THE OBELIAN EMPIRE is also a mess right now. claude doesn't remember athanasia at all and she went missing after her encounter with her father, the emperor. right now, the knights are finding the second princess as the news about the crown princess's well-being was still not heard in the palace.

athanasia was now hiding in the alpheus mansion with the help of her dear friend, lady jennette margarita. somehow, she's glad that she was able to find someone who could help her and let her stay for the meantime as she felt hopeless and afraid of her own father. right now, she misses her older sister who went on a vacation with her friends and she wishes that antanasia would come home and solve this problem that happened while she was away from the palace.

"princess?" athanasia looked at the person who called her and to see jennette looking at her worriedly. ah, she forgot that the two of them were having tea as she was too busy thinking about what would happen to her now.

she looked at jennette up and down then spoke. "miss margarita!" the brunette looked at her confused. "do you want to go out and play?" well, jennette was unable to freely leave the house and spent her time confined in the alpheus mansion. just like how she lived in the royal castle, raised like a sitting duck by enemies and she can tell how lonely jennette must have been just by looking at these dolls in front of her.

"princess, i finished changing!" she looked behind her to see her wearing a simple but beautiful dress, matching hers except for the hat they were both wearing. jennette was a bit confused about athanasia's face being different. "huh? princess, your face is..."

athanasia understood what she meant as she explained it to the confused brunette. "i changed my appearance because i might be recognised from the memorial stone they showed." jennette was still looking at her as she spoke. "it even feels like the colours of your hair and eyes changed."

after a while, they finally decided to leave as athanasia went to teleport the two of them somewhere in the alleyway where no one could see them. "oh my! princess, we're really outside!" jennette spoke happily while athanasia was holding her chest while looking a bit scared. 'i— i did it! thank god! i was so scared i'd leave a leg behind or something.' athanasia thought as she was trying to calm herself.

after she finally calmed herself, she looked at jennette then spoke. "shall we go then?" jennette smiled as she responded excitedly. "yes!" she went to grab athanasia's hand. "let's go, princess!" the two went to go to every vendor as they both enjoyed looking around especially jennette who rarely comes out of the mansion.

"this is amazing! you know everything about this place, princess!" jennette exclaimed excitedly as athanasia smiled. "i wandered a lot..."  she spoke nervously. 'not my choice though.' she thought.

suddenly, athanasia stopped walking which made jennette stop as well while looking at the other girl. "that aside, miss margarita, don't you think we should do something about what we call each other?" athanasia spoke which made jennette realise her mistake. athanasia looked at her then pointed at herself and then jennette. "athy." she pointed at herself. "jettie" then she went to pointed at the brunette.

jennette always wanted to call her athy but was also too scared to ask for athanasia's permission about it. "how could i possibly..." she spoke softly as athanasia chuckled. "it's always hard trying something new. so jettie! now you try." athanasia spoke as jennette went to call her athy slowly.

but then suddenly, their interactions were interrupted to see viscount patterson behind them. "excuse me, are you the lady i met at the ribbon store?" viscount patterson asked as both girls looked at him then jennette was a bit shocked by his appearance all of the sudden. "ah, hello! thank you for your help back then." she said to the man. as the two were busy talking to each other, athanasia was in her own thoughts thinking about how the man in front of them reminded her of her father and how jennette knows this guy when she rarely goes outside.

"is this the little sister?" the viscount asked the brunette as he pointed at athanasia which jennette blushed as she was a bit taken aback that the viscount almost snitched her. while the brunette tried to talk it out with viscount patterson, athanasia went to speak. "did you think of me as a little sister?" she asked as jennette looked at her. after that, they all went to some shop where a siodonna artisan opened his crafting studio in preparation for the festival which made the three decide to visit it and only because jennette wants to see it while athanasia was still a bit wary about the man.

well, it was almost night time and the two girls knew that it was almost time for them to leave. jennette bid farewell to the viscount as they finally left the festival to go back to the mansion. "i had so much fun today. it's a bit disappointing that we have to go back soon." jennette spoke.

athanasia looked at the brunette as she spoke. "but we have to be back before dinner in order for it to be a perfect crime. that way, we can go out again next time." hearing the word 'next time' made jennette look at the young princess with excitement.

athanasia smiled at her seeing the other girl happy. "didn't you want to see fireworks? i also have never seen any, and i'm really curious. if it's alright with you, will you come and watch the fireworks with me?" athanasia asked jennette who looked at her very happily as she agreed. "of course. i'm so happy." jennette said as she smiled at the princess.

