I went to bed at the crack of dawn! I was originally planning to sleep like a log the whole morning and then to wake up by noon. I'm to blame here! I should've known their customs.
-No one is allowed to sleep in the palace after the morning meditation hours-, is a rule that is not recorded in any rule book of Astrana.
"Rise and shine, your highness!" I heard someone talking to me from afar. I was still half asleep.
'Rise and shine?' I may rise, but how can I shine with only two hours of sleep?' I thought as I sloppily turned around, lied on my belly, and started to snore! After a minute break, I heard someone talking right next to my ears.
"Rise and shine, your highness!"
"Let me sleep!" I calmly told them as I moved to another position.
"It's time for you to rise and shine, your highness!" the person continued.
'Can it get more annoying?' I pondered as I covered my ears well with a pillow, then tried to sleep. The person pulled my pillows away and continued, "It's time to rise and shine, your highness!"
"Let me sleep, let me sleep, let me sleep," I punched and kicked the bed as I continued to ask for more time.
"....."
I couldn't hear anything from her anymore. But because of this "Rise and shine" mantra, I was already awake. I sat on the bed with my dishevelled hair and dark circles. Flora, who was worriedly looking at me stepped back in fear!
I can imagine, how would I look with messy hair, big dark circles around my eyes and the messed up baby pink nightgown! I kept looking at her, unable to open my eyes fully since I was so sleepy. Her fear was still evident even after two minutes. She was looking at me with wide eyes and she had already covered her mouth with her right hand, elegantly.
'You asked for it! Rise and shine? You wish!' I thought.
"Y...Your highness, What h...happened?"
I tried to sit properly then tried to tie my hair into a bun.
"I couldn't sleep last night!"
"Should I change the beddings or maybe I can change the incense or should I call the physician here?" she panicked as she listed the remedies. I frowned then replied, "No need. I'll be fine if you let me sleep a few more hours."
"I'm afraid that's not possible your highness! You know this very well" she seemed scared of me so she was reluctant to give me a proper explanation.
"I'm still too sleepy to think properly Flora. So please make it clear. Why can't I sleep?" I asked her. She bit her lip once in thought then spoke again.
"It's already meditation hours, your highness. Besides, her majesty wants to meet you before breakfast!" she paused.
"If you are not there in time, all the maids will be punished!" she finished.
'So it's the queen!' I sat down on the bed with a pout. I knew what it was. She was going to lecture me about manners and virtues because of my unruly behaviour of yesterday. I've read this scene in the novel, many times. This queen would often lecture both her children. Her dos and don'ts were not that easy to remember, at least for me! I was already feeling exhausted thinking about listening to her!
"Your highness, why did you stay awake last night?" Flora asked.
"I was solving a puzzle!" I replied. Flora nodded with amazement then collected the medicine vessels of yesterday, which I already spilled outside the room.
'Lilly, Violet, bring her highness to her bath!' Flora ordered two maids who seemed to be her subordinates. I sloppily got off the bed and followed them.
Once I finished bathing the two of them wanted me to wear a maroon princess gown. The gown looked so grand. In my world, I used a similar one for my sister's wedding! Here, they were asking me to wear this for a casual breakfast.
'The world of the rich!' I thought. I wore that ball-gown like costume and wore all those jewels they have given me. At last, I put on some make-up and tried my best to hide those dark circles. The two girls beside me worriedly kept staring at me for some reason. I didn't bother to ask why! I was so sure that I would know eventually!
When I'm ready, I returned to my master bed-chamber. Flora was still arranging my untidy working table. When I entered the room, she was holding the leftover papers I had been working on, the last night.
Thankfully, before I went to bed, I had converted all the information to Caesar Cipher! So even though she read it, she won't understand unless she decodes it with the correct number of shifts. The original ones, I discarded them already!
"Flora, I'm ready!" I informed her of my arrival.
"Your Highness!" she turned. "These papers..."
"Put them in a safe locker and give me the keys," I ordered her. She frowned as she worriedly looked at me for a few minutes then followed my orders without any comments. After that, she guided me to the great hall where the queen was waiting for me.
When I entered the hall, I could see that the king and Edward had already left the area. Well, since Flora was there with me, he cannot be there. 'The encounter curse,' I thought. I went near the chair in front of the queen and bowed down.
"Good morning, Your Majesty!"
She looked at me up and down with anger. Her angered face gave me heebie-jeebies.
"What's wrong, Your Majesty?" I asked her to find the problem first, then the solution.
"What in the world happened to you?" the queen asked.
"..." since I cannot exactly tell her what was wrong with me, I kept quiet.
"Who am I to you?"
"....." I was afraid to say the word 'mother' for some reason. The queen stood up from her chair. She started to walk towards me. Since I was still scared, I took a few steps back.
"Come here!" she called me. Since I had no better options, I moved forward. Once I was a step away, in front of her, the queen asked me again!
"Who am I to you?"
I was startled at first. 'M...Mo...Mother!" I said.
