Watching over Obelia's Precious Jewel // WMMAP fic

Chapter 7

  ''My palace,' he says?' Athanasia repeated to herself. 

  'Then could that mean... this place that's more humble than the Ruby Palace is the one the emperor uses?!'

  Claude leaned on his seat to get more comfortable. "I prefer to live my life as simply as possible," he said. "Comfort over style, some would say."

  'I highly doubt that,' everyone else thought. Even though he was the one who said it, Claude was still an emperor who was surrounded by riches and luxury.

  'Nine-year-old Athanasia entered the emperor's palace because it was this close!' the princess finally realised. She flinched when Claude glanced behind her.

  Claude was only looking at the golden statue Athanasia had bitten on earlier. It had a visible bite mark on its butt.

  "I still cannot believe the first time I see the girl, she was biting onto one of my palace's statues." Claude frowned slightly.

  "And Her Highness was biting that statue's bottom, no less," Felix added.

  "Maybe she thought it was a toy," the red-haired knight suggested.

  Athanasia was screaming to herself on the inside. 'Are you going to kill me?!' she thought. 'Am I dead for trespassing?!'

  "Athy really has an extreme way of thinking when she met His Majesty for the first time...," Jennette pointed out. 'But then again, she does know that she'll probably die at the hands of him so it makes sense for her to be like that,' she thought.

  'Am I going to die because I left bite marks on your angel statue?!'

  That last remark made everyone chuckle.

  'Even with my reputation, it's ridiculous for me to even consider punishing someone for a stupid reason like that,' Claude thought.

  "She must have wandered off during play-time. Felix...," Claude said as he tossed the small princess to Felix without warning. "Carry her."

  The knight and Athanasia looked at each other in confusion.

  "Handle her with more care, Claude," Diana told him as she propped her chin on her hand. She was growing tired of seeing him treating their daughter like that on screen.

  "I should have some tea with my guest." Claude walked away from the knight and princess when he told them that.

  'I have a feeling that having tea with His Majesty is going to be awkward for her,' Ijekiel thought as he smiled weakly. He felt a bit guilty that he couldn't help the princess but at the time, he was still a seven-year-old boy who was clueless about the princess' existence.

  The screen showed the three people together in the same room. There were a lot of desserts on the table between the princess and the emperor. 

  'What's going on?' Athanasia thought to herself.

  Athanasia glanced up to see her father.

  Claude was sitting with one leg on the other opposite her. He was still staring at the princess with glowing blue eyes.

  Athanasia looked down again. She was trying her best to avoid his gaze.

  Lucas smiled lazily at the screen. 'She's such a scaredy-cat when she's around him at first,' he thought. He looked at Claude who was in the room after that. 'Now she wants to save him from the curse that's killing him slowly. Such development.'