Shangri La Pt. 1

22: Longing

4 days had passed since the Princess and a certain greenette were treated by the doctor, and both had remained in a deep sleep with numbed bodies until now.

As she felt the nerves in her body no longer numb from movement, Momo cracked her eyes open only to see the wooden ceiling of her palace room. The second she tried to move herself to sit up was when her servants became alert and surrounded her presence. 

"Princess, you've awakened!" 

"Princess, how are you feeling?" 

"Princess, are you feeling better?" they would ask as Jiro didn't even ask for permission to help her Princess sit up from the futon. 

"Do you remember what happened, Princess?" Jiro questioned. Momo rested her fingertips over her forehead as she could only remember how cold her body felt to the point of aching from trying to move around. 

"My... My body is–" 

"You had a cold." a male voice interrupted, causing all the ladies to turn their attention to the doors to see the Young Prince–Shoto–enter the room.

"The Young Prince." The servants didn't hesitate and bowed to the Prince as Momo still remained a bit surprised to see her soon-to-be standing in her room. 

"Sh-Sho–" 

Momo was about to call the Prince by his name until she remembered their promise and stopped herself to gaze back at her group of servants. 

"Everyone, please give me and the Young Prince the time to speak alone." she demanded, making all servants make haste to leave the room while bowing to the Prince in a hurry. The second the door closed behind Shoto, the room was left in silence as Momo felt embarrassed for the Prince to see her in such a wrecked mess after recovering from such an illness.

"P-Perhaps I should've asked my ladies to help me change to make myself appear more appealing to My Prince since I've just awakened from– a cold, you said?" Momo questioned, only for him to nod in agreement. 

"Yes, you had a cold, and you were treated right away, but the recovery took longer than I'd expected. You've been asleep for 4 days." he replied effortlessly, as her eyes widened from the length of sleep she was stuck in. 

"4-4 days?!?! I deeply apologize for being asleep for so long. I'm sure my mother and father have been desperately worried about me as well." Momo sighed, as Shoto seemed silent and appeared like he wanted to respond, but was unsure.

"Hmph? Is there something wrong, My Prince?" 

"Actually– the Emperor and Empress never came to check on you in the past 4 days. The second they were told that you'd been treated by a doctor for your cold, they didn't seem worried about you." he explained, leaving the Princess to feel an empty void hit her chest. 

"A-Ah oh– I see... That's okay, they've been quite busy recently so that would be the last thing to worry about." 

"I don't see it that way." he added, causing her to look up at him as he knelt down right next to her. 

"W-What?" 

"To be honest, the second I heard you had caught a cold, I demanded that a doctor come as soon as possible to treat you. And right after you were treated, I begged the doctor if it would be alright for me to watch over you, and they allowed me to." Shoto explained, making her bat his eyes at him. 

"You– You've been taking care of me... this entire time?" 

"Mn. You are going to be my wife soon, and it would be disrespectful to you and everyone if I wasn't a committed husband to my soon-to-be wife." he expressed, causing the void in Momo's chest to be filled with warmth from his kind words.