"Me? Hahaha. I'm marrying Prince Edmund? Why do I have to hear this joke, Father?"

"I'm not joking, Nivea. Come with us to the palace tomorrow!"

"No, Father!"

"You dare disobey me?"

"I didn't mean to be insolent to you, Father. I just didn't want to attend the dinner invitation."

"You're so arrogant Nivea, a king invites you and you ignore it? I don't know how they will judge me and your mother. Maybe they'll say that we didn't educate our daughter well. Yes, whatever! Whatever you want, do whatever you want!"

Nivea sighed at the end of the long sentence she heard from her father's mouth, after she had just been staring at her father talking.

"Alright! I'll come with you this time. But that's only because I want to preserve your dignity, Father. Not that I want to have a relationship with Prince Edmund. Let alone... to the point of marrying him. If you have nothing more to say, I will excuse myself, Father."

The girl even got up from her seat before hearing any reply from her father. Duke Eduardo could only round his eyes, stunned at his daughter's increasingly unruly behavior. He remained where he was as Nivea moved away from him.

"What's wrong, dear?", asked Duchess Elvira when she saw her sour-faced daughter.

"How come... Father said that His Majesty wanted me to marry the prince?"

"So, Eduardo told you?"

"Yes, Mother. I... I already regret enough being born into the family of a duke. How can I move on in life, if I end up marrying a prince."

"You regret being my daughter?"

Nivea sighed, "That's not what I meant ma'am. It's just that I... If I could choose which family I was born into, I would have chosen to be a commoner. They seem happy to be able to do whatever they want without having to care about other people's judgment."

"So all this time, you were unhappy Nivea?"

"Not entirely Mom. I'm lucky to have a mom like you in my life. But I feel like all this time, I've had to be very careful about my behavior. Because I'm the daughter of a duke. Almost everyone in this country will be scrutinizing my behavior. Maybe even other things about me. Honestly, I find that very silly, Mother."

"I understand Nivea. You can't change your destiny, child."

"Tomorrow I will go to the palace. But I've already told father that I'm only doing it because I'm... preserving his dignity in front of His Majesty."

"As you wish Nivea. Go take a bath and rest!", duchess Elvira gently kissed Nivea's forehead and then left first.

An hour passed.

Nivea has finished cleaning herself, she has now put on her nightgown and sits on her bed. She rests her back against the back of the foam-covered bed. Her signature burgundy-colored hair was flowing sweetly slightly past her shoulders.

"You have missed your dinner, miss. I brought you these oat biscuits and chamomile tea.", Seri placed a tray with the snacks on the wooden nightstand, beside Nivea's bed.

"Thank you Seri. But, just bring those biscuits for you. I don't want to eat anything. Leave the tea there, I'll drink it."

"You're not hungry miss?"

Nivea just shook her head.

"Yes ma'am, I'll take the biscuits back to the kitchen. Good night, may you sleep well."

The girl sighed as the maid closed the door to her room from outside. She immediately took a sip of the warm cup of tea that Seri had brought for her. But the taste was not as delicious as usual, Nivea added white sugar with the help of a spoon that had also been provided on the tray. After stirring the tea, she did not continue drinking.

Instead, she daydreamed, making herself unaware that the teaspoon in her right hand had curved, bending into the cup. The beautiful spoon made of nickel and copper was easily curved.

"Oh my! How stupid. Why am I daydreaming? What was I thinking?", she hurriedly lifted the poor spoon from the cup and started drinking her tea in small sips.

It was things like that that made her late grandfather used to warn her to be more careful in touching things. Because of the miraculous power she possessed, it was not uncommon to damage objects around her. Or even because of her powers, Nivea can harm others.

No one knows where Nivea got that power from. Even her late grandfather accidentally found out first, when he realized that little Nivea had bent his tools several times. Until now, the secret that Nivea possessed was only known to her late grandfather, mother, Seri and maybe... Matias, who still couldn't understand how Nivea could unlock the broken cart with her bare hands.