6. Change

Noticed that it was the princess coming in, the king's attendant, Alfred, bowed to her.

- Your Highness.

- Sir Alfred. – Lucia returned his greeting and smiled. She turned her head towards the handsome man who temporarily stopped writing when she came in. – Father. – Her voice rang delightedly like the church bell in the early morning as she greeted the king.

- Oh, Lucia. What brings you here today? – William was a bit surprised to find his daughter standing at the door. Usually, she wouldn't go near the study in order not to interrupt his works so he's kind of curious about her intention.

- I have something I want to tell you. Did you finish your works? – Lucia gave him a bashful smile and coyly walked in when the door was closing. If Lucius was here and saw how she acted, he would have asked: "Who the h€ll are you? What did you do to my sister?"

- Well, I'm not done yet. It's okay. Just tell me what you want to say. I'm all ears.

His hand hadn't stopped at all but he still encouraged his daughter to speak. Seeing how busy he still was, Lucia walked to the sofa and said:

- I can wait until you're done. You don't have to rush. – She beamed dazzlingly to assure him that she's happy to wait for him. "He always worked hard. It's already bad to interrupt him. I shouldn't give him more issues."

Lucia sat on the sofa and waited patiently. Not for long though. As she was bored, she started looking around. William almost couldn't hide his smile when his daughter's behavior was so cute. He focused on the documents in front of him again. He wanted to finish as fast as he could. "Can't let my daughter wait for too long."

Guessing that the princess must have had her tea, Alfred only prepared some snacks. Lucia picked it up with a smile but before she could take a bite, her hands paused. Suddenly, her brother's words resurfaced on her mind. "Have I eaten a little too much lately?"

She relooked at the delicious snacks on the table. "F#ck it! I'm beautiful no matter how much I eat. I just have to exercise more." While savoring the snacks, she grumbled with a quiet voice.

- Sh!tty brother, it's all his fault that I feel uncomfortable. This is not good! How can I fully enjoy savoring my food if I keep worrying about my figure?

Lucia thought nobody would be able to hear her quiet voice but, unfortunately, Alfred had keen ears. He returned to the king's side to assist him in his work and pretended that he didn't hear anything.

When William finally signed the last petition, there's only an hour away for the sun to set. He put his quill pen down and started stretching as his body was sore all over from sitting too long.

- Good work today. You may leave.

Alfred bowed and walked out of the study. After taking a look at the clock on the wall, William moved closer to the sofa and found Lucia was sleeping peacefully under the cover of a blanket. Probably, Alfred who had noticed, cleaned the table and put a blanket on her.

Lucia must have wandered deep into the dreamland as William saw drool at the corner of her mouth. It appeared she was very happy that she kept smiling and puckered her lips. William found her action very cute but he's also a bit worried: "Just what kind of dream is it that her expression becomes like this?"

- Piggy, rise and shine!

William shook her shoulder lightly to wake her up. But he was taken aback when he saw Lucia panicked after opening her eyes. She was staring at him and stuttered nervously:

- Wh-wh-what did y-you just call me?

William was just joking when he found her sleeping soundly. But now it looked like it wouldn't be a good idea to repeat that. He assured her with the warmest smile.

- What's wrong, beauty?

"Oh, so I heard it wrong. It seems I was too conscious about it." She mumbled and heaved a sigh of relief.

- No, there's nothing wrong. I just misheard your words.

She gave him the sweetest smile in return but in her head, she was cursing Lucius: "Sh!tty brother!!!" Seeing how his daughter went back to normal, William realized something. "Usually, Lucia would tell a joke in response. It seems she's a bit sensitive today. I'd better not use any words related to 'fat' in front of her for a couple of days." He immediately changed the topic as he sat down opposite her.

- So, what did you want to talk about?

Hearing her father asked, Lucia remembered why she came and sat back straight. Then she started acting coyly. She wanted to look as cute as possible to raise the chance her father agreed to her wish.

- Um, it's nothing big. Just… I want you to spend some time with me. There's a festival coming, you know… Um… I'm kinda… I meant I wondered if you could go there together with me.

Actually, she didn't need to go this far. She only had to fix the carriage and done. But she was still a bit worried. To be safe, she wanted to change both the carriage and the destination. She had also considered the possibility of convincing William to stay back at the castle but couldn't find any good reason. As there's a festival coming, she decided to simply ask him to bring her around town.

William recalled Lucia had mentioned the festival before. Looking at Lucia who kept fidgeting, he lightly laughed and responded.

- Okay, anything for my daughter.

Lucia intended to say more to persuade her father but upon hearing this, she swallowed back her words and reconfirmed.

- Wha- Really?

She didn't think that she would succeed effortlessly when her father was always so busy. All the hints she gave must have worked. Although she had expected the outcome, seeing her father nodded, Lucia was still overflowed with joy.

