Watching over Obelia's Precious Jewel // WMMAP fic

Chapter 5

  'Wait, where am I?" Athanasia wondered to herself. She glanced around to find herself in the middle of some unknown territory.

  '... I got lost again.'

  "What do you mean by 'again'?" Diana asked warily. 

  Lily shook her head and sighed. "Sometimes, the princess would get lost in the palace when she's younger so most of us working there had to have a search party," she explained briefly. "Well, I don't blame her for getting lost in the Ruby Palace easily since she's still not used to navigating around the place."

  Athanasia saw a huge building from the corner of her eye. 'It's there!' she thought as she ran towards the building. 

  "... Huh ?" the princess stopped in her tracks once she had gotten close enough to the building. 'This isn't the Ruby Palace. How far did I even walk?'

  Felix's eyes widened slightly. "Isn't that the Garnet Palace, Your Majesty?  he asked.

  Claude shrugged. "Who would've thought she would end up there from mindlessly wandering around."

  "Nobody's using this place?" Athanasia wondered loudly. She decided to explore for a bit. 'But it looks clean and maintained...'

  She snuck into the building, peeking around for a while. 'No one's here... It's empty.'

  'What would happen if I stationed some guards there?' Claude asked himself in his mind .

  Athanasia's eyes suddenly sparkled. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. 'If no one's here I suppose I can use it? I was wondering where I could hide the riches for my future escape. Can't hide too many things in the Ruby Palace.'

  Ijekiel smiled weakly. 'Wow, once the princess sets for something, she definitely would not stop until she achieves it,' he thought as he ran his fingers through his silver hair.

  'This is destiny! As long as I'm careful when they're clean.'

  'I choose this as my secret hiding place!'

  Most of them chuckled at the princess' enthusiasm.

  The screen showed a cartoonish picture of a skeleton.

  'I was wondering what happened to my previous body,' Athanasia wondered.

  Anastacius blinked. 'Ah, so she is worried about what happened to her before she got reborn as the princess.'

  Some of them were wondering a bit about Athanasia's previous life and how it ended.

  'Did I overdose on sleeping pills and die?'

  "Overdose? Sleeping pills?" Jennette tilted her head in confusion. She then turned to Myra, hoping she would help her.

  "It means that she swallowed way too many pills simultaneously," Myra explained with a sad smile. "In the world Princess Athanasia lived in, in her past life, it's a common way for people to commit suicide."

  "I see ... thank you." Jennette paid attention again to the screen. 'Why would she swallow sleeping pills if she knew she could die?'

  'Maybe I froze to death? It was the middle of winter and I didn't put the heater on.'

  "Freezing to death sounds terrible," Lily commented. She felt sad for the person who got reincarnated as Athanasia.

  'I was an orphan so it's not like I left anything behind. I never want to go back.'