Who Made Me a Princess

“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not going to kill you?”

He frowned, still thinking that I was doubting him.

“If I ever go crazy and try to kill you again…”

He then proceeded to speak after putting the teacup down onto the table.

“Then flee.”

I let out a small chuckle.

“I thought you were going to kill me if I run away.”

“Yes. I will chase you until the end of the world.”

Doesn’t that go completely against what you just said?

But what he said afterward made me want to sympathize with Claude so badly.

“But that’s better than you dying in my hands.”

“That’s… weird.”

“I know.”

He drank my tea in one go, cringing at what he just let out of his mouth.

Chirp chirp.

I laughed my sadness off towards my dad as I listened to the birds chirping above.

* * *

“Ahhh!”

I woke in the middle of the night. Everything was pitch black with my heavy panting bouncing inside the room.

What was that terrifying dream?

I was pretty sure I had a really bad nightmare but when I got up, I couldn’t remember anything. But one thing was for sure—it was horrible.

I compulsively arose from the bed.

“Why are you up this late, your highness? Are you having trouble sleeping?”

Not too long after I left my room, I saw Lili crossing the corridor with a plate with cups. She still hadn’t gone to bed this late.

“I want to go to my dad.”

“Excuse me?”

Lili opened her eyes upon my unexpected remarks, but I started to walk anyway without much talk.

“Your highness, why—”

Lili caught up to me in a hurry but then stopped her question mid-sentence after seeing my face.

“It’s cold out here at night. Please put this on.”

Lili put the plate down somewhere and hung the shawl she was wearing on my shoulders.

“Oh my, your highness, is something wrong?”

“Where are you headed this late?”

The servants and court ladies were curious about why I was out this late.

“Her highness is just visiting his majesty.”

But they soon resumed their work in silence after Lili’s explanation.

I left the Emerald Palace and headed to Gannett Palace. The knights Claude positioned in front of the palace followed us.

I insisted that Claude remove the dangerous anti-magic charm cast on the palace perimeter but he didn’t want to, just in case I would disappear again. So I couldn’t use the teleportation charm to get to Claude faster.

When I got there, Claude was still awake.

“What brings you here this late?”

He raised an eyebrow at me who stepped into his office out of the blue. It was weird for him that I visited him not when he wanted, but at night when he least expected me to.

He looked a lot better than last time as he started to eat regular meals and sleep well lately.

The tension inside me began to fade away now that I confirmed Claude was all well.

“Uhh… I woke up in the middle of the night and I just wanted to see you.”

I told him the real reason why I did these shenanigans.

But for some reason, Claude’s face turned rather strange towards me. Even though I thought it would be awkward to just leave right now, but having completed my goal I simply turned around and left.

“It was nice seeing you. I’ll be off now.”

“Wait.”

His shadow covered me as he spoke. He looked down at me now that we were much closer than before.

“You…”

He equivocated as if he couldn’t figure out what to say next.

“Athanasia.”

The voice rang my eardrums. His calling got stuck in my head then diffused into thin air. A vague inner voice of exhaust and sigh echoed inside my brain and dissolved.

“Looks like I’ve grown old enough to do weird things.”

I was surprised when Claude lifted me that I just kept blinking my eyes but quickly turned moody when he let out a lament above my head.

“Wh—when did I ask you to do this?”

“Maybe I got infected with your silly behavior.”

I mean, it was me who burst into his office this late so I had nothing to counter his argument. I felt a sudden lump in my throat as he said in an indifferent tone.

But this… this is quite embarrassing. Claude hasn’t ever lifted and moved me since I became decently big… AND I’m the Princess!

Claude made others standing by the door move out of his way then proceeded to walk down the corridor with me lifted in his arms. It was pretty embarrassing but asking him to let me down would make the situation a bit awkward so I just stayed in his arms.

“I’ll look after you just for today, sleep tight.”

When we arrived at the bedroom, he plopped me onto the bed then rolled me up in a blanket. I became slightly irritated of his humorous arrogance and told him,

“I’m not a child who can’t sleep after a bad dream!”

Y-yes, indeed, I came here after a nightmare but my ego couldn’t admit that. But Claude just scoffed it off and killed my tiny ego.

“Are you sure about that?”

Rawr, how annoying!

He clicked his tongue as I trembled in fury under the blanket,

“Don’t think of anything and just sleep.”

I stopped as I felt the rather clumsy hand on top of my head. As it swooped across my hair, I felt the energy drain from my body. It looked like Claude was going to stay until I fall asleep.

“…meet…”

Out of nowhere, I squeaked something out.

“I want to meet my mom.”

The hand suddenly stopped. I paid close attention to the silence with my eyes closed.

After a moment, the warmth on my head slowly began to move.

Claude didn’t answer my comment. In the dark room, only the sounds of our breaths echoed silently. The moonlight seeping through the window subtly lit his face.

After a long time—long enough for me to fall asleep—a faint voice diffused into the cool night air.

“Me too.”

Neither Claude nor I could sleep that night.

* * *

Chirp chirp.

“Ehh…?”

I woke up to the birds chirping outside the window.

The blurry scenery I saw through my tired eyes seemed strange for a second. I blinked my focusless eyes then managed to recall what happened last night.

Oh, right. I came over to Gannett Palace. I think I slept so well because the bed was comfier than I thought.

I got myself up with a cluttered face. The sunlight shined into the room through the windows. Lili usually wakes me up at a certain time but today wasn’t the case so I don’t know what time it is. How about Claude? Is he in his office again?

He really did stay next to me until I fell asleep last night. Maybe he could’ve gone back to his office afterward. From his perspective, I did mess up his workflow.

But I found his familiar blonde hair resting on top of the couch while wandering around near the bed.

Oh, he’s still right here!

I kicked off the blanket and stepped onto the floor. Then I tiptoed my way towards the couch Claude was sleeping on.

Chirp chirp.

He was still sleeping with all the sunlight hitting his skin. His face tells me that he’s still deep asleep.

I squatted in front of the couch and stared at Claude’s face.

Mm-hmm. Now he’s regained his beauty somewhat. He really looked like he was going to die anytime just days ago that it was getting on my nerves.

Sob, he did have that deadly scuffed charm but still…

It’s way better to see him with the proper skin tone and the flesh. He looked more like a dressed-up zombie up until now.

But how do you maintain that moist skin of yours even at this old age? How do you have such good skin? Look at these bouncy cheeks!

I closely examined his face since he was still asleep.

After some time, I thought I needed to wake him up so I began to poke his smooth cheeks with my finger.

Yes, this bouncy feeling. But it wasn’t completely bouncy but some sort of a memory foam bouncy. But why am I examining his skin so extensively in the first place?

“Unhhh…”

Moments later, his forehead began to twitch. Must! Poke! More!

I watched him slowly open his eyes and opened my mouth when our eyes met.

“Good morning, dad!”

His pupils shined colorfully with a reflection of me inside plus the clear sunlight. He slowly focused on me with his dazzling eyes that held the world’s most beautiful and mysterious tales.

He motionlessly stared at me for some time then began to talk.

“…Yes, dear. Good morning.”

The sun smiled along with us on top of the sky.

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