My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 5- Plan for the future

That night I passed my time thinking about my future at this place.

The conclusion was simple... I would have to prepare myself to leave this family as soon as possible. Or they may marry me off to somewhere else worse than here.

I needed, however, a skill that would prevent me from misery when I left the luxury of the Mountnero family. A skill that would help me in the real world... Not in this pretend fairytale they sold. At end of the day, I wanted freedom and not poverty.

That had been one of the reasons to start learning alchemy, besides helping me survive in this boring world of nobility, where everything and every day was the same, it was a skill that would give me a chance of survival in the real world.

It would be imperative I started to learn it soon as the worst was to come in my life. I had heard, after my discussion with the duke, the young maids gossip between each other about I new tutor the duke was trying to hire to teach me and Jenni etiquette and all those useless lady-like things the nobility girls were supposed to learn. They (and thank goodness for their loose tongue) were discussing how the duke had been searching all the Empire for the best tutor for his girls. They even squealed at the thought of Gobbie as the sweet and caring father. Eww..the horror... the nightmare...

What this meant was that he was finding a way to cut my time to study alchemy without looking like an ass to be... the sneaky bastard.

I tossed and tossed in my enormous bed, the sheets in complete disarray, mirroring the state of my mind. The darkroom only illuminated by the intense full moon, invited me to cave into sleep, yet I couldn't, not until I had a solution to my problem. At the very least a path...

Alchemy was more challenging than I had expected, which kept it entertaining, but didn't allow me to move forward much. Even with the help Cedric provided from our correspondence it was never enough since he just helped mostly with the language anyway... now was even less helpful since were not corresponding anymore. Thank you Gobbie...

Besides I suspected my slow learning was also due to my low affinity with the dark arts since I was a sun empire citizen. Yet, to me this was still the best option, I could study it and gain money from it by practicing in some border towns. They used alchemy much freely than in the capital. And border towns seemed the best place to hide from Empire's biggest family.

Problem was to find a teacher... Where would I find someone with enough knowledge to help me in secrecy and with some accuracy?

Alchemists were notorious for being secretive and teaching could only be done in the Tower. Unless.... from what I gathered it was said the alchemists could teach some of their craft to wannabe students. Not common practice but allowed, and though I didn't know an alchemist, I knew someone close to it... Cedric!

Yes, as a royal of the Moon Empire and nephew of the Lord of the Tower his access to the dark arts knowledge would be good enough for me to start. And even if Cedric got caught teaching me he wouldn't have problems with the Tower due to his lineage. To teach outside the alchemists still needed the Tower's permission.

Yes! He is the key to my new life.

And with those thoughts, I was able to rest with a smile on my face and happy that I had a plan. There always the jewels I had stored for when I would leave, but those could be traced and I was sure the duke would try that route to find me. No, alchemy was the key.

*******

Days passed, weeks passed and life moved on. Birthdays and special occasions like boring days went and came. And I continued my studies, though the duke's watchful eye made it harder to keep secret.