A/N this is chapter four! I have no idea why I enjoy writing Phoebe's POV, its just so relaxing to write about, mostly because I'm obsessed with royalty and medieval castles! Its a bit short, but has a lot of action. Enjoy reading the first chapter of part two, where everyone in the castle (in Phoebe's POV) is introduced! (I'm thinking about making a playlist for this novel I'll leave the song names here once I've created the playlist)

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CHAPTER FOUR: D is for "Don't we all, darling?"- Phoebe's POV

The skies were gray mixed with evening blues and the setting sun's orange. Rain clouds curtained the once shining sun and its unreachable glow. A hazy, zigzag line of light separated the scenic sky, dividing into patchy portions. The colors were beginning to fade, smearing into the sky with long blue, orange steaks. The sun tried pushing the clouds away which only caused the skies to darken into a dark, blood red color.

As always my thoughts lingered around what the sky illuminated to me, the changing of colors as blue turned to indigo reminded me that nothing stays the same forever, even one day the sun will have to eventually set and give rise to newer opportunities and chances. I wanted to stand in my room, next to the window and capture this scene for longer but that won't be happening any time soon.

As soon as the news that I was hand picked by the empress reached the academy girls' ears, they went berserk. They kept asking if I was secretly working for the empress, if I knew her by relation and some even asked if I was the empress in disguise! Veronica sent glares every time we passed each other in the hallway, and spread rumors about the empress pitying me. I didn't let those get to me of course.

Clementine and I have been floating on cloud nine. Headmistress Katherine gave us a week to pack our bags and attend our final classes. The selected girls were lucky enough to miss the finals which was something I'm grateful about.

Though I'm absolutely thrilled for this new experience, I have to say that a few thoughts have been running through the back of my head, I may be an Imperial, but I could be an awful lot clumsy at times, or more likely all the time. The empress might regret picking me once she sees how ungraceful or unworthy I am.

"You got everything?" Clementine asked me, knocking loudly on my dorm door as I was lost in the serenic beauty of the evening sky. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

After the selected girls were announced Clementine and I spent our free times dreaming about what would happen in the castle. I couldn't bring myself to think about what awaits us there, afraid to jinx my one-time chance.

It seems a bit unreal at times, the news was unexpected and I almost went up to Lady Katherine to ask her if it was all true. Things happen so fast they give us very little time to process and verify.

"I'm done packing, I will wear my cloak and meet the girls in the school lobby." I called to Clementine who shut my dorm door, eager to leave.

I put on my crimson cloak, patted my ironed gown and strode out of the dorm rooms and into the academy lobby. My bags were sent off into the castle two days ago, all that was left were my make-up kits, hairbrushes and other necessities.

"Tardiness is not good for a future empress, I can see why I have that chance and you don't." Veronica sneered, suddenly next to me. "Honestly, I think the empress' nobles are just experimenting with you, since all the good ones are already picked."

"Why are you here?' I asked bluntly. By now I was used to her constant teasing, she was just jealous that I was handpicked, it took a lot of pep talks from Clementine to make me realize that.

"Lady Katherine asked me to come and get you since you were taking too long doing whatever you were wasting your time on."

I rolled my eyes, a constant habit of mine. "Well I'm here so..." I trailed off awkwardly, nearing the selected girls who were excitedly chirping about being empresses. Veronica huffed and left, defeated because she couldn't get any emotion out of me except annoyance.

Sometimes what Veronica said got to me. Maybe I am just an experiment, if we were being real, even Clementine would have a higher chance of becoming empress than me.

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"Ms. Miller." Lady Katherine called. My second name sounded too poor, I hope they call us by our firsts in the castle, I dont want to be known as just a Miller. "You are late."

I smiled sheepishly, fiddling with the sides of my cloak. "I got distracted." I admitted.

Lady Katherine nodded her head, hearing the excuse a thousand times from me. "Be attentive to the time next time." Then she turned to the students.

"Ok, now it's time to set the ground rules. We will be walking to the castle, since all carriages are in use. It isn't very far and there are a lot of beautiful views we can get while we are getting there."

"But I spent so much time on my hair, it will get ruined if we walk!" a girl whined, she looked like one of Veronica's minions.

Lady Katherine tutted. "Your beauty should match with your intelligence, from what I know, they aren't looking for pretty empresses, they're looking for noble ones."

"But being pretty is a plus point."

"We are starting away from the topic at hand. There are not only going to be Imperials selected but 30 different ladies from the three castes and 10 handpicked ones."

As soon as those words flew out of Lady Katherines mouth, all eyes were on me, a few were narrowed and others were wide in awe.

"You will not be permitted to do as you please in the castle, the castle belongs to the empress herself, although she doesn't live in the castle we're going to, it's important to be at our best behavior and follow all the rules given to us. Once we reach the castle you all will be waiting in the drawing room for your tutor, who I presume is Lady annalise, to give you the rest of the instructions." She looked at us all huddled up together in the lobby, A letter will arrive with the timings to reach the castle, once it does, we shall leave."

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Clementine pushed her way through to stand next to me. "I cant believe my best friend is one of the ten ladies the empress picked!" she was very excited, I on the other hand felt nauseous at how much they were expecting from me if I was handpicked. But on the brighter side, they were choosing Astutes and Intrepids as well which should give me a better chance.

