Yua hadn't taken a trip to the noble region of the Clover Kingdom since she bumped into her siblings at the tree of Salamander during the Yule festivities. It was a bit of a pain to get mail from what she believed was her homeland as Raque was the port city of the neutral party that was essentially their mail delivery service. As of yet, there hadn't been any issues but then they were her love's most trusted friend and he was paid well to keep such confidences. She thought as it was a warm day that she would enjoy the walk and perhaps pick up a few things at the noble markets. Unlike some of her siblings, she didn't have expensive tastes even if her appearance showed otherwise. She preferred simpler things but she also had appearances she needed to maintain, that, and people tended to leave people of their own status alone.

While she was abroad she was accustomed to being taken to and from locations in a carriage or palanquin at least when she was putting on the front as a noblewoman or the prized possession of certain nobles. It wasn't a bad life but she did enjoy walking more so without guards moving with her. She was under no assumption that she wasn't under someone's ever-watchful gaze even now she was back in Clover, in fact, she actually believed she was far more monitored now than she had been when she was in the far east. If she could be open about her life and family people may call her paranoid, but she would wonder if it really was paranoia if people were actually doing it. Then again a healthy dose of paranoia wasn't always a bad thing as it kept people from doing stupid things.

None in her family had to be frightened to walk out and about, they were taught from a young age how to keep a low profile while committing crimes and how to hide in plain sight after doing such acts. She took to this style as a duck takes to water, this was why she was sent away, it was for the good of the family. She hadn't seen it that way, she still didn't. She felt like she had been discarded for some unknown slight against her family and now that she had been forgiven was being welcomed back into it. It turned her life upside down on both occasions and she was far from over it in both cases. She knew it was wrong to do so as her mother gave her everything, but, she currently hated her mother and wanted to be nowhere near her family in general.

Those were issues for another time and so she spent no more thought on them for now. She shuddered a little feeling the nipping bite of the morning chill on her skin as she walked toward her destination. She hoped to hear the news that the trading ship with her friend on it was docking so she could catch up with things she actually cared about. The walk from her home Sivert lake to where she was heading but she hadn't minded, she was actually enjoying the peaceful stroll she was taking. It felt as if she could breathe and not worry about expectations or keeping her mask up, it was truly a time of freedom for her and was one she intended to savour for as long as she was allowed. She had already made up her mind she wouldn't live in her mother's home which came with constraints she didn't want any longer.

Word Count: 606