"Then why are you calling me 'Your Majesty' all of a sudden?"
I was indeed taken aback. I looked at her with wide eyes. In the novel, whenever the queen spoke with her daughter, she only responded with nods or stayed quiet most of the time. That's why I couldn't figure out a way to respond to the queen properly.
"Mo...Mother. I'm sorry!" I immediately apologized. The queen stroked my hair once with misty eyes. Her touch was so tender and warm. This is something my mother had never done to me. For some reason, my eyes started to sting.
"My poor baby, what happened to you Nana?" the misty-eyed queen continued to stroke my head.
'Nana? Must be the pet name of the princess. I never got to know these kinds of interactions happened between the queen and the princess since they were never mentioned in the novel. The only thing that was mentioned is that the king and the queen hated Flora till it was proved she was not the murderer. Especially, the queen made it difficult for Flora to stay in the palace. When I was reading, I thought it was evil of them to treat Flora that way. Now that I think about it, they did love the princess and that's why they couldn't forgive Flora despite her being good to them.
"Look at you!" the queen continued weeping! I looked down at my dress and frowned. "What's wrong with me?"
"You're wearing all these jewels for breakfast," the queen sniffled. Lilly and Violet were the ones who gave me all these jewels. Besides, Flora was also aware of the fact I'm wearing them. But, the thing is, nobody told me to not wear any of them!
Was it a plan? I frowned and looked at Flora. Since she was a soft-hearted person, she couldn't bear to see the queen cry! She was also on the verge of crying. I felt bad for suspecting Flora.
"Maybe I should've just picked a few jewels. Maybe the maids were scared to give me suggestions!" I thought.
First things first, I must stop the flood which was overflowing from the queen's eyes and could submerge the whole great hall.
"I'm fine, mother! Don't cry!" I said.
"How can I not worry? The whole country is talking about you now!"
"Whole country? What are they talking about me?"
The queen touched my face tenderly, "That you've gone crazy overnight!"
I was stunned. Even though I'm an alien and have been behaving weird from the minute of my arrival, how could these facts about me spread so fast? Not to mention that the whole country knew!
"Nana, your father is angry! Even grand uncle knows the news. He wanted to know what is wrong with you immediately. Your father went to see him." the queen told me. I immediately looked at Flora. To tell the truth, she is the only suspect I've got. At that moment, she was worriedly looking at me. Her doe eyes once again told me how innocent she is. Of course, she is the female protagonist. She has to be good. It can never be her. I looked around that great hall in confusion. When I look by the window, by chance I saw a shadow. Just above it, I saw the tip of a black cloth.
'Oho! Someone is spying!' I thought! It cannot be called proper spying though! It was more like a 'cat closing its eyes while drinking milk and thinking nobody is watching it'!
At that moment, I understood who is the reason for all these muddles. Of course, it was the spies. Blending with the people of Astrana, overhearing the royal business, confusing the nation with rumours had always been the works of spies.
The fun fact was that nobody saw that spy except for me. Of course, if they had seen the spy, it would cause a major plot twist. I smirked thinking about the descriptions Venus wrote on how guarded the Astrana palace was! In reality, the so-called Astrana guards were so negligent. They were the ones to blame here! Their carelessness resulted in the princess's bad reputation!
However, I've never expected these spies to spread the news so fast. Their strong network indeed made me worry. If only that Victor dude hadn't fallen in love, maybe the Dagresh would have succeeded in capturing Astrana.
"All is well and advantageous to me!" I thought. Now that these Dagresh spies had accidentally pulled the trigger themselves, it's just going to be a cakewalk for me to trap Victor.
"Say something!" the queen who was still not calm continued to pester me.
"Mother, I'm fine. Stop worrying about me. If you have finished eating, take a rest," I spoke tenderly. Though it was unfamiliar to me, I tried my best. Once she finished, the queen too departed to meet that grand uncle.
This grand-uncle is the oldest one in that family. Thus everybody including the king had to pay proper respect to him. When the whole family was against the marriage of Ed and Flora, he was the only one who supported it. He used to like Flora a lot. He was also the only one in the palace who trusted Flora the whole time. He despised Evelyn. Also, he loved Flora more than he loved his grand-nephew!
Once the queen left, I was left alone in that room with Flora. "Flora, go bring my rose fragrance!" I ordered her. When she left the great hall, I signalled the two guards who were standing by the door of the great hall to come.
"Your highness, how can we help you?" they asked. I whispered showing them the window, "Capture him and bring him to the Eastern dungeon! Make sure nobody notices you!" I ordered. They looked at each other once then turned and spoke to me at the same time, "But your highness..."
"Ten golds for each!" I said.
"T...Te...Ten!!!"
"Every month!"
"Wh...Wha...What???"
"Also, you must not let any others know about this, except me!" the two looked at each other again!
"Or else you die!" I finished my whispering.
And it worked. I immediately got the response!
"Your highness, we'll meet you at the dungeon!" the two whispered back with a determined face!