The day for the first lesson with the tutor arrived.

I knew I couldn't avoid it so I decided to accept and asked Mary to tell me about the tutor coming home.

"You would like to know about your tutor, Lady Alina?"

"Yes, tell me all you know. Everything," Mary and I were discussing in the morning as she fixed my hair to go to breakfast.

"Everything I know? Well, I don't know that much."

In the end, Mary knew quite a lot about the tutor.

His name was Kaz Ovarin, 25 years old and the son of a baron. His father, however, had that title only on paper. In reality, the Ovarin family was poor and had no power. Their finances relied mainly on the lessons of Kaz Ovarin and his brother, Johnny Ovarin, who is a royal knight. 

However, Kaz Ovarin had received the best education. He was the youngest student to graduate in first place from the Royal Academy and for this reason he was a much sought after teacher throughout the country that very few managed to book him for lessons.

"They say he's very handsome too," Mary added.

"What? Who?"

"The tutor! Everyone who has seen him says he's a very handsome young man."

I laughed at the comment. I couldn't figure out why it was important that the professor was "a very handsome young man." But I could admit that his accomplishments at such a young age were amazing. 

He must be really smart. 

After breakfast I went straight to my room with Erin. I still had three hours before the tutor was due and the class she had, at that time of day, had been cancelled so we had some time to spend together.

I asked her to read me a book I had just picked up from the library.

"Alina, are you really going to be a duchess?" she asked after reading a few chapters of the book I gave her.

"It's too soon to be a duchess, Erin," I laughed.

She was embarrassed but she was so cute I couldn't help it.

"If my lessons go well, Father will name me as his heir. But it will be a long time before I can be a duchess."

She seemed satisfied with my answer and continued to read me the remaining chapters from the book.

It didn't take long but I felt sleepy. Erin had returned to her room and her lessons and I sat with Nancy and talked as she sewed. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do these classes, but I had accepted it. 

When Father sees that I'm not up to it, he will definitely be convinced that I'm not right for this position. I won't try to prove myself, but I will attend the classes. No knowledge is ever useless. Thinking about this I fell asleep on the couch. Besides, I had plenty of time before class. 

Or so I thought. Some time had passed when I heard faint voices outside my door, which, though not loud, woke me up. I got up and looked at the clock on the wall. 

"6:30; I closed my eyes for a moment, but it's already too late."

That's when I realized it.

But the tutor was coming at 6 o'clock. That means he's already here. Oh no! I mustn't be late on the first day of class. I must make a good impression. 

I immediately ran out, but when I opened the door I found Mary outside with an unknown man, I assumed it was the teacher. He was probably about to knock on the door because when I opened it he was standing very close and had his hand raised. I was startled but tried not to show it.

"So you're awake," he said, putting his hand down, "I guess now we can start our lesson."

I felt so embarrassed and couldn't answer him. Then he told me to follow him, which I did. 

He was walking very fast and I followed him almost running. 

At last, we arrived in an office room. It was big enough for an office but not as big as my room. Inside it had a small bookcase and two armchairs in addition to the desk and chairs. 

Mr. Ovarin gestured for me to sit down and we began to talk.

"Since it's the first day, we won't be doing a lesson but we will talk to get to know each other better. Also, if you have any questions about the class I will be happy to answer them," he started first.

As we sat down, I had a chance to observe Mr. Ovarin more closely. He had long brown hair, but not much, tied in a low braid and his clothes were somewhat ordinary but neat. He was 

indeed a very handsome man and looked very, very serious. 

"I know quite a bit about you, Mr. Ovarin," I replied, after all Mary had told me all about you earlier, and continued, "I want to know more about the lessons we're going to take."

"Our courses will be quite common. We will be studying history, politics, foreign languages, literature, household and financial management, rhetoric and the arts."

I got tired just hearing about it. How am I going to do well in all these classes? I'm sure I'll fail worse than I thought I would.

"That's it?" I asked politely and with a smile so as not to show my shock.

"No. You'll also have to learn etiquette, social manners and dancing. These are optional but will help you in the future. Duke Kaymec told me it would be good for you to learn them." 

"One more thing, what will the schedule of the classes be?"

At first, he seemed skeptical of my question, as if he was counting something.

"We'll decide that together," he finally said after some thought, "Let's see, our classes will last a year. So I suggest we do eight hours each day from Monday to Friday, what do you say?"

“WHAT?”" I blurted out in shock.