"Can I trust you?" Her father's words strangely resonated inside her heart, felt like it was mocking her, ticking her inner. Her expression changed.
"Has I ever lied to you, father?" That's what she answered in pissed intonation and face. The mask crumbled and she honestly didn't care to care. How dare her father ask the obvious question?
'Who did he think I am?'
The fast-paced changing aura from his daughter made him lean back and recomposed his thoughts. There's an unexplainable feeling stirred inside him. She rarely pissed or disturbed by his words, at most she treated it jokingly, but the sudden heavy atmosphere between them brought him back to reality. She's a unique princess. She had knights inside her palm. Extraordinary that's what she was.
"I apologize, Elizebeth."
"If you need time to recompose yourself, My Duke, I will request another audience with you." She said coldly.
The duke flustered, the cold sensation smearing inside his whole body. He had forgotten one fact about Elizebeth. His daughter controlled his whole body like a string doll. The whole servants and the family as well as the king too. The good manner Elizebeth stole everyone's heart but the rose must have a few thorns. Her anger wasn't as easy as the normal people thought. The tantrum she threw was nothing compared to her cold attitude.
"No, we can discuss the issue." He gave up to intimidate his daughter.
"Like a grownup."
'Right, she is more mature than her age.'
Duke now realized she was not a normal child.
"Yes, like a grownup." He obediently followed her flow.
"So, the magic forest and the aunt. Father can ask me anything you want, I'll try to answer father with my best ability."
Duke nodded and sipped the tea once again, quenching his thirst for answers to all of his questions. She may be not a liar but she knew how to distort the truth. She was a cunning lady and he was painfully aware of that. It was more than what she let him see. She was an intricate person, her smile was the mask to cover the emotion. Although he knew some of the expressions, she was as mysterious as the desert.
"Fair enough." He muttered. "What do you want to know about the magic forest?"
Elizebeth scoffed. It was the trickiest question. Her father planned to hold her down with minimal answers and to ban her to enter the forest entirely. Sadly, she had every piece of information regarding the forest.
"No. That is the wrong question, father." She smirked.
Duke clenched his jaw, the dark feeling overthrowing the cold feeling from Elizebeth. She reached out at the cup. He brought the mug to his lips and took a tentative sip, sighing softly as the pleasant tea spread across his body, calming his dark aura. Elizebeth was already well-versed with the magic forest, so it seems.
"You have the knights' oath for a reason," Duke muttered as he put down the tea once again. Slowly, planted his vision on Elizebeth's face once again.
"I believe so, father." She took the biscuit and munched again.
"What a peculiar child."
"... Peculiar child." She said the words at the same time as her father. Flabbergasted her father once again. "I know. I've heard the same word again and again like a clear recorder. I own it. I'm a peculiar child." She mumbled without looking at her father.
"I never knew my daughter had a fun side that even her father didn't discover until recently."
"You can join my adventure to explore me, father." She laid down the bait.
Duke could admit to himself that serious Elizebeth was undeniably cute. He kind of wanted to reach up and touched the plump cheek. But he also realized that Elizebeth wouldn't appreciate the gesture. They were in the middle of serious chatting.
"You set the trap to me, baby?" Duke smirked, amused.
Elizebeth chuckled shamelessly. "Take it or leave it."
He smoothed out the wrinkled of his clothes. "Do you want to know about the magical beast?"
"No." She took this chance to take a sip of cold tea that awaited her as the atmosphere lightened.
Duke waited for her to answer in his stoic face.
"Befriend them."
It was his first time, it was the very first time he changed his expression. The odd feeling attacked his chest, and his heart thumping loudly ringing to his ears like a flipping echo. It was the helpless feeling spiking inside; scared, alarmed, and petrified. He's surprised yet again but this time almost snatched his heart.
"What do you mean?" He recovered fairly fast. The intonation sharpened at the highest level.
"Exactly what I said." Compared to the agitate Duke, she was so calm. Facing the lion, she was supposed to be afraid but she had a backup. The most powerful backup. She's not scared.
"Elizebeth!" He roared. His eyes changed into fierce.
"The King is supporting me. Any objection from any party will be dealt with inside the royal court." She smirked. One looked as if she was provoking him, but it was just her bravado smile.
He felt like someone sparkled the water in his eyes. He'd never felt so awake than now. "The king? What is that dumbass thinking?" He clutched the armrest stronger than before.
"Nothing. I'm the one who convinced him."
