With Wilhelm eagerly dragging Lili along they quickly came into the large dining hall where she was immediately met with many questioning eyes. There around the table was the Queen Victoria, Prince Heinrich of Prussia who is Queen Victoria's grandson and Wilhelm the seconds brother. Then there was Heinrich's wife Princess Erena who strangely enough was Queen Victoria's deceased daughter's child. And then there was of course Kaiser Wilhelm the second and his son the crown Prince Wilhelm who Lili was now friends with.
Why was a father named Wilhelm and his son named Wilhelm, and why had two of Queen Victoria's daughters married their children together? Well Lili didn't know but felt it to be quite strange and the names and relationships and all already seemed quite confusing as well.
There was apparently supposed to be more people present, a lot more actually, but for whatever reason many had refused while others were too tired to come. Well whatever the reason it was quite lucky for her that Wilhelm was there on her side explaining it all to her while the adults talked of their own things.
Queen Victoria although did take occasional glances at her and seemed interested in saying something to her, but Kaiser Wilhelm seemed too focused on talking to the Queen to even notice her sitting there next to his son. So while Wilhelm explained things to her and they were served food she with great interests listened to the adults speak.
And in surprisingly fluent German the Queen and the Kaiser spoke about many things. From topics like the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway. A railway that apparently had just started its construction and was now being overseen by Tsar Alexander the third. Alexander the third who is Prince Nicholas father, Nicholas being a person who was possibly going to be married to Queen Victoria's granddaughter who was in love with Nicholas and who was also Prince Henrichs sister. But because of some war with Germany and Denmark the Princess didn't like his brother Heinrich or cousin Kaiser Wilhelm or Germany for that matter. And supposedly this was one of the reasons for the family drama according to Wilhelm.
Truly family drama between royals was quite strange. Despite the British royal family having blood relations to pretty much every nations royal families in Europe they still had hatred and wars amongst one another and maybe even racist sentiments towards each other and the people they ruled over.
Other than that Kaiser Wilhelm seemed quite serious as he spoke to the Queen of the Yellow Peril and its potential threat to Europe. There apparently had been violence against missionaries in China, the French were having border clashes on the French controlled Vietnam border neighbouring China. And overall relations were not good between the West and China it seemed. And because of this and China's size Wilhelm saw a great threat in China and Japan apparently.
Kaiser Wilhelm also talked a lot about the need to conquer Africa and see it taken for the West's security interest. He also mentioned something about problems there like a war with the HeHe tribe and some others as well.
But despite Wilhelm's enthusiasm of Europe taking over Africa it seemed that the British parliament and the French did not appreciate Germany's expansion into Africa and elsewhere, according to the Queen.
Actually according to Queen Victoria a whole lot of different countries seemed quite worried about German colonial expansion. Apparently this was disturbing the precious balance of the world stage and could be cause for war in the future if Germany was not careful.
Overall from all that she heard of the adults conversations it seemed that Kaiser Wilhelm the second was a bit delusional. He seemed to hold some kind of an idea in his head that all of Europe was one team and that their enemy was in Asia. And that if he expanded German borders with colonies then that meant that Europe expanded and so it was good for all.
But obviously this was not true. The Queen even tried to convince the man of this, but he refused to listen. According to the Queen it was only Wilhelm who saw China as a threat and no other nation in Europe supported his Idea. If anything then the Europeans just saw China as weak and of no threat to any of them. China was merely a place to be exploited and everyone was competing for their slice of that Chinese pie it seemed. But the Kaiser didn't seem to agree with this as he only continued trying to convince the Queen otherwise.
But funnily enough all of this talk of international politics and expansion did quickly bring back memories to Lili of her first life and its school days in history class. There she remembered seeing an old picture of the Kaiser. In it he seemed quite old and a bit fat also with his stumpy little left arm.
But sitting there so close to him now the man seemed so different to that picture. He was actually quite a decent looking fellow with his mustache and fancy suit and all that. He after all was now only within his thirties and he looked quite much like the Prince Wilhelm sitting next to her.
Although unlike the young Prince, the Kaiser did have that small left arm that was quite noticeable. It was only a tad bit smaller than the right, but still quite noticeable.
Also thinking of her past two lives it seemed quite obvious to Lili what was the real problem here and the cause for war in Europe overall. And that problem simply was that there were too many Alpha males within this hungry wolf pack that was Europe.
In her first life there was mainly only one Alpha and that was the USA that kept everyone in check more or less. But here there was no single Alpha male who kept them all in check and so a war was going to happen at some point between them all to see who was boss.
