New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 201: ARTSY

Chapter 201: ARTSY

"What’s that?" The women were curious.

"It’s a toy I made for the baby." Aristia explained.

"A toy?" Roxanne asked curiously, observing the object.

Aristia collected the object from the maid. "It’s called a baby rattle."

"Never have I seen such an object." Roxanne said. The object was made of wood and was round on top with a straight handle. "A baby rattle... What does it do?"

Aristia decided to demonstrate. She shook it and it made a sound like sand hitting against the surface of the wood and each other.

She took it to Valen and shook it, gaining his attention. His eyes opened in curiosity at the sound it made as she shook it, his little eyes moving to locate the source of the sound.

"Bah.. gah... gah." He began babbling and waving his arms, as if he was trying to grab it.

"This sound is softer since he’s a newborn, but as he grows older, you can use this one." Aristia said, shaking another one with a ring shaped handle. It made the sound of beads hitting each other.

"Oh, I see..." Rulia nodded, understanding crossing her face. "You made this?"

"Well, I drew it and got the carver to make it." Aristia shrugged. She had made sure the wood was smoothed with no rough or sharp edges.

"But still, you thought of this? That’s amazing." Roxanne said.

There was no way Aristia would tell them that she had borrowed the idea.

"This is my gift." Alaric said, taking out a teddy bear.

"Oh, it’s lovely Allie." Vasily said with a smile.

The baby soon fell asleep, still latching onto his mother’s breasts.

"Aunt Vasily, try pressing your smallest finger in the space between Valen’s mouth and your breast." Aristia couldn’t help but say when she saw Vasily struggle a bit to slowly pull out the baby’s mouth.

"Huh?" Vasily paused her action. When Aristia’s words settled in, her hands automatically obeyed.

The baby’s mouth was successfully detached from her body.

They all turned to Aristia in stunned surprise.

"How could you..." Catherine asked.

This time, Aristia couldn’t use watching her mother as an excuse.

"I just thought of it. The baby is latching onto and sucking your breast. So I just thought that if you use a finger and slowly create a space between your breast and the his mouth, it will open the baby’s mouth without injuring him. You tried it and it worked." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The younger ladies actually blushed at her innocent words. Breasts wasn’t a word they usually used. But Roxanne and Rulia didn’t flinch. As ladies who had grown up in the North, or at least lived in it for a great part of their lives, they had gotten used to the openness of the northerners.

They nodded in understanding. Roxanne nodded her head twice in thought. She looked at Aristia, wondering whether it was because she had royal blood in her veins that she was so bright and brainy.

Vasily laid Valen in his cot and the maids helped her fix her clothes. A maid stayed behind to watch the baby while they left the room.

The men had already shifted from whatever they were discussing when they first arrived to discussing politics.

They stopped when they saw them enter the room.

But while the adults stayed in the parlour and talked, Aristia excused herself and went to the room prepared for her. It was the same room she stayed in during her family’s previous visit.

It was almost dinnertime, so Adeline gave Aristia some cookies and a glass of milk.

Aristia meant to take a short nap, but when she opened her eyes, the morning sunlight streamed in and the sky was bright.

"Ugh..." She groaned. "I actually slept through the night."

The door opened and Adeline quietly entered the room.

Seeing Aristia awake, she smiled. "Good morning, Princess."

Aristia returned the smile. "Good morning, Linny. You didn’t wake me up last night?"

"I wanted to wake you up for dinner, but her highness told me not to." Adeline explained. "Would you like to get ready for the day now?" She asked.

"Okay," Aristia nodded.

Adeline left to prepare a bath.

After breakfast, Aristia headed to the art gallery with Adeline. While she was leaving the mansion, Alaric didn’t ask to go with her.

[It’s not that I’m no longer his favorite, but he’s just excited to see a baby.] She convinced herself. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The carriage stopped in front of the art store. Adeline stayed in the carriage with Lucas while she entered the store alone.

As she entered the door and walked to the area of displayed paint, a salesgirl came up to her.

"Hello and welcome to Artsy. Is there any way I can assist you?" She asked, looking behind Aristia to see if there was anyone older with her.

"Ah, no." Aristia shook her head.

"I see. Just let me know if you would need any assistance." The salesgirl left her alone.

