"The exercises were planned for at most a month away, but they can comfortably be brought forward by at least one week, so we can celebrate our birthday at the Capital if you'd like? I would have thought you would want it to be here still…"
"But if my sister wants to socialise, then having our birthday out there would let people come to know us before even the Ball. I'm assuming you want to go to the Imperial National Ball like I was going to with the Knights, rather than hosting a private Ball at the Capital instead of here?"
Delphina was quite frankly floored by what Pietro had just said. It seems like it had taken him less than five minutes to plan a few different ways of socialising.
"I didn't think about it too deeply, if I'm honest. If I get to know the Knights a bit better, then we can go to the Capital for our birthday. Otherwise, just having our birthday as normal would be fine."
"Wouldn't there not be much time in between the excursion and going to the Capital anyway? I'll have to think about dresses now and such if we hold our birthday there. And on top of that, going to the Imperial Ball would be better. It hardly seems fair to anyone in the Family to have to plan a debut Ball at such short notice. Don't they sometimes need a minimum of half a year of planning in advance to get materials?"
At this point, Elvira interjected.
"You wouldn't have to worry about that, Phina. The excursion can be moved closer than just a week in reality. It just wouldn't be great for the other Families' Knights. Our Petit-pois is being too economical with his timing".
Delphina shifted uneasily in her seat at this statement. True, they could wield their Ducal power and order people to suck it up. But that wasn't a good thing. She could see that their parents were trying to get them to think for themselves and organise what they wanted to do.
"What I would like to do…"
"I would like to get to know the Knights better by taking part with Pietro in this excursion."
"I would like to have our birthday held here rather than the Capital, so we have time for sorting things out before the Imperial Ball."
"But I would like to head to the Capital early so that we can prepare for any setbacks that might happen logistically, or due to social issues."
Elvira clapped her hands excitedly, and even Medinador seemed proud at these statements.
"However, I only want to do those things. If Pietro also wants the same."
Delphina decided to be diplomatic here. Sure, doing things that way would benefit her, and especially her quest completion rate the most. But she might have recovered far more memories by that point. Going to the Capital too soon could hinder her chances of smoothly getting through things.
Delphina with 15% of her memories, and Delphina with, say, maybe 50% of her memories, was going to behave differently in front of people.
The fact that she had managed so far in front of Delphina's closest family was a miracle in her book.
However, it seemed that her natural personality, coupled with the few memories influencing her physical actions, was close enough to Delphina's baseline behaviour.
Taking a deep breath in, Delphina mentally moved on and externally smiled.
"What do you think, Brother?"
Pietro had been watching her the whole time. Not that any of her thoughts would be given away. She was skilled at keeping her insides inside and showed whatever she wanted outwardly.
"Let's do the excursion two weeks from now, celebrate our birthday, and then two weeks later head to the Capital." Pietro said as he slowly nodded his head.
"So we'll head to the Capital at the latest a month and a half from now, is that okay. Mother, Father?"
It was Delphina who posed this question. She didn't even know when their birthday was, for crying out loud. But she had given herself enough wiggle room to maybe figure it out and not give away that she didn't know the date.
It was Medinador who answered in the end.
"Let's not be so vague, Delphina. When setting a time frame, be firm. You don't know how many days it will take to travel to the Capital by car, do you?"
Pretending to be embarrassed, she nodded in affirmation.
"You were right to assume we wouldn't travel by train to the Capital, though. So well done. The car, even with luggage, will only take two days to arrive at the Town House. Even with stopping by the Hotel for one evening, it won't take a week to arrive, will it?"
"So, one month and two weeks would be too generous. Exactly one month and a week from now, we will be on our way to the Capital."
[Quest Chain; 'Who's the Prettiest Princess of Them All'. 30% complete.]
Delphina started to nod before she caught herself, realising something that seemed odd, she had to ask.
"Why don't we just state the date?"
"I'm not sure what the date is right now. I forgot to ask Jenkins on the way here. But rather than saying 'one month and one week from now,' Why don't I say, on X date we shall head to the Capital?"
Delphina felt she hadn't committed a faux pas; whilst definitely sketchy, she could at least play things out this way so she had a better understanding of the date and time without being super suspicious. She knew full well the Heirs Wing didn't seem to have any timekeeping capabilities, or at least there were none in the areas she had been to.
Medinador frowned, but then relaxed his brows as he realised something, and nodded his head.
"Yes, of course, you're still young. When we measure time, we use months, weeks, and days, but not hours. Hours end up completely flying by as you get into your hundreds, and they're simply missed."
"Delphina, what do you think the time is right now?"
Confused as to where this was going, she tentatively answered, "Around eight in the evening?"
"Yes, my dear, it is indeed Evening currently. But you can forget the hours; once you become an adult, you won't use them anymore. Pietro, you should also be listening to this."
Pietro, who was now sipping on a similar Absinthe concoction like Delphina, was already looking in his Father's direction.
"I already have some idea about this from the older Knights. That's why adults are separated from those who haven't had their coming of age. They perceive time differently. Once you do, it marks the start of you becoming an adult."
This concept was baffling to Delphina, though it was something she could grasp; it didn't mean it made sense. The lack of timekeeping pieces was intended to help her adjust to the world of adults, as she was to be the next Head. So she could understand adult speech?
This caused her to frown, as she didn't see how this explicitly related to dates. But then, a thought presented itself to her.
"So, we will start heading to the Capital in one month and one week from now because we will start at around a similar time in the evening, specifically on that day. Is that correct, Father?"
At this, Medinador smiled warmly at Delphina.
"And we don't use the date as it's a looser term, because it could mean anytime during that day? So we use it in casual conversation only?"
Elvira started to clap in the background as it seemed Delphina had figured it out to a degree on her own.
Delphina felt slightly proud of guessing this convoluted time system so quickly.