- Yay!

Lucia stood up and started spinning around. "This would be a crucial point to change the future." Thinking that everybody she cared for avoided the tragedy, she just couldn't stop giggling. But after a while, Lucia noticed that her father was looking at her. He didn't laugh out loud but both his eyes and mouth curved lightly. Embarrassed, she stopped spinning and purposely coughed.

- Ahem, thank you very much. I'm very happy that you agreed to have a date with me. I hope you have a great day, sir.

Lucia curtsied and scurried out of the room. She could feel that her skin was burning hot. She covered her face with her hand. Still, she couldn't stop herself from wishing to dig a hole and jump in. Even when she was a distance away, she still heard restrained laughter from her father.

- Come on, Lucia. You have to compose yourself. You're an elegant princess. Elegant princess. Elegant princess…

After chanting her usual mantras, Lucia slowed down and started walking at a normal speed. The maids still followed her and pretended they didn't hear a thing as they were familiar with this kind of situation. But after a while, one of the maids couldn't help but ask.

- Um, your highness. May I ask where are we going? This is not the way back to your chamber.

Lucia tilted her head as she thought of a reason to tell them.

- Um, the weather is great. I'm kind of wanting to have a stroll.

The maid couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Your highness, can you please give me a more plausible excuse? Nobody, not even a kid, would believe it. Are you trying to tell me this muddy sky is great weather?" Despite thinking so, the maid kept her mouth shut and followed quietly. As Lucia walked further and further away, even the other maid wondered about where she intended to go. She didn't have any intentions to speak because it's not their place to ask their master. Upon seeing the second maid intended to speak again, she glared at her to warn her against doing so. The second maid swallowed back her words and obediently lowered her head. She also knew that as a servant, being curious didn't do her any good.

"Finally, I'm here." As Lucia was getting closer to the stable, her pace became slower comparatively. She began to look around and search for something. Notice this change, there's no way the maids wouldn't realize that the stable was her destination. Though they still couldn't guess what she intended to do. Why did a princess want to go to a dirty place like the stable?

Finally found what she was looking for, Lucia trying to act surprised. But upon seeing the maids' reaction, she realized that her acting was a bit exaggerated that it ended up looking so fake.

- Ahem, Ellen. Bring me Nolan.

She cleared her throat to dispel her embarrassment and order the maid. After a minute, Ellen and a middle-aged man hurriedly walked over. The man then respectfully bowed and said.

- Your highness, how can I serve you?

Lucia inspected the man in front of her. Although he looked like an average man, she knew that he secretly was her father's trusted subordinate. Nolan was the coachman that assisted Elaine switched the babies at the very beginning. That's how William found out but still decided to let her go through with her plan.

Nolan only appeared in a few chapters at the beginning of the novel. He soon died together with William in the accident as he was the coachman. So when Lucia made William avoid the accident, that also meant Nolan would escape death too. Considered all these, there was no problem with his loyalty. All she had to do was to give him a reminder.

Lucia gave the maids a side glance. They understood that she wanted to have a talk alone with Nolan and stepped aside. When they finally were alone, Lucia spoke.

- I'm going to have a date with my father. It's just… I'm a bit concerned.

Lucia paused and gave a light sigh. Nolan looked up, wondered about what worried her.

- May I ask what it is so I could share a bit of your burden?

Lucia couldn't help but give him a satisfied look. "Yup. This is why I like to talk with smart people."

- Well, nothing big. It just has been a long time since our last date. I only hope that there would be no mishap happened while we were having fun. But when I come here to check the carriage, I'm a bit worried that it's kind of… old.

Nolan was flabbergasted at what the h€ll he just listened and couldn't hold himself from looking at the so-called "old" carriage which was brand new and taken care of every day.

"Okay. I know that it's unbelievable. Even I don't believe this kind of excuse. Just stop looking like that." Lucia was embarrassed but still went through with it because she couldn't think of any excuses. That's why she didn't want anyone else to hear about it or she really had to dig a hole and bury herself inside.

- I only ask of you to prepare a spare carriage and double-check it before we go. That's all.

Nolan thought over what Lucia just asked. It's really nothing big. Although it's a bit overacting and… weird, there's no harm in taking safety measures just in case. Still, he thought there's no need for the princess to go out of her way to give him a reminder as he'd always been careful. But now that the princess mentioned her concern, he had to be even more thorough with his job.

- This is my responsibility. I make sure that your date will go smoothly.

Satisfied with the answer, she gave him a nod. As the sky was turning dark, she decided to head back.

- Since my business is done, I shall take my leave.

Nolan also gave her a greeting in return but all in her head right now was what's for dinner. She left with the maids, felt the weight of the world fall off her shoulder. Looking at the muddy sky, Lucia cheerfully said.

- Yup, the weather is great today.

The maids pretended to not hear anything and followed her silently.