The whole entire empire heard of the wonderful yet shocking news. The gossip between guards and maids who have mistaken the young princess for an intruder was hard to stop from leaking to outside the walls of the palace.

Their princess has finally awoken from her slumber, not to mention on her seventh birthday! Everyone was shocked, and yet excited, especially those who have heard of the young girl's beauty and similar resemblance of the late Empress. But they also felt bad for the poor girl, she must have been very frightened due to the fact that no one recognized her and even pulled their swords on her the very day she first woke up. They even caused her tears!

Nevertheless, the guards and the maids of the palace felt terribly sorry for scaring their young lady to death. Even the prince, her older brother, felt bad for using his magic on her that he completely forgave and forgotten the fact that she hit him with a book, his favorite book in fact.

But on the other side, no one has seen the princess since the day she had awoken. She had managed to lock herself inside her room, letting no one in. The maids and even some guards couldn't find the strength to open the door, almost as if something on the other side was preventing them. The maids didn't have much magic just like some of the guards, but the others who did possess some weren't suited to open the door without destruction.

Everyone was worried about the princess's wellbeing and since the Emperor and his advisor were not in the city, they had to revolve to other means, such as asking their young two princes for help.

* * *

It has been exactly two days since Susan Parks has awoken in this strange place, in a young girl's body, and by the looks of it, she didn't feel as if she'd be going back to her own world any time soon. She came to the conclusion that she had been transported into a different world, a magical world with magical powers...or maybe she was crazy and the car accident messed up her brain.

Hallucination or not...everything just felt so real, such as the breeze down her face or the fact that she almost choked to death while floating in the air. Susan has also managed to lock herself in the room by moving her dresser against the door, which took a lot of effort and pain from her sore muscles.

Suspicious people, or maybe maids were pleading with her to open the door, calling her a princess and their lady which made Susan even more skeptical, adding an extra chair to make sure to keep the door from opening. She'd also lock her window just in case for safety reasons. Many times she'd hear the maids claiming that they left food outside in case she decides to come out, but Susan was too smart to be lured out of her safe haven. But as time went by, her hunger got worse.

Eventually, she decided to wait until another maid arrived, calling to her and pleading to open the door. Just like many before her, no reply was heard. After a few minutes, Susan decided to slowly move away the chair and then the dresser, but only by a couple of inches so she was able to squeeze by. A food trolly stood in front of her, filled with different kinds of foods, many of which were freshly smelled deserts. She grabbed a couple of cookies but before she could grab some healthier food, someone spotted her from the corner of her eyes.

"Ah! My lady! Let me serve you!" They said in a high pitched voice, Susan looked at the maid approaching her before quickly squeezing past the doors and pushing the dresser closed again. Despite the maids pleads and knocks on the door, Susan ate her cookies with a happy and satisfied grin.

After consuming all the cookies, she sat down on her bed, her tiny stomach was already full even though she only ate three. Eventually, Susan fell asleep. It was yet another annoying thing that she realized about her body, it seemed to be needing afternoon naps although her body was already passed the age that required afternoon naps.

Susan also had many questions in her head, to which she tried to answer by herself with little knowledge of where she was from. It was rather odd how a mob of people couldn't recognize her when she first woke up but now all of a sudden they are calling her weird pet names like 'princess' and 'my lady'. It almost sounded as if she played some kind of important roll in this world. Before Susan could think any more, she fell asleep.

* * *

"Your highness!" A couple of maids and guards bowed to the young prince that stood in front of them. The prince was taken aback for a second after encountering so many maids and guards waiting for him outside of his private library. They seemed to be a bit tired from standing and many hurried off as soon as the library doors opened and the prince stepped outside. It made it seem like they were waiting for him.

"Your majesty, we have a request to make! It is for the benefit of the young lady, Princess Emalia, your sister!" One maid spoke up, the brown-haired young woman who was currently assigned to taking care and cleaning up the princess's room as she slept through these past months. She was also the one who recognized that it was the young princess who everyone frightened so dearly.

"What is it?" The young prince asked. Prince Lucas was a twin brother to Prince Ethan. He was on the more serious side of the family, he constantly dressed proper and had proper manners that weren't just for show. He was also extremely smart and intelligent, not to mention an expert when it came to practicing magic, however, he wasn't that skilled at combat nor did he have any great sword skills like his brother.

