"Oh my Princess, I'm so glad you're okay. I was worried sick, you didn't follow your usual route and I became worried", Poppy still straddling the Princess in a hug.
"I'm so dead, but I'll deal with that later. I'm just happy she's okay", Poppy thought to herself. Unknown to her, Cecilia heard her thoughts loud and clear but she still couldn't understand what the little maid meant.
"Poppy I'm fine,... is there something you want to tell me?", Cecilia asked in a weary tone and she could see the maid stiffen immediately she spoke.
"N.. nothing your Majesty. I... I was just worried that's all", she said and Cecilia decided to stop asking... for now.
The next day, the Princess was dressed in a royal blue floral print dress accompanied with matching stiletto heels and sapphire jewelry.
"My Princess is looking very beautiful today", Poppy said in admiration as she adorning the last piece of jewelry on her hair.
"Poppy, aren't you the sweetest thing in the world", Cecilia said as she stood up to hold both of her hands smiling teethily at her.
"Only if you knew?", Poppy said in her mind and the Princess heard it. Cecilia steps away from Poppy and turns to leaving the room.
Cecilia is now walking down the stairs thinking of all the strange events happening of late.
"Okay, this is getting frustrating. I'm not used to being in the dark like this, what happened to the mind being an open book?", Cecilia questioned herself pulling her hair in frustration.
"But one thing is clear, and that is father's hiding something from me", she concluded walking out of the exit.
Cecilia took the normal route to the Emperor's palace. When she finally reached the Emperor's palace, she recalled the conversation she had with him the previous night and couldn't get one thing out of her mind.
...
"When two become one, the worth of the person increases tenfold. You are precious my dear and I'm not letting anyone change that", the Emperor said in a low but firm tone.
...
"What does that even mean, Argh! This is too frustrating for me, I don't know why I'm still thinking about it when I decided to stop thinking about it", the Princess lamented miserably before walking into the palace.
As soon as she entered the palace, she was welcomed by a dangling rope of party light decorations and a few petals of Cecil drops.
"Wonderful", Cecilia said in awe of the beautifully decorated room. Ahead she saw her father ordering some workers who were hanging a garland of Cecil drops at a corner of the room.
"Father! What is all this? I thought we would discuss the rest today?", Cecilia said happily as she walked up to her dad.
"Sweetheart, I didn't know you would come this early. Well I have another surprise for you", the Emperor said in a hearty tone and gently took his daughter's hand in his then slowly lead her up the stairs.
"You know, when you were younger you always wanted to know what your mother looks like. I'm going to show you something today, wear these", the Emperor said handing her a pair of curved eye shaped glasses and Cecilia took them from him.
"What are these father?", Cecilia asked inspecting the objects on her hands.
"They're contact lenses for changing eye colour", the Emperor said with a smile and lead her to a wall at the end of the hallway.
"This is a dead end, what do you want to show me?", Cecilia asked slightly confused about the situation but the Emperor simply smiled and pushed the wall. The wall turned around and then there was a beautiful room at the other side.
"Wow father, this is...", Cecilia managed out staring at the room filled with flowers and pictures of the royal linage.
"Wear the contacts dear, I want to show you your mother's pictures", the Emperor said and assisted her in putting them on before leading her to a door at the end of the huge room.
"Close your eyes", the Emperor said and Cecilia obeyed without questioning him.
Then he opened the door gently guiding her into the room. Once the Emperor tapped her shoulder, she opened her eyes and gasped in shock.
"Is that... me?", Cecilia said to no one in particular as she gazed around the room.
The room's walls were completely covered in glass reflecting Cecilia with red eyes instead of blue.
"That's exactly what your mother looks like", the Emperor said in a soft tone and gently took his daughter's hand in his.
Tears roll down the Princess's eyes and as she uses her other hand to touch the glass.
"She was a beautiful Queen, do I remind you of her?", Cecilia asked turning to look at her father who smiled at her and walked out of the room leaving Cecilia staring at her reflection.
After staying in the room for another one hour, Cecilia finally decided to leave and go to her father.
She spent the rest of her afternoon with her father and left after having lunch with him.
"Good bye dear", Cedrick said and Cecilia smiled and left the palace.
On her way to her chambers, the Princess heard someone call out her name and she turned around to see Poppy running towards her with a light blue coat in her hands.
A small smile etched on her face as the little maid stood in front of her trying to catch her breath.
"My Lady, you forgot your coat when you left in the morning. I found out when I was cleaning the room and went to the palace to give you the coat but was informed that you had already left the palace", Poppy said apologetically and Cecilia smiled at the maid.
"How sweet but I don't need it I can bear the chill because I that's exactly what I love about winter", Cecilia said meekly as they made their way back to the Empress's palace.
On their way back, Cecilia came across a small patch of Cecil drops. She stops to look at the beautiful white flowers that bloomed beautifully with blue buds growing on the side.
"The buds remind me of your eyes", Cecilia heard someone speak behind her and turns around to see no one.
She also noticed that Poppy had gone far ahead of her, so she squatted back down.
--To be continued...