Differing views (1)

Seeing the girl that they were looking for, the two breathe a sigh of relief. The maid shut the door and stopped expressing her fire magic. They had mixed feelings seeing her now. On the one hand they felt relief but on the other they felt slight annoyance.

"Mira where have you been?! I was looking all over the place for someone earlier."

The little girl was perplexed by her sister's sudden anger towards her. To her, she was just in the library studying by herself. Though she felt that it was unfair at first, seeing her sister angry at her made her feel horrible. Much more so because she had no clue why she was so angry.

However, she already had an answer as to why that was.

'I did something that I shouldn't have again. But I don't know what that is…'

"I-I'm sorry…"

With no clue of what she did, all she could do was offer an apology. She lowered her head and tightened the grip she had on her book.

Her sister let out an exhausted sigh. It had little meaning to herself, but for the little girl, it was another sign that she did something wrong.

"Where have you been Mira?"

There was a softer tone in her sister's voice this time. Although that would mean that she was no longer angry, the girl thought that she was disappointed in her. 

Every little change that she saw in the people around her led her to the conclusion that it was somehow her fault. Though she was saddened by the thought, that was how she interpreted their actions. She answered her sister who was waiting for her response.

"I… was in the library."

"The library?"

Her sister had a confused look on her face upon seeing her answer.

'Is it that unbelievable?'

They never saw her go to the library before, so she somewhat understood why they reacted that way. Though it still made her feel awful.

"That's why I couldn't find you. You were in the east wing of the palace."

The eastern side of the palace had most of the recreational facilities. Ranging from the library to an indoor training ground. As her sister was looking for people in the west wing as it had the servants' living quarters there was no chance for them to cross paths, especially so early in the morning.

"So you were in the library all this time. What were you reading there?"

"Uhm… This…"

The girl showed the two the book that was in her hands.

"Introduction to earthen magics?"

Her sister had a confused look on her face upon reading the book's cover.

"Princess, were you studying up on earth magic for young master Laten?"

"Yeah… Felix told me he already awakened, so I was trying to help him manifest his mana."

The girl sheepishly looked down, her face tinted red ever so slightly. Her sister tilted her head at the maid as if to ask who that was.

"It's her fiance, Princess Aurelia."

"Ah, I see."

Her sister looked down with complex emotions on her face.

"Right… just as I was engaged to someone, I guess Mira was too."

There was some slight sadness in her voice as she spoke. Though it only lasted for a moment.

"So your engagement is to the young master of house Laten. What's he like?"

"He's really great!"

The girl's energy suddenly spiked and her eyes were filled with excitement, clearly wanting to brag.

"Really? What do you guys do?"

"We play a lot of games together and we feed each other snacks as well. Ooh, there was also this one time where we made paper dolls together."

"Paper dolls?"

"Yeah, I read about it in a fairytale once. It said that those who made charms like that would always remember each other."

"Is that so?"

The girl continued to prattle all the things she does with her fiance only being stopped by the rumbling of her stomach. The girl shyly smiled and scratched her cheek.

"Hehe…"

"Sounds like your body wants to have some lunch Princess."

"I guess so. I was actually on my way to the kitchen when I saw you two running."

"Shall we head to the dining hall then?"

"Yeah! Do you want to go eat with me sis?"

The girl had eyes full of anticipation as she asked her sister for a meal.

"I just ate actually, so maybe some other time Mira."

"Oh… ok."

Almost like she was in a hurry, her sister sprinted away from her. The girl thought it was odd that she would do that.

"D-did I do something wrong?"

"Not necessarily, Princess. Princess Aurelia is just… having a hard time accepting some things."

"Why is that?"

She looked up at her maid with eyes filled with worry.

"You will find out soon enough, Princess. And I hope that you will not be subject to what she is going through when you are her age."

'Is it something that only happens when I'm older?'

The girl continued to look at the direction where her big sister ran off to. As she was staring off into the distance she felt strange.

""I hope that you will not be subject to what she is going through when you are her age.""

She was having trouble with those words for some reason. It took a bit of time but eventually shock and disbelief were etched on the girl's face. Her maid sounded like she was genuinely worried about her.

Before she had time to sort out her thoughts, another loud rumbling sound came from her stomach.

"Shall we head to the dining-"

Her maid suddenly folded and clutched her stomach. The girl moved to support her, only for her to hold out her hand as if to stop her from getting any closer.

"Emma? What's happening?!"

There was a look of horror in her maid's eyes as their eyes met. Before she could try and get any answers, her maid had already bolted off elsewhere. Much like her sister just before, it looked like they were running away from her.

"Did I… do something?"

The thought that there was something wrong with them never crossed the girl's mind. It was easier to believe that it was her that was the problem. But if that was the case, what was her problem? Just moments before they seemed worried about where she was then they suddenly wanted nothing to do with her. 

