"Princess…! Where have you been? Are you alright?!" Themis yelled since I am still far from their location. When I saw her, I felt like my knees became stronger to run faster towards her despite the fact that I am actually feeling weak right now due to my encounter with Helios!
I spread my arms as I approached Themis, and she did the same. When I finally reached her, I threw myself to her, quickly burying my face on her shoulders. She caressed my back as she stood up to carry me.
"I apologize for not properly looking after you, Your Highness. Are you alright?" She asked. I nodded once as I prevented myself from crying. It was my fault… yet Themis is the one saying sorry.
Maybe it's because I came back to being a little kid that it's very difficult for me now to control these nerves of mine, and this fear that's overcoming me. I literally feel like crying! I'm even shaking! Dang that Helios, he's so heartless! How could he look at a little girl with such hateful eyes?! All that anger just because I accidentally woke him up?! It's not like I was trying to kill him!
"Priness, you're… trem—" Ande's words got cut off, and I don't know why. Maybe one of the maids, or Themis prevented her from saying it, but I know exactly what she was about to say. Of course, I'm trembling. Who wouldn't tremble after facing that guy? He was looking at me as if I was a bug or something, and the way he stared at me was so cold that it sent chills down my spine every time I remember it!
I can't believe I'm blood-related to that person. I'm glad it's only half though…
"Princess, should we go back to the palace?" I gulped and slowly pulled away from Themis, shaking my head as my response.
"But, you're…"
"Themis, I decided to have a tea party with everyone. And everything's already prepared, we should not let their efforts go to waste. It's bad," I looked at her, activating my cuteness mode. I even pouted—ahh, so shameful!
"Princess, we can always have a tea party. For now it is more important that we take care of the Princess," Themis replied, I twitched my lips as I smiled at them.
"But, I'm alright! Please don't worry about me. I want to have a tea party with everyone, please!" I raised my arms and motioned it to show a huge circle in the air, representing 'everyone'. Themis looked at me with such concern in her eyes before taking a deep breath and giving me a smile. Her smile was enough to calm my shaking nerves…
I'm really glad she's here, and the other maids too.
Goodness, that encounter with that damn brother of Alina is going to give me a nightmare.
I just hope I can sleep peacefully tonight.
"As you wish, Princess. However, there won't be a next time here. If we're going to have a picnic, we'll have it at the Antares Palace's garden instead," I gave Themis a smile as I repeatedly nodded my head, but wait…
"We're not in the Antares Palace's garden?" I asked. That's right, the garden of Antares Palace was never mentioned in the novel I used to read, so I had no idea what it looked like. I only assumed that the garden in Alina's memory, which is this garden, is that Palace's garden!
"If so, where are we right now, Themis?" I added. Themis smiled.
"We are at Callisto Garden, Princess. This is the garden that was built for the Empress, and it was also Her Majesty who requested for it to be filled with flowers," Callisto Garden, huh?
Wait… what?!
In the novel, a lot of scenes occurred in the Callisto Garden, so I won't forget that name even if I want to. Wait… but the Callisto Garden is close to the palace of the Princes! Now it makes sense why I saw the first prince there!
Hold on… 'Sea of flowers', is how they described the Callisto Garden! Dang it, how did I not realized it earlier?! I wanna smack my head for being so stupid and being immersed with the beauty of this place that I actually forgot about it!
I forced a smile and clapped my hands once.
"Amazing! So this is my Mom's favorite place?" I asked, acting like everything is alright, when in fact I feel a huge rush of regret after knowing that this place is actually not the Antares Palace's garden but a place that's memorable for all the characters in that book!
"That's exactly right, Your Highness," Ryna answered. I giggled and asked Themis to put me down and she did. I run back to the pavilion as they all follow me.
"Come on! Let's have a tea party!"
Please, just be gone from my memories!
***
I took deep breath and stared at the ceiling of my room.
This day was so fun but also terrifying. I met the first prince all because I wandered too far not knowing that the place where we planned to hold our picnic slash tea party is just close to the palace of the Princes and the Emperor! That was the worst, I just hoped he'd forget about me right away. I'm glad that he didn't know the color of my eyes though, I'm pretty sure the reason why my eye color changed was because of the milk that Themis gave me earlier. I remember how my eyes felt itchy after I drank it. And she even stared directly into my eyes as if she was making sure that her trick worked.
Until now, my eye color is still emerald. Maybe it lasts for a day?
I closed my eyes, and right after I did that, I saw the face of Helios and his eyes that are so cold, it felt like he's stabbing me with it. So I opened my eyes again and sighed as I sit on the bed.
Seriously…
What should I do to have a peaceful sleep tonight?