"I cant believe we have to compete against those uncouth castes. What was the royal council thinking of selecting girls from other castes for a chance at nobility? I'm not saying it's going to be hard, I practically have the throne reserved for me, especially since we all know that I'm the best one standing in this room." Veronica boasted, and it was partially true, beating the Astutes and Intrepids shouldn't be that hard.

But the throne wasn't reserved for Veronica. The only reason she stated that was because her parents were once selected for becoming empresses 50 years ago too, they didn't get through, but it left them with a huge title and a lot of respect from all imperials.

"You cant just say that." A voice spoke up. It was Tiana, one of Veronica's ex-minions. Elenora was her name... I think. She was sweet, and I think she's a frosh. "Astutes have a better chance because of how smart they are, and Intrepids can become great leaders because of their determination." Tiana's family was casted differently, she had two little sisters who were astutes, her mom was an Intrepid and her dad an Imperial.

Veronica scoffed, "How would you know? Oh right. Your family is separated. I'm surprised you all still managed to keep in touch." she teased. It was almost impossible to send messages through all kingdoms because of how vast each kingdom is, which made it hard to communicate when your family is in different castes.

Elenora sniffled. "Hey that's mean." Clementine jumped in the discussion. "And it isnt Ella's -"

"Elenora." I corrected.

"And it isn't Elenora's fault that her family is casted differently."

"That's gold coming from the person who can't maintain a proper grade." it wasn't Veronica who talked, it was one of her minions, Caroline. "I heard you failed sophomore year and had to take special permission to pass." Clementine's eyes fell. Her grades was her weakness, she wasn't smart at all, mostly because she has ADHD and makes it hard to concentrate. I cant believe Caroline would use her insecurities against her.

"Thats enough, all you want to do is put others down so you can have a better chance at becoming empress. It'll be easy beating us, but what about the 30 other imperials and hand-picked who have actual talent?" I heard myself speak up for my friend.

"You act all high and mighty, there's no way the empress hand-picked you, I'm way better at being an Imperial!" Veronica snapped.

"Well from what I remember, I was hand-picked not you, so go ahead and cry all you want about it because no one can help if you're not as special as you think you are!" I spat.

Clementine smirked at my outburst and the whole room fell silent, Elenora sent a soft smile to me

"Well that was a very ...interesting... discussion," a hesitant voice, who I made out to be Headmistress Katherine, piped up. "But we need to head to the castle now."

Veronica sent a last glare in my direction before strutting off with her minions. I huffed and rolled my eyes, she could really bring out the beast in me sometimes. "Lets go." I tugged Clementine's arm.

"That was cool." She said before adding, "For standing up for me and Putting veronica back in her place."

I shrugged, "I'd do anything for you, and I know you'd do anything for me." I winked at her and she giggled.

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The walk to the castle wasnt exhilarating, it was actually peaceful. I got time to think about the different outcomes after the stay. If I was sent home early I would probably still hold my title of being selected and hand-picked by the empress, if I made it to a few months, I'd take some souvenirs from the castle before I get sent home, as proof that I actually was in the castle. And if by any miracle, I do get to become the empress, I will banish Veronica and make her minions my slaves.

As I was debating on what else I do to make Veronica's life miserable after becoming empress, I didnt realize that the Empress' castle was in view.

In the Imperium we have a LOT of castles, most of them have a historic title while others are made to enhance the Imperiums beauty. Though there are many, the Empress has only TWO castles, one is for all the higher nobles, like the Dukes and Duchess', to stay and the other is where the Empress herself stays. Its rumor that the empress locks herself up in that castle because she's afraid, the rumor started because no-one has seen the empress the past few years. Sure, she'd be there for traditional celebrations and council meetings, but she isnt anywhere other than that.

She used to be active, always coming for big events in all the kingdoms, she gave speeches that was recorded live and gave out messages in the newspaper. Now, any messages are delivered by her royal guards. People at first thought she died, that was until she attended the royal council meeting, then people realized that she was just catching up on her important empress work that she missed while being there for the empire.

Life went on after that, no one heard from the empress, that is until she made known the news of the selection.

We walked through the bridge connecting to the castle and into the gatehouse.

"Wow, even the ugly old gatehouse looks nice." Clementine commented. "How can an ugly, old gatehouse look nice?" I asked in confusion. She just shrugged and continued to stare at the place in awe. I was glad I didnt wear heels, almost all the selected girls did and they were regretting it while walking across the bridge.

The guards at the gatehouse asked for our I.D. 's and checked each one of us if we were carrying anything illegal. I guess Sophia got a bit terrified and said that all she was hiding was a pack of gum in her skirt pocket.

"Oh. My. 3-inch High Heels." Clementine stared in awe at the castle. The full view was much better than from afar. There were beautiful vines with blossoms travelling all around the castle, everywhere was lined with flowers and the castle walls were painted in a fresh set of pearly-white paint.

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Guards stood on either side of the path waiting for our arrival, and two of them opened the castle doors to welcome us into the view of the great hall.

The great hall was decorated in expensive ornaments, a large and exquisite chandelier stood from the ceiling along with a marble water fountain in the middle. The carpets and curtains were made of velvety red fabric and maids stood at the sides of the hall giving us their occasional 'Welcome' 'How was your walk?' 'Have a nice stay'. I was too busy wondering how they got all this designed to acknowledge them.

