“Where do you want to eat dinner, Ria?”
The twins and I are now on my bed as Ashnor brushed my hair.
“Eat?” I asked with an innocent look on my face.
“Never mind eat, how are you so smart, Fifi? I tried to understand how to do carry-on addition but I still can’t.”
Oh, so that’s what he was scribbling on paper, he was still trying to figure out how to answer the problem sets given to them by Ronan.
“Why are you suddenly studying so diligently?” Ashnor asked Ashwin as he tried to braid my hair.
“Well, I want to be with Fifi forever, so I need to be smart too. I want to stay by her side!” Ashwin answered energetically.
“Hmmm.” Ashnor stopped brushing my hair so I looked back at him.
“Should I ask the maids to teach me how to braid your hair?” He had a serious look on his face as he held his chin.
I let out a chuckle, seeing him so seriously indulged in braiding my hair.
“Eh, what are you laughing at Fifi?”
I pointed at Ashnor.
“You’re laughing at Ashnor, why?”
“Ashwin, I’ll go get some ribbons for Ria. Don’t let her fall off the bed.”
Ashnor ran towards inside my closet as he rummage through the drawers for ribbons.
“Why does he even bother when you already look pretty enough without ribbons on your hair.” Ashwin scoffed as he continued staring at the paper.
“Aaargh! How?”
I crawled towards him and lay down on my stomach, copying him.
I touched the paper, “Oh, do you want to look at my answers?”
I only nodded as he handed me the paper. I skimmed through his answers one by one.
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm? What do you mean by ‘hmmm’?”
I smiled at him, how can I tell him that he’s got everything wrong?
I pointed out at number one, “Seven and five is twelve.”
Ashwin leaned closer and nodded, as I continued pointing, “One here and two here.”
He followed what I told him, “Add these together.” I pointed at the numbers aligned vertically together with the number one that has been carried.
His face lit up as he get the paper from me and started to erase everything.
“Make sure you’re going to clean Ria’s bed. There is a lot of dirt from the eraser all over her bed.”
Ashnor came back with different colored ribbons and guided me towards him.
“I got it! Thank you, Fifi!” Ashwin crawled towards us and ruffled my hair.
“Hey! I just brushed her hair!” Ashnor looked irritated as he held his hand forward.
“What?”
“Let me take a look at your answers.”
“Hmmm, okay.” Ashwin gave his paper to Ashnor as Ashnor skimmed through it.
“Well, you did well. So far, it’s all correct now. The lesson was too easy if only you and Nix have not fallen asleep in class.”
Then we heard a knock on the door as Nix entered the room looking shy.
“What are you doing in Fifi’s room?”
“Do you think I want to be here?” Nix defended himself.
“Then what are you doing here?” Ashnor asked him calmly.
Nix was hiding something behind his back as he looked down, being shy.
“I…”
He mumbled something but we could not hear anything.
Nix then looked at us with a blush on his cheeks, “Please teach me how to do carry-on addition and other stuff!”
He presented his paper as he bowed down.
“Who are you talking to?” Ashnor asked again.
“To… to the princess.” He looked away as he said that.
“Why do you want Fifi’s help when all you ever did was insult her?”
“I-I saw how grandfather looked at her, and…”
“And?”
“And I thought if I can be like her, grandfather would also look at me that way.”
“Do you really expect Fifi to help you?”
“I’m s…”
“You’re what?”
“I’m sorry for being mean.”
“Hmmm, so what do you think Ria?”
I looked at Nix from head to toe, I know it takes a lot of courage to ask for help from someone you dislike. I’m not that naïve to easily forgive but he’s still a child. I know that he’s being sincere and that he just wants to be acknowledged by the emperor.
“H-honestly, it was grandfather who told me to learn from you. I-I went to his study earlier to ask some advice on how to become a great leader and he told me to be open-minded and to start by not judging others immediately… Again, I’m sorry.”
I smiled at him and stretched my arms out, indicating that he can come up on the bed. When he saw that, he smiled widely at me and ran towards us.
I guess our relationship will take a turn for the better from now on.