I turned my head to the door when I heard four knocks, and Themis entered the room. She was surprised and worried to have an eye contact with my wide awake eyes.
"Why is our little Princess still awake?" Themis asked with a smile on her face.
"Themis, can you sing me a lullaby?" She chuckled and walk towards me, holding a candle on a chamberstick.
"Sure, Princess," when she got close to me, she placed the chamberstick on the side table and blow on the candle as she open the lamp on top of the side table.
She tucked me in with a blanket as she place her left hand on my tummy.
"Lullaby… and goodnight ~" Ohh, I know this lullaby! They also have this one here? Amazing!
"With pink roses… bedight, with lilies ~ overspread, is our princess' sweet head ~" I closed my eyes as she rubbed her hand on my belly. Her voice sounds really sweet and soft… it makes me forget about whatever is preventing me from closing my eyes.
"Lay thee down now ~ and rest… may thy slumber, be blessed ~" What is this feeling within my chest, I wonder? Is it because this is actually the first time that someone sings me a lullaby? Somehow, it makes me happy even though I'm actually already 18 inside.
"Lay thee down now… and rest ~ may your slumber… be blessed ~"
***
"Father," a golden eyed guy with smooth silky short hair stared at his father who's still working on some papers on top of his desk. His father, the emperor smiled as he look at his son.
"It's already late in the evening, Heli. Why are you still awake? Something bothering you?" The Father asked. He's got black hair and red eyes that seems to glow under the light of the moon that's hitting the glass of his office window.
"I could say the same thing to you, Father," his father chuckled and showed him some papers.
"This is normal, my son. I am the Emperor after all, how about you? What seems to prevent you from sleeping?" Helios lowered down his head before he spoke.
"Hmm, the truth is… it's been bothering not just me, but Aeli and Zain as well. It has been a long time and this is the first time I'm mentioning this to you, Father," The Emperor put down the paper he was holding and nodded his head as he looked at his son.
"What is it?" He asked. Orpheus Raven de Ciera. The current Emperor of Ciera Empire, and the Father of the three princes. Helios and Aelius got their silky straight hair from him, but none of them was able to inherit his deep red eyes due to the strong Odilia genes that run in their veins.
"A little girl..." Orpheus nodded again.
"The first time we saw her was in the Callisto Garden," Orpheus creased his forehead and tilted his head. He's slowly having an idea about what Helios is planning to tell him. He waited for him to continue as he place his elbows on top of his desk, crossing his fingers together and leaning his chin on it.
"Continue," he spoke.
"We changed our eye color that day in order to catch the trespasser that entered the palace grounds since the jerk only knew about the unique eye we posses, we planned to pretend as empire staffs. However, that day… Aeli, Zain and I decided to meet in that one spot within the Callisto Garden to talk about our plan again. This was two years ago, when we bumped into a little girl as we proceeded with our meeting… she's got silver hair, and..." Helios paused as he turned his head to his Father, looking at him with a smile on his face.
"And?" Orpheus asked.
"An eye that only those of Odilia possess," Orpheus smiled, nodding his head to let his son continue.
"We weren't able to approach her that time as a maid entered the scene and run away from us. And we could not take away our minds from our mission as well, so we just let it go and focused on our tasks first… However, earlier, I saw this same little girl again, this time she's got emerald eyes, as if someone had placed a magic onto her to change her eye color. Nevertheless, they won't be able to hide the mana that's overflowing from her, it's the same with the little girl we met two years ago. But I already knew it was the same person when I saw her because I remember her face clearly," Orpheus stayed quiet as he closed his eyes. Not knowing what he should say to his son.
Orpheus has yet to meet this little girl that Helios is talking about. All he knew is that this little girl is not his daughter with the Empress, but her child with the King of Hecate Kingdom, which she also introduced before as her friend. However, in spite of finding out that his beloved Empress had cheated on him, he couldn't get to hate her—as he believed that every word that came out from his wife's mouth when admitting her sin were all lies.
That's right. This Emperor here believes that Alina is his daughter. His fifth child, and the second princess.
"Additionally, it reminded me of when you forced me to stop investigating the Antares Palace that strangely disappeared after Mother's death. And that place was where Mom stayed when she..." Helios took a deep breath before he continued.
"So, Father. Please tell me, is she related to us?" Helios asked. Orpheus sighed and covered his face with his hands.
"I knew about her all along, Heli," Helios furrowed his brows and stayed quiet, waiting for his father's next words.
"I didn't want to tell any of you about it yet, because I planned to get her out of that palace first before introducing her properly. For that, I apologize" Orpheus sighed and lean back to his chair, with his eyes closed. He opened it again and smiled to his son who looks confused in front of him.
"She's your younger sister,"
***