"We would like you to use your magic, sir! The young princess has locked herself up in her room and won't come out! We are afraid she might be in poor health, your majesty!"

"And you can't open the door by yourselves?" he asked as he raised his eyebrows. The little crowd was flustered for that was far from the truth. In their eyes, it felt like the prince was testing their position at the castle so they immediately jumped into a defending mode.

"Something is blocking from the other side, sir!"

"The kingsmen magic isn't suited for opening doors without causing destruction, sire!"

"Only your air magic can compete, your majesty!"

"Okay, lead the way," the prince said bluntly. He was surprised by how many people cared for the princess's well being despite her being asleep her entire life. But he was also curious to see what must have broken the spell for he had tried himself a couple of years ago. He also felt rather stupid for being unable to recognize his own sister even though he hadn't visited her in almost two years after giving up to solve the curse behind the empire's greatest mystery.

* * *

Susan woke up to people talking. At first, she immediately jumped to her feet, almost tripping over her covers because she thought people were in the room with her. But instead, she found out the voices were coming from outside of her door. She cautiously approached closer while tiptoeing, trying to listen in further.

"Step back," a voice spoke up, a voice that Susan recognized all too well. Before she knew it, the door began glowing a light green color. The dresser and the chair were lifted in the air while Susan made a run for it. She quickly dropped on the ground and rolled underneath her bed to take cover. The door flung open a couple of people stepped in while some stood outside the door. Susan closed her mouth to stop herself from breathing in case her shaky breath could be heard.

"The princess is gone!" Another different voice spoke with worry and panic.

"No, she's just hiding under the bed," the familiar voice spoke, the one that belonged to the boy with the weird magic. Susan froze and she felt all the blood from her face just drain. She was too scared to move. No one said anything and no one didn't even move at first.

"She's on the floor?" A lot of people started talking over each other but Susan's panicked state only could pick up a few at a time.

"The princess can't be on the floor!"

"My lady please come out!"

"Do you think she can understand us?" Before Susan could listen in to more people speaking, the bed began to glow a bright green. Susan knew exactly what was about to happen but she didn't think she could manage so much emotional stress in one day.

The bed lifted in the air, revealing the young girl on the floor. The princess quickly sat up, crawling backward until she hit the wall. Everyone was able to notice her panicked state and especially the tears in her eyes. She looked skinny, pale, and vulnerable.

It was an awkward silence at first, many eyes were staring at the girl on the floor. Many who decided not to come in to not overwhelm the child were now peaking from the door. Only a few maids and the young boy were inside the room. No one really knew what to do, they didn't want to freak her out. Susan, on the other hand, was planing an escape strategy by glancing at the door and the window a couple of times. The prince caught notice of her expression and with a swift movement of his left hand, the princess flew up in the air.

Susan closed her eyes as soon as she felt herself being lifted up, she also didn't struggle at all. Instead, she was expecting to be greeted with the inability to breathe or speak but instead, she felt rather...safe and warm? She landed in the arms of a brown-haired woman, the same one she saw with a broom when Susan ran back into this very room she woke up in. He moved his right hand down, placing the bed carefully back on the ground.

"You three, clean her up and bring her to my study. You two, clean up this room it's rather dusty. You, notify my tutor to cancel the afternoon classes. You, come with me. Everyone else, scatter," he said with authority in his voice while he made a swift motion with his hands, pointing at maids and royal guards.

"Yes, your majesty!" Everyone said loud and clear. They all began to move out the door or stayed behind unless they were picked by the boy.

"And as for you, dear sister, do not cause trouble for the maids unless you want to learn how to fly," the boy said, turning to face Susan in the eye. Susan gulped, unpurposely. If she still had her thirty-two-year-old body, she was sure she could have crushed that little boy in her world. But now that she was small, powerless, and in a magical world with superpowers, getting him mad was absolutely out of the question. And not to mention him threatening her with her biggest weakness, her fear of heights.

He didn't even wait for the girl to reply before turning around and walking out the door. The door glowed bright green before it closed shut.