Chapter Text
What the fuck is happening?
What kind of situation is this?
The two children were now stuck in a closed-off room with Claude and his knight. Cale wanted nothing more than to curse and scream, but he held back for the sake of not dying so early.
What did that man say earlier?
‘I shall have tea with my guests.’
That’s right. They were having tea with a murderer.
Excellent, I shall cross this off my bucket list.
The whole situation was awkward. Athanasia was seated on a sofa in front of them, while Cale was unfortunate enough to be seated directly beside Claude. And if his luck couldn’t have been worse, the man had sat down next to Cale with practically no room between them.
If I move, I might die.
Cale saw how Athy’s gaze suddenly stared down at the floor. She must have made eye contact with the Emperor. Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Athanasia’s actions much stranger than before?
She was four currently, but the second time Claude met her, she was nine, the first time being after she was born.
When she was four, she wasn’t running around with bags of gold and priceless jewels. She wasn’t so scared of Claude as if she knew that he was going to be the reason she’d die.
So, there were two possible conclusions.
Athanasia has regressed in time, or an entirely new person is in her body.
It seemed more logical to say that it was a different person. This Athanasia clearly didn’t know who he was. Of course, she could have faked it, but the eyes are the window to the soul. She really had no clue who he was.
That being said, his eyes didn’t detect a different soul within her body.
Hm. So, that meant there was only one proper conclusion.
This was still Athanasia, and she had regressed in time, but her soul had become another person, which is why she had no memory of him.
However, I have no reason to ask such an outrageous question.
Well, aside from that. Claude was the odd one here. He’s the only one who thinks this is even a bit normal. The red-haired knight was even shifting on his feet, glancing around as if he didn’t know where to look.
Same .
Claude stared at Athanasia, his head resting on his right hand, the other draped over the back of the couch, trapping Cale. The young boy groaned internally, staring into blank space as his chaotic mind ran rampant. He needed to get out of this situation.
“You talked a few moments ago.” Claude lifted a cup to his lips, staring at Athy. The two children had remained silent.
Hic. Athanasia let out a hiccup because of his tone.
Who would want to talk to you?
“It’s not fun because you’re too quiet.” Claude continued staring at Athy. He used his left hand to poke Cale’s face like he wanted a reaction. Why is he being so pushy? Leave my face alone.
‘Does that mean he’ll kill us if we’re not entertaining?’ Athanasia looked at Cale, who was staring at nothing. He wanted to become invisible. Just disappear into thin air and go back to sleep. This was not how things were supposed to go.
Claude stared at Athanasia for a good long while before opening his mouth again.
“Are you suddenly mute?”
His cold expression seemed to do the trick. Anastasia then quickly spoke up to him.
“Athy can talk.”
She forced a smile onto her face, glancing at Cale who was paying neither her nor Claude any attention. Well, it was clear enough that she’d be alone in this. Cale wasn’t going to be any help.
Not true, he just… did not want to be here.
“I can finally hear your voice again. Why did you only speak now?”
When neither Cale nor Athy spoke up about their reasoning for not speaking, the red-haired knight spoke for them.
“Children are generally shy around strangers.”
“Strangers?”
That’s right. He was an idiot and hadn’t been in his children’s life since they were born. They have no idea who he is…
He has been asking a five-year-old questions as if she could answer them, while the other one wasn't paying any attention at all.
Claude stared at the tea and cakes in the center of the table for a moment. He then leaned back. What was on this crazy guy’s mind?
“Felix.”
“Yes, your majesty?”
“Leave.”
“…..”
Fuck. Cale inwardly cursed. He was hoping the knight would be able to stay here the whole time. It was clear enough that Claude listened to him…somewhat. so they probably wouldn’t die with him around.
Felix, the redheaded knight bowed respectfully before leaving the room. He left them alone. With Claude. Double fuck.
“Athy must be a nickname.”
“Mm! Athanasia, that’s my name. But I like Athy.” She quickly answered, mumbling slightly as she finished. She gave Cale a quick glance, though he had his legs crossed and was staring at a nearby plant.
It looked as if he was trying to physically disappear into the air.
What a beautiful plant. Can I go home yet?
“Do you know what your name means?”
She stared down at the floor shaking her head. Athanasia did indeed know what her name meant, however, her name was special. It was the name of a ruler which was unlike Claude’s own name.
In fact, Claude is the only ruler who does not have the name that should be befitting of an Emperor.
‘Please don’t kill me, I didn’t ask to be born with this name!’
While Athy was busy quietly begging for her life, Claude turned to Cale, noticing how uninterested he seemed.
“Then, what about you? Do you know the meaning of your name?”
The young redhead slowly turned to Claude, looking him in the eyes. Soon blue jeweled eyes were staring at blue and silver jeweled eyes.
“…While her name, Athanasia, means resurrection, my name, Caelus, means the personification of ‘The Heavens’…”
Claude hummed thoughtfully, his eyes not breaking contact with Cale’s.
“You’re a bright child, aren’t you?”
Cale then turned away.
“I’ve been told I am a very bright child though I’m not sure how accurate those compliments are.”
Ha. Claude stared at Cale for a good while before turning his attention to the several sweet treats on the table. He had prepared these for his so-called guests but his little guests wanted nothing more than to leave.
“Why are you both just sitting there? Go ahead and eat.” Claude finally questioned, snapping both Cale and Athy’s attention to him. “I intentionally asked them to bring food that children like. If you don’t eat, I have no choice but to punish those you brought these.”
“Thank you, I’ll eat it well.”
He just threatened us.
‘He just threatened us.’