The four of us are lying on our stomachs as we looked at the problem sets given to them. I’m actually having fun as Ashnor and I taught them how to answer it.
As we continued answering, I saw something fly across the window from outside.
I smiled to myself and knew it was Alaric.
*****
Alaric flew outside towards the lake where the dragons would sometimes gather. When he arrives, Blue and Niveus – Duchess Emilia’s white dragon, are now swimming through the lake in their dragon forms.
“Alaric!” Blue shouted as she saw Alaric flying towards the lake.
The sky was clear as stars twinkled on it, the moon was bright and was in its half phase. Alaric dove down the lake swiftly making the water splash.
“Geez! Calm down Alaric!” Niveus complained as she appeared from under the water.
“So where were you?” Blue asked as she played with the water using her tail.
“I was watching the princess.”
“You’re becoming quite fond of her, Alaric.” Niveus looked serious, “I thought the emperor released you from looking over the princess?”
“Well, she’s something. I can feel that the future of the empire, or even the world, will be fine with her on the throne.”
“Told you she was something. She never once cried ever since she came here.” Blue commented.
“I haven’t spent time with the princess, I’m quite curious why the two of you are so fond of her. Is she really that great?” Niveus can be seen almost rolling her eyes.
“You really sound like that duchess of yours.” Blue splashed water towards Niveus, which irritated her.
“Well, it’s not my fault for reflecting her personality. We’re bonded, duh?”
“Yup, she does sound like Emilia,” This time Alaric commented as he laughed.
“So, tell us Niveus, does the duchess really hate the princess?”
The atmosphere became serious as Blue asked that question.
“Not really hate, she just doesn’t like her. She was quite fond of the crown prince Flizer. She loves him dearly and because of how Flizer died for the princess, she’s blaming her for his death.”
“I can still sometimes hear her crying to herself over the prince’s death.” Niveus looked sad as she remembered how Emilia looked when she learned that Flizer had died.
“Well, even Lucilia was hurt. The three of them were really closed. They truly loved each other, they never envied each other.”
“Well, that all changed when the crown prince left. They also grew distant from the emperor for letting the crown prince travel outside the empire.” Alaric butted in.
“His Majesty was also devastated, but I can feel that he never regretted the decision of letting Flizer go.”
Niveus and Blue looked at Alaric with a questioning look, “Do you know why the emperor ordered the crown prince to go east and outside the empire?” Niveus asked.
Alaric sighed, “I have a feeling that deep down the two of you already knew the answer to that question.”
“Of course, we know the purpose but we did not know the exact reason why!” Niveus raised her voice.
“Yeah, like why east all of the sudden. Why did he leave for two years and come back with a baby after two years? What did he do east from here?” Blue pouted being frustrated about not knowing everything.
“Alaric, do you know what will exactly happen?” Niveus asked with a worried look on her face.
Alaric shook his head, “I don’t know, but I do know that the emperor thought it was the wisest thing to do.”
“So, is it almost time?” Blue asked.
“Yes, it’s almost time but we must not worry too much. Let’s enjoy this peaceful life and hope that everything will be alright in the end.” Alaric answered.
Then Blue’s stomach growled as Alaric and Niveus looked at her.
“What?! Haven’t the two of you heard a stomach that is growling because of hunger?” Blue looked shy as she looked away from the two of them.
Alaric and Niveus laughed at Blue’s stomach and reaction.
“You know, I still can’t believe that Lucilia named you Blue,” Alaric stated.
“Yeah, that name is so…” Niveus looked at her from head to her tail that is floating on the water, “So creative.” Niveus started to tease Blue.
“Yeah, the duchess is very creative indeed.” Alaric also teased her.
“Hey! Lucilia was ten!” Blue looked like she was blushing under her blue scales.
“Yeah, right so was Emilia, when she named me.”
“Even Ignis was also ten when he named me ‘Alaric’,” Alaric turned into his human form and formed quotations mark with his fingers as he mentioned his name.
“Okay! Fine! I still complain to Lucilia why she named me Blue. Out of all the names why Blue?” Blue is now pouting as Alaric and Niveus continued laughing.