6.
This one’s about finding the surface area,
I thought as I looked over the equations.
Makes sense I guess, since you’d need both the volume and the surface area to have full control over the size of the balls of fire.
I was once a student in modern day Korea who had to take years and years of math, so this was a piece of cake. But I was sure this would take a significantly longer time for someone who wasn’t as used to doing calculations as I was. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t help but think that these long circumlocutory calculations only could be used for what they were being used for now: developing weapons. It would be completely inefficient if they had to go through all of these steps when casting spells.
I can see why people generally preferred druids over magicians now,
I thought. Things might have changed over the last century, but as far as I knew, druids were considered to be more appropriate for the battlefield than magicians. Even the professionals at the mercenary guild classified low level druids and priests as C level mercenaries, but low level magicians only as D level mercenaries.
It made sense, for it would be nearly impossible to focus on what was going on in the battlefield while working on calculations as long and complicated as these.
I bet magicians could be as powerful as anyone if they just had formulae,
I thought.
“Are you done, my lady?” asked Lydia suddenly.
“Yup! You can take it to Dad,” I nodded as I handed the piece of paper with the answer to Lydia.
“Yes, my lady. I’ll take it to the Duke as soon as Eliza comes back,” she smiled.
“Okay, thank you,” I said, then reached for the remaining cookies on the plate.
I get so hungry for sweets after doing anything that requires brain power,
I thought, happily munching on the cookies. I could almost feel the sugar going straight to my brain. It was nice.
“I really don’t understand how you do it, my lady. You truly are a genius,” said Jane, looking over the papers Dad had sent.
“You really are. I haven’t got a single clue what any of this means! And you said that you never learned this from anyone, right, my lady?” Lydia chimed in.
“I don’t think I’d be able to solve this even if my life depended on it,” Jane shook her head as she continued to skim over the equations.
“Me neither,” sighed Lydia, then she mumbled, “How in the world is she doing this when she’s not even three yet?”
“Oh, come on, Lydia, you know how. She’s the Duke’s daughter,” said Jane.
Lydia shrugged, “I know she is, but this is still extremely impressive.”
“I guess you’re right,” agreed Jane.
Listening to the maids’ conversation, I stopped all effort to determine whether or not I should give Dad the formula. The reaction I was getting from just
solving
the equations was bad enough. Now imagine what would happen if I came up with a
formula.
They might start treating me like I’m the Edison of Elansia,
I shuddered. That was not at all what I was going for here. All I wanted from this life was to die of old age. In peace. Solving math problems to win Dad’s favor would be all fun and games until that one day when I realize I’ve drawn too much attention on myself. Child stars rarely last long. I’d have to watch myself if I didn’t want to silently perish after my much-too-early peak.
I should rein it in a little,
I decided.
If he gives me something that looks hard, I’ll just tell him I can’t figure it out.
Telling myself once more that I needed to be careful and prepared, I finished the last cookie on the plate.
“Please tell Father I weally wuved the cookies, Dia,” I smiled the cutest smile I could.
“Of course, my lady,” Lydia smiled back.
It’s the little things like this that’ll get me far,
I thought, pleased with myself. It took a bit of effort to remember, but it would all be worth it in the end.
***
“Good morning, my lady. The weather’s quite nice today. There’s a nice breeze, too,” Eliza gently woke me up.
“I’m sweepy, Liza,” I moaned. My body was growing bigger by the day as if to compensate for how little it grew for the first three years of my life. Naturally, it required many, many hours of sleep.
“You can’t sleep in today, my lady,” said Eliza.
“Nooo, but I want to,” I moaned again.
“Then you won’t be able to take a nap. You know that’ll make you even more tired, my lady,” said Eliza again.
It seemed like I had no other choice but to get out of bed. I tried to force my eyes open, but they wouldn’t budge.
Man, I’m going to be whiny today,
I thought to myself as I yawned.
One thing I learned during the month I stayed in this castle was that whenever I got stressed out, didn’t have as much to eat, or couldn’t sleep as much, my mind became much more like that of a three-year-old than when I was well rested and fed. That also seemed to be the reason I behaved much more like a regular toddler before I came here, when I was definitely not well rested and fed.
Now that my body was actively growing too, I needed copious amounts of food and sleep just so I could avoid excessive regression.
Wake up, wake up,
I told myself as I nodded off. I finally woke up with a gasp when I lost balance and fell face first into a soft pillow.
“I thought you might do that,” Lydia lightly chuckled. “So, I put a pillow there.”
Ever since the maids and I became treat buddies, we became closer and closer.
For example, there was that one time when Dad sent me cake, which I of course shared with my buddies,
“Dia, Jane, Father sent me stwabewy cake. Do you want some?”
Then there was that other time when they brought extra treats,
“Are you hungry, my lady? I snuck out some apple pie if you want any!”
Well, as secret treat buddies who share all the extra treats with each other, it might only make sense for us to become this close. In any case, thanks to Jane and Lydia, I was growing taller and chubbier by the day.
“Let me wash your face, my lady. It’ll help you wake up,” said Jane, soaking a soft towel in warm water, then gently cleaning my face with it. The warm towel did feel pretty nice.
God, I love being the daughter of a rich duke,
I thought as I closed my eyes, relishing the sensation of the warm, soft towel against my face.
“Do you know what day today is, my lady?” asked Jane. I could tell she was excited.
“It’s your birthday!” exclaimed Lydia before I could guess. Not that I would’ve guessed, really. I vaguely remembered Eliza telling me not that long ago, but I must have forgotten again.
I did, however, remember one thing that I learned when we had that conversation: I reincarnated about a century after my second life.
The maids told me that my birthday was November ninth, year seven of Enjack. Ibritten used era names like the Chinese did in the olden days on Earth, counting the years from one every time there was a new monarch. Enjack was a new name for me, so I asked when the tyrant Revetto, who sentenced every single architect in the country to death, reigned, just out of curiosity. I then learned that the massacre happened about a hundred years ago and that he stepped down from the throne around seventy years ago.
How on earth could he reign for thirty more years after demonstrating to the whole world that he was completely out of his mind?
I wondered. The more I thought about him, the more I hated him. It didn’t even matter that he was already six feet under.
“The Duke is going to come today in honor of your birthday as well, my lady,” Jane suddenly interrupted my thoughts.
Pretending like I wasn’t startled, I replied, “He is?”
“He sure is, my lady. So we need to take extra care to make you look perfect today. Why don’t we get started with the dress?” said Jane gleefully.
“Okay!” I exclaimed gleefully as well. Not that I didn’t know that it was going to be Jane and Lydia who decided which dress I was going to wear, not me. That’s how it typically went: I’d stand in front of the mirror and the two of them would hold different dress up against me, discussing which one would be the prettiest.
“She looks just beautiful in blue, frilly dresses like this,” Jane kicked off the discussion, looking as serious as ever like the prosperity of the world depended on which dress I was going to wear.
“I think so too. It really brings out her eyes. Look how soft her silver hair looks like this! Her grace used to have beautiful blonde hair, but…”
Jane cut her off before she could finish, “Lydia!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, it just slipped out,” Lydia quickly apologized and glanced at me. I quickly made an innocent face like I didn’t hear anything. Relieved, the maids went back to their conversation.
“You have to watch what you say. What if she gets upset?” said Jane quietly.
“Yes, you’re right. I’ll be more careful next time,” replied Lydia.
I honestly don’t care that much,
I thought, listening to them. I figured out after spending some time with them that they, too, knew my mom well like Eliza. They’d at times slip up like this while tending to me.
“All done, my lady. Do you want to see in the mirror?” asked Jane as she finished up my hair.
“Issokay,” I replied.
“Oh, come on, just for a second,” said Lydia as they gently pulled me to the mirror.
The reflection I saw in the mirror took me by surprise like it did every time. The smooth, creamy skin looked radiant now that I was eating and sleeping well. The two big eyes twinkled like sapphires, and the plump, cherry lips almost glowed under the soft light. The silver hair put in pigtails looked perfectly smooth and shiny against the blue, frilly dress.
To be honest, I could see why the maids went nuts over me.
I felt my chin with one finger. It was as soft as it looked. Who knew I could look so… pretty?
“Oh my,” Lydia gasped. I snapped out of my thought and looked up to find Jane and Lydia gawking at me. “You look adorable, my lady! Absolutely adorable!”
I quickly realized that I had recreated the stock image of a child adorably lost in thought and immediately put my hand back down, but it was too late.
“I knew I should have bought a videography talisman,” sobbed Jane. “A sight as cute as this should not go uncaptured!”
“Or even a photography talisman! I can’t believe we missed that!” lamented Lydia. She then asked, nay, pleaded, “Can you please do it once more, my lady?”
“Umm, well…” my voice trailed off. I wanted to say no, of course, but they looked so desperate that I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. “O-okay…” I awkwardly raised my hand. Jane and Lydia’s eyes became wider and wider as they followed my hand.
They’re so nice to me. And they’re asking for so little,
I resigned to my fate and put my index finger back on my chin. The two went wild.
“Oh my god!” screamed Lydia.
“You look so cute, my lady!” screamed Jane.
“I can’t believe we can’t get this on tape!” screamed Lydia again.
Maybe I should’ve just said no,
I thought as I shook my head.
Eliza at least tries to rein it in. They don’t even try.
I quietly waited for them to calm down.
“I bet Eliza would be jealous too if she knew what she missed out on… We’re going to be late!” shouted Jane.
“Oh my, where did the time go?” exclaimed Lydia. They touched up my hair one last time before leading me outside. So, we finally set off to the dining room where my birthday party was taking place.