Keziah
"Stop pursuing the prince?!" - Amias
"You want to pursue art again?" - Quinn
"Since when were you interested in sculpting? You used to paint with your grandparents, but I haven't seen you do any sculpting. Is there a particular sculptor that inspired you to consider sculpture?" - Mother
Only Father said nothing. He just stared as he sipped his tea. He and I maintained eye contact for a minute before he broke it with a smile.
"Your eyes are clearer than they were even when you announced your intentions to marry His Highness. If this is the path you have chosen, then I support you, daughter. You are choosing to reach for the pinnacle of your chosen art fields. So your mother and I are expecting excellence from you."
Father raised his water glass in a toast.
"I look forward to the day I can brag that not only is my male heir following brilliantly in my footsteps to become a noteworthy Lord Protector of the realm, but my daughter is a premier artist of painting and sculpture. Your maternal grandparents must be shouting up in the heavens that their legacy will be carried on."
The rest of the family raised their glasses in toast to me, making me blush.
"Thank you, family, for your support and guidance. I ask for your forgiveness for prior bad behavior and will accept that I am, from today, starting a new chapter in my life. I hope for your continued support and guidance."
I raised my glass to them, and we clinked our glasses together in agreement. It had been so long since I had felt such harmony and joy with them. I resolved to cherish this life and my family always.
The rest of the lunch was animated as I shared my first life with them, explaining that it was a nightmare I had. Since I did not wish for that to become my reality, I decided to change so I would never have to experience those events in this life. My family was understanding and agreed that the nightmare seemed to be a much-needed wake-up call for me. They expressed their previously withheld concerns about my pursuit of His Highness and how I hadn't been myself during the past three years.
We laughed and joked together. Mom promised to rearrange my lessons so they would focus less on preparing me for royalty and more on basic noble studies with an emphasis on my chosen art forms. Art tutors would be invited to assess my skills so I could be properly taught in any areas I lacked.
I was so relieved my family didn't fight me on this. I don't know how I failed to appreciate them as I should have before, but I resolved to release those regrets and live as I should in this life.
To our surprise, just as we were finishing up lunch and about to go about our day, Amias announced that he wanted his studies to focus on preparing him to become a scholar of the arts and governmental politics. He said he had an appreciation for all forms of art—from dancing to dramatic swordplay—and wanted knowledge of it all. He is interested in knowledge of political matters because he thinks it will be wise for at least one of us younger siblings to be able to directly support our dukedom's interests since Quinn will have to be either neutral or supportive of the royal family's actions. At the end of his speech, we barely heard his last ambition: to follow in Mother's footsteps as a writer as a hobby.
This brought Mother so much joy that she nearly dragged him out of the sunroom to talk more about his ambitions. We could hear her chattering that if he worked hard enough, he could become the Minister of Arts.
Happy that a dark cloud had seemingly dispersed, I decided to take a walk in the gardens to reflect on the ripples of change I am already seeing. In my first life, Amias joined the military once he came of age. He wasn't the best but neither was he the worst fighter.
I wondered why he was now choosing this path of art and politics. Perhaps he thought it would balance Quinn's focus on the military and my pursuit of art. This way, he could support the family on political matters while dabbling in various arts, with a specialty in writing.
The future seemed very different now—good, great, but undeniably different. When I returned to my room, I planned to write down any significant events to come so we could ride the waves and survive better than we had before. Sitting on the lip of the fountain, I breathed deeply, letting my mind still as I embraced the moment, thankful for this chance to live my best life with my family and my art.
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"Yes, yes, young miss. This is a wonderful painting. I see that you must have been secretly practicing all these years. Just looking at what you have done so far, I think I won't have much to teach you—just a few things—before you can be released from my care. There are some things that can't be taught," Master Jeremiah observed as he watched me work on my painting of rocky cliffs by the seaside.
It has been a month since that conversation at our family lunch. Master Jeremiah, who is an old friend of my grandparents, was pleased when asked if he could help me develop my potential to strive for Premier status.
"You certainly will be a much-needed breath of fresh air in our stale art community on this continent. I think if you keep honing your skills, you will be granted Premier Artist of Painting status in a few years. What has Count Harris said about your sculpting skills? Your work-in-progress statue looks very unique, in my opinion," Master Jeremiah said as he wandered over to the sculpture of my father I am in the process of shaping. He observed and analyzed it from every angle.
"Your words bring a blush to my face, Master Jeremiah. Thank you for your endorsement and guidance. I look forward to all our lessons. As for my sculpting, he says I am better than he thought I would be but that I still have room to grow. It will be a while longer before he is willing to set me free in the world. I suspect that I will gain distinction as a Premier in sculpting shortly after painting, if I keep pushing myself."
I set down my brush and stepped back to look over my work. "I will let it dry before I continue. I think I need to do some more blending or something with the clouds."
I was scrutinizing my painting while holding and sipping from a cup of tea when Callie spoke up. "Drink up, miss, so you can finish the painting and then finish the sculpture," she said with a big smile that honestly scared me.
"Are you mad at me for some reason, Callie?" I asked, stepping back from her as she placed a plate of sandwiches on a nearby table.
"Nope, I'm not mad. I'm just annoyed that you don't take better care of yourself. You worry me with your nonstop working. I think the art will still be there tomorrow if you take a rest." Callie, with her hands on her hips, looked scary. Not even Zonya was this scary when she was scolding me.
I finished my tea and tentatively handed the cup to Callie.
"I guess I am done for the day, Master Jeremiah. My assistant is wise and…" I glanced over at Callie, who was smiling sweetly but still hid her eyes, which told me I needed to hurry up, "beautiful for her age, so I must go rest now. Thank you for your time, and I will see you at our next lesson."
I rushed out of my art studio with my plate of sandwiches, leaving to the sound of their laughter.
Once I was far enough away that I could no longer hear them, I sat down in the hallway and ate my lunch. It feels good to be cared for like this. In my last life, while Zonya cared, it wasn't this intimate, caring attention from my closest people. While my life was good and I was treated well by my friends and family, I somehow could never let myself get close to anybody.
Fear is a funny thing. It keeps you from realizing certain truths until you die. Well, in this life, I'm going to rest well, live well, and love well. I'm going to live my best life with no regrets this time.
As I sat there, Amias eventually found me and told me stories of his school day. Then Quinn found us, saying he was looking for us so we could get ready for dinner and the guests who were coming. Amias and I got him talking about his sword training, which delayed us so much that our parents came looking for us.
We ended up having dinner on the floor in that corridor. We laughed and had so much fun telling each other stories while strengthening our family bond.