Chapter 10 -- Nightmare (9)

Unfortunately, Athy did not sleep for a week. Only two hours after closing her eyes, she awoke to the sound of someone's scream.

"PRINCESS! PRINCESS, PLEASE WAKE UP!"

Ah! This voice belongs to Lily! Ahh, I was having a really nice sleep. Please don't wake me up. I want to sleep more.

"PRINCESS!"

But when Athy did not wake up, Lily began to shake her. The sound of falling coins accompanied each shake.

Ah, now that I think about it, was I sleeping on top of the coins?

"Hng."

As she remembered what had happened, the princess took in the stiffness she felt all over her body.

Wow, so it wasn't a dream? Ugh, but my back! Every part of me hurts! I love money, but why was I so thoughtless? My joints are creaking from sleeping on those hard and bumpy coins!

"Princess, what is all this? Did you move some of the treasures from the royal coffers?" Lily's eyes darted back and forth at the sight of the mountain of gold and silver coins, before returning to Athy with a pitying look. Perhaps she thought that the blonde couldn't overcome all of the recent stress and had asked the palace servants to bring the coins into her room.

Athy felt somewhat embarrassed upon seeing Lily's expression.

Did I visit the coffer to rub myself against the coins and smell them that frequently? I mean, whenever I had a hard time I did go to the vaults Claude gave me. But, was it so often that Lily would look at me like that? What's going to happen to my image?

"I haven't seen anyone else coming into this room." Doubt was creeping into Lily's voice. She knew it was not possible for people to secretly bring a mountain of coins into Athanasia's room. To have that many coins moved, people would have had to go in and out multiple times. The maids weren't ninjas; something like that wasn't possible.

"No, Lily. I've been alone this whole time."

Athy did briefly consider lying but decided against it. If Lily asked any of the other servants in the Emerald Palace, she would have her answer regardless. Also, now the maid unnies must go through the hassle of cleaning the coins from my room. Most of all, she was far too tired and lazy to make up a lie.

Lifting herself from the mountain of coins, Athy stood on her bed. She looked at all the sparkling things around her.

"We should get rid of this, right?"

So, do I just need to think about making them disappear? Zap! Disappear!

At her silent shout, the coins disappeared without a single trace. Lily gasped. And, even though Athy had been the one to perform magic, she flinched in surprise as well.

Oh. It seems like I don't need to say what I want out loud. Well, the book did say that one only needs to imagine.

"P-Princess, what is going on? Was it you that made them disappear, perhaps?" Stunned, Lily turned to look at Athanasia. She could only imagine how confused and bewildered the older woman must have been. Scratching her chin, Athy admitted with only a slight bit of embarrassment, "Lily! It seems like I've become a Great Magician!"

"Pardon?!" Lily's astonished voice echoed in the air. For a moment, Lily's face seemed to say, Is our princess sick? But when Athy summoned a bouquet to give to Lily, she finally seemed to believe what was happening.

How strange. Is magic supposed to be as easy as breathing? Or maybe I have the fantastic qualities of a Great Magician. That's right! Lucas did say my magic was pretty powerful.

Lily suggested that, for the time being, they should not reveal the fact that Athy could use magic to anyone else. According to her, all magicians who were citizens of Obelia had to file a report about their abilities. This was the case even if they didn't work for the palace. The reporting process was long and complicated. It would do the princess no good to attract that sort of attention when she was in confinement. Claude had declared that he would kill her if she appeared before him again. So if he were to learn that Athy could use magic, he might definitely go through with his threat. "Indeed. You were able to pretend to be my daughter through magic. I knew it!" Naturally, Lily never said such a thing to Athanasia. They were merely the princess' thoughts.