"How-"
"I have my own knights and my own maids. They trusted the five-year-old girl to lead them well. Father told me before, to receive an oath was harder than it looks. A mere cute face wouldn't cut it. Do you think they put trust in me solely for my cute face, father?"
The Duke clenched his jaw. It was his first time to lose in the argument.
"If that's easy, I bet my beloved brothers had the whole squad pledging their oath to them, right father?"
Duke lost his words. Loosen the grip of the armchair fabric. She was right. The oath was not a child's play. Derrick was the most trusted soldier he'd ever met. He loved to have Derrick to his side but still failed to receive the oath. He took care of Derrick since he was small. He was a sensible person and now he was bound to Elizebeth.
Duke wavered, his mouth opened slightly like he wanted to say something but hasn't quite found the words. "What are you thinking, Elizebeth?"
"Oho, father. It's hard for me to say."
"Elizebeth!" He roared again.
"I will say the truth, doesn't mean I will answer all the questions to satisfy your curiosity."
He sighed, she's a complicated kid that's for sure. "You have a plan."
She huffed out a short laugh. "Indeed, Dada is Elizebeth's father. Dada knows Elizebeth the best." She came down from the sofa and ran around the table to be in the arms of the duke. She knew her father was so itchy to touch her.
"Dada is Elizebeth's father." the Duke repeated. "Not the king." He mumbled inside her hair volume.
She laughed again. "Absolutely. Will father trust Elizebeth?" She looked up at her father. Her eyes hit the nostril of the duke and the breath fluttered her eyes.
"Is this related to the dream you'd dreamt?" If so then, it's not a mere nightmare. It's the future.
She halted, her green eyes froze, unbothered even with the breath of her father. His father hit a jackpot. He was sharp. The king was sharp too. They deduced the possibility down to small details and came up with the fervent answer.
"... jackpot. You hit a jackpot." She murmured.
'Jackpot?'
His daughter was indeed peculiar. "What's a jackpot?"
"Not the issue. The king concluded the same thing. Wow." She applauded vehemently. The high respect displayed inside her eyes. "Dada is a genius."
His stoic face, his straight-line lips has a risk to wobble by the sudden attack. Cough. "I believe so. Do what you want, Elizebeth. I will support you." He slumped his face on the head.
Elizebeth giggled in victory. Yay! She had taken down the ultimate villain without revealing any of her intentions.
"Did your aunt appear in your dream too?"
She shook her head but twisted her body and clung to her father's neck like a monkey. "Dada and Baba asked me to meet our aunt, but I never met her even after the dream had ended."
A brief silence followed her words, broken only by Duke's cup sound on the table. The quiet lasted for what felt like an eternity. Her heart beating faster as she recalled the dream. She slumped her chin on the broad shoulder and her hands lazily playing with the duke's hair. The soft patted on her head calms her heart.
"She is from the magical realm, right?" It was Elizebeth who raised her voice first, once again.
Duke sighed, adjusting her position on his lap to make her comfortable.
"The eagle carriage, yellow and orange trees were the clue. I failed to decipher it. I died." She hiccupped. It was not technically a lie. She told her father the improvised version that was made up by someone inside her dream though she couldn't recall who improvised it.
"You know." He breathed, his heart conflicted to hear that she died in the dream. "You are still alive."
She felt a tight grip on her waist. "Yes. The aunt, she is a nymph, right?"
The duke nodded solemnly.
"Hence why you send her to the magical forest. Is mother a nymph too?"
Her father nodded too.
It's indeed the heaviest truth she ever faced. The Duchess inside the novel was brushed off very lightly by the author. As if her disappearance was something natural and the despair of the duke was justified.
"Did the king know?"
She felt the head shook.
"I see. Okay." The inner turmoil in Elizebeth's chest fighting to surpass her exhaustion for every passing second. She couldn't sleep at all last night and a few nights before too. She was honestly tired.
"Will you protect your mother?" The duke patted her back as he realized something.
"Absolutely. I'm half-nymph too then. Elizebeth part of Dada and Mama. Elizebeth will protect both Dada and Mama." Her childish side came out as she slowly drifted away.
"Thank you, baby." She felt the soft lips on her cheek.
"We will meet aunt soon. Soon enough…"
Duke patted her back without fail. Waiting for her to finish her words but nothing came out after that. She's completely out of the world. "Good night." He kissed his daughter lovingly. It's morning but for Elizebeth, it's her night whenever she falls asleep.