It came to them as shocking news. An unforeseen surprise in exchange for their new life.
The King and Queen of the Caswell Kingdom, Crown Prince Atlas' parents, have disappeared one day. It was right after the end of the vacation of the newlyweds, Crown Prince Atlas and Crown Princess Shaelyn.
No one knows how and why they disappeared, at first Atlas thought they were just testing him but when they search every corner and secret room of the castle... there were no signs of them. A search party was even formed and sent to find them.
With the disappearance of the King and Queen, Atlas and Shaelyn were crowned as the new King and Queen.
Princess Sierra's body grew weaker day by day as Atlas got busy fixing the mess that was created by his parents' disappearance.
Queen Shaelyn became busy performing her duty, adjusting to her new life, checking the finances of the palace, contacting her parents, and trying to take care of Princess Sierra.
After Norie got permission from the Headmaster to graduate earlier than expected, she was chosen by Shaelyn to be one of her Lady-in-waiting.
She knew Norie is the best candidate among the lists and the one she can rely on the most. Clara is also chosen, alongside two more ladies from lists.
They are the ones helping Shaelyn with her duties and reminding her to take rest from time to time. Aside from them, she also has about six maids following them and about four high-ranking knights guarding her.
Shaelyn almost feels suffocated by her everyday routine and by the people always following her wherever she went. But she swallowed and suppressed her emotions.
She knew this is not the right time to act selfishly, she is now the mother of their country and still the only heir of her birth kingdom, Lockser Kingdom. Currently, she has too many responsibilities placed on her shoulders that she has no choice but to force herself to act more maturely.
Asha, Clara, and even her mother Queen Stella have always supported her and even told her she can always rely on them. This only made Shaelyn force herself to be more independent. She wants to show them that she can do it on her own. Which only resulted in making them worry for her. Especially, Asha who has witnessed what was she liked during her first time on the academy.
If it weren't for the two years she spent at the Mage Academy, she will never learn how to properly socialize with other people.
Clara also plays a very important role in her improvement, without her Shaelyn would not know what it's like to allow people near her.
==
"Your majesty!! Your majesty!! Queen Shaelyn!! Her Highness— Princess Sierra !! She—"- one of princess Sierra's maids came running to her from across the hallway, tears are flowing from her eyes.
Shaelyn stops walking, the officer she was talking to, also turned around to face the maid. She was on her way to visit the Princess while listening to the reports of the Count.
"How dare you shout in front of the Queen?!"- he reprimanded while glaring at the maid, blocking her from coming closer to the Queen.
"But—!"- the maid tried to justify herself only to behold back by the two knights that came with the Count.
"That's enough! Let her go!"- Shaelyn interrupts, glaring at the two knights as she helps the maid to stand up.
"Your majesty! You should not—"- Count Roswell, who is in charge of managing the southeast territory protested, but with a glare from Shaelyn he shuts his mouth.
"What wrong? Did something happened to the Princess?"- Shaelyn asks worriedly.
The maid began sobbing the moment she heard the question.
"T-the — Princess is!"- she managed to say before sobbing once again.
Shaelyn's heart began beating fast. She has already begun to care for the Princess as her little sister.
"Hana, help her up. Jaya, ask for the royal physician immediately! Now!"- she orders as she starts half running, half walking towards where the Princess room is located despite the protests of her maids and knights.
When she reached the room, she took a deep breath as a maid opens the door for her.
What she saw beaks her heart, Princess Sierra's maids are frantically trying to help her as she wriggling painfully on her bed while having difficulty in breathing.
"Sierra!"- she shouted in panic as she rushes towards her.
Her hand touched Sierra's forehead which she immediately retracts. The Princess's face is red, she's sweating so much that her clothes are soaking wet. She is gasping for air with her eyes shut close. The maids have already changed their clothes four times in a row. They have also been changing the cloth they are using to wipe her continuously.
"W-what happened to her?! She wasn't like this earlier! What happened!?"- Shaelyn yell at the maids.
Princess Sierra was awake and reading a book when Shaelyn visited her earlier that morning.
The maids all flinch by the tone of her voice, they have tears streaming from their face while their body is shaking. They have cared for the Princess since the very beginning, they truly love the Princess from the bottom of their hearts. It also pains them to see her like this.
"Your majesty, you need to calm down. Pouring your emotions on them will not help the Princess."- Norie calmly spoke while shielding the Princess' maids from Shaleyn's intense gaze.
"How do you expect me to calm down?! Princess Sierra is like this! My — my mana is not even helping! So tell me how can I calm down Norie!"-Shaelyn stands up and shakes Norie's shoulder before she broke down to tears leaning to Norie for support.
She tried to stabilize Sierra's condition with the help of her mana, but her body is rejecting Shaelyn's mana.
Norie, quietly pat her in the back while motioning for Clara to help the Princess.
Clara placed both her hand on top of the Princess's chest as she concentrates her mana. A minute has passed before the door burst open revealing the royal physician breathing hard, sweat dripping from his forehead while his white jacket, his hair, and clothing are all messy from running.
He was on the third floor of the royal library trying his best to research cures when he was called by a maid who was ordered by the Queen. He runs from the third floor to the courtyard and until the second floor of the Rose Palace which is where the Princess's room is located.
"I-I'm h-here .. y-your m-majesty!.."- the doctor, Edan, a thirty-four-year-old commoner who got promoted to be the head physician. His skills are the best among the others, he is also the one who managed to extend the Princess' life when she almost died ten years ago.
He immediately notices Clara trying to stabilize Princess Sierra's condition. He made her way beside the Princess and inspects her situation.
Queen Shaelyn lifts her head from Norie's shoulder and fixes herself.
The door burst open once more revealing Atlas, who is still holding documents from his hand. And Jasper who is also holding stacks of documents in both his hand.
"Sierra!! What happened to her!?"- he shoves the documents he is holding to Jasper, who grumbles before trying to balance the documents he is holding.
"Atlas.."- Shaelyn weakly called to him. Atlas walks towards her and hugs her tight.
"I'm here.. "- he whispers while looking worriedly at her sister.
===
The Caswell Kingdom haven't even finished mourning for their missing King and Queen when the news of the Princess's critical condition reached them.
"Poor Princess.."
"She's too young to experience such pain."
"The King and Queen suddenly went missing and now the Princess?! What's happening to our Kingdom?!"
"Do you think it's because of the wedding? This all happened just a month after the royal wedding. Could it... be cursed?"
The commoners went silent after hearing that, they looked at one another quietly observing each other's reaction.
"D-don't talk like that! What will you do if a guard hears it!"
They all glanced around trying to see if a guard is nearby, when they see no one they sigh in relief before dispersing their little group.
==