"Look at all those tables! I think they're really made of gold." Sure enough, tables were lined at the far back of the hall filled with bowls of fruit and water. A few girls were already standing and tasting the food, the others sat down on the sofas arranged near the fountain.

I carefully sat down in one of the sofas, a lot of girls were already here, all wearing crimson cloaks.

"The water tastes like heaven." Clementine moaned with each sip of a glass filled with what looked like normal water to me.

"You've tasted heaven?"

"I have now." she giggled. The castle was really making her go nuts. She sat next to me and bounced up and down.

"Stop it." I hissed. She smiled sheepishly. "I'm excited."

"We all are." I chuckled. "But try not to cause a scene."

I noticed that there were around 30 girls here, and all of them were Imperials, since they're all dressed in crimson cloaks. Headmistress Katherine was busy conversing with the headmistresses of the other academies who's girls probably got selected.

Veronica and her two cronies sat on the opposite side, no doubt gossiping about the other selected imperials. Sophia and Elenora were busy chatting while clementine kept siping the water and sighing. The other selected girls from our academy were spread out in the food tables or asking maids for directions to god knows where.

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A few minutes passed until a lady with expensive attire walked towards us. She had a crimson red cloak made of the same velvety fabric as everything else and it also had a few complex designs stuck onto it.

"Good Evening girls, have a seat, please." she said while glancing at a clipboard she held. "I'm lady Annalise, your tutor, you may call me Lady Ann or Tutor Ann, whichever you prefer." she spoke in a kind but strict manner, like she was trying not to sound intimidating but still wanted to get the message across.

Lady Ann was a sweet lady, probably in her mid-thirties, a bit short. She had forest-green eyes and rosy red lips. Her platinum-blonde hair matched her light complexion. She wore her hair into a bun, with a few strands making its way in front of her ears.

Lady Ann continued, "As you all know you are the selected girls who will be competing against each other for the throne. Now before I begin, I have to address a few things. Being an empress is not an easy job, neither is it something you can master in a day, nope." she said it all like she knew the struggle. "That is why we will be preparing you for a year and if one of you gets selected, you will spend the next few years preparing yourself, once again.

There are a hundred girls fighting for the same goal, so do not take the selection lightly. There will be 5 stages for you to complete, each stage has a certain subject to study for and will contain one test each. If you can score at least 85% you will move along to the next stage. Now mind you, when I say subject, I don't mean maths, science and english, I mean proper subjects that are necessary to learn if you are becoming an empress like humanities, arts, geography, leadership and more. After a stage 15 girls will be sent home, after that 10, then slowly 5 girls, till we end up with the final 10 selected girls who will be going for the last and final test.

As per custom, castes will be separated while preparing and taking the tests, under no circumstance is a girl from a different caste to mingle with another. There are strict discipline and punishment rules that are set up if any of you girls misbehave, which is unlikely. Different castes will get different tutoring times in either the mornings, afternoons or evenings.

You are expected to study in your bed chambers or in the library. The west wing is off limits, I'd be wise enough to follow this rule if I were you. Your maids are waiting for you in your bed chambers, they will inform you of the permitted areas you can go and your schedules for tomorrow.

Dinner will be served in an hour's time, meanwhile our staff will escort you to your given chambers." And just as she finished she abruptly left, her heels making a crackling noise on the marble floors.

"That's a... lot." Clementine took her time to find a suitable adjective. Is lot considered an adjective at all? I shrugged in response.

"Ok girls." a headmistress of an academy spoke up. "I will be calling your names and one of the staff will take you to your rooms." She opened a piece of paper that she fished out of her pocket. "Kiera Prince, Room 307, Fiona Matthews, room 359..." She began reading out the names until it landed on mine.

"Phoebe Miller, room 330..." I stood up at the call of my name and a lady came forward and showed me to my room. Clementine had left earlier, her room was on the same floor as mine and almost everyone elses.

"This is your room, dear. Your personal maids are waiting inside." she smiled at me, I smiled back at her. I slowly opened the knob to my room and the first thing I heard was a lot of squealing and giggling.

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"Oh you must be Phoebe!"

"That is a very pretty gown."

"Hungry?" a lady held up a fruit bowl to my face. There were three of them, each wearing a black dress with an apron skirt. The ladies looked to be in their early 20's, very young and attractive.

"That's me, thank you very much, and yes I am." I answered each one of them individually while popping a grape from the fruit bowl into my mouth.

"It's really nice to meet you." the middle lady said, she had choppy brown hair, braided to the back. Her eyes were a mixture of silver and grey, the lady standing to her right had dark black hair with matching colored eyes. She seemed a bit asian. The lady standing to the left was a redhead like me, with bluish-green eyes and a wide smile.

"I'm Agatha." the middle lady continued one. "This is Daphne..." she pointed to the redhead who complimented my gown. She nodded her head. "And this is Rachel..." She turned towards the asian lady who offered me the fruit bowl. "And we're all very excited to assist you."

"Oh I can't believe we'll be serving a princess! Our last posts were cleaners." Daphne frowned.

"I'm not a princess." I stated, the heat crawling up my neck.

"Why of course you are dear, everyone who participates in the selection are princesses." Agatha replied. "Did they not tell you that?"

I shook my head. "All Lady Ann said was the rules of the selection, the west wing being off limits and castes being divided." I recounted.

