JEWELED : A TALE OF SAPPHIRES AND RUBIES ( SHORT HIATUS)

13. Past and present.

Font: present(age-5 years)

Font: past (a year ago age-4 years)

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'Hm. That was what happened wasn't it...'

Thought the princess as she laid on her bed gazing at the empty ceiling.

'And that too...'

Few months ago

Athanasia meets Claude for the second time. With a better resolve this time. She wasn't gonna back away in face of such fear.

As her resolve got stronger, her eyes gleamed red.

Claude, though having seen it once already, still remained stupefied when he saw that again.

This time Athanasia could react in time and coldly asked while pointing towards her eyes

" Oh this?"

"Huh?" The first or maybe the second time Claude wasn't able to react in front of Athanasia.

" It's someone's mana, your majesty." She sarcastically spat out. As if Claude wouldn't know.

Her opinion on this matter was clear. She doesn't want to get close to the emperor. As soon as he wakes up they'll escape here and won't wait for death.

But seeing that sincere gaze, her resolve clearly started wavering as panic took over. If she loses herself in the world of fantasies then... Who knows whether they will end up like her previous life again.

Still........

She shook off those thoughts as she continued to stare at the emperor in front of her.

"I see" was the only thing he said. Before decisively taking her to a 'tea session'.

While walking he thought

' she spoke so protectively as if she was talking about a precious someone. Just who is it?'

Nonetheless he didn't dare to ask. He had lost his authority as a father the moment he abandoned her and he knew it.

He had utterly failed Athanasia. He had utterly failed Diana. He had utterly failed the both of them and that was the reality. And he had no choice but to accept the reality.

The only thing he could do for her, for the sake of her and Diana, was to make it up slowly.

Forget about forgiveness, even if she could just get accustomed to his presence it would be worth it.

Leading Athanasia to one of the gardens, he ordered the servants to prepare the tea.

Upon Athanasia's query, he quietly acknowledged that he didn't have any ulterior motive. He just wanted to have tea with her.

Reason was simple yet stupefying.

[He just wants to spend time with her and make up for his mistakes.]

Simple because there was nothing wrong with a father and daughter spending time together.

Stupefying because the father and daughter here were these two people-

The emotionless emperor, who killed without blinking an eye, who was a saint in the eyes of the commoners yet only the nobles knew of his wrath ,the man who abandoned his only child in a palace that was supposed to be for the concubines, this man- he wanted to have a tea party with the one he abandoned! and the said child-

The genius yet unfeeling princess who kept herself detached from the world and kept herself immersed in books and magic all day, not even missing her father as a normal child would. For, when she was asked, she would say " I do not have a father. I'm no princess." yet she would clearly look hurt while uttering those words. The only time she showed emotions in front of others except Lilian. Of course the only one who would even dare to ask her was her closest maid akin to her mother, Lilian York.

The only woman who had ever witnessed the princess' smile,her tears,her laugh,her innocent jokes,her melancholy,her boredom,her adorableness, her every emotion.

The only one she trusted, the only one she loved.

This was what was perceived by all the others in the palace. Not knowing that there was someone else who could make the princess that way too, even more so, since she didn't keep a single secret from him. The only problem was that he was still asleep.

Back to the scene..

Athanasia and Claude both were having tea in silence. Not a single word could be heard from either of them but the ones who were familiar with them could easily say that the both of them were nervous. You could see that they were extremely nervous.

Athanasia's hands holding her cup were so tight that it looked as if the cup could shatter at any minute, while his majesty couldn't even bring himself to make an eye contact with the princess.

Truly, this was the most awkward tea party they had ever witnessed.

Athanasia recalled the incident.

'As days passed by, the frequency of his visits increased too.'

' At first, I kept my guard up thinking this might be a ploy, but even after a whole year passed, he was still the same, to the extent that I got used to his presence. Things weren't so awkward anymore, but I still kept my distance.'

She chuckled mirthlessly.

'I thought he would grow tired of it, but he is surprisingly persistent..'

'He even presented the emerald palace to me... haha.. I was actually stupefied, thinking about different scenarios in my mind, about that wench's arrival.. hah! Will he snatch away the palace and give it to her then? How cheap.'

Nonetheless she didn't accept and he kept insisting about it.

' He made sure not to cross the line though. He had been so careful around me, that I started doubting his identity at some point of time. Who would ever believe that THE EMPEROR would act like this? Nevertheless the day I attended the nobles' meeting, the first nobles' meeting I had ever attended in this life, my doubts were dispelled. This was Claude. He was the emperor. No doubt HE was the cold emperor.'

'Eventually I accepted the palace and moved in. Even I dont know what had gotten into me to accept it.'

She looks around her 'room' and sighs

' It's barely been a month and I still feel this unfamiliar environment.... unfamiliar yet strangely comfortable.... I'm losing myself....... I can only hope that lucas wakes up soon... Then I'll.....'

She thinks as she slowly drowns in sleepiness, as her vision slowly turns black.

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(1040 words) ah.. I'm so proud of myself..*sniff*

Oh by the way, can you guess what Athanasia was thinking about doing with Claude once Lucas wakes up? I assure you its not running away. Awaiting your guesses! And she isn't cruel okay? So no killing him or anything like-

oops! Leaked it! I srsly cannot hold in my ideas....