Do You Know Me?

11

Even if he wanted to be a good father for Athanasia now, he didn't know how. There weren't any examples of good father's throughout his childhood as his father neglected him although he knew of the abuse he received from the empress (Anastacius' mother) just because he had commoner blood in him.

Although he had a mother figure in his nanny, he never had a father figure.

He assumed he could be a good parent if he was somewhat like his nanny (felix's mom) but he was preoccupied with political matters when she died. And he was too young to remember what she was like before.

He found himself thinking about his daughter, Athanasia alot these days. Always thinking about situations and wondering what Diana would have done if she were here.

It's been a month since he vowed to her that he would do his best to be a good father and a better person for her. He's been inviting her to tea often, they have pretty weird conversations too.

It started out as normal as it is having general conversations between strangers who were also family, health stuff.

Like, the normal ones like how are you! Do you eat well? Do you get headaches again?...... The usual stuff. And Claude being Claude, was his usual introverted, tsundere self.

But he was trying to hold conversations as best he could. He always asked Lilian if there was anything Athanasia liked to do, like taking a walk -which she did, or reading, painting, dancing. They did that alot. He tried to finish his work early to be able to spend time with his daughter. If he can't he gives it to Felix -that poor guy, give his a break!

He gifted her a private library when he found out she has a love for reading. He gave her a rose and cotton flower garden(Diana's favourite).

The most memorable one is when she was moved to the emrald palace. The palace for crown princes and princesses.

He decided to go to the Ruby palace to see her once and was shocked to see no workers in sight. Nor were there any knights. Claude and Felix later found out that all workers except three maids, Hannah, Ces and Lilian and a chef, were dismissed with recommendation letters. They did this because they didn't have enough money to pay everyone.

Athanasia was the one who used her magic to clean the entire palace once in a while. Butthat still didn't change the horrible conditions there.

She slowly started to open up to him too! Now she often talks about things she does in her day to day life as well. She talks about her business, expressing her views on certain topics as she does her work in her office.

Claude has been haled as an incredible mage but it seems like Athanasia's the better mage. She has been teaching him sometimes. Just basics, but if needed, she goes in into teaching more complex things. She recently taught him how to make a clone of himself. He has heard of clones before. There have been people who made that years ago. But solid clones are unheard of. Until now that is. He had been shocked when he found out that sometimes when Athanasia spends time with him, she leaves a clone to do her paperwork in secret. Claude had spent weeks learning it and was very relieved when he succeeded. Now he can finish his paperwork much easier.

They days were spent like this, all while a certain brunette princess was always left out of the loop.