"You should get dressed, darling." Rachel hummed in delight. "And I know just the gown you can wear!"

"I'm Already wearing a gown..." I started off but Daphne interrupted me.

"Oh, dear. You cannot be found in the same gown twice!"

"But I only bit a few, not 365 for everyday!"

"Actually its 365 times two because you would be wearing two gowns a day, plus extras for parties and accidents." Daphne calculated. "But don't worry dear, we have many gowns we stitched and from the previous selection too! The gowns from the previous selection might be a little old for taste, but we can always improve on them!"

"But isn't that a bit too much? I dont think its necessary for you to stitch gowns for me-"

"Darling, as Daphne said, you can't be in the same gown twice, and as your maids it's our duty to take care of you and your needs, we're paid for this." Rachel cut me.

I didn't realize Agatha left until she suddenly appeared at my side, holding a very elaborate gown. "This is our welcome gift! We didn't know your size, but we'll make adjustments!"

I carefully held the dress, afraid of accidentally ruining it. It was a lovely shade of pink with white laces at the bottom and pearls on the top. The ladies stood there smiling at me, waiting for a reaction.

"Uh...wow. I've never been given dresses before..." I said honestly.

"What about your parents dear? I'm sure one of them would have bought you dresses like these. Agatha nodded.

"I don't know if I have parents." I murmured sadly.

My eyes turned glossy, I never knew my parents. No-one has ever told me anything about them. I had asked the headmistress once, but all she said was that somebody delivered my documents and left me in the academy. All my life I grew up in the academy, there was no other home for me.

"I'm so sorry darling." Rachel spoke softly. "I think we can all agree that's time we got princess Phoebe dressed for dinner.'' She attempted to change the topic. And I shot her a grateful smile.

The room was quite big, the right stood a large king size bed, a small lamp desk was next to it and a large study table was situated across from it. There was a closet room to the left, near what looked like a bathroom. Everything was draped in the same red velvety fabric, the rugs, blankets, curtains and pillows.

"Your things are in the closet, we didnt know what to do with them, and we definitely were not going to snoop around." Daphne said from behind me as I inspected the study table, it had a small lamp on it and a shelf.

Agatha hurried me into the closet and helped me put on my dress, and to say that it felt amazing was an understatement. The fabric was soft and was layered with fluffy fabric on the inside. It felt like I was wearing a cloud.

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Rachel did my hair, she straightened my curls and pinned a few fancy hair clips with white pearls, matching the ones on the dress. I don't know why we have to be so dressed up for dinner. But then again, this is royalty we're talking about.

"Thank you again ladies. This looks and feels amazing."

"Oh it's no problem dear."

"The dining hall is downstairs in the left hallway, darling."

"Just follow the rest of the girls there." The last one was Daphne, she was still smiling since I met her in the room. I strapped on my heels and followed the rest of the girls to dinner. Apparently all the imperials were placed on the third floor, Intrepids on the second and Astutes on the first. My maids gave me a new crimson cloak to wear, it was lined with pearls so it would match my dress and hair.

I turned to the left hallway and realized that there were three corridors. I looked around and saw Clementine with Elenora walking down the last hallway with the rest of the imperials. I guess they were serious when they said they didn't want castes to mingle.

Clementine wore a simple black dress with white sequins trailing down her skirt, while Elenora wore a flowy white dress with a lot of sparkles on the top.

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Th astutes, with the sandstone cloaks walked into the first hallway. I noticed a girl my age, she wore a sandstone cloak too and had the exact shade of red hair as me (A/N its Piper) I was going to follow her in when I noticed another girl, Intrepid with her sapphire cloak, who also had the same exact shade of red hair as me and the other Astute (A/N this ones Paige). I was debating on which one I should follow, when I felt someone grab my elbow.

"You're going the wrong way, pheebs." Clementine's voice greeted me.

'Don't call me pheebs." I scowled, forgetting about the two girls. "I hate the nickname."

"And I hate being called Clemmy, but hey, we can't always have what we want."

"I've only called you Clemmy, once!" I said in exasperation. "And that was when I couldn't pronounce your whole name."

"It really isn't hard to say Clem-en-tine.'

"And it isn't hard to say Pho-ebe." I retorted.

"Chill pheebs, dinner almost ready, let's save our seats." She dragged me to the last hallway. "Elenora, come with me and Pheebs."

"Pheebs?' she asked in confusion.

"She means phoebe." I say bluntly. "Isn't that right Clemmy?" Clementine growled. Elernora stared blankly at the two of us bickering.

"Are any of your friends selected too, Elenora?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't really have any friends." she admitted shyly. "I joined the academy this year."

Me and Clementine shared a look. We were going to adopt her in our friend duo and make it a trio.

"You can hang with us!" Clementine said brightly. "We can be... The Red Idealist Ones! TRIO!"

I sniggered. "Red Idealists... that's who we are?"

"Well we do wear red colored cloaks and we are idealists."

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one." I muttered. And Elenora giggled.

"I like that! TRIO." Elenora voiced her thoughts. "Now let's get to dinner. I'm starving."

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Dinner was quiet. The dining hall was a large room, almost the same size as the great hall with a very long table and grand chandelier. Our plates and spoons were pre-kept and the maids served us our food. The only people on the table were the selected Imperials, the headmistresses and Lady Ann.

