Who Made Me a Princess?

Chapter 10

“You seem to have put on weight since last I saw you. Gotten comfortable with palace life as of late, hmm?”

Some time had passed since the day Claude and I had met, but nothing had changed between us.

Put on weight? Like hell I did! We just saw each other five days ago!

“Hehe. I think you’re pretty too, Daddy!”

I had spent some quality father-and-daughter time with Claude on two more occasions. And by “quality,” I meant “terrifying,” of course. But what I realized during those sessions was that no matter how rude or offensive I was to him, he never tried to kill me.

Rather, his face became even more devoid of emotion every time I acted like a terrified child or gave him predictable answers.

I was most scared of Claude when he looked bored. It might have been my own delusion, but I believed that he was only temporarily keeping me alive for a little entertainment.

I still felt like I was about to keel over from fear. I felt Lily’s gaze on me after hearing my rather daringly cutesy antics. And once again, Claude had not killed me.

I knew it! This son of a gun likes it when people come on strong!

“Follow me.”

He looked down at me with narrowed eyes, then turned around.

Only then did Lily and Felix let out the breath they had been holding the whole time. It felt as if the thread my life was hanging from was getting thinner and thinner each day. Oh, how I wanted to cry.

“It just so happens I was about to go boating, so get ready.”

Get ready? And what do you mean “it just so happens” that you were going boating?

You summoned me at this very hour on purpose! You think I’m going to believe that this is a coincidence?

He was the type to give orders in advance whenever he had to prepare anything, so what he was really saying was to just “shut my mouth and follow.”

“Your Majesty, forgive me, but Her Highness is not yet accustomed to being in the water...” Lily said cautiously.

“She’ll be with me. What’s the worry?”

That’s exactly why she’ll worry, you jackass!

Lily had worked up the courage to address Claude first, but ended up looking at me with even more worry in her eyes.

Those without permission were not allowed to join the imperial family on boating outings, so I knew Lily was worried about whether the emperor would be able to save me in the case of an emergency.

No, Lily. Don’t! What if that jerk suddenly turns around and lashes out at you?

But I didn’t want to get on a boat with Claude either.

“What a bore you are. Die.”

And then? *Splash!*

What if he throws me overboard? Who knows?

But then, this scumbag stopped in his tracks and insisted on asking me, “Do you not want to join me?”

Exactly how large was this palace that there was a lake big enough to go boating on?

“Y-yes, Athy wanna go with Daddy,” I answered with the most innocent and harmless smile that I could muster.

Lily’s face turned ghostly white yet again, but there was nothing else I could do.

So, in the end, I went on a private boat ride alone with Claude. I imagined that it felt the same as being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

I sat across Claude with my gaunt face, bobbing up and down atop the lake.

When Claude had personally carried me onto the boat, I had been so afraid he might just throw me into the water that I tried desperately not to tremble in his arms. As soon as I had successfully completed the mission of boarding the boat, I felt completely drained.

Huh? This boat is so smooth! Are all boats made for the imperial family like this? It’s so smooth, it feels like it’s gliding on top of the water!

Nevertheless, being on the boat alone with Claude was an endless terror.

Wait a minute. But neither of us are pulling any oars. How is this boat even moving? Is there some kind of motor? Or is this a two-story boat with a bunch of workers below us, pedaling like their lives depend on it?

“What’s on your mind?”

Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me. Gaah.

I wasn’t sure how to answer. “What a beautiful day?” “The lake is so lovely?” In the end, I figured I should just continue to suck up to him.

“Your hair is so sparkly, Daddy! So pretty!”

It was true that Claude had beautiful hair. My light blonde hair was pretty too, but Claude’s deeper honey-blond was more my taste.

Was I so obsessed with gold because I had been so impoverished in my past life?

“I love sparkly! Hehe.”

A thin smile appeared on Claude’s face.

Now, wait a second... It feels ominous when he smiles like that…

“Come to think of it, you had bags of jewels with you that day,” he said.

Boom! Looks like a knock-out, ladies and gentlemen! Player Athanasia is having a hard time getting up!

“I’ve been holding onto your treasures for safekeeping, so you may pick them up the next time you come see me.”

It’s a landmine. A landmine! There are explosives everywhere, it’s impossible not to step on them! Aaaahhh!

I was devastated that I had left all of my pouches in front of the cherub statues that day. But now Claude had them?

This is awful. Awful! Why do I get the feeling I’m not fated to die a peaceful death?

As I sat there, speechless, Claude appeared to have lost interest yet again. His eyes were staring off at the lake and not at me, which gave me the opportunity to observe him a little more comfortably.

Hmm. What country is Claude’s attire from? Egypt? Greece? The Middle East?

I have no idea. Wherever it’s from, this loose, draped style suits him really well.

Is it because he’s the type of man who exudes lethargy from his entire body? Last time, I thought he looked like a lion, but now, he looks like a leopard basking in the sun. I mean, one way or another, they’re both wild carnivores.