There simply were just too many rivalries, past grievances and overall too much drama within this continent. And worst of all was that these royals didn't have a single uniting father figure that could possibly solve it all out. There was Queen Victoria, the mother of Europe, but a mother that lacked the power to solve these people's problems for good. She could only keep them from totally tearing themselves apart for now, but that was it. And from history Lili knew that sooner or later there would be war.
But luckily Queen Victoria quickly grew frustrated by Wilhelm's talk of politics and so the topic turned to more happier things. And because of this Lili learned that Britain had just been connected to mainland Europe by telephone. And also London had apparently just held the world's first weightlifting championship just a few months ago, although Lili sadly hadn't been able to attend such an historic event.
It seemed that Europe was in the midst of great changes and development. The modern world was not far away just like the wars were not either. But as advanced as Europe was now she strangely enough had a bowl of pigs feet soup put in front of her all of a sudden. A soup that was supposedly a delicacy here in Britain according to the young Prince. Well whatever it was Lili hungry as she was definitely wasn't going to eat it.
Sure she did eat some hearts and other unspeakable things in her past life, but she was different now. She was a delicate girl, a good girl and an honest girl that could admit that the soup did smell good, but her now tender girlish mind couldn't come to terms with the idea of eating this food.
Looking to Wilhelm for help Lili only saw him happily munching on his food already to her disgust. Seeing it and not wanting to cause any problems she grabbed a cup of tea and played it cool by sipping on it slowly.
But almost immediately Wilhelm noticed her actions as he asked in German. "What are you doing? The soups going to get cold if you don't eat it soon. And trust me you don't want that to happen, after all it's really good and so much better when it's served hot. You can't miss it, so eat up already."
Taking a quick sip of her tea Lili then placed it down and acted like an elegant noble as she simply spoke to him in German as she said. "No it's fine. I'm on a diet. If you want you can, ugh...."
But before she could finish talking Wilhelm suddenly shoved a spoon full of the soup into her mouth. And as he showed a shit eating grin he victoriously said. "No excuses Lili, eat up. I know this food must be quite fancy for a common girl like you. But please eat, or else you'll continue to be a small little midget that never can hope to best me in strength."
And as the spoon left her mouth Lili chewed and seeing no other option then swallowed that surprisingly delicious pigs feet soup. But delicious as it was Lili couldn't stand for Wilhelm's insults, and so she didn't.
Standing up on her chair she pointed to Wilhelm and accusingly in her defence said. "I'm not a midget! I'm just six years old you, you, you jerk! Besides your only stronger and taller than me because your like probably over half my age, you just wait, once I become the same age as you you'll see that I'll be just as strong as you are now."
But as she stood there she immediately felt the whole room go silent and all eyes fall upon her. Although Wilhelm didn't seem bothered at all as he merely smirked at her and said. "Well actually I'm only nine years old and soon to be ten. So if you wish to become like me then you should really consider eating more and maybe sitting down."
Hearing his words Lili looked around only to see everyone watching her with displeasure as she then quickly sat back down. The atmosphere was not good, but luckily Wilhelm quickly came to the rescue with another spoon full of soup saying. "Come on Lili open up, your Prince commands you to."
Now the Kaiser seemed outraged and displeased, causing Lili to hurriedly take the spoon within her mouth which immediately caused the Kaiser to yell out. "Wilhelm! What are you doing? Who is this German girl!"
Startled by the Kaiser's hostile sounding voice Lili watched as Wilhelm casually said. "She's not German. She's Lili my friend and personal servant who simply can speak German and English quite fluently. Plus she's the girl who everyone's probably talking about right now. The one who flew from the Clocktower."
Hearing this the people in the room seemed stunned, but for different reasons as Heinrich immediately spoke up saying. "Ooh that's quite impressive. For such a young child to already be speaking two languages and a girl no less is quite something. I honestly thought that you were German."
To these words people around the table agreed by nodding their heads slightly and even the Kaiser seemed a bit impressed, but suspicious. Although Lili couldn't help but feel a bit offended. For whatever reason Heinrich had to mention the fact that she was a girl, almost like that made it more impressive somehow. But more importantly Lili felt a need to correct their misunderstandings as she said in German.
"Well I actually do speak eight languages all in all. English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and Arabic. Although some I speak better than others. Oh and I also don't consider myself to be a part of any nation, for I do not have a connection to any nation. I have no family, no permanent place of residence, no identity and no school that I attend. I have been merely working as a brothels accountant for a meager wage before and so I do not consider myself to have any real attachments to any nation. I'm simply Lili, a girl who wishes to follow Wilhelm to Germany as all."
