ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ᴏɴᴇꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

The bridge comes falling down.

The last thing Athanasia sees before she blacks out is Claude rushing to her, his hands outstretched to catch her as she falls sideways, unconscious.

Athanasia's eyelids twitch as she rummages through the sheets, her hands sliding through the soft material, she feels odd and bolts up.

Experimentally flexing her hands through the sheets that were not from the Ruby Palace, with their soft cotton, these are expensive, silk with gold threads, and she looks around with an apprehensive look.

This...this room was not in the Ruby Palace. 

Above her was a glittering chandelier of large diamonds, and the entire room seemed to sparkle with golden treasures as she gulped down her nervousness, looking around for something- no, someone- familiar.

Athanasia finds Lilian who embraces her as she inhales the comforting scent of lemon verbena soap, and whispers, lest someone come in.

"Lily..where..where are we?" Lily's back tenses as she draws back, a worried look on her face.

"Your highness, we're in his majesty's palace. After you collapsed at the party, his majesty tried to save you-"

Athanasia tuned out the explanation after the word palace, and instead blinked, her hands suddenly too large for her age, her hair that had grown down her back, and she can't relax, even with Lily's soft hands upon her face.

"Your highness? Is something wrong-?" Lily's concerned look doesn't escape Athanasia, and she reaches out to grab Lily's skirts.

"H-ow.." The words can't leave her mouth as she struggles to breathe properly. "How old am I..?" Lilian seems to wobble on her feet as she collapses next to the bed, still holding her hand.

"Your highness, lord above- do you not remember anything?" Minutes pass as Lily tries to cram the essentials into Athanasia's mind as she finds out, for the second time it seems, that she was now 14.

She had forgotten 9 years of her life, overnight.

Athanasia can't feel much, just the overwhelming disassociation from her own body as she continuously flexed her fingers.

The clear nail polish doing nothing but reflect her own appearance as she stared at a face that was beautiful beyond compare, but older than what she last remembered from looking into a mirror.

What she had thought was yesterday, had been from nine years ago.

Her head hurt from thinking about it, but her plan had worked. She had gotten into her father's good graces, and was even living in the Emerald Palace, and she had fainted from an unknown mana blast that he had tried to save her from at some tea party.

He, the emperor, who was cold and unfeeling, had tried to save her- so, Athanasia was considered his daughter..was she not?

Just as Athanasia had managed to wrap her head around the sudden information, the doors banged open, and she looks up, Lilian curtsying low as guards filed in behind a man in white robes.

Claude de Alger Obelia- who looked exactly as he did in her memories. His icy voice making its way to her ears. "Who is that wench over there? Who is she to not pay respects to Us?"

As the emperor gestured to her sitting on the bed, a red haired man by his side looks startled at his words, gaping at the emperor, before he looked over at her with some remorse in his eyes.

Felix..that was his name, wasn't it? Why was he remorseful- ah. He was the duke who guarded her as her personal knight after she had almost drowned at the lake?

Athanasia stumbled from the bed, bowing her head to the emperor. "Oh- your highness, you don't have to do such a thing-!"

The duke scrambled to make her lift her head, but Claude's arm stopped him in his tracks. "Felix."