Lady of the Ravendale (Book 1, Ravendale series) ✔

Chapter 1

Usually when the kids of the noble families run away from home. Their parents send special agents that can track their kids to bring them back. I knew I would be tracked by them, so I changed my name and moved cities during my high school year.

I guess I knew that the day would come when they finally found me, and I would have to come back home.

"What do you want?" I coldly asked the agents. The air was tense and one of the agents dared to chuckle, breaking the tension that surrounded us.

"So you're not going to run? I guess this will be easy then." The higher-ranked agent spoke. I was only assuming that he was a higher rank than the second agent. After the silence, he continued speaking. "A few weeks ago your mother died from sickness. And your household staff asked us to find you and bring you back to your household."

After he announced that my mother died, I had a blank face showing no emotions and I felt pale color creeping in on my face. But I knew sooner or later I will feel guilty for my mother's death.

"Fine, I will come back on my own. You don't need to force me to come back" I firmly said.

"Well good, it will be a shame if someone else would receive your family name." The first agent chuckled. He reminded me of the consequences.

We have an interesting system in Ravendale. If I don't claim my rights as the head of the household I would lose my family's noble title and it will go to the next richest family who doesn't have any noble status. And I don't have any relatives left who can be the leader of the Blue Topaz family.

In Ravendale noble families receive names of the crystals or gems as their surname. It's a tradition we have here. We could have used normal surnames, but someone decided that having a surname matching the name with the crystals sounds noble. Well, it does sound nobler. And the last thing every child can keep their family name unless they are disowned or married, I guess everybody knows that.

"I understand that," I said with an irritated voice. They nodded and started heading back to their base or probably went back hunting another runaway, who knows.

My apartment is modest in size, but modern in style. It's different from the room that I had back in my manor at Ravendale. After I started living on my own in Etria I found out I liked modern style more than Victorian, but I still decorated my apartment with a hint of Victorian style.

My apartment looks clean, despite the fact that I was raised in a noble house. I guess I learned it in boarding school in Etria for Ravendalian kids. We learned everything there, so we can blend with the Etrian people.

Now it was time for me to come back to Ravendale.

The first thing I did was I sent a text to my friends telling them that I need to move back to Ravendale and that I probably won't come back. It depends on the situation in my household.

Then I started packing my clothes. I don't know why I'm packing my clothes because nobody wears a t-shirt and jeans in Ravendale. Well except for men they wear pants but I've never seen them wearing pants made from denim material.

After packing my clothes I went to my bedroom and I couldn't sleep because I needed to think about what I should do when I arrived there. Then I thought about my father who raised, spoiled, and loved me. I guess I'm considered to be 'Daddy's girl. After one incident with my father that led him to his death I blamed his death on my mother, but then my mother died and I ended up alone.

Soon I fell asleep.

But my sleep was interrupted by the hurry ringing at the door of someone.

I yawned and stretched. I looked through the window and I saw that it was early morning. I was wearing a long shirt as my pajamas and walked to the door. After I opened the door James rushed in.

"Oh hey James, What is the rush? " I said while yawning. I noticed James was sweating.

"Anna, I want to tell you something before you go," James said. I still looked sleepy with messy hair.

"James, you could just te-" and then he suddenly kissed me. I looked at him with wide eyes.

I never thought that I would have my first kiss from my good friend while in pajamas and probably with the bed hair. I felt a weird feeling in my stomach. Probably, my body was surprised by this kiss.

"Anna, it's impossible to kiss you in our chat. Also, I wanted to confess that I liked you from the day we met, I was afraid of telling you this before because I thought you didn't like me back. But since you are going back to Ravendale, I thought it's my last chance to confess before you go." He confessed.

I was left breathless after his confession but my brain started analyzing the event. I never felt anything special towards James, but now I felt butterflies in my stomach when James kissed me.

But the main problem is that the relationships in Ravendale are different from in Etria and because of that I have a hard time dating. Well, I never dated anyone, since I was either confused or afraid of the relationship in Etria. But for some reason, I could trust James.

The other problem is that James is unsuited for Ravendalian society since we have unique society norms that can scare him away. So I can't take him back with me.

"James..." I didn't know what to say. I looked at his face, he had brown eyes, a medium-sized nose, and chestnut-colored hair. I always thought that he had a cute face.

"It's okay if you don't like me, I just wanted you to know that I like you." He bashfully smiled at me.

"No, it's just not good timing," I mumbled. I still thought about how I should handle this. Then I got an idea about what I should do.

"James, I don't know how long I end up staying in Ravendale, but I will email you when I come back and when I come back, we will talk about our relationship on our first date." I offered with a smile. James smiled back and he helped to pack my other bags.

He offered to drive me to the bus station or train station. I wanted to disagree because in my opinion it would be awkward since he confessed to me. But I wanted to save money so I agreed to let him drive me to the bus station. Even though I have no reason to save money since I have a good amount of money to survive and I'm not from a poor family. Meaning, that after the death of my mother I have full access and control over household money.

I don't know what I should do with it, because I know that I don't want to recklessly spend it. Maybe I should invest in something or build my clinic. I guess I will try to decide when I arrive.

James took me to the bus station. It was an awkward ride but still, my priority is to decide whether I should stay there or return to Etria, but I need to make sure that my family's business is still thriving. There were a lot of things I had to do in Ravendale before I returned to Etria. When I arrive, I will have more things to do than I expect.

After I said goodbye to James I took the bus. Not a lot of people were on the bus, at least it will be a peaceful ride.

I guess it will be a good break from the capital city that is full of life-like Atros. Ravendale is a more peaceful country than Etria. Although the capital of Ravendale is a good place for building a reputation among the nobles, I do not plan to mingle with them and luckily I don't live in the capital city.

I hope my days in Ravendale will be peaceful.