She was left with no one. Perhaps, she thought, the title Abandoned Princess was truly fit for her.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Summer breeze entered immediately as I opened the window, followed by the floral scent of lavender and the sweet citrusy scent of mock orange wafting gently inside the room.

"What are you doing, princess? No, wait, I think I know what's going on inside your head and I would like it if you could refrain from looking for an escape. We are on the third floor."

With one last glance at the new view outside the window, I turned towards the door. Lucas, the person who happily escorted me to my new room stood by the door with a now complicated smile.

I glowered at him. "I still haven't forgiven you."

"You know I couldn't stop his majesty from carrying you back to the Garnet Palace yesterday. He'll certainly add more work for me if I ever try to take you away from him."

"..."

Yesterday wasn't any other day. After I was called to the office, King Edmund my so-called father had carried me to the Garnet Palace, and with his impassive face, he complained grumbling that the place I was staying was so far from the Emerald Palace.

A chilling thought came through my mind. Was he planning to do this again?

Oh, but I was wrong. It was worse than I had thought.

"How about you move to the Moon Palace." I would be a fool if I took his words as a suggestion. "...Haisley, your maid."

"Ye-yes?" He knows Haisley's name?

"Tell her to prepare your things and move first thing in the morning." It was an order alright.

The Moon Palace is where the royal family actually resides; it's located just behind the Emerald Palace. And since the Moon Palace is still part of it, which is within the same area, it is referred to as Emerald Palace.

A forced "yes" escaped my lips, when I noticed he was staring at me intensely waiting for an answer.

Today wasn't like any other day as well. Starting from this very moment, I would be living in constant fear.

"I heard that Kook had released their new chocolate today," Lucas said as he pulled out a silver box tied in purple ribbon. "And I heard it's a limited edition, about a hundred of these or so, I think. Should I perhaps give it to someone else?"

That chocolate was the cause of why I almost died and why I was standing in this room in the first place. I had this feeling that the chocolate would be the root of my future predicament.

I stared at Lucas' handsome face and then at the box he was holding. And back to Lucas once again.

With the thought of saving Lucas from his tragic love conquest and not because the chocolate swayed me, I forgave the ever-single, Lucas Bismarck.

"Please don't look at me like that as if I'm helpless," he said, crossing the room and handing me the box.

Pleased at his token of apology, I invited him to sit at the small table near the balcony door.

"You know, Lucas. Ever since I first saw you at the library years ago, I felt happy without even knowing why."

"You must have liked me the moment you saw my charming looks, princess." The way he grins and his green eyes glisten in sly, he'll definitely do something stupid with the information I just said.

"No," I bluntly reject his assumption. "I actually don't like you back then."

"You hurt me princess... But I'm glad that your feelings towards me have changed. The expensive chocolates were worth it."

"That, I thank you," I said patting the box.

"Are you still happy when you see me now?"

"...Yes." I nodded slowly and thoughtfully said, "It's like I feel happy and relieved every time I see you alive, I guess."

"..."

"..."

"Uhm. Princess... Do you think we met in our past life and I died? Why are you saying those scary things? I want a refund, please give me back the chocolates," he protested with a poor attempt of trying to grab the box across the table.

I pulled the chocolates away from his grasp. "Don't worry Lucas, you'll live long."

"If–If that is what the princess thinks, then I'm relieved...I think."

"Live long and be single. Anyway, what happened to the muted boy?"

"You're changing the topic just like that? How cruel, princess."

I just smiled and checked the limited edition chocolate. "I heard from father that the boy was the one who brought you to the church."

"You should go and thank that boy also," the king had said when I thanked him yesterday for saving me. Before I could ask where the child was now, he tucked me into my bed and ordered me to sleep. "Close your eyes and sleep."

It was a weird experience. I was stiff as a rock, forcing myself to sleep. The king stayed at my side, staring at my face. My anxiety grew and grew by then that I already imagined different scenarios of how he'd kill me on the bed until I fell asleep and dreamed of nothing.

"Actually, his majesty and I were planning on checking the church after a woman informed us that she found it suspicious that a father and daughter would be praying the Prayer of Divine Praises on a snowy weekday, and saw them entered an abandoned church."

Thankfully I made the right choice. I knew that the woman was a devotee because of the necklace she was wearing. The Prayer of Divine Praises is only used during the Summer Festival or what the church calls the Celebration of the Goddess of Light.

"And if it wasn't for that boy who urged us, it would be too late," Lucas continued in a tone that was different from his typical one as he recounted the event. His face lacked of the usual carefree smile but was carved with frustration and annoyance, that it was quite daunting to see.

Because of Lucas' easygoing demeanor, it had slipped from my mind that he could easily kill me at any time. The realization sent a shiver down my spine. It would be best to be cautious around this man. A person who usually smiles was incredibly frightening when that grin suddenly vanished.

