Odette's Diary

Princess Odette writes about her life in the kingdom of Chamberg and the adventures of the royal family

August 2025:

Dear Diary,

Festival Days came back again! This year we had such a great harvest that we decided to have an eating contest. Specifically, we had a watermelon eating contest. Even though our main prize was a medal, but we had a surprisingly big turn out for it. Honestly, I think people just wanted a chance to have at our choicest watermelon fruits, which I don’t blame them! I wanted to join but Uberta advised me that it wasn’t very lady like to do so, only for Uberta to enter! Oh, wait excuse me, it was Mrs. Ubby, humble peasant and fruit coinceur. I don’t think she was fooling anyone though, but honestly good for her for trying anyway. As much as she tried, the winner was Speed! How? I’m not even sure, we look away for a moment and it was all gone! I guess he really is the speediest one around when it comes to water, be it lake water or melon! 

July 2025:

Dear Diary,

It’s been really hot this summer, and we’re practically melting. Even being waterside at the Swan Lake hasn’t helped much. JeanBob has been complaining that it feels more like a hot tub than a lake, but Speed claims he is just being dramatic. This, however, gave Lord Rogers the idea of combining a windmill and a water mill to make a large, water-powered, fan. It rotates much faster than a regular windmill and makes a nice breeze. Honestly, it’s been helping a lot. It spreads the cool air from the lake to the rest of the kingdom. I sure wish it could come in a more personal size too

June 2025:

Dear Diary,

I learned a little something new about fishing! For Father’s Day, Alise wanted to go fishing with Derek, since it is something a lot of fathers like to do. Derek agreed, of course, but he had no idea how to fish.  Hunting and archery is one thing, but a fishing rod is something else entirely. The week leading up to Father’s Day, Derek tried to teach himself how to fish so he could enjoy his trip with Alise. When the weekend came, they had everything ready, went out in the boat, had lunch… and then fell asleep. They both got a  sunburn and returned with no fish. They had fun being out on the lake together and laughed about their nap on the boat. Rogers assured me that sometimes fishing is like that, all that really matters is the time you spend together. 

May 2025:

Dear Diary,

After starting a new tradition last month we jumped right into celebrating an older tradition with May Day. It’s a festival about togetherness and the changing of the season. We got to make flower crowns and dance ribbons around a pole called a May Pole! We sure do like to have parties around this kingdom, and Uberta says I fit right in.

April 2025:

Dear Diary,

The Spring Feast was such a wonderful success! Everyone from the kingdom pitched in. Not only to welcome the woodland animals back from their winter sleep, but also cleaning up from the winter storms. Once all the fresh berries, fruits, and veggies were gather for the feast the forest looked beautiful and clean to begin the new season. Honestly, I think we should do this every year, not only to honor the animals, but to help keep our kingdom clean. Spring cleaning does everyone a little good!

March 2025:

Dear Diary,

The signs of spring are finally appearing. All of the animals that went to sleep for the winter are showing their faces again. Our good friends, the Scullions, are part of the group that disappears during winter, and it will be nice to have them back! I was thinking of having a nice feast for them to welcome them back. This winter was especially hard and long, so I bet they’d appreciate waking up to something nice! 

February 2025:

Dear Diary,

Derek did the sweetest thing! I told him about my idea to learn a new weapon skill so he set up an archery area me to practice! He wants to be my archery teacher. He tried teaching me during our first year of marriage, but he was so busy I didn't make it far in training. He promised this time to be more attentive, and my final exam would be a fun little practice dual with the “band animals”. The band even volunteered to do so when they heard I was going to be the one behind the bow! How sweet! I’ll have a lot to learn, but with Derek by my side, I’m sure I’ll get it in no time!

January 2025:

Dear Diary,

It’s so nice to be back home after all this time! As much as I want to relax, it’s back to my duties. It actually feels refreshing to get back to the daily routine. As they say, no matter where you go, there’s no place like home! Last year's trip was all for a New Years resolution. I will definitely make a resolution this year but one that requires less travel. I’ve been thinking about possibly learning a new skill, perhaps how to wield a weapon. After all, self defense is rather important! Now I just need to decide which one…

September 2024:

I think we might have done more harm than good. Ingrid told the rest of the town what had happened, and now there are torn and vandalized pictures of Bromley all over the village. They feel betrayed, and while I feel it is our fault, Derek’s assuring me that Bromley dug this hole a long time ago by lying to them in the first place. Though it would seem even Ingrid is regretting letting loose his secret, as she came to me wanting to talk to him. I was confused at first why she asked me, since I didn’t know where he lived, but it seemed she did know where he lived and wanted Derek and I to come with her. She wanted to prepare some of his favorite treats before we all left, so we got to stay with her for a while while she did so. From how she talks about him, it almost sounds like she might like him, which would explain why she was so hurt about the truth about him. From how Bromley acted, he might like her like that too. I hope we can salvage this before it’s too late…

August 2024:

