A young girl in her late childhood, between seven to eight years old, sat on the opposite side of the carriage.
She had long light blonde hair and big clear blue eyes that shone like sapphire crystals.
Her fair porcelain like skin glowed lightly under the moonlight that seeped through the window blinds.
She wore a beautiful white floral dress with a fluffy white winter coat and boot-heels that highlighted her beautiful yet slightly delicate features.
The only odd thing about the girl was that she wore a beautiful masquerade mask on her face that didn't necessarily match her clothes.
"Hello little girl! My name is Princess Cecilia Cedrick Bettor from Gastonia, what's your name?" The older girl she now knew as Cecilia spoke excitedly.
"Erm... I... I... *sniff*, *sniff*. I... don't have a name yet.
My grandma used to call me little rabbit The little girl answered between barely controlled tears.
Cecilia suddenly removed the mask and looked into the little girl's eyes as if trying to look into her mind but smiled once again.
"Don't worry, you're safe with me. I don't have any siblings so maybe you could be my little sister, I'll take good care of you."
The young Princess's promise made the little girl look at her with newfound admiration.
"It's not like I have a choice... do I?" The little girl asked tentatively and immediately regretted it.
"Of course you can, would I be asking if you didn't have the option to choose? So... will you come with me?" The expectations in the Princess's eyes were too reassuring.
"How about we think of a name together that is if you agree" Cecilia pressed on and that was when the temptation finally reached it's peak
The little girl nodded in a daze
From that moment on, the little girl took her words as a god's direct order and swore at that moment that she would never forsake her saviour, her Princess.
As promised, they both came up with the name Poppy because of her eye colour and her peppy personality.
She had no idea what happened to the people of Gastonia and honestly, she really didn't care 7
Those people had been nothing but uncaring towards her, apart from the late old lady, may ber soul rest in peace, that is
The little Princess was her last hope, her last will to live in this cruel world and luckily, the Princess indeed kept due to her promises.
It was later on, when her mind had matured, she realised that the Emperor had only let her stay beside the Princess as a display piece.
But, nevertheless, she was content with just being able to stay by the side of this benevolent Princess of hers.
"Poppy?" Cecilia suddenly called startling Poppy, who was lost in thought, a little.
"Yes My Lady?" Poppy replied a little flustered.
"Where are you lost? I've been talking to you for sometime now but you didn't reply," Cecilia spoke casually as she watched Peter being ushered to out of the room by Lolen, the palace keeper.
"Sorry my Lady. I'll go ask around to see if I'll get any useful information and report back to you," Poppy said and bowed to the Princess before turning to the exit.
Just as she was about to open the door, someone began knocking on it.
"Come in!" Cecilia ordered nonchalantly and Poppy opened the door. Sir Tristian walked in with a small scroll in his right palm.
"Your Highness," He bowed to Cecilia who turned to look at him upon hearing the familiar voice.
"Rise Sir Tristan. And to what do I owe the 'pleasure' of your visit," Cecilia spoke sarcastically and emphasized on the word 'pleasure'.
"There's a message from the Imperial palace for you" He said with his head still bowed and his hand, that held the scroll, still on his chest.
Cecilia paused for a few seconds looking at the scroll in Sir Tristan's palm and a small smile suddenly etched on her face.
"You can drop it on the table over there." Cecilia said with a mischievous smile on her face which she quickly covered up. Sir
Tristan did as he was told and left after bowing to her one last time.
"Poppy, bring the scroll over here, Cecilia ordered as soon as Tristan exited the room. The mischief glimmering in her eyes promising nothing good.
Poppy rushed to the table and picked the scroll. She returned to her position, beside the Princess, immediately afterwards. Cecilia glanced at the velvet rimmed paper and smiled.
"Read it aloud," she ordered and the girl nodded before slowly, more like carefully, opening the attachment on this scroll and ugraveling it's scripts.
"To my only Princess Cecilia,
Dear daughter, I have missed ever so much hence the reason I'm writing this letter to you. The winter seasons are at hand and on the fourth quarter is your mother's and the late Empress's memorial.
Most important, I wanted to ensure you're doing well after the incident at the Coming Of Age Ceremony. Hence, I'm requesting your presence at the Imperial Palace by this dusk.
Your Everloving Father,
Emperor Cedrick Bettor. "
Poppy finished reading the scroll with a repulsed look on her face Cecilia sighed softly as she understood what caused her reaction.
No one needed to tell the reader of this message that the scroll was not written by the Emperor, they weren't even his words. Her father was never a touchy feeling type so this was not possible from him.
"Are you going to go My lady? This was obviously not written by the Emperor. What if it's one of the guests playing a prank on you?" Poppy asked genuinely worried but Cecilia simply smiled.
"Even though the Emperor didn't hand write it or even have any part to play in the composition of the letter, that doesn't mean he didn't order it to be written, Cecilia said confusing Poppy.
"So in short, the Emperor demands my presence but some middleman is trying to soothe my anger or as they may think, because he hasn't shown up yet and is suddenly demanding my audience.
I don't even have to think to hard about who it might be," Cecilia said as she stood up from her seat and walked towards the nightstand in her room.
"But forget about the Emperor's demand for a minute. Do you know what his invite mean?" Cecilia asked Poppy as she picked up a book from the nightstand.
"I'm not sure if I do My Lady," Poppy answered honestly and Cecilia turned towards her with a smirk on her face.
"It so obvious Poppy," Cecilia said and quickly walked to Poppy's side. "It means we can sneak Luke out of the palace through this means," she whispered into Poppy's ear.
Poppy gasped in realisation and Cecilia smiled proudly at her genius. Speaking of her genius, she still had to figure what was going on with her precious little Poppy these days.
Go check if Luke has settled in well in the guest bedroom I hope he doesn't get too comfy as we're sneaking him out... tonight," Cecilia said as she returned back to her seat as elegantly as she was.
"Yes "My Lady, I'll go first," Poppy said and literally skipped out of the room happily as it would finally be just her and her Princess again, just the way she liked it.
She walked down the hallway towards the guest bedroom but bumped into Mr Lolen on the way there. She smiled happily at the man who selbeom such an expression on her face asides beside their Princess. 7
"Mr Lølen Rosenman, can you please inform the appraised guest that his stay has been cut short by the Princess. He'll be leaving tonight if things go smoothly," Poppy said carelessly and immediately regretted it
"What do you mean if things go smoothly Poppy?" Lolen asked and but bit her tongue at her slip up. She thought about all the excuses she could make but before she even speak, Cecilia immediately appeared behind her.
"Don't bother yourself too much about it Lolen, just that the nobleman's family will come to take him back by tonight," Cecilia immediately covered for Poppy while throwing a stern gaze at her making the girl shrink in self admonition.
"Alright My Lady, I'll go attend to my other duties then," the middle-aged man bowed to her slightly before walking away. Immediately he left, Poppy turned to face Cecilia who turned away from her.
"Another mistake like this will absolutely not be tolerated Poppy, I trust you'll heed to my words," Cecilia said in a soft yet firm tone and Poppy bowed her head in response.
Cecilia sighed. The girl was still too naive for this world. Whether she liked it or not, she'd have to let her go one day. Cecilia smiled softly and raised the girl's chin.
"Let's go Poppy, you'll cramp your neck of you bow too much," Cecilia said taking the girl's hand in hers before walking back to hèr room.
-To be continued...