Sensing my unease, Lucas offered a comforting smile once more. "From what the boy said when we questioned him, he ran away from his abusive father while his mother had passed away last year. You don't need to worry, Princess Elaine, he's already in a safe place far from the slum—at an orphanage."

Since they did not confiscate the large sum of money I collected, I decided where I could use it.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

From a different perspective, we looked like playing, both brother and sister were getting along and having fun in running around the vast area of Emerald Palace.

My weeks passed by peacefully at the Moon Palace. The lessons were temporarily stopped due to my health. One thing that has been bothering me these past few weeks was, it was peaceful, too peaceful. It's like the calm before the storm feeling I've been getting at. Neither the father nor brother had made an appearance until now.

And now, I just found out that Aiden was avoiding me all this time and not because he was busy. It happened this morning when I finally was allowed by Haisley to visit the mute boy whom I was in debt with. I would have visited the boy much earlier but Haisley was too worried that she thought I might collapse in any second since I was a walking skeleton in her eyes.

"Good morning, Princess Elaine." A greeting came when I walked out from the side of the Emerald Palace. It was Aiden's attendant, Luis Cruz. I had seen him walking with the Adviser outside my window a couple of times, they looked quite close. I wondered how is he related to Mykel?

Beside him was that brother of mine. By the looks of Aiden's exhausted face and tattered clothes, his daily swordsmanship training is not the usual. His teacher must have been harsher on him today to look so beat up.

"Good morning, Sir Cruz. I haven't seen you in a while, Aiden."

As I walked towards them a flash of panic was visible in his eyes. "Si-sis–" Before he could finish his word he ran, entering the palace, like I got some sort of infectious disease and leaving us confused.

"I apologize for his highness's action," Luis quickly said bowing. "He's just... I'll go talk to him."

"No, that's alright. There's no need for an apology. I'll go find him and speak to him myself. I must have done something for Aiden to act like that."

I postponed my plan and quickly went inside the palace. Luis looked like he was about to say something but I couldn't waste more time and left him with a short goodbye. With Aiden's exhausted face and sickly complexion, I'm worried that he's pushing himself too much. And so, my manhunt began. I searched for him high and low, asking the servants for directions. When I finally found him, he yelled at me while getting away from my reach.

"Don't! Don't come near me!"

I slowly walked towards him like he was some cat, afraid that I would startle him. "What's wrong? Are you alright? Did something happen? You—"

"Get away from me!"

The shock made me momentarily stop in my tracks.

"I—"

His gold eyes widen at his sudden burst. "No. I didn't... Just– Just leave me alone." He turned around and ran away once more.

What in heaven's name was that all about?! Even though I was in a child's body, I could already feel the pain emerging from the back of my neck due to emotional stress.

My brain tried deciphering his words as quickly as possible while following him. The pursuit was long and exhausting. I even missed my lunch because of this cat-and-mouse chase that we're having.

I have zero idea why he's been acting like that and in with what I concluded was that if I let this go I'll be in trouble. If this continues the relationship that I built, it will proceed to the original story flow where there's a large gap between us. In short, Aiden will not save me from my execution and just watch me die just like in the story.

It's a simple logic. An angry Aiden is a dead Elaine. Perhaps I should make that a motto...

As we ran around the corridors and out to the garden, a few people warned us not to run or to be careful while some watched us with a smile assuming that we were merely playing around disregarding how serious I was to tackling Aiden down.

I was not enjoying this play of catch. Throughout my life of being a mortal, although my mouth is a bit rough I grew up as a delicate fragile girl. Exerting an amount of strength my stamina quickly dropped. I could hear myself wheezing as I came to a stop. I regret living the life of a couch potato, now I felt like dying with my burning thighs.

I wiped the sweat off my face while coughing and mumbling a curse at the same time.

"Sister?" Aiden came back, checking my poor condition with a worried look. "Are you alright?"

The harsh sun glared down directly at me. "No," I wheezed out a reply. Why did we have to run around outside?

"You should not have followed me. Go inside, I'll tell your maid to give you some refreshments."

I may looked worse but he didn't look any better.

"If.. If I didn't. Then," taking this opportunity while his guard was down I jumped over him, making both of us fall to the soft ground, "I wouldn't catch you."

Seated on top of him I placed both of my hands on the grassy ground beside his head.

...So hot.

I'm not pertaining to the ten-year-old boy below me but the weather.

It was indeed summer.

Staring at him, Aiden refused to look at me and was also breathing heavily from being exhausted. His once vibrant hair was now dulled under the sun, and dark lines under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"I'm sorry, brother."

✦─────── •°•❀•°• ───────✦

Dear Readers,

I'm sorry for the unannounced hiatus. In a span of a month, I got bitten by my cat... two times. First is my hand then now on my foot. So yeah. I still love my cat though ^^



This is him while being neutered. Heh.

Do you have any adorable pets?