"I trust that you have acquainted yourselves with your personal maids." Lady Ann spoke. "They will be the ones to help style you, assist you and guide you, at your stay in the castle. There will also be two guards in front of every chamber to assist you during the night, while your maids sleep in the servants quarter."

I looked around and glanced at Veronica, who was undeniably, the prettiest girl in the room. Her blonde hair was curled perfectly and her blood-red dress went well with her crimson cloak. She even put so much make-up on that I wondered how in the world would she be able to remove it off?

Everyone else looked decent and simple for a castle dinner. We ate our food in silence, being our first day and the only sound heard was the clinking of the utensils and the ticking of the great grandfather clock.

The headmistress started small conversations between themselves while the rest of us ate in an awkward silence. I had a piece of turkey, mashed potatoes and boiled vegetables, and for dessert, some chocolate pudding.

After that dreadful first dinner was over, we were sent back to our rooms. Clementine and Elenora were discussing their maids and bought me in on their conversation.

"My maids are horrible. They don't talk AT ALL! All they do is lay out my dress, make me look presentable and usher me out of the room." Clementine pouted. "Its so weird there because I'm the only one talking and asking questions when they wont even reply!"

Elenora giggled. "Mine are nice, but very old. One keeps calling me sugar cube and talks in skeakspherean English." Then she started mimicking her. 'Would thou have your clothes in thy closet or do doth wish it to be in the suitcase?'

This time it was Clementine's turn to giggle. "What about you Pheeb? How are your maids?"

"Mine are too hyper. They get excited to see me, to style and to just talk to me. Apparently they were cleaners before they got this job." I shrugged. We climbed the stairs up to the third floor. The castle even had three staircases to each separate floor.

"Do you know why they're keeping castes apart?" I asked both Elenora and Clementine.

Both of them shrugged, "Tutor Ann said it's because of tradition." Elenora said quietly, she was a very shy person.

"Did you hear about Veronica?" Clementine blurted out of nowhere, then smiled sheepishly, "Sorry for the change of topic, but rumors have been going around...apparently Veronica's neighbor heard her yelling at her maids to get her dressed like an empress. She said that she saw one of her maids running out of her room, on the brim of tears, to get something Veronica asked for."

"That's sad, poor Veronica's maids. Elenora said.

"I know. They may be Astutes, and they may be maids, but they have every right to be treated with respect, especially with the fact that they work IN the castle!"

I nodded my head, agreeing with Clementine's response.

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"I have a plan..." Clementine started. Oh no. It definitely means something bad. "We don't really know the castle that well, and there's just a lot to see... A year's time is definitely not enough, mainly because we would be studying and preparing for the tests... So what do you say about a mid-night self-tour?"

Elenora jumped in excitement. "Yes!" she squealed."

"But what about the guards outside our doors?" I asked.

"Climb out the window?"

"I am not falling three floors down!"

"If you fall at all..."

Elenora's giggles brought us back from bickering. "You two fight like children."

Both of us rolled our eyes.

"But we're still sneaking out." I shook my head, giving Clementine a firm 'no' look.

"But if you fall we'll catch you, promise!" she reasoned. "How are you so sure you'll fall anyway?"

I thought about it... I guess I was afraid of heights, it made me dizzy and nauseous. But what panicked me more was the fall down. When I look down from the balcony, or from the last floor, the bottom just feels like a blackhole, trying to lure me in and just fall down.

"I just am, I'm not graceful if you haven't noticed."

"Oh I noticed." she snickered along with Elenora.

"You know what! Your TRIO is now a DUO." I huffed, leaving Clementine and Elenora behind as I climbed the rest of the stairs.

"But DUO doesn't stand for anything." Clementine wailed.

"Sure it does." I paused. " The Dreadfully Unpleasant Ones."

"Aww... but I didn't do anything!" Elenora whined. "Why do I have to be dreadfully unpleasant."

"Don't worry Elly. She just wants us to be upset, we'll show her and become the Dazzling Unwavering Ones!" she whispered to Elenora. I rolled my eyes to how childish that sounded, my acronym was better.

"Be ready by ten!" Clementine called before I closed the door to my bedchamber.

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"How was dinner, darling?" Rachel was the first to ask... I noticed Agatha hiding something behind her back and Daphne giggling like a girl.

"It was... great?" It came out as a question. It definitely wasn't great.

"First dinners are always quiet and awkward, don't worry, once everybody is comfortable, dinners will start feeling like home!" Home. The word made me realize I had none. I nodded. Daphne then spoke.

"So... Since it's your first night here, we stitched you a sleeping gown while you were at dinner!"

Agatha held up a white dress from behind her. "How do you like it?" she asked.

It was plain and simple, a few designs were embroidered here and there, it wasn't fancy, but at the same time not too basic.

"Its amazing Ladies. I can't believe you had to make one from scratch. I have plenty in my suitcase!"

"Oh We know dear, take it as your second welcome gift, which reminds me, did anyone say anything about your dress?"

My dress. I completely forgot I was wearing their welcome gift. Nobody commented on it, mostly because everyone else was also wearing elaborate clothes...

"Oh my friends said they loved the color and the pearls." I made up, I couldn't face their unhappy looks if I told them no one said anything.

"Did they?" Agatha squealed. "I knew making the dress was worth it, it did look stunning on you too!"

