“Move aside.”
A hard voice resounded all around us. While whining in pain, I turned my head to that harsh voice and looked back at Caitel. His face was not much different from the way it was earlier. However, somehow he felt colder. Caitel glared at her furiously.
“I told you to move aside.”
“Y… Your Majesty.”
The pretty woman backed away with a surprised look on her face. Caitel immediately shook her hands off his shoulder as if she was nothing but a bug. Wow, that’s such a mean thing to do. Then he walked straight to me, so I decided to let him go.
In a flash, the attendants who must have come with her towards us dispersed. I gazed up at Caitel. Huh? Was he trying to help me get up? I could stand up by myself, but I was not a cold lady who would refuse someone’s help, so I grabbed his hand instead. My little hand touched Caitel’s hand gently. I could feel how small I was. Less than half the size of my dad’s hand.
Instead of holding my hand and raising it, Caitel reached into my waist and hugged me as if I was a delicate glass treasure. Suddenly, our views had reversed.
Wow, the air above sure was fresher compared to the one I had down there.
“Who told you to stand there like an idiot?”
Did you have to put it that way?!
“I’m not an idiot!”
“Yes, you are an idiot.”
“Then you’re an idiot, too!”
Yeah, I was not the only one who’s an idiot!
I didn’t mean to say that, but somehow Caitel didn’t get angry. Huh? At this point, there should be a great deal of ferocious energy spurting out of his eyes. When he got angry at me for doing something like this, it’s natural that I had to act cute.
I wondered. What’s wrong with this man all of all sudden?
‘Dad, why the hell are you being quiet?’
Was he about to detonate a nuclear bomb? I didn’t know what it was, but I felt sorry.
“Your Majesty… that child is?”
I turned my head towards her trembling voice, filled with shock. I forgot for a moment, but it wasn’t just me and my dad here. What did she say her name was again? Tylenia? Yes, Tylenia. She looked at me with an expression filled with shock. Her eyes were shaking violently when I saw them my own.
“You should already know who she is.”
“… I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I am Tylenia of Andurs.”
However, the woman wasn’t stupid. She quickly greeted me with a big smile.
Well, I was only guessing, but she was probably a real princess living in Caitel’s harem. I felt a little strange while looking at her. I thought all the princesses in the harem were like Leila.
“What a lovely princess.”
She was smiling outside, but something’s bothering me. I could feel the loathing in her glare. Did this princess really like my dad? I couldn’t believe it, but… I could feel it from the way she glared at me. A veiled hostility. It’s like I was facing my stepmother. Am I feeling an indirect hostility from the way her eyes growled at me? So this was the first obstacle every princess faced. The mean stepmother.
“She looks just like you, your Majesty. If it’s all right, may I hold her for a moment, Your Majesty?”
It’s not me who couldn’t recognize that fake sweet smile. Although she did not openly show hostility like another princess, she did not feel right either. I didn’t feel good about this. Oh, daddy, I hope this man wouldn’t dare hand me over to her. I feel like once she held me in her arms, she would drop me and I would die.
My dad laughed when I shrunk back to his chest.
“No, that won’t do.”
I was afraid that he would throw me into her arms, but fortunately, Caitel held me even tighter. Caitel’s cheek touched my forehead.
“As you can see, my daughter is pretty shy.”
Dad, that’s not true. I liked people very much. I was a very friendly lady.
Her golden eyes, which might have felt hurt after hearing his cruel treatment, were wet with tears as she stared at Caitel. However, my father’s eyes, facing that teary eyes of hers, were as quiet and calm as it usually were.
What’s the relationship between these two, anyway?
“Th, then, I look forward to seeing you some other time.”
Like the heroine of an abandoned ruin, she suddenly disappeared. I bent my head. Was she Caitel’s ex-lover or something? His first love, perhaps? Were they childhood lovers who broke up after a while?
“Who is she?”
“A woman.”
Did he think that I didn’t know that?
He smiled as I stared up at him while his hand was still on my head.
“You need not mind her”
He then gave me a little kiss on my forehead.
“She’s a flower that will wither someday.”