At last! Progress! Bromley finally came by the Cupcake Cottage, and as planned, the doors were locked so we could talk to him. He tried to deny knowing us at first, though it looked like he was mostly trying to appear tough in front of Ingrid. I don’t blame him, but we had to do what was done. We asked him why, why was he making a name of himself from Derek’s deeds? It took a long while, but he finally broke and admitted it. It was truthful at first, telling what happened to him at Swan Lake while helping Derek with the Great Animal, and also the runaway carriage. From there, he was just so bombarded with attention and love that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Even his mustache and goatee were fake! He knew we were busy with our own family and kingdom, but he? He had nothing. Derek had Odette, he didn’t need Bromley anymore. We were both heart broken hearing this, and Ingrid was as well, namely for seeming so betrayed at being lied to. Before we could talk more, she kicked him out of her bakery, and he ran off. We can’t let it end like this, there has to be something we can do!

July 2024:

Dear Diary,

So we have found there is one bakery that Bromley will visit every time he comes into town, the Cupcake Cottage. Apparently he even has his own themed dessert there, so I’m not surprised he comes by. The owner, Ingrid, has been a little difficult with us when we tried to explain what was going on. It would seem that Bromley had saved her from a runaway carriage some years ago and that was just the start of his heroic deeds in town. She is very grateful to him and won’t hear of us saying bad things about him. At least it’s good to know that not all of his deeds are just Derek’s. Eventually we at least convinced her to let us have the door barred when Bromley comes in next so he won’t run, mostly because she wants to hear him correct us. But now we wait…

June 2024:

Dear Diary,

I’m just not sure what to do. We had tried to talk to Bromley after the festival, but he took one look at us and ran away! We spent practically the whole night just trying to talk to him, but he didn’t want to be anywhere near us. I think it’s because it’s obvious we knew the truth and he didn’t want to confront his lies, even privately, but this is getting ridiculous. Bromley had his moments of selfishness sure, but I remember him being a kind and loyal man as well. To have him just run from us and tell our stories as his own breaks my heart. I know we could just start telling people the truth, but I don’t think it will mean the same from strangers. However, Derek thinks that he might have a plan to find a way to trap him somewhere so he can’t run from us. That sounds a little devious when I reread that but it’s true. We’ll figure this out one way or another.

May 2024:

Dear Diary,

This reunion was quite… interesting. The Festival of Roses came and Derek and I were so excited to attend, mostly for Bromley. As we thought, he showed up as a guest of honor with cheers, and he grew a mustache and goatee! We almost laughed but we didn’t want to out ourselves in the crowd just yet. The master of ceremonies began to talk about how they were pleased to have the Hero of Rosegart bless their town, especially after he had heroically slain a Great Animal to keep them safe. That sounded… odd. Bromley then recounted a tale of his travels keeping the town safe, like snowboarding in the higher peaks and hunting snow leopards to keep them away from the good people. Derek especially seemed concerned about this. The stories he told weren't of his own deeds, but it was Dereks! We couldn’t bring ourselves to talk to him just yet, but we made a note to find him after the festival to talk about this.

April 2024:

Dear Diary,

It’s taken us quite a while to get to Rosegart.  It’s such a beautiful place. It’s a warm climate and the flowers are in full bloom. Actually, we came at the perfect time as they will be having the Festival of Roses later this month. There are some rumors that the Hero of Rosegart will be at the festival. It could all be a lot of gossip, but I really hope it is Bromley. We considered investigating and trying to find him before the festival but have now decided it will be a lot more fun to surprise him…if it is in fact Bromley. We will know soon enough and meanwhile plan to relax together in this wonderful vacation spot. 

March 2024:

Dear Diary:

The quest for Bromley has been interesting so far. We headed south of Trumbeau to ask villagers if they had seen him or knew of his whereabouts. When we brought up the name Bromley, multiple people responded by referring to the Hero of Rosegart. That was a surprise. We still have not been able to get the whole story on why he is called the Hero of Rosegart but it must be a good one. So now we will journey to Rosegart. Bromley was always helpful and giving but I fear he made a major sacrifice to be known as a hero. I can’t wait to find out.

February 2024:

Dear Diary:

One of Derek’s goals this year is to get back in contact with our childhood friend, Bromley. We haven’t heard from him for a very long time and don’t know where he is now. We did some digging and found some letters that Bromley sent to Derek a few years ago. He was travelling around and even sent souvenirs from some of the places he had visited. At the time, we were so busy with the adoption of Alise we had forgotten all about the letters. While Bromley could be anywhere at this point, we at least have some direction based on his previous travels. I think it’s going to be a fun adventure for Derek and I to travel around and ask after him.

January 2024:

Dear Diary,

A new year is here! It is time for me to set some goals and decide what I will improve during this year. I spent a lot of last year fulfilling my goal, which was finding out more about my mother. With that out of the way, I think I should maybe focus on priorities, like Derek. When I asked Derek about his resolutions, one of them is to find where Bromley had moved so we could visit. It’s true, it’s been so long since we have seen him! We grew up together, but we have now grown apart in our day-to-day life. It’d be nice to see him but… I wonder where he went? Sounds like a mystery to me!