"It indeed looked well on you." Rachel beamed. Daphne continued giggling

I felt bad for lying to them, but I did not feel bad for seeing their happy faces. But all of a sudden their faces grew solemn.

"Do you know a girl named Veronica?" Daphne asked tentatively.

I nodded my head hesitantly, "She's not a friend but from our academy, why?" all three of them looked at each other, having a silent debate on whether or not to tell me.

"Well you see, she keeps pushing her maids around, always asking them to make more gowns and fix her hair every hour. Being good friends with them, they asked us for our help when things get out of hand or when they're tired. So we've agreed to switch from time to time, if thats alright with you ofcourse."

"Oh that's alright, I don't mind, her maids do not have to always help me, I don't usually need a lot. It's really kind of you ladies to help them out." I smiled at them. "Veronica an get a bit bossy and always finds the need to feel superior, I understand."

Rachel let out a sigh of relief. "We thought you were going to disagree. We are indeed lucky to serve you lady Phoebe."

"I'll help you put on the gown and we'll leave you to sleep." Agatha finally said. It was almost nine in the night, Clementine said to be ready by ten... Was I going to listen to her? Probably, since she wont stop bothering me tomorrow if I don't.

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The maid left ten minutes after to the servants quarters, and two guards stood at the sides of my door just after. It was funny. The castle was a place for Higher Imperials, yet they employed Astute maids and Intrepid guards. Then how come they wont allow girls of the selection to be together?

I wasn't feeling sleepy, even twenty minutes after the maids left, so I decided to get some unpacking done. The maids had mentioned that my suitcases were in the closet, the closet was a separate room from the bedchamber, it had an ironing board, shelves, mannequins with neatly ironed dresses and a small dressing table with a vanity desk.

I noticed the maids had already placed out my gowns and hung them in the cupboards. My make-up and cosmetics were also kept carefully on the dressing table.

I unzipped the bag which had my other essentials; books, papers (to write letters), quills, picture frames and some decor. I decorated my study desk and placed papers in binders, books on the mini shelf and a few picture frames stood at the corners. The frames were filled with pictures of Clementine and I, when we were younger. During summers, her parents always let me stay with them in their rented beach house, and during the christmas break, they'd invite me for dinner at their Manor. Clementine's family was like my family.

After doing final touches to my study desk I sighed and fell on the bed. There was almost half an hour left till ten, so I rested my head on my fluffed pillow, closed my eyes and reflected on the day.

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"Psst." knock. "Pssssst!" another knock. I looked up from my bed, it was ten minutes to ten, I thought of taking a nap when I heard stones hit my window. I raised it up to see Clementine and Elenora, with a handful of pebbles in their arms.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep!" I waved my hands towards my bed for emphasis.

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Did we wake little pheeby?" she cooed sarcastically. "Its time for our tour."

"There's still ten minutes."

"Well then, we have ten minutes extra, come on!" she waved her hands. Both of them were standing in the gardens outside. I rolled my eyes and muttered some curses.

I carefully climbed my way down from the balcony, thankfully it wasn't very high. With each step, I prayed no one could see me climb my way down. I placed a foot on the firm ground and plopped myself down on both feet.

"Took you long enough, I thought we wouldn't get our tour until christmas, with the way you're climbing." Clementine snorted. Elenora was quiet, I guess she wasn't too keen on sneaking out and breaking rules. I gave her a kind smile.

"Let's just get this over with."

Stars shone as sugar spilt over black marble, glistening in the sun. The night sky was such a welcome sight, appearing like magic at each sunset. I loved watching the stars twinkle in the dark backdrop, like a theatrical performance.

Clementine grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her and Elenora as we entered the castle through the backgate that led to the gardens.

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"There are guards everywhere." Elenora stated, the first sentence she uttered during the trip. I looked around, hiding behind the backgate doors.

"Not everywhere." Clementine said. She was right. There were guards blocking the hallway to the entrance of the west wing in the castle, other than that, there were two or three strolling around, taking night shifts.

"Why are they keeping us away from the west wing?" I asked. For some odd reason, I had a feeling it had something to do with the empress.

"Maybe it's where they keep the records." Elenora whispered. "You know, important documents that can potentially put the empire at risk if read." I nodded. Clementine was looking at the place, looking for the best route in which we could go unseen.

"There." Clementine pointed to an empty hallway. There weren't any guards, and the lights were flickering, most of them were off and it seemed a bit dark.

"We need a distraction." Was all she said. Both our eyes instinctively turned to Elenora.

"You up for this?" I asked. "I can't do it, because I'm terrible at lying, and Clementine would have done it but she's going to make a run for it first, to check if it's safe."

"Uh-ok." she whimpered. She was scared.

"Don't worry, all you have to do is say you saw somebody sneaking in and you got frightened, so you jumped out your window and came here looking for someone to help."I snorted at Clementine pathetic story, but I couldn't come up with anything better, so we went for it.

Elenora put on a scared façade, or what I think is a façade... and slowly inched towards the guards, who weren't paying any attention to her. Clementine pushed her, a little roughly, and she stumbled on the floor after letting out a small squeal.

"What are you doing here?" a guard asked.

"I-uh- I saw someone..." she stuttered, she was scared, I could see it, but at least it will prove to the guards that what she's saying is true. "H-he was trying to s-sneak in."

