"Yes Princess?"
Instead of responding to her question, the girl merely continued to wordlessly stare at her. The girl seemed to have wanted to ask something but she stayed silent. The only sound that could be heard around them was the sound of the fireball that Emma was maintaining with her magic. After a bit of time, Emma called out to the girl again.
"Princess? Are you alright?"
"Huh?"
"You seemed like you wanted to ask me something Princess."
"Wh-what…? Ah, N-no… It's nothing important, Emma."
"We really should head back inside soon Princess. I heard that the snowfall would only get stronger from here on out. And it is also time for dinner, Princess."
The girl looked back at the sun lotus before nodding her head.
"Yeah… we should."
Just like that, the girl started walking back towards the palace not even waiting for Emma to lead her. They walked through the few inches of snow with only the crunching sound beneath their feet.
"…"
"..."
The silence felt weird to Emma. Normally the girl was quite the chatterbox after checking on the sun lotus. But for some reason today the girl was silent. The girl had her eyes on the ground as she continued to walk ahead. The silence started to feel uncomfortable to Emma.
"Pri-"
"Emma."
Just as Emma was about to strike up a conversation, the girl stopped in her tracks and spoke up.
"Does… does Kara have a twin by any chance?"
"Lady Kara? No. No I do not think so. Why do you ask, Princess?"
"It's nothing."
The girl then continued to walk towards the palace not saying a word anymore. Emma wondered why the girl had suddenly asked about Kara, but it seemed like the girl was not in the mood to talk.
'I guess I'll ask Lady Kara about it later.'
So the two continued to walk towards the palace with a strange atmosphere around them.
****
The dinner that was prepared for the imperial family was nothing short of a feast for the senses. Laid out on the large table was an abundance of food that could feed a family for an entire day.
And though the food was delicious to the point that even just the aroma was enough to make someone feel full, to the girl all of it tasted like nothing. Everything seemed empty to her. Though there were people around her, she could hardly look at them. After she had heard from them, she was unsure on how to face them.
"I heard you've been skipping class to take care of the sun lotus in garden Mira. Is that true?"
After eating in silence for a bit, Jyllene asked the girl a question as if to confirm what she had heard from the maids.
"Yes Mom. I'm sorry..."
Jyllene was a bit surprised. She had asked the question not to confirm anything but to merely make conversation. Pyron was a bit surprised as well.
"You do know that even with little care the lotus would still grow without a problem, yes?"
"I know Dad…"
The girl kept poking her food around her plate not even making eye contact with her parents.
"If you are aware, why have you been skipping your classes to "take care" of it then?"
"I'm sorry. I'll stop."
Pyron's surprise only grew. He did not expect for the girl to apologize and say that she would stop doing it. He let out a small cough to shake off the surprised feeling.
"Well, it's not that big of a deal anyways."
Pyron was just asking a simple question. Truth be told it was hardly a big deal for the girl to skip her class. Even if she did, everyone was quick to adapt to the sudden change in schedule. It was a little inconvenient, yes, but not the end of the world.
'Lies.'
However the girl stopped seeing it that way. She saw this little bit of questioning as them being disappointed in her actions. She thinks so because she was disappointed in herself too.
"".....""
Silence fell over the dining hall. Only the occasional clanging of silverware could be heard in the hall. Everyone had a lot on their mind, but they were having difficulty putting it to words.
"Are you alright Mira? You seem… quiet."
The girl blankly stared at her father before looking back down at her plate.
"I'm sorry. I… still feel a little sick."
"Is that so?"
Pyron stared at the girl for a moment with a doubtful look in his eyes.
"Well go on ahead and rest then."
"Be sure to get plenty of rest alright. Your sister is coming home soon and we have a lot of things to do when she does."
The girl stood still before responding.
"Yes mom."
The girl stood up from her chair and walked away from the table and towards her room escorted by Kara. As she disappeared behind the hall's double doors, Jyllene and Pyron looked at each other.
"Did she seem weird to you Jyll?"
"So you noticed it too. Yeah she's normally a lot more… more during these meals."
"Hmm… I wonder what happened. I haven't heard anything from Syrias about this."
"Neither have I from Emma or Kara."
"Maybe she is feeling a little sick this time."
"Maybe…"
Neither could shake the feeling that something was a little off about the girl. She gave a reason for her odd behavior, but it still seemed weird to them.
"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine. Right, we should talk about Kazehaya. What do you want to do with them?"
"That little tiff by the border? Do we have to do anything? Can't they solve it themselves?"
"Sadly I think we do have to. Syrias mentioned that the lord there was practically begging for help from anyone."
Jyllene groaned at the thought but eventually relented.
"Fine, we'll deal with it. But at a later time. Aurelia probably needs us right now."