But immediately after saying this the Kaiser said. "Impossible. How can such a young orphan girl speak so many languages and supposedly know how to fly? Just who are you? There is no way that your six years of age, I need proof of these claims."
And so from a peaceful dinner table Lili suddenly found herself being taken to be tested by many different people. Luckily Queen Victoria managed to calm the Kaiser down and so she was able to at least finish her meal with Wilhelm.
But quickly she found herself being tested by many different experts of many different nationalities. Some experts were luckily to be found close to the palace, but others the Kaiser had to send men to find further away.
Even the Queen being a bit suspicious of her went as far as to send some people out to find out her origins. Both royals seemed intent to find out if she truly was who she said that she was.
And so for hours upon hours she went through language tests. Although some language testers she had to wait for a long time for, and so while waiting she went off and told them of her other skills as well. Skills in business, fighting, riding, sailing, etiquette and dancing. And so she quickly found herself being tested in those fields as well.
Counting, writing, riding and lastly dancing. The fighting and sailing weren't tested as those the royals simply refused to believe in the slightest of being true. According to their words it was impossible for such a young person to know of those things, especially a girl.
Hearing the words Lili once again felt offended. Even the Queen seemed to emphasize the words girl as if she was lesser to a boy. Sure she was smaller and weaker and all that, but like seriously that didn't mean that she couldn't know how to sail or fight a little at least. Well whatever the case it seemed obvious to her that she should not say anything more about her other skills or else she might really get into trouble.
And so instead she quickly found herself within a large dancing hall, or a ball room as they called it here. And there with a small band on the stage playing their classical music she was made to dance. But luckily she didn't need to dance alone as Prince Wilhelm kindly insisted that he be allowed to dance with her.
But as sweet of him as it was to do, it was also quite strange. For she had never been made to dance in the woman's role before at school and to dance with a boy no less was so strange.
Although Wilhelm didn't seem to mind at all. He merely held a sweet smile on his face which made her feel at ease as he then quietly whispered dancing instructions into her ear. And then with a surprising amount of skill he led her in the dance and she was swept along with him under the sweet music playing within the room.
In almost perfect harmony their feet moved together and matched one another nearly perfectly. The height difference was big, but not a problem as she merely needed to have fate in Wilhelm as he kindly led her along. He even made her do a few little spins during the dance which was surprisingly fun.
Though as the dance went on the sun had already started to set, and with it setting Lili was slowly starting to feel extreme exhaustion hit her. Wilhelm luckily did notice this and held her tightly as they danced the song to its end after which he insisted that they end the dance there for Lilis sake.
Truly Wilhelm was quite a good leader and a friend. His movements were easy to follow during the dance and he even was sharp enough to notice her exhaustion, which she very much appreciated.
Although it had quickly become quite evident during the dance that her skills in dancing were obviously not all too great. But in the end they did seem to have pleased their small crowd of servants and royals who all clapped to them and some even cheered. Even the Kaiser and the Queen seemed pleased with their performance.
But despite this Lili could see some concern on the Queen's face as well as the Kaisers. Obviously a common girl getting too close to the crown Prince was not good. After all the boy was royalty and meant to marry someone of high standing. Which luckily the adults really didn't need to worry about as she most definitely wasn't planning on marrying some boy or any man for that matter, no way. They were merely friends and that was all.
Wilhelm although did seem really happy. The boy was constantly holding her hand and keeping close to her as he held that happy smile upon his cute face. And then as they thanked the crowd for the applause and bowed to them she was seemingly then just allowed to stay by Wilhelm's side. It seemed that her skills and manners had somewhat won the adults over and so her place seemed secure here for now.
But as the sun had already set and darkness had come she quickly bid farewell to Wilhelm who seemed reluctant to do so as they then headed off to their own assigned rooms. The Queen Kindly enough had given her a simple guest room with a nice big bed and a big bathroom attached to that room. And there the maids kindly gave her a quick bath and a nice white night dress to sleep in.
So after a lot of hard work during the day she was finally able to climb into bed, under the covers and start happily drifting off into sleep. Which was not easy, for dark thoughts plagued her mind. The people here although a bit reserved at first all in the end seemed so kind and nice towards her. Especially Prince Wilhelm was such a good boy and so kind towards her.