The guard raised an eyebrow, by now all the attention was on her. "S-so I tried sne-sneaking out. I didn't want to d-die." she whispered the last part. The guards looked at each other, instead of seeing confused faces at who could be sneaking in the castle, they gave each other a look, as if they knew who it could be.

"What did he look like?" the guard asked, while taking out a gun, the others took theirs too. Elenora squealed when she saw the guns.

"I couldn't see his face, it was covered."

"Where did you see him exactly?"

Oh-oh, we hadn't told Elenora where. That's when an idea snapped. 'West Wing' I mouthed to her, from behind the doors. She read my lips and repeated it to the guards.

"He climbed from the outside and he was trying to make his way to the west wing."

"Though so." was all he said, before he motioned the guards to follow him as they all ran towards the entrance of the west wing. I was even more confused. What were they hiding in the west wing? Who Could they have thought had sneaked in? Why can't we know?

I didn't realize the whole time that clementine wasn't even with me. She stood in the opposite hallway, waving her hands to follow her. I ran towards her, while stopping to grab Elenora's elbow and dragging her with me.

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"We made it." Elenora sighed. "It was hard lying to them."

"I know. Now let's start!" Clementine said. "I think this is the way to the store-rooms." We made our way through the hallway, Clementine was right. There were various store-rooms, butteries, larders and pantries.

Boxes were stacked and parcels were still wrapped in plastic after being delivered. I saw a plate of buns covered in a transparent glass lid on top of one of the boxes.

"Let's take a bun." I reached for a box of buns before Elenora's hand shot up. "No. They keep track of all the food." I frowned. I was really hoping for a midnight feast.

The lights were still on but dim. Not that I could blame anyone, there isn't a reason to waste bright lights in the store-rooms, unless you're looking for something.

We passed, yet another hallway, the castle seemed to have many, a large mirror stood at the corner. I walked a bit faster and stood in front of it and examined myself. My hair was tangled, my nightgown, crumpled and small bangs were forming under my eyes.

"I don't look very good, do I?" I wailed.

"You look beautiful Phoebe! You're prettier than most girls here." Elenora nodded at what Clementine had just said.

"You're my best friend, you're obligated to say that."

"If you were ugly, I'd still tell you."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I said, you're obligated to." Elenora giggled, she really does that a lot.

I took a last glance at myself and internally cringed at the thought of waking up tomorrow to clean up this mess.

"I wish I could be as pretty as you are." Elenora whispered, a slight red tinted on her cheeks, clementine just giggled after hearing that.

"Don't we all, darling?" I sent Clementine a glare. And Elenora tried stiffening her giggles.

"Upstairs are the cabinets, you know, office rooms." Clementine really knew her way around here.

"How do you know?" Elenora asked before I could.

"I was interrogating the maids." Elenora and I giggled at that. When Clementine wants things done, she does all the planning beforehand. I'm pretty sure she drew a whole map of the castle and made copies.

We were climbing one of the many stairs to the cabinets. There were no guards in sight, except a few that we dodged earlier. Huge hand-painted pictures of the empress hung on the hallway walls. They were exquisite.

"Wow, the empress doesn't have the time to make time for her kingdom, but she has enough time to pose for a painting." I commented running my fingers on the delicate touches of the paintbrush that brought the picture to life..

"I don't know... what if she posed for this painting when she was selected as empress..." Elenora stated. Elenora seemed like she knew a lot of information that we didn't.

'Oh ok." I nervously said, it was a little creepy to know that your new friend knows more things than you're sure of. "If that's what you think."

"Come on. We don't have time to stare at paintings. Let's go into the cabinets!"

We climbed a few small steps that led to a room, with smaller rooms inside. Each cubicle had a desk and a shelf of files. "This is where the council members work, I suppose." I looked around at the messy files and folders spread across the desks.

"Let's go into the discussion room." Clementine grabbed Elenora's and my elbow, pulling us to the direction of another door in the room. She opened it to reveal a long table, like the dinner table in the dining hall, with chairs at the ends and on the sides. Unlike the cubicle desks, there were any folders or files spread, just a plethora of notepads and pens.

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"Astutus Criminals on the loose." Elenora read from a notepad. "Nolan Russel, Daniel kingsley, Ross Buckerman..." She read a few names.

"Oh oh! Hear this." Clementine piped up on the other side of the room, holding up a notepad. "Store vandalized in Intrepidus, 17 year-old girl causing ruckus and knocking down selling goods." she giggled. "I cant believe she threw a tantrum in the store." There was a picture too, Clementine held it up for me to see. The room was dark, but I could make out a girl in the picture, trashing the store. Her hair looked awfully familiar, but only her side profile could be seen, the picture was too small and we could hardly see her whole face.

I picked up a stack of papers, disinterested on what information could be written on them. What caught my attention was a small corner of a journal, sticking out from under the many stacks of files.

I went around and picked the book. It wasn't a notepad, the cover was made of thick black leather and the inside were neat little diary notes, with dates and words written on them.

03 / 13/ 1998

Astutus is becoming severely overpopulated, the council has decided that it would be best to employ some, here at the Imperium. It is becoming harder and harder to find criminals if the Kingdom keeps growing, even though the council has set up an Imperial-driven government there, it is not enough to handle that many people. Council is hiring Intrepid officers to work in Astutus as officers. The Astutus government will be expanding.

