Who made me Penelope Judith?

24. Love you

"Claude." I said angrily "Explain THIS to me."

I shoved the letter against his chest while Felix casually stuffed his mouth with brownies, ignoring our conflict.

Claude rolled his eyes and looked at the letter.

~~

Dear Penelope,

How sad we parted so early on the night of your debutante, I hope you enjoyed it to the fullest! I repeat this, you looked glamorous!

Currently I am still in Siodonna. We're laying low for a while since the master is taking his family on a vacation so I'm staying with my teacher and her husband.  It's pretty great here, there are lots of things to do. Many things to explore!

(By the way did you and Lily enjoy the cookies I brought?)

Still, at the same night of your debut, I sorta forgot my scarf at the Emerald Palace so I came back to get it. Claude was very nice he told the guards to let me in so I could recuperate it. It was kinda weird though, he was sorta rude. But still, I myself was not so respectful either so if you could tell him I'm sorry one last time I'd be thankful. You know Penelope, you're marrying an intriguing man. I thought I had him figured out thanks to all you wrote about him but somehow he just changed my opinion about him in 5 minutes it's unbelievable. I literally had no clue what was going on in his head 24/7!

However it's so sweet how he always changes his tone when it comes to you. He really got you on a pedestal.

I still believe I may or may not have offended him during that night so...Yeah I apologize again because perhaps how I did it that night wasn't serious enough.

Wish you well!
Diana

~~

"Okay, what's the problem with this letter?" Claude raised an eyebrow at me.

"What the hell happened that night when I left you at the palace?!" I asked.

"If you read the letter again more carefully, you'll remark that SHE offended ME." Claude huffed.

"I don't think Diana would start a fight." I said sternly. "And she's apologizing for whatever it is she did. If she even did anything...Was this about Mary?"

"No. She assumed I had a perfect princely life." Claude said bitterly. "And she said I had a bad attitude. I may or may not have proved her wrong."

"The last one is true." I commented.

He glared at me. "You're no better, you and your passive agressive words. You're the bad influence."

I'll ignore what he just said.

"But for the first one," I said "You can't really blame her. Nobody outside a few nobles and servants know how you're being treated in the palace. It's only normal for commoners and others to think that your life is about the same quality as your brother's."

"My brother has his own weight to carry."

"Yes I know." I looked down, recalling Anastacius's pain "But commoners tend to think that just the fact of living in such a luxurious palace is the climax of a paradise like life."

"I admit it may or may not be better than the streets." Felix chimed in. "I overheard some kids also say that they'd give up anything to be able to ride horses like we do."

"It's just horses." Claude shrugged. "They're not that big a deal."

"Commoners don't even have stables." I pointed out.