I remembered reading in one of the side plots of Lovely Princess that Diana, Athanasia’s mother, had truly loved Claude.

I hadn’t understood it at first, but seeing Claude, I could sort of see why women would flock to him like moths to a flame. Claude’s eyes, which were fixated on anything other than me, were so beautiful that they would captivate anyone who looked at them.

Devoid of even a hint of warmth, his eyes truly looked like gems. From my angle, they looked more turquoise than the blue of the lake.

I wonder if my eyes are the same.

But I didn’t have enough courage to look at Claude for too long, so I quietly turned my head away.

What’s that?

An interesting flower caught my eye. I thought I was mistaken at first, but as the boat got closer, I was able to get a clearer view.

Woooow. What is this? The lotus flowers are blue?

Wait, no. It’s the lake that’s blue. The flower petals are actually transparent, so they look blue! They look very similar to lotuses, but the petals are see-through.

But do lakes have lotuses too? I want one.

I scooched over to the edge of the boat and thought that I might have been able to reach the flower by stretching my arm out. I knew that Claude was watching me do it, but not even he could divert my attention in that moment.

It wasn’t the prettiest flower, but it was interesting enough that I had to have one for myself.

Just a little... A little closer...

And right when I thought I had touched the flower petal with the tip of my finger…

*Splash!*

I fell off the boat.

“Gah! Ugh!”

Water rushed into my nose and mouth. I flailed my arms and legs frantically, splashing the water about.

What the... How did this happen?

I was struggling to breathe so much that I couldn’t think straight. The special dress that the maids had put me in to see Claude had so many layers of lace that it was incredibly heavy.

Wait a minute. I can’t swim. I can’t!

“H-help...”

No matter how hard I struggled, I felt nothing beneath my toes. My wet hands only scratched the surface of the boat. I couldn’t muster nearly enough strength to pull myself up.

Nevertheless, I continued to reach forward, driven by fear for my life.

The moment I made eye contact with Claude’s ever-calm eyes, as if I wasn’t cold enough already, I suddenly felt as if my body was freezing from head to toe.

Claude was quietly watching me struggle in the lake. I could tell by the look in those eyes that he was not shaken by the situation at all.

He’s not going to help me. That man is not going to save me. He’s just going to quietly watch me sink beneath the water with his cold eyes.

*Splash.*

The moment I realized that fact, my body lost all strength. Something had wrapped itself around my ankles and was pulling me down to the bottom. My head was instantly submerged in water. The feeling of water filling my lungs was terrifying.

So this time, it’s death by drowning?

What I had thought about right before getting on the boat had become a reality.

Is this why they say “words have power”? But still, this is…

“Gah!”

You bastard!

“Errr! Ugh...”

Just then, a strong force pulled me out of the water. I coughed up water frantically, feeling extremely dizzy with a harsh ringing in my ears. I could barely control my body.

“Good heavens, Your Highness!”

I had no idea how much time had passed. I thought I had heard someone running toward me when Lily’s voice suddenly pierced my ears.

It was only then that I realized that Claude had taken me out of the water and placed me onto the shore.

“Felix.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Starting tomorrow, you will teach Athanasia how to swim.”

Claude shook the water off his hands before turning away from me.

“It would be rather humiliating for a daughter of mine to drown in some lake, wouldn’t it?”

That wasn’t quite what one should say to a daughter who almost drowned to death, but there was no one present who could point out his heartlessness.

Lily looked frazzled as she wrapped my shivering body in a large towel and tried to comfort me.

Felix couldn’t manage to speak a word in response to the emperor’s request. With a bewildered look on his face, he put one hesitant foot in front of the other, trailing behind the emperor.

Lily’s hands trembled as she held me, and her voice shook as she whispered in my ear.

“Princess. Your Highness... It’s all right. Everything’s all right now.”

The sight of Claude’s back getting farther away penetrated my blurred vision. It was only after he had completely disappeared that I was able to open my mouth.

“Waaaah!”

I had never in my somewhat-long-yet-short life cried so hard from being so scared.

***

Before meeting Claude, I had never had any illnesses. But after meeting Claude, my body never spent a day in good health.

Spending “tea time” with that jerk had given me indigestion. And after almost drowning to death in the lake, I was bundled up in bed from a cold so bad that I was unable to eat or drink.

While being nursed by Lily and the maids, I came to the conclusion that Claude was truly an asshole.

Sure, he pulled me out of the water eventually, but he very deliberately had not saved me right away, even though he had seen me struggling in the water.

That freaking monster. How could he just stare at a five-year-old on the verge of drowning to death after falling in a lake? With that kind of look in his eyes?

I’m his daughter too!

Thinking back on that moment gave me chills.

Well, I guess the kind of jerk who is capable of that is one who was able to kill Athanasia without batting an eyelash.

After that day, I had nightmares and cried every night. Lily, who would always be sitting by my bedside (never having left to begin with), would come closer, stroke my head, and hug me tight.

It was only in Lily’s warm embrace that I was barely able to fall asleep again.