"just a little while ago, i felt like i was living in hell. but after meeting you, princess. it's like, i'm living in heaven." jennette said as she looked at the princess to continue speaking. "thank you so much for today, princess. this is the first time i've had this much fun in my life."

athanasia looked back at the brunette. "i'm sure there'll be all sorts of fun things waiting for you in the future. don't forget, we promised to watch fireworks together." athanasia spoke as they both walked back from the mansion. 'i'm so happy that today's secret outing ended well too.'

somewhere far away that no ordinary person would be able to see, was a black-haired person who just finished fighting with a magical tree. "idiot, you should've just obediently handed it over instead of rebelling." he spoke to the tree as he went to snap a branch of it.

"all you've done is waste my time." he looked at the long branch he took then he smirked. "now i need to go all the way back. my princess might be already missing me and waiting for my return." he chuckled as he went inside the portal to go back home.

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THE OTHERS can be seen still being worried about the crown princess' health as there was still no sign of any person leaving the chamber. the princess' friends are still anxious and weren't able to get some rest at all, especially akari who looks like she would cry at any second by now.

some people around them are losing hope but the others have high hopes that antanasia will be alright because they know that she's a very strong person. how long has it been since they've been here waiting for someone to come out? they don't even know anymore as they're too worried to care about how long they've been here for all they want to know is the condition of their dearest friend.

eric hopes that the letter he sends will be delivered immediately to the obelian empire as he also needs some help with all this commotion happening in his palace. but he didn't know that the obelian empire was also a mess right now that they didn't even have time to read some letters that had been sent to them.

"how long do we have to wait until we get to know the condition of the princess?" royin finally spoke as he cut off the gloomy atmosphere between them. they all looked at him but none of them tried to speak to him because they also didn't even know when they would be able to hear the commotion inside from someone.

suddenly, the door opened which made all of them stand up and went from that person, and the first person who spoke was akari who asked about the crown princess' condition.

the healer looked at them for a brief second before looking at the crown prince to tell him about the commotion inside the chamber. "your royal highness, my people and i tried everything to help the princess but unfortunately, it seems like what she drank has something to do with her mana and it looks like she was cursed." he bowed at eric as he also told them that there are free to come inside and went to excuse himself.

they didn't bother looking at the healer as they all immediately went inside to see antanasia lying down on the bed as she was in a coma. the others, especially akari were devastated by the news they heard. they can't believe that antanasia was cursed by someone and that seeing her   looking quite pale makes them more miserable about it. 

akari buried her face in her hands. "who in the right mind would do something illegal just to assassinate her highness." she spoke softly as she felt tired all of the sudden after hearing the news about the condition of her dearest friend. honestly, she doesn't even know what to do at this point as she felt useless for not helping her friend who she'd been with for a long time now.

valkyria looked at the pale girl who was sleeping soundly in the bed as if nothing happened to her. "what do you expect? nas is the future empress in the obelian empire, of course, she'll have a lot of people trying to have her head. but for now, let's just hope that she'll wake up and be fine like how she usually is." the others had no choice but to agree to what the purple-haired just said.

yua on the other hand, was just sitting on the chair close to the bed where the sleeping princess is. antanasia looked so peaceful as it looks like she was just sleeping like nothing happened to her at all. to be honest, it feels weird because yua didn't even feel a thing when she saw her friend got poisoned in the ball and all she did was watched the commotion while everyone went to aid antanasia that time. it's not like she doesn't care about her or something, it's just that... she doesn't really know what to feel with all the things happening right now with them.

royin looked at yua as he felt off about her all of the sudden but went to look at eric then spoke. "what about the priest? why don't you call that person who knew that this would happen." eric looked at the man who spoke as he nodded. "you're right. we need to call apollo as soon as possible and maybe he knows what to do with this curse that's making her highness suffer." eric said as he immediately ordered someone to call the priest in the temple.

what they didn't know is that someone was watching their every move somewhere not far away from them. "well, i guess it's time for me to show up then?" that person chuckled.

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001. yua has a strange talent of being able to recognize someone by their scent. (her mother smells like lavender while her father has the distinctive smell of iron and woods)

002. antanasia might not look like it because of her personality, but she's a daddy's girl and only someone who's close to her knows that.

003. valkyria likes to read about
history and theorems.

004. akari is slowly realising her feelings
for ijekiel but still denying it.

005. royin might look like a cold person but he's actually a softie when it comes to animals and his friends.