The girl thought back to what happened in those two moments to try and think of a reason for their actions.

"Was it something I said?"

The girl continued to be confused as she made her way to the dining hall.

****

"Ah! Good afternoon Princess."

Opening the doors to the dining hall, she was greeted by a face that she was unfamiliar with. A young man with red hair whose name she was not aware of.

"Uhm, Good afternoon."

She knew it was a bit rude to not address him by name but it was slightly better than her admitting that she had no clue who he was. From the fairytales that she had read before, it was somewhat common for high nobility to not call their servants by their names when in a bad mood.

"What can I make for you today?"

Thankfully, it seemed that the chef was not hung up on not being called by name.

"Can you cook some steak please?"

"Oh, If it's steak you want, Princess, there is still a fair bit left from the Empress' and Princess Aurelia's meal from earlier. Though if you prefer a fresh batch, I would be more than happy to."

"Did mom and big sis eat lunch together?"

"It was brunch actually. It seemed that they just woke up when they came by."

"They just woke up? A-Are you sure?"

"I would assume so, Princess. Sir Agaram never mentioned them coming at an earlier time."

"Is that so? Was mom not mad?"

"The empress? No, I do not think so. There seemed to be no reason for her to be mad as well."

Though that was what the young chef thought, the girl thought otherwise. In her mind there was plenty of reason for her mother to be angry.

'Sis just woke up at this time? And mom wasn't angry at her?'

The girl was reminded of the time when she started to wake up at a later time. She remembered being scolded constantly by everyone during those times. At first she thought that it was unfair. Why did she get scolded while her sister got off with nothing? But thinking about it more, there must be a reason for that. Just as she had a good reason for not waking up early in the morning.

"Uhm Princess?"

As the girl finished organizing her thoughts, the chef called to her.

"So about your lunch, what will we be doing?"

"Oh, uhm… I'll just have the rest of the meat that they were having earlier. Do you mind reheating it?"

"Not at all Princess. Please wait a moment."

The youth took the plate of meat from the table and disappeared into the kitchen. The sound of the meat sizzling again filled the room followed by its scent permeating throughout. For a moment, the girl was fully enjoying the stimulation that the meat provided. Soon after, the sound ceased and the young man returned from the kitchen with the plate of meat in his hands.

"Lunch is served Princess. Is there anything else you would like?"

The girl whose vision was fixed on the steaks that were brought out shook her head at the chef's question.

"Well then Princess, please have a nice meal."

The young man bowed and smiled at the girl before heading back into the kitchen. The girl only saw his gesture at the corner of her eye but it confused her still.

'Why did he smile at me?'

Due to recent events, the girl had a hard time not reading into everyone's little actions. She paid particular attention to the smiles of those around her. Noticing that the smiles that they gave her differed greatly from the ones they gave others. 

However, the girl had yet to encounter the young chef before, so she had a much tougher time discerning if it was a real one or not.

Though before she could think on it more, a loud rumble came from her stomach reminding her of their purpose here.

"Right, time to eat."

She sniffed the steak that was in front of her once more before biting down on it. Though even as the juices of the meat were flowing in, the girl could only barely taste it. It had more flavor than the meals that she had recently but not by much.

Let down by the lack of taste, the girl's eating slowed down. As she was silently chewing, the doors of the dining hall opened to reveal her father who was in a somewhat messy state.

"Morning Mira."

He stretched his body as he walked in and sat down next to her. The girl wanted to greet him back but the food in her mouth prevented her from doing so. She tried to swallow it all but a small piece hit the back of her throat causing her to nearly cough everything out.

"Take it easy girl. No one's gonna take it away."

Her father patted her back as she was trying not to choke. After a small struggle, she finally got everything down. She looked around for something to drink but there was none in her reach.

"Hey, whoever's in the kitchen, can you bring out a glass of water and an ice pack please?"

Not long after, the youth from before comes out with the requested items.

"Thank you Myuki. Here drink up Mira."

He hands the girl the glass as he presses the pack on his temples. The girl downs the drink and lets out a deep breath.

"Thank you and good morning dad."

"No problem Mira… Did you just wake up too?"

"Actually, I've been awake since seven…"

Her voice became smaller as she had no confidence that he would believe her.

"Is that so? That's good."

Contrary to her expectations, he seemed to believe her words. He rested his head on his hand and grabbed a piece of steak for himself.

"Did you request steak for breakfast again? We told you that you should diversify your diet right?"

"Actually your Majesty the Princess requested for a salad earlier this morning."

Behind her father, a large man with green hair entered the hall. He looked at the girl with what seemed like suspicion.

"Is that so Agaram? Huh…"

"You've been acting really out of character Mira. It's a nice change."

Though he said it without much thought, the girl had trouble trying to understand his words. However, from the girl's perspective, it was all of them that were acting strange.