06/ 19/ 1998

Council had made preparations for three extra royal academies to be built in the Imperium, Astutus is still overpopulating, though many maids and teachers were hired, it is still not enough. Council has decided to set firm rules for Astutus, many Astutes fled to Intrepidus, a densely populated Kingdom. Council has plans to merge the two kingdoms together.

10/ 24/ 1998

Astutus population has finally decreased, many maids and teachers were hired for the academies, and the council had built another two castles for the selection that will be happening in a few years time. Intrepidus is close to being wiped out with the amount of wars taking place. Council finds it hard to set up a government there, instead they are planning to destroy all war machines and stop the trading of explosives, hopefully, making the wars come to a gradual decrease.

There were tons of small notes, I wonder who wrote all this. It definitely must be someone with higher authority than the council members. I ran the tips of my fingers on the handmade leather cover. The pages were wrinkly on the inside, like the person who wrote this was always in a rush to write these small notes.

Clementine and Elenora were busy in worlds of their own, reading notes from the notepads or looking at small newspaper clippings, well Elenora mostly. Clementine was doodling on the whiteboard.

I quickly took the journal and placed it in my nightgown pocket. Thanking whoever bought it, as it was small enough to fit.

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"Phoebe, you've been quiet, did you find anything interesting?" Elenora asked me as she set a notepad down on the discussion table. I shook my head.

"Just a bunch of war-records from Intrepidus." I lied. Elenora shrugged and went back to reading from a different notepad.

"I think we should leave now, it's been an hour." an hour already? Clementine set the marker of the whiteboard down, after doodling a bunch of flowers on the sides. "The maids will be waking us up early, so we might as well continue our tour tomorrow."

"No!" Both Elenora and I said in perfect sync.

"I do not want to go lying to the guards again, thank you very much." Elenora shook her head.

"I don't want to climb down my balcony either."

Clementine shrugged. 'I guess I'll be going solo then" We took a final check around the room to find anything out of its previous place, and then we left the cabinet rooms. We quietly slipped through the hallways and down the main stairs that led us to the store-rooms. I was thankful there were carpets to block the sound of our slippers.

"Lets go." Clementine mouthed. She looked both sides of the hallway to check if it was still clear and gave us the thumbs up sign. Elenora carefully walked through the hallway first before a voice boomed.

"What are you doing here?" busted. We were currently standing in the middle of the hallway crossing, and a guard came forward eyeing both of us suspiciously.

"We got lost." I blurted suddenly. "We-uh saw something-er-someone and I- WE thought we should go downstairs and ask for help..." I stuttered. I could feel clementine rolling her eyes.

"Don't mind my friends, she's just sleep-deprived and scared, who wouldn't be if they found out somebody was trying to sneak in. We told a few guards about it and they ran off without offering us any help or directions to our chambers..." Clementine wiped a fake tear for dramatic effect. "We have no idea where we're going." Elenora just nodded her head vigorously to what we were saying.

The guard looked taken back at our response. "Err- ok then, Sorry on behalf of the guards that left you ladies here, I'll escort you back to your rooms." he then motioned us to follow him up the stairs and dropped us off in our rooms, not before telling the guards outside our doors to keep an eye on us.

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I sighed once I reached the safe haven of my bedchamber and fell on the bed. I grimaced at the sudden pain I felt on my back, when I realized that I still had the journal in my pocket.

It was almost eleven thirty, but I couldnt care less. I opened the journal to its last page, that was dated yesterday. It was a rather long note, intrigued, I started reading it straight away.

02/ 02/ 2012

The selection starts in a few weeks. The Astutes and Intrepids have arrived a week ago, the Imperials are arriving tomorrow. Although I am glad a new empress will be reigning Tribus Trine, I can't help but feel it to be my responsibility to fix the problems that have come up because of me during my reign. It will be a difficult job to place on the future empress head, and time is short. No signs of breachment have been reported, which is the only safe way to say that the riot isn't going to be happening anytime soon. Though I have been in hiding from the empires view, they all know the real reason behind it. They think I'm afraid, but I am only doing what's best for the empire and my people. I have a great feeling that they're planning something big during the selection. I placed extra security around the castle, especially the west wing. We cannot risk postponing the selection much longer than we already have. The council members have given up on finding a solution and the only way to solve this mess is by playing it safe and taking no risks. The girls in the selection will be well taken care of. Many officers have been sent to check for anything unusual or out of the ordinary happening during the selection, throughout all three kingdoms. Girls from different castes will not be permitted to see each other, just in case it deepens the problems we already have at hand. I have suggested to the council to prepare the triplets specifically, they could be the key to ending this riot, they hold much power together, but the council is against the idea of keeping sisters of three different castes together, especially since it is the main reason for the riot. For safety measures I have relocated the documents to a different spot, where no-one can find them. I just hope this is enough to keep trouble out of the selection, and hopefully, out of Tribus Trine for a bit longer, at least until it can be resolved.

This left me with a lot of questions, unanswered ones. What is the giant problem the empress is facing? Does it have something to do with girls from different castes seeing each other? Who are these triplets who can help solve the riot? And why is the council against the idea of them being together?

I furrowed my eyebrows, deep in thought. There really is a lot more to the selection, and we are definitely in danger.

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Feel free to give your suggestions on what should happen next! I'm genuinely surprised you actually made it this far! Thanks for reading, or for even scrolling through this book, it means the world to know that my work is being read.🤍

- Leigh     ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*