Who Reincarnated Me?

CHAPTER IX

“Princess, we shouldn’t be here”, I warned while shivering to my bones. “Oh don’t worry, in case we get in danger, we always have Lucas! Also call me Athy”. I gulped as I looked towards Lucas. He shook his head violently and said, “Huh? Did you say something betty?”. Scared, I looked ahead of me again. Poor boy, must be sleepy since the phoenix, that he had captured about half a month ago, has been giving him a hard time. Also, no one here is named betty.

Athanasia or Athy, held my hand and ran further into the forest. The palace had a large bamboo forest beside it, it was known to have the most dangerous dragons from all over Obelia. What was worse is that it was their mating season, in search of a mate they might as well kill us too. I never wanted to step a foot here, but it was her majesty’s order so I had to. Also the Lucas we took as protection was in need of protection.

“Stop!”, The young princess directed and stopped dead on her steps. Me and Lucas followed her demand and stopped without a sound. From a not so far but far enough place, we can hear snoring, it was very loud and rough snoring. I held onto Lucas’ hand who was then discovered sleeping.

Athy got excited and said, “You hear that? I am pretty sure it’s a griffin!”. I widened my eyes at her, just from the breathing?! That’s crazy talent! Does every princess have that? We followed where the sound came from, it grew louder and louder till we were by a bush. I couldn’t see anything behind the bush, not even light, the tall bamboos were in bundles there, so peeping from the top wasn’t even an option.

Athanasia went ahead, and removed the bush from covering our vision. A scream and a thud and the next scene she is on the ground with fear, a giant red dragon has woken up from her noise, and Lucas sleeping on my shoulder.

I quickly covered the princess mouth in a silent movement in hopes that the dragon would fall asleep again as if nothing happened. But, to my dismay, it didn’t, instead, he got up, facing up in the sky and let out a loud roar. Another scream and thud but this time it was me screaming and Lucas’ body falling down.

So now here we were, trying to outrun a dragon 10 times our size following us with rage. I tried to wake Lucas up but even if he was awake he kept on murmuring about Betty and her tea party. Surprisingly, Athanasia can run pretty fast in her high heels, on the other hand, it was hard for me to catch up with her even barefooted. Yes, I wasted another pair of my precious shoes.

After a lot of running, falling, crying, screaming for help, Lucas got up, I mean actually got up not the ‘betty’ got up. As soon as he did he stated, “I was sleeping for like 5 minutes and I wake up to this?! Seriously the next generation of Obelia is in trouble..”. He flew over to the dragon and a blue ball of magic appeared in his hands. I looked above while running and saw him, he pulled his hand back and with a small explosion, hit it’s face. The dragon immediately grew more angry. He attacked Lucas back with a mighty claw which Lucas avoided without effort. The dragon, irritated, let out big roars and continued to hit Lucas. It was getting harder for Lucas to dodge them.

While the dragon was busy with Lucas, I quickly held the princess’ hand, who was watching the scene in horror, and started running. We both ran and soon started seeing the end lf the forest, very far away though.

Suddenly, we heard loud footsteps nearing our direction. I turned back to see the dragon coming our way. I was terrified. How on earth did he manage to deal with Lucas? Who, by the way, was okay or not?

We ran our fastest but alas, the dragon was faster. To make matters worse, Athanasia tripped over a stone and fell down, dragging her with me, was soon stopped by a fallen tree. The dragon was apparently smart and knew how to stop me. I looked above with fear, his shadow covering our bodies and a look of anger in his face. He picked up his claw, the sharp nails shining bright.

At that moment, I decided something, Even if I died for the sake of Obelia’s future, I must protect the princess. I don’t know why I would I want to give up my life for a random empire that I got reincarnated into but that was my decision and it was made.

I ran in front of the princess and covered my arms around her, protecting her from my whole body. Beneath me, her eyes widened and a feeling of safety arose in her. I closed my eyes tight as to get ready for the large hit that was about to be made. My heart pumped faster, blood froze and muscles tightened.

The dragon swing his claw with great force but it never hit me.

A swing of sword was heard and the next time I turned around, the dragon’s hand was on the ground. A look of surprise took over my face as I looked at Lucas, standing with a silver shining sword and a big shield.

He looked at both of us and smirked, “Sorry ladies, I got a little late”. My face turned from surprise to confusion as I started understanding the situation. What was he doing here? I thought the dragon had defeated him!

The dragon, on the other hand, roared in pain. Without any further talks and his signature smirk on his lips, Lucas leaped forward and stabbed the dragon’s head with the sword. The dragon, on the verge of dying, threw fire at him from his mouth. Lucas put the large shield in front of him and all the fire was avoided as it was candle flame. Lucas flew above and slayed the dragon’s head, causing his ultimate death.

I looked at the princess, who was still under me. She was horrified of the scene but not so scared. I brushed off dirt from her hair and said, “Princess, Are you alright?”. She looked up at me and nodded her head. I sighed in relief. Lucas came over to us, not quite walking properly. I looked at him and said, “And what about you?”. He nodded his head too, huffing in extreme tiredness.

On our way back, Lucas collapsed, so I carried him on my back. Athanasia had an injury on her feet so she limp walked. When we reached the palace, the situation wasn’t the best. The princess was missing, the Wizard of the tower was missing, the royal magic weapons were missing, leaving a very pissed off Claude, and honestly, I don’t blame him, it was very stupid of us to go there like that.

