Your Meaningless Regrets

Your life can be gone in the blink of an eye. Your friends and family will be in tears after you're gone. They will cry for days, weeks or even a few years and continue with their lives but always remembering you. I thought the same thing would happen to me, but I was completely wrong. I'm dead but still breathing. My name is Agatha Dwarven. I was born in one of the most powerful families surrounding the imperial family. The Dwarvens have served the imperial family since the first king ascended the throne of Haleon. Now, the head of the family is my father, the "Grand Duke" Stefan. From a young age, he demonstrated attitudes that amazed everyone, including the imperial family. His sword skills and quick thinking got him the title that he has now. He married at the age of 18 to a distant member of the imperial family; Duchess Lydia. She gave birth to a son named Allan(1st), a daughter named Alania(2nd), a son named Edun(3rd), then me(4th), a son named Jewell(5th), a daughter named Cecilya (6th)and a son named Hamlet(7th). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I am proud of you, Jewell," said Duchess Lydia while taking a sip of her tea with elegance. "Soon I will be surpassing brother Allan mother." but he was cut off after that by Edun. "I doubt that, but good luck," he said while he was cutting his vegetables. All of a sudden, Allan giggled, shaking his head from side to side. "Lets see if you break my records while I was at the academy." "I mean all of my records" with a smirk on his face. "If he does big brother Allan, what would you give him?" said Cecilya. A silence spread across the table waiting for his reply. "Well, I will get on one knee." Hearing that, Jewell stood up with a surprise on his face, "FOR REALl?!" "YOU ARE GOING TO DO THAT?!" Allan replied, "Eh nope." Everyone started laughing. "Oh brother, you should seen your face" said Edun while removing his tears from laughing. "Come on everyone. Stop that. Is not even funny". He sat down crossing his arms with a pouting face. "We love you still, big brother Jewell if you don't surpass his records". She stood up and ran towards him and gave him a big hug. "You are an angel, Cecilya" said Duchess Lydia. They continued talking and eating; enjoying each others company. OUTSIDE THE DINING ROOM A maid was passing by the dining room's door when another maid came out carrying a tray with some dirty plates and said with a smile on her face, " What a lovely family." The other maid replied with" I know. They are a perfect family." "Well, almost happy" said the other maid, placing a tray in a kitchen cart. "Don't forget the middle child." "That ungrateful child." With an annoying face, the other maid said, " Yeah. She spends all of her time inside her room. She doesn't care about her family. But anyway, let's stop talking about her. It will not do any good in the end." Both maids kept talking about other things while walking in the direction to the kitchen with the kitchen cart. Before they arrived at the kitchen, they ran into the butler. "I hoped everything went smoothly," said the butler, looking at both of them. " It went well as usual" said one of the maids. "Good to hear that all of the family is eating well, right?" said the butler. "We were on our way to make a plate for her and deliver it to her room" with a small smile across her face. "Like she said, now if you excuse us we don't want to be late" and with that they moved on walking fast. KITCHEN "Chef, make a small plate for her" said the maid, annoyed. "A small plate again?" said the chef with a sigh. "That child will not live longer if she keeps eating like a bird." "But a small plate it is." Before he began to cook, he was interrupted by the maid; "We shouldn't throw way the leftovers. We can prepare a plate with that." The chef looked troublesome, "But it is not much. I don't have a problem cooking, besides, it's my job." And again the maid interrupted him, "it would be a waste. Besides, every time we make her a full plate, she barely eats it. We should not let the leftovers go to waste." "I agree with her, she may be able to eat this rather than a full-made plate. Besides knowing how much she eats, it would be a waste of food," said the other maid. "I guess you are right," replied the chef. After the plate was ready, the maid grabbed it and left the kitchen. IN A SMALL BEDROOM "My food is late as always" said Agatha. She was sitting down looking out through the window. After some time, she stood up and sat down in front of the mirror which was in the middle of her room, in front of her bed. She began to brush her long dark shiny hair while mumbling a melody. Suddenly, she was interrupted by the maid entering her room. "Sorry for arriving late again. The chef was busy with something left, so the only food already made was the leftover. I do hope you don't feel upset. Sorry again, but I have to leave. I have duties that I need to do. Excuse me." With that, she left the plate besides the bed, and left without waiting for a reply. Agatha stood up and walked towards the side and looked at the plate and said, " It's the same, leftovers." She walked back and sat down in front of the mirror and continued brushing her hair. The sun decided to rest and