The One Who Was Forgotten

Chapter 3: Smile

The second Princess was walking through the field of roses at night. her hand brushes the delicate flowers. Such beautiful flowers... They look so fragile contrary to what they are. Theodosia gripped the stems of the flower, letting the thorns pierce into her palm. She slowly lets go of the flower while blood drips down from her hand.

"Princess! What are you doing?!" A shrill voice calls out. Theodosia looks to the side to reveal a brown haired woman as the owner of the voice. She recognized her immediately.

Lilian York. If she remembered correctly then, this was the woman who was beside her mother at birth. The one who stepped up to save Theodosia and her sister. She was probably the only person other than Claude, Felix and Valerie who knew Theodosia existed from the start. 

"Princess, your hand is bleeding! Why would you hurt yourself like that?!" She asks, grabbing the younger girl's hand. "We need to treat it now!" Lily says. "It's fine." Theodosia replies. 

"Princess, If you don't wash it off now, It may cause an infection." Lily says. The poor woman looked like she might burst from worry. Theodosia sighs. "Fine." She says. Lily drags her to her room and began treating her wounds.

'This feels weird. It's the first time someone else has treated my wounds for me.' Theodosia thought to herself while staring at Lilian's face which was scrunched up in concentration.

"Lily, I have a question to ask you." Theodosia says. Lily smiles. "You can ask me anything, your highness. I'll try to answer." She says.

"sixteen years ago, you stepped up to save Athanasia and me. Even though you knew full well you could lose your head from it. Why did you do it?" She asks. Lilian visibly flinched. "Well, that... I used to look up to lady Diana a lot." She says. "My mother?" Theodosia asks. "Yes. I admired her free-spiritedness and decided  to stay by her side until the end. I wanted her daughters to live a great life too, So I saved them. I saved you." She says. Theodosia takes in the information.

"Did my mother... hate me?" Theodosia asks. Lilian's eyes widen. "No! Why would you think that? your mother loved you till the very end." Lily says as she finishes patching up Theodosia's hand.   

"Lily, I'm going out." She says. "Your Highness, you can't go out without His Majesties Permissio-"

"There are a few people I need to check up on. Besides The emperor doesn't own me. I can leave whenever I like." Theodosia says. "Then, I'm coming with you." Lily says. Theodosia looks at her. "Do what you like." she says.

Lily held Theodosia's hand while Theodosia used her magic to teleport them out of the palace. They had arrived at an alleyway. Theodosia used her magic to change their clothes. she changed Lily's outfit into a commoner woman's, while she changed hers to a simple shirt and pants. She changed her hair color to black and eyes to normal blue.

Lily wondered where they were going. they walked through streets, bought food but didn't eat any of them, bought clothes a few toys and then continued walking. 

finally, they reached at a tiny cottage sort of place at the end of the street. Lily was puzzled, but followed the royal nonetheless. 

When the lights flickered on, it revealed a bunch of children wrapped up in blankets. The moment they spot Theodosia, they ran up to her and hugged her. Theodosia patted their heads and gave them the food and clothes. The children looked so happy.

The thing that shocked Lily the most was that during the whole interaction with the children, Theodosia was smiling. 

A soft smile. One that seemed to say, "It'll be fine." 

She was smiling a smile that was similar to Lady Diana's.  

A/n: Sorry for not posting for long. Like I said I have exams coming up. and I'm having a migraine rn which sucks. sorry for the short chapter.

Anyways, thx for reading. I love you all