There was quite a lot of people in the art store.

Aristia kept looking around the place for a few minutes before going upstairs. A salesman stopped her before she could climb the stairs.

"Sorry, little girl, but no one’s allowed there for now. You can look for anything you’d like here." He said.

Aristia paused for a second but remembered that she was in disguise and the workers didn’t know her identity as the real owner. She nodded at the salesman and turned around. "Okay."

She headed towards Randall’s office instead, entering when she saw no one was paying attention.

Randall looked up when the door opened without a knock. His face morphed into surprise on seeing the person.

He hadn’t seen her in six months. He stood up a moment later and bowed.

"Your Highness," he came out from behind his desk. "Please have a seat." He pointed at his seat.

Aristia sat on the seat and Randall took a seat opposite her.

"I didn’t know you were coming," Randall said, scratching his head. He looked a whole lot better than he did when she first met him.

"I just stopped by," Aristia shrugged nonchalantly.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" He asked, going to pick the kettle on the table.

Aristia declined his offer before going down to business.

"When will the next project be ready?"

Randall too became even more serious. "Very soon, specifically in a week. I’ve found enough talents to launch. I was just about to write to you about it." He pointed at the quill and parchment on the table.

Aristia nodded in satisfaction. She trusted him with the job and knew that he could do it. She expected nothing less, after all, six months was more than enough time.

"Good, I’ll be there to witness it." Aristia nodded. "I’ll be leaving first, no need to see me off."

She stood up and left the store, meeting Adeline in the carriage.

The Antons arrived at the Estate later that afternoon. It was like another family reunion, but with a new member.

"When are you holding a celebratory banquet?" Alistair asked Vasily.

Noble families often held feasts or gatherings in honor of the mother, especially if she gave birth to a male heir.

"In two weeks." Vasily replied.

The Hemsworth Viscounty would hold a family gathering. They would invite some members of their extended family and close allies, while nobles or local gentry might also attend and send gifts to honor the child and maintain good relations.

Aristia guessed that that meant they would be in the Hemsworth Fief for two weeks.

"I heard Tia manifested aura?" The off topic question stunned everyone.

[Now the whole family knows my secret.] Aristia almost facepalmed.

"What are you talking about?" Zender asked Ross with eyes narrowed.

"Oh, it’s very much true." Ross replied.

"Next you’ll tell me she has a daemon now." Edgar said skeptically.

Ross smirked knowingly. A second later, they turned to Aristia and her family with wide eyes.

Aristia even saw cold sweat on Carter’s brows.

Before anyone could ask anything...

"Everyone, meet Millie, my daemon."

***

It was week later.

After finding out Aristia had a daemon, the family erupted.

However, Aristia didn’t let them know her daemon could change forms, only letting them see Millie in fox form.

Currently, Aristia headed to the art store with her family. Randall had formally invited them to the event as official protocol. Vasily and Ross stayed behind with the baby, along with Ross’ parents and Millie.

It was finally time to launch the first art exhibition in Amberale.

A crowd of people gathered, nobles and commoners, all curious and interested to see. They had heard that the Imperial Prince’s family would be there because the old Lady of the Hemsworth Viscounty was an avid admirer of art and would be there, so many had gathered to see if it was true.

Everyone, however, recognized the members of the royal family— the family of the Imperial prince— and the Duke’s family together with the old Lord and former Viscount of the Hemsworth Fief. They became careful and even quietened down a bit.

Aristia and her family were the first to enter the store and head upstairs. The staff made sure everyone entered in single file so that the store didn’t get crowded.

"Oh my," Roxanne held her hand over her mouth. The art gallary was wide and spacious, and there were numerous paintings hanging around on the walls and on raised platforms.

There were also different corridors but they were blocked at the entrance with a red ribbon, which showed that they were not yet open to the public.

Aristia and her family walked around from painting to painting, admiring the exquisite work of art.

Slowly, Aristia seperated from her family, going on her own to admire the paintings. It was her first time seeing the art pieces.

They were all beautiful paintings, but none of them caught Aristia’s attention until she stopped upon one seemingly ordinary painting. It was put at the most inconspicuous spot as if the person who put it there found nothing special about it.

But Aristia could not look away.