Athanasia cautiously picked up her fork and brought a piece of cake to her lips. She took a bite and her eyes widened with surprise. This tasted even better than the sweets in her palace.
“Tastes good.”
She figured Claude wasn’t planning to kill her just yet, it was probably because of the kid next to him, right?
There was no child called ‘Caelus’ in the original story of [The Lovely Princess] but Claude seemed to like the kid a lot. He was poking the kid's face and keeping him as close as possible.
Rather than continuing to poke Cale’s face, Claude picked up a cake with a very red and sweet-looking strawberry, attempting to feed the young redhead with faded blonde ends. It was crazy. It was clear that even Cale thought the man was insane.
With a barely audible sigh, Cale opened his mouth to be fed, the hands that sat elegantly in his lap slowly squeezing as he ate.
‘Cale looks completely disinterested, but Claude is pretty much trapping him and keeping him as close as possible…’
Athanasia couldn’t help but observe the situation. Cale wasn’t trying to get away from Claude, most likely because he knew Calude was a psycho killer, but he was definitely uncomfortable.
‘Don’t tell me… is Claude interested in little boys? Wait, of course not! That kid as jeweled eyes…but then doesn’t that mean—’
Her brain did a factory reset, and a horrifying thought clouded her mind; the only thing snapping her out of it was the sound of Claude’s voice as he resumed speaking.
"Who taught you manners?"
Athanasia paused and slowly looked up at Claude. The man stopped feeding Cale for a moment to turn to her. He had a brow raised, clearly expecting an answer.
"...Lili taught me." She answered cautiously.
"You must be talking about Lilian York."
'He knows her name? I never took him for the guy who would remember the names of random servants...'
Athy was surprised that he would remember the name of a maid. It was clearly surprising to her as she did not hide her facial expression.
"It seems the woman who blocked me from you is still by your side." She didn't like the smirk that had formed on his face. Athy shivered, wondering if she would die now. Lily was such a sweet person, to think she had the gall to block Claude of all people.
"I heard your name through that maid."
'Lily is the best character in this whole damn book.'
Athanasia quietly thanked Lily for protecting her. Not a day shall go by without her thanking Lily for her sacrifice.
“She and your mother are probably the only people to block me and not have been killed by me.”
That is what caught Cale's attention. It was true. And it was the same for Liam, well, rather than Liam fighting for his life, his butler resigned from his position to take care of the redhead to keep his mother's promise.
Both Lilian York and Liam Carlyle were extremely important people in this story.
Claude quietly looked at her as she went back to eating her cake.
“As the two of you sit here, do you know who I am?”
Athy froze and at that moment she dropped her fork on her plate. Her eyes widened with both fear and surprise. If she wasn't sitting she may have fallen from the sheer absurdity.
Athanasia’s shaking eyes met Claude's and Cale sat quietly in the background of this exorbitant conversation. Why was he asking this?
Of course, by his tone, both Cale and Athanasia could tell what this was.
This was a test.
This wasn’t going well.
Though Cale wanted to be sarcastic, the energy was terrible. He froze, staring at the floor before glancing at Claude and the look in the man's eyes made him suck in a breath.
Soon enough bright blue jeweled eyes were staring at each other. Both Cale and Athy held their gazes on the murderous Emperor.
Don’t…
‘…Take your eyes off him.’
The two had only one thought on their minds.
Survive.
It suddenly made sense as to why he brought them here. Two blue jeweled-eyed children, running around carefree, accidentally managed to catch his attention.
This was a test to decide whether they’d live longer… or die by his hand right here. What a fucking nightmare.
After a beat and then another, the boredom in Claude’s eyes was replaced with a kind of terrifying curiosity. The panic that then set in Athy's eyes made Cale close his eyes. They were steering into dangerous territory.
Claude had tapped his wrist as if signaling that they were taking quite a bit of time to answer.
"A-abamama?"
Cale immediately shot a look at Athy who was crying on the inside at her own words. Of all things to say, why would she say abamama? Has she gone equally as crazy?
Calling this psycho emperor A-abamama may be a death sentence. Then again…
Claude didn't try to kill her. He stayed seated and watched silently.
He also liked Jeanette because she was always bright and cheerful. ‘If I’m cute…maybe I can live? Besides that, who is Cale and what will happen to him if he doesn't answer?’
There was no time to think about other people. Her own life was at stake here.
‘If this doesn't work, let it be known I’ve dung my own grave and now I’ll have no choice but to lie in it.’
“Papa?”
There was a long silence as she spoke. Athanasia glanced at Caelus as he slowly shook his head and began to stare at the potted plant by the door yet again.
‘Did you just check yourself out mentally? Don't leave me in this alone!’
Her soul cried as she looked back at Claude and spoke one more time. Smiling as sweetly as she could in this situation.
“Papa!”
She was like the sun, her sweetheart personality took over the entire room's atmosphere. Cale could tell well enough that she was smart, acting like that girl, Jeanette, to get in his good graces.
***
Well, we survived.
In short, the heart attack approach worked. Both Cale and Athy were able to make it out of that weird tea party alive.
Wonderful.
The Ruby Palace had been thrown into chaos since Athanasia was not in bed like she should have been. It was not only surprising but unfortunately Felix received a rather nasty glare as he was the one who returned Athanasia.
They looked at the poor man as if he were a kidnapper. Athy didn't try to defend him either; he left her and Cale alone with Claude of all people.
Before leaving, Felix left a few words for Athy and her maids within the palace.
‘His Majesty said he would come to visit Princess Athanasia in the near future.’
Shocking really.
No one could decide whether they should be excited or scared