After we came back, the guards and maids surrounded us with surprised faces and questioned the princess with concern. She was immediately taken to the medics. Meanwhile, I was left with a sleeping Lucas on my back and a very angry and deadly looking emperor. I almost peed my pants looking at him, while he was giving me a death glare. I gulped with guilt and fear of the consequences of my fault. He stepped towards me, a sword visibly attacked on his belt, his hand on the handle of it. My breath hitched not knowing of what to do and what to not.

“I am informed that Athanasia was lost because you were in the forest”, He said, in a cold and monotone voice, the second scariest I have ever heard, the first being my father’s. I didn’t look him in the eyes and just said, “Yes, your highness”, in a quite voice as if a squeak. He looked down on me and in a smooth motion, pulled out the sword from the scabbard.

I was horrified, death was standing in front of me and I had no idea what to do. He slowly put the sword beneath my chin. My breathing stopped, a sweat passed through the corner of my face. He said, “I see you have quite a nerve”. I lifted my face to meet his eyes. Not even an ounce of mercy. Those peerless blue eyes held nothing but death, so melancholy and quite like it’s and endless ocean of darkness. No emotions or feelings for killing a child that I was. A heart was missing in him, which I can see just through his eyes.

Thankfully, the princess came just in time to save me. She hugged her father and said, “It wasn’t her fault papa! I am at fault, punish me! I forced them to go with me, I apologize for all the trouble!”. Claude widened his eyes and looked down at her daughter who was sticking onto his clothes. I looked at the princess too, making the same expression as Claude. The emperor put his sword back and picked the child up in his arms. Athanasia continued, “You must not hurt Athy’s only friends! Also if you want to do anything to them, you must reward them. Master Lucas fought the mighty dragon and defeated it while Lady Christine put her life on line just to protect me, she even warned me earlier, but I didn’t listen!”. Claude looked at me, an expression I can’t really understand, was he grateful that we put in efforts of save her daughter or was he still mad. Athanasia grabbed on his clothes and said, “I am so sorry father”. Tears were being created in her eyes, this must have melted his non existing heart, so he just walked away from there. Turning around and giving me one last glance, one I can’t really find the real meaning behind.

The moment I entered the tower, I was met by Lusa, sweating restlessly, huffing and puffing. She saw me and almost fainted in her place, the other maids helping her up. I went towards her and said, with a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, Lusa, Master Lucas is fine”. She got up and immediately hugged me, a motion which quite surprised me. She said, “My lady! I was so worried, are you hurt? Would you like to take a bath right away?”. I looked up at her with a tilted head, she was worried about me? Instead of Lucas? The feeling of being cared by someone was foreign to my heart, perhaps that was the reason of a warm feeling arising in me with a sweet smell to it, it felt different but real.

I smiled warmly and said, “Yes, I would like a bath very much”. She immediately told the maids to prepare cool water. I wondered why would she care so much for a nobody like me...

“MY LADYYYYYYYY”, I turned my head to where the noise came from, although I almost didn’t need to, and there he was, the stupid Liam running towards me with tears making a river behind him. I sighed, he must have had searched high and low for me. He widened his arms and right before he could hug me, Lusa hit the top of his head with her fist, ultimately making him faint. I was worried for him but Lusa told me it was okay and totally normal. I chuckled with a sweat behind me.

Just so you know, through all this, Lucas was on my back, fainted.

By the time I had finished bathing, Lucas woke up. I looked over at him and smiled, “The sleeping prince is awake I see”. He held his head and sat up on his bed. His eyes looked around a bit, he understood that the dragon had been defeated an that everything was over, making sure of that, he laid down on the bed again. I let my wet hair open and sat on the chair by his bed. I asked, “Lucas, are you okay?”. He nodded, not saying a word. I continued, “I have some questions, is this the right time to ask them?”. I had to make sure his head doesn’t hurt too much to cure my curiosity, consent was always a my thing. He nodded again. I asked, “So, what were those weapons which you were using? Something special perhaps?”. He replied, “The magic weapons, they are some specialized weapons made out of the strong Irons and filled with tons of mana. To handle these, you need a very high amount of mana. Those were the royal ones, they were weaker and easier to control, I have some ancient ones, they would be practically impossible for a commoner to hold but I, of course, can use them effortlessly”. I questioned again, “So why didn’t you use them?”. He rolled his eyes and said, “It depends on my mood”. I sighed at the guy’s irrationality but continued, “And what about the dragon? Do you know anything about that?”. He answered, “That was a Red Argo dragon. It was still a baby, since the spikes from his necks were missing”. My mouth dropped open, I had read about those dragons but I had no idea how large the adults could actually get.

He turned around and said, “Was that all?”. I looked at him for a moment. I knew that wasn’t all, there was one question lingering my mind that I so desperately wanted an answer to. But something told me it wasn’t quite safe. I decided to ask, “Who is Diana?”. The question has been on my mind ever since Stella has mentioned that I was the resurrected form of her. Also I heard the maids saying that she had such a bad fate. Lucas turned around again, this time to face me, he said 3 words, “The dead empress”.

And that is when I heard about her for the first time.

AN
sooo, the Obelia arc has ended. well not actually but it is. It's main point was the ball and introductions. So, these are just fluffs but important ones so do not skip them.

Bye<3