Princess Knight [Dropped]

[43]

Her figure abruptly sprung up as the dull green blanket of her bed swayed. Her hands clutched the rings and she couldn't help but feel the intense beating within her heart.

Her breathing rushed, sweat riddling her body as her cascading shoulder length golden hair stuck to her skin. Her golden irises narrowed, creating a certain rift with her young face of pureness, a person unexperienced towards much.

"What's wrong?" A deep voice called out to her.

"Huh?" She turned her head to the right, and couldn't help but meet the gaze of the man.

He sat there, upon the single wooden chair, watching over her. His hair of brunette visible with the low mana stone emitting light that stood upon the still before him, his figure dressed in his normal white shirt and black pants, while his deep gaze of hazel stared puzzling at her.

She tilted her head. Why was he sitting on a chair in the middle of the night?

He looked a bit tired, and that chair he sat upon an uncomfortable mess as he lightly shifted himself ever so often. He seemed to have been sleeping while sitting.

Ah, right, she remembered, she had been allowed to stay with him until she could figure out a better living condition. After all, she had only just acquired her right to be an adventurer.

Was he always watching over her like that? Every single day? She hadn't realized...he was always the first one up in the morning and the last one to sleep.

'To think I hadn't noticed...'

There was only one room in this small shaft of a home. If she held the bed, where else would he sleep but the chair?

"Sorry, father...I think I had a nightmare?" She smiled.

"A Nightmare?" His brows creased.

"Mhmm, but I'm not too sure...the dream was pleasant and enjoyable, I got to travel and protect a little sister! However...there always seemed to be something holding me back I think? I felt weak and trapped in a way? And worst of all, you weren't there..." She pondered, her head buried in thinking.

She looked up, turned to face the man with a gleaming smile, brightening her features, "Say, father, you won't leave me right?"

Darkness fell, her world dyed in black. Nothingness' eroding her vision as everything seemed to disappear.

Before she knew it, she was already standing within a black abyss.

"Huh? Father?" She looked around, nothing.

"Father!?!" Her voice called out in apprehension.

Suddenly...

"What are you 'fathering' for? Do you really want to leave me that badly already?" A petite voice raised a complaint.

Light.

For a moment, she was taken aback.

"Alice?" She raised her voice in uncertainty, resounding w low chipper of a child's voice.

"Yes?" The azure-haired girl, no older than five and dressed in a single dress of dirtied white, tilted her small head as her jaded crimson eyes looked over.

"Oh...nothing..." She replied...although feeling oddly nerving.

"Odd..anyway, catch." Alice Albridge tossed the ball.

Her hands quickly raised to catch the item, taking a moment to glean just how small and childish they were.

"Children, it's time for prayer!!" A voice suddenly rang into the vicinity, pulling with it an authority.