" PAPA ― ! " from the arms of antonius , the little princess exclaims at the sight of her father waiting for her in the garden . he looks spaced out as usual , but that doesn't affect ambrosia's spirits ― cheery as ever , she greets in her usual bright way , ever so contradictory of her father's .
" good morning papa ! did you sleep well ? are you feeling better now ? " she chides in as usual , feet not yet hanging past the stool that placed on top of the chair for helping her meet the table , she continues to chatter and tell him about her new lessons .
chatter that catches azazel's attention soon enough ; dazed as he often was , he turns to look at her , sliding a soft toy ― a white coloured bunny ― towards the girl .
ambrosia squeals in joy , earning another monotonous jab from her father about 'how she needs to get proper etiquette lessons' , but that doesn't really matter to the girl who is ecstatic and hugging the bunny close to her chest .
" thank you papa ! sia loves it ! It's so adorable ― it needs a name ! " she quips , and azazel gives her a curious glance , raising a single eyebrow at her .
" oh ? what do you plan on naming him ? " he asks , to which the girl doesn't reply as quickly as she normally does . instead she fiddles with the toy , and shrugs shyly .
" sia hasn't decided yet .. maybe lilian and miss empress can suggest something good ― "
her answer ticks him off ― wasn't he the one who gave her the gift ? shouldn't she ask his opinion before those two women's ? ― but he doesn't mention it , and instead sips the tea placed in front of him .
antonius barely makes tries to hide his chuckle ― quipping in with his usual , unchanging cheerful demeanor
" that is a good idea , princess . i'm sure she will make good suggestions , the empress is very helpful you know ? she even helped his majesty sort his work yesterday , and came to personally deliver the reports . "
at azazel's expense , felix keeps on rambling in an amused way , until cut off mid-sentence .
" you seem to spend a lot of time on the palace's affairs ― doing nothing but killing flies these days ― do you not have anything better to do ? " a jab sent his way , makes the knight droop his shoulders .
tch ― ambrosia thinks ― this man is so snippy !
" it's not antonius's fault papa ! you have done such a good job , the palace is always peaceful ! " yes , buttering him up should work .
and it does , surprisingly . azazel is back to his quiet daydreaming soon enough . hah ― this is so boring ― ambrosia thinks to herself . but the girl isn't at fault either ! her father is such a quiet man , talking to him feels like talking to a wall !
" your highness ? " it is then , lilian enters the scene with her hands folded in front of her , bowing .
" the empress wished to see the princess , shall i tell her you're busy with his majesty ? " she asks , making ambrosia almost jump from her seat .
" nonono ! please tell miss empress to come ! sia wouldn't send her back - ! " she chides in instantly , much to azazel's dismay , for anyone was better than being stuck alone with this glacier of a man .
" in that case , I'll escort her . " antonius , looking all too pleased for some reason , adds in quickly before disappearing to get the woman . something about this entire situation annoys azazel greatly , but he keeps quiet .
it is moments after , the empress arrives , looking apologetic .
" blessings upon the sun of empire . my apologies for intruding on your time with the princess , your highness , had i known ― i would've visited later . "
azazel gives her a dismissive glance , instead of returning her greeting .
" and what are you here for ? " he asks , rather rudely , however right at time , ambrosia chimes in the conversation ― all smiles .
" join us , miss empress ! the chef made a new sweet today , you should try it too ! "
she says whilst signalling antonius , who takes on the sneaky message rather quickly and pulls a chair for the empress .
muttering a soft 'thank you' to antonius , she takes her seat , turning to look at ambrosia instead of answering the question the emperor had asked her before .
" i came to replenish the mana in your pendant , princess . it must've worn off by now so may i have a look ? "
ambrosia nods , little hands taking the pendant off her neck to hand it over to her stepmother . azazel tries to feign indifference , but out of the corner of her eye , he cannot help watching the empress refill the magic in the simple looking pendant .
noting his interest , persephone explains , words directed at azazel this time .
" it is the birthday gift i arranged for the princess , it has healing magic ― since princess ambrosia is growing , children are clumsy in this phase ― this pendant makes sure her scrapes and bruises heal quickly and don't leave any scars . "
a thoughtful gift , azazel thinks , suddenly conscious of his own childish choice of gift . but instead of saying anything , he simply nods in acknowledgement .
ah well , it's not like he wouldn't give ambrosia anything she wanted . so what if the empress was creative ? ― right ?
the two women on the table conversed freely , and ambrosia looked much more at ease talking to the woman , which piqued his curiosity as much as it ticked him off . why , didn't she meet the empress only three months ago ?
" haa ! miss empress can make birds ?! can you teach sia too ?! sia wants to see it ! " ambrosia's voice brought him back from his thoughts , and he saw the empress laughing ; something he hadn't seen her do before . it turned out that despite her indifferent demeanor , persephone had a laugh of a little girl , carefree and tinkling .
" yes of course , hand me some paper and I'll show you . " at her words , ambrosia quickly grabbed the drawing she was showing him earlier to hand it over to the queen .
feigning disinterest was hard ― azazel found ― as he watched the empress fold the paper into weird patterns and turn it into a small figure which resembled that of a bird .
he didn't realise he'd been leaning closer , until persephone looked at him and questioned ,
" do you like it , your highness ? "
caught red-handed , he had no choice but to give in and accept he was looking . azazel nodded , replying .
" it looks complicated . can you make anything else ? " to which persephone smiled ,
" get me some paper and I'll show you . "
antonius , who was leaning over from behind ambrosia as well , immediately replied .
" I'll get it right away ! "
and thus , the entirety of their morning spent fawning over origami , with ambrosia's excited clapping and azazel's intrigued looks ― and both the father daughter's many failed attempts until they gave up . time seemed to fly away , somehow , and it wasn't until the empress' maid informed that the magic university's professors were here to meet her , that they realised how late they had been .
unwillingly , both the emperor and the princess ( albeit azazel won't dare show it ― unlike ambrosia who kept groaning ) returned to their respective schedules .
once back in his office , azazel eyed the little paper butterfly the empress had given to both him and ambrosia , marvelling at the complicated folds .
" your highness ? it is time for the audience ― " antonius said , making the emperor immediately hide the origami inside the drawer of his work desk .
the act brought a grin on the knight's face , and azazel scowled at him .
" not a word . " he commanded , which simply served to make the infuriating cheeky grin on the knight's face grow further .
" shall we , your highness ? "