Princess Asteria sniffed the air as it smelled like something was burning. It suddenly felt hot as she could see a trace of fire from the window. The window busted open and Lord Eros was seen flying with his fire power from both his feet and hands.
She put her hands on her waits and look at him stupidly, "You could have taken the door, Lord Eros."
"And? Risk getting escorted out by the royal knights? No." He then jumped to enter the window and landed on the floor with a loud bang.
"Why are you even here?" She asked.
Lord Eros grabbed her shoulders and pointed at the figure outside. Since the window overlooked Queen Aretha's gardens, Lord Eros pointed at the walking figure of Mistress Geneva in her daily stroll to the flowers. "Look there Princess. Tell me what you see."
She did as he told and saw the comcubine cutting Queen Aretha's flowers. She gasped, "She's cutting the flowers of the late queen?"
Lord Eros shook his head, "No, just wait and see."
He then snapped his fingers and the princess saw the concubine retreating to her room. After a few minutes, there was a knock to door to the princess's room, followed by the concubine's voice, "Princess! Would you mind opening the door for me?"
Princess Asteria cocked an eyebrow at Lord Eros who shrugged and opened the door to see Mistress Geneva.
Lord Eros hid at the closet.
"Hello, princess, would you mind having a tea with me? I brought it myself." The concubine proudly asked, motioning at the tea tray that the royal maid beside her was holding.
Asteria crossed her arms and looked at the tea supicoisly. She never offeered some tea personally like this ever vefore. Unless this woman has some evil intentions behind. "I thought you hated me and wanted me to stay grounded here?"
"What? Of course not, I need to take care if the princess." She added with a smile, and Asteria could see some red patches on her nose, spread to her whole face and to her whole neck.
Asteria instantly knew it. It was Lord Eros doing! So that is why he wanted her to see this!
"What? Is there somethinf on my face?" Mistress Geneva asked and looked at her maid as the maid yelled.
"Forgive me, my lady, but there are…red marks on your face!"
The concubine asked for a mirror and when she saw herself, gasped. "H-how! Princess, is this your doing?"
Asteria blonked, "Excuse me? How could I when I'm stuck here all day. Who knows where you gone to have that. It's probbaly a virus you caught."
Mistress Geneva took a breathe and ran away crying, with her maid following behind her.
As soon as the door closed, Lord Eros appeared again. "So you see, I casted a protection spell on you that will make everyone who comes to you with evil intentions will have diahrea and rashes." He proudly exclaimed.
Princess Asteria laughed at this, finding the show entertaining, "You did a good job."
Lord Eros nodded, "Yes, You need to be careful with the concubine. I could ense a dark energy from her."
Asteria nodded, "Of course, I can't even count the numerous times she attempted to get rid of me."
Lord Eros doesn't appear to be happy at that. He furrowed his eyebrows, "Want me to just kill her?"
"What? No! Geez, you're too aggressive." Asteria said.
"Then want to see Red now? He misses you."
Asteria's eyes lit up at that, missing her dragon but then remembered.
"Hmm…I'll visit her soon but you forgot something. When will you train my powers? I can feel it surging into my whole body!" Princess Asteria asked impatiently as she grabbed a sword. She's in the training room now, hiding from her father the king who's still busy about everything. The past incident from that tea party gave things tension and as much as possible, she's avoiding her father right now.
Lord Eros looked at her tiredly, "Did you forget that we need to properly prepare your body? It won't take your body-"
"I don't care. Just do it now." She stubbornly yelled..
"Alright, then try to meditate first. I'll test the waters first before continuing you to the next step."
She nodded then started to sit down on the ground and sit cross legged.
"You need to breathe deeply and close your eyes. Envision the gift inside you as if you're holding it like a delicate ball." Lord Eros instructed and she did as he ordered.
She tried hard, but all she can see is darkness. For a few minutes, she stayed like that until she didn't notice that she fell asleep.
"C'mon wake up! Princess!" Said Lord Eros, tapping her face.
She instantly stood up in alert, "What? Did I do it?"
Lord Eros just laughed at her, "Yes, you slept really peacefully. I have been waking you up."
"Oh?" She wiped the saliva that dripped from her mouth when she slept and chuckled. Gosh, this manifesting your gift thing is so much harder than her finals in college.
"Is there anything easier?
"No. This is the easiest step you'll need to overcome." He said, crossing his arms in front of him, "At this point, you'll take forever. tsk. You're wasting your gift if only I could transfer it to myself."
There was a knock on the door and Baronness Cortez appeared. "Princess, look what you've done to me!"
Princess Asteria raised her eyebrows, "What?"
Baronness Cortez then showed her arms to her, containing some rashes. "I've been infected with Lady Roselle's virus!"
Princess Asteria stood up, examined the rashes and laughed. "You know, you must be pranking me, Baroness Cortez."
"A prank? No-"
"You see, Lady Roselle's illness only affects the lungs, and rashes is on your skin so wherever that rashes that you got don't have any connection with me." She explained.
"But-but-"
"You can even ask the royal doctor. Alright, scram off."
Baronness Cortez hiccupped and tears fell from her eyes before running away.
Just then, the door knocked, together with the knights outside announcing, "Lady Roselle from the Duchy of Adkins is entering!"
Whoa, Princess Asteira have lots of visitors for today. And soon after, the door opened, revealing the female lead, Lady Roselle. She stood there awkwardly as she was holding a basket and not meeting Princess Asteria's eyes.
"F-forgive me, your highness, but this is my small gift for you." She said, looked at the ground as her hands was forwardly giving the basket.
Princess Asteria paused, looked at Lord Eros to ask, "For what?"
Lady Roselle cleared her throat, "I would like to give my gratitude for saving me back at the tea party."
"Oh that? That was nothing. Sit, sit, since you're here." She ushered happily, "Let's eat this!"
She paused, realizing if she's really doing the right thing. Was the story even going on how it's supposed to be? Everything these days feels…so wrong…
Oh well, since she's at this point, might as well enjoy it.
"Did I heard food?" A voice suddenly appeared and Prince Ares's head appeared in the door. "I'll invite myself here."
Princess Asteria gave her brother a look, "Brother, you keep on appearing out of nowhere like a bubble, aren't you going to train outside?"
He shook his head, "It's too hot outside so I skipped my classes and went here."
She chuckled, "As usual. Nothing new."
And they went silent as Prince Ares helped himself with the biscuits that Lady Roselle brought with her. Asteria could see Lady Roselle's hand fidgeting so she decided to break the silence, thinking of something. "Let's go somewhere later!"
Lady Roselle looked at her, "What? You're not..angry at me? You must have been punished-"
"Me? Why would I be angry at you? You're too pretty." She simply said.
Lady Roselle's eyes twinkled and she smiled gracefully. Wow, she paused. Really, she shines so bright when she smiles.
Such a main character. There's no doubt that she's really the female lead.
After spending time with her, Princess Asteria managed to slowly get in her heart. Lady Roselle is finally opening her heart out a bit and seemed to laugh often around her.
"I also have a favor, if that is alright?" Asked Lady Roselle.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Where is your brother- I mean Crown Prince's Apollo's study?"
Asteria paused, which made Lady Roselle blush at her stare as she tried to hide her face with her hair.