"Hmm?"
Pyron tilted his head at what Jyllene said, unaware of the situation.
"The son of Duke Gildea just passed away."
"Isaac died? I see."
There was a look of shock on Pyron's face before realizing how the boy probably died.
"So he lost the fight with his illness. That's saddening. I heard he was quite promising."
"Seems like that's what Aurelia thought so too. Jenna mentioned she was looking a bit down."
"So are you making her come home from the detached palace then?"
Jyllene nodded her head at Pyron's question.
"That's good."
As the conversation reaches its conclusion the two leave the dining hall and head back towards their room.
****
"You can go now Kara."
"I'm sorry?"
Reaching the girl's room, Her maid is taken aback at being told to leave so soon. Normally she would stay to help the girl get ready to sleep by changing her dress.
"It's alright Kara. I… can dress myself."
The girl seemed to not want the help. The maid debated with herself on what to do but eventually relented.
"As you wish, princess. Please feel free to call us anytime."
Her maid bowed towards her. The girl stared at her for a bit.
"I will remember that, Kara."
"Thank you, Princess. Please get plenty of rest and have a wonderful night."
As she bowed once more she stepped out of the room and closed the doors behind her. The girl stared at the doors in a daze before speaking to herself.
"You're not saying that for me, are you? Yeah, even mom told me to get better for Sister's sake."
Now alone with her thoughts, the girl spoke with no one to listen, not even bothering to change. The girl had no mental energy left to do her nightly training. Changing her clothes was out of the question as well as she walked and collapsed on her bed like a puppet having its strings cut. Hugging a nearby pillow, the events of the day repeated through the girl's mind.
She remembered the difference between the faces she saw while staying hidden, and the faces that they showed in front of her. The girl had seen those faces all throughout her life and she had thought that all of them were real. But after the day's events, she saw the real thoughts of the people around her.
"Why? Why?"
The girl struggled to understand the reason behind all of their facades. Thinking of the warm smiles that they had shown her before, the girl wondered if any of them were real or if they were all in her head.
The girl hugged her pillow even tighter trying to think of anything. Then she thinks back to the previous weeks and realized that they had stopped smiling at her. She tried to remember when it had started to be that way but failed to do so. All she knows is that they had stopped.
Kara, who would play with her even though she would be a bit late, had started pushing her to go to class on time. Syrias, who had once taught her by her side, distanced himself from her. Emma, who acted as her main caretaker who once gently woke her, no longer did so. Even her parent's Jyllene and Pyron, who she thought were so proud of her, were now disappointed by her. She remembered what their reactions were to her being bad mouthed.
"I wish Mira could be more like Aurelia sometimes."
"I don't know how to feel now. On one hand Aurelia is doing amazingly, but on the other hand Mira is doing abysmally. I can't help but feel a little disappointed."
"!!!"
The girl's eyes shot open and she sat up. That was the reason. The reason for everything was because of her sister. Her sister was the perfect example of what she could be. A proper princess able to remember the lessons taught to her. Someone who was better than her.
While the girl was not showing any sign of improvement, her sister was not the same. As the girl struggled to show progress, her sister continued to improve.
And the changes in the people around her were not changes in them at all, it was the girl that did not change. They had shown her such adoration before because see was showing growth. And their cold attitudes now were a result of her stagnation. At least that's what the girl thought.
"But how can I be like Sister? How can I change to be like that?"
The girl hugged her knees with tears in her eyes. How could she ever catch up to her big sister? She had already been doing all she could to do so. Becoming capable of using magic was out of her hands but she was trying her best in academics, so what else could she do? Was there even anything she could do?
"No. There is still something. I can still try harder."
There were still a couple of non essential things that she was doing that she could stop in order to devote more time to bettering herself. She could stop attending to the sun lotus for one thing. Like everyone said, the lotus did not require any particular care and she was only caring for it because she thought it looked lonely.
It was a ridiculous reason for caring for a flower but she had done so nonetheless. Then another way to get more time was to cut down on the time she met with her fiancé. It would hurt both of their feelings but it seemed necessary to improve herself.
'I don't want to do that though.'
The girl was reluctant to spend less time with her fiance but she would have to in order to catch up to her big sister.
'Wait, shouldn't we just study together?'
Certainly there was nothing wrong with studying together. They already had two dates set up every week so surely they could make time.
'Yeah, yeah. We could do that!'
A smile bloomed on the girl's face as she imagined the results of her plan. She would be able to see the smile that the people around her had once shown her.
And this time, there would be no doubt if they were real or not. After all, she would show progress.
"Hehehe…"
With those thoughts filling her head it made it a bit difficult for her to sleep. But when the girl did fall asleep, it was with a genuine smile on her face and a light heart, giggling all the while.