And yet to think that all of them would soon be swept into a war from which they all would suffer was such a sad thought. Millions would die and Europe would never truly recover from the war that was soon to be. No instead there would only be another war after the first and millions more would then die. Just the thought of it felt so sad to her now, before she hadn't really thought of it at all, but this was quite a serious matter after all.
But what was she going to do about it? Was her changing Hitler going to be enough or would she need to do something else. Well she would probably need to do something else, but for the moment she really needed rest. And so slowly she pushed the thoughts away and began to drift off into a deep sleep.
A sleep that sadly didn't last for long as she quickly felt a familiar presence coming towards her room. And then the door opened and he stepped quietly into her room. And as he did she didn't turn to look and instead continued to lay on her side with her eyes closed as she lazily said. "Let me sleep Wilhelm. I'm too tired to play anymore ok."
But despite saying this the boy only got closer. He came right beside her bed and stood there for a second or so. Feeling him once more so close to herself she felt a bit disturbed and wanted to protest the boys actions, but before she could he firmly said.
"No I won't let you be alone, as your friend and as a man I can't do that. You said that you didn't have any relatives or parents, you're an orphan right? Well unlike your parents I refuse to leave you alone."
Then suddenly the boy pulled back the covers and climbed right into bed next to her and gave her a big warm hug. Lili could feel her nose being pressed right against his chest startling her to open her eyes as she pushed against him in protest and said. "Wilhelm what are you doing?"
But as she said this and looked up to him, she was absolutely taken aback to see the boy with such a sad expression on his young face. Seeing it she knew not what to say and quickly gave up her protest. For whatever reason the boy seemed so sad and felt so gentle towards her as he held her close and gently brushed her hair as he said.
"Please Lili just let me stay here with you. I thought about it as I went to bed just a few moments ago and I realised that you are hurting, aren't you? You act as if you are not, you act like you don't care, but surely it is not like so. You are such a good and beautiful girl Lili. You should not be alone within this world, without anyone to call your own and no one to hold you and to love you as their very own. I myself have so many relatives, a mother and a father of my own so I cannot even begin to imagine how you must feel. But it must not be easy for you, that I'm sure of. So please Lili just put your fate into me and feel free to be weak around me and tell me whatever is on your mind. Let me be here with you as your one and only family. Just you and me together, ok."
Hearing the boys words Lili was stunned. He sounded so assertive, so needy and greedy, talking of her as she was his and his alone or something. Hadn't they already agreed to just be friends, but then again he wasn't wrong. His words were sweet, they made her feel so warm and welcome here within his arms. But the words also made her little heart feel sad and abandoned.
It was true she was alone and it hurt. The people within the brothel were ok, but they didn't really see her as their own or care that deeply for her anyway. She never felt any true feelings of love from them, she was merely a tool for them to gain money from. But Wilhelm seemed different, no he was different. He didn't need her at all really, she was the only one here who was in need and yet he accepted her anyway.
She could feel no deceit from him. He did although seem a bit manipulative, but his care and want for her were genuine. He honestly seemed to want to be with her, he wanted to mean something to her and it made her feel so accepted and maybe even loved.
Sure he might have only been a boy now, but he was a good boy. He was her good little boy and she couldn't help but love him for it even if they only met each other that day. And for whatever reason this boy seemed to feel the same type of a close attachment to her. He had taken an instant liking to her and seemed so attached to her now and so caring towards her, and it felt so good to her.
Suddenly Lili could feel her body tremble in uncontrollable happiness at all these thoughts and his words. Her little heart felt so warm and tiers of happiness came to her eyes as she quietly said. "Thank you Wilhelm."
Seeing it Wilhelm showed a sad smile as he pressed her head into his chest and hugged her even closer then. Even their legs were now so closely touching each other as he gently spoke to her and said. "It's ok Lili, I'm here. I won't ever leave you I promise. We are family now after all."
To this all Lili could only muster out a few silent thanks as she quietly cried into his chest and fell asleep within his arms. As strange as it was she couldn't help but quickly warm up to this nice boy. Sure it felt strange at first being next to him or even touching him slightly, but over the day and as she lay there she slowly started to feel more and more comfortable with his touch. Honestly it wasn't a bad feeling at all and actually quite a comforting one at that.
And so she drifted off to sleep unaware of the victorious grin that was on the young Princes face as he whispered to the sleeping her and said. "You might be pretty good at fighting now, but I'll conquer you nevertheless. I'll become stronger and more skilled than you as a girl will ever hope to be. And then I'll make you mine and mine alone no matter what my father or Grandmother says. I will not let any other man have you, never. You will be mine, my flying little angel."