the moon replaced the sun. Agatha was reading a book when she noticed that it was night already. She closed her book and got up. She placed the book on a small desk and headed to her closet and grabbed a long black hooded cloak cape. Afterwards, she opened the window and closed to it , there was a big tree that she jumped on too. A knight was passing by, she remained hidden on top of the tree. The wind was cold and singing. After the knight left, she got down and exited the family's premises, heading to the market square. MARKET SQUARE The market square was more alive at night than during the day. The people that come here are people who are in the lower class, like slaves or peasants or knights . This is also a place where they can have their small store or trade between them. It's rare if a noble comes here, but not impossible. Every night, the place that is always alive is the taverns. Most of its clients are lower knights that visit their families, friends, lovers or just to have fun. The higher knights stay in the Head Knight Quarters inside the royal premises, but they never come here. Since Agatha was little, she would always come here at night to eat and look around. When she didn't have money, she would sometimes steal fruits or bread without getting caught once. After some time, she decided to head back when she saw imperial knights during their security rounds when one of those knights noticed her suspiciously because of what she was wearing. Without any opinion, she ran and the knight got down from his horse and followed her. She ran among the crowd and entered an alley. The knight was closed but not close enough that he lost her when he got to the alley. She was watching him from the top of a small building, then she left just in time before the knight looked up. He returned and regrouped with the rest of the knights and continued during the security rounds. On her way back, she noticed someone following her. When she turned around, it was a 3-year-old girl. "Mommy?" said the little girl. Agatha kneeled down and said, " Do you need help to find your mommy?" to which the little girl nodded. She carried her and began to walk around when she noticed the butler coming out of a small house. Agatha placed the little girl down and the little girl ran and got inside the house. "Weird" said Agatha before walking away. Agatha walked back and was about to climb the same tree she used to get out when two knights were on guards. "I am not sure I would be alive for the rest of the week" said one of the guards sleepy. "Well you will need to find a way to survive. Young lady Cecilya's coming of age ceremony is in a few day. Security would be sharp", said the other knight. "oh yeah. Nice" replied with a tired tone. "Do you think the whole family would be there?" The other replied, "I am pretty sure they will because they send an invitation to the imperial family a few days ago". The other knight looked at him with a question look, "how do you know?" The other knight said, "Well I heard one of the maid say it. They were talking about how the young lady will look fabulous and that she was excited about that her whole family would be present." Before he could continued, the other knight said "her whole family? You mean her whole family as you know.....her?" raising an eyebrow. "oh her.....Ummm well to be honest I don't know. From my first day as a knight for the family until now, I haven't seen her or heard of her assisting an event or even socializing with any other family or even her own. So, I don't think she will." With a sigh, the other knight reply, "I wonder this whole mystery surrounding her." "Maybe she is ugly that's why the Grand Duke haven't said anything related to her or her family. Or maybe she is not as good as his siblings that's why they don't talk about her.""What do you think" Before the other knight could answer, a third knight appear and said, "You two, lets go. All the knights are been assemble by the Grand Duke". The two knights looked at each other and left. Agatha then climbed up the tree and then enter her room through the window but before she checked that no one was near. AGATHA'S ROOM "Time indeed flies" said Agatha while changing to her old long nightgown. "Who would of thought that they are doing everything for just a birthday party of a soon to-be 15-year-old girl-" "They will regret it if they keep spoiling her like that". Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door, then the door was slowly opened by the butler. "I do apologize for bothering you but my duty is to check that everything is running smoothly in this place. Do you need anything?" Agatha just replied, "No, I am fine. You may take the plate back to the kitchen. I wasn't that hungry for leftovers" After she said that, the butler showed a little of bit of a surprised face and immediately looked towards the untouched plate besides her bed. "Should I bring you any else for you to eat?" said the butler as he picked up the plate. "No need. I'm fine". With that, she walked towards the bed and he lay down. With just a nod, he left, closing the door quietly. "I am fine as always" said Agatha as she covered herself with the thin blanket to hide the fact that she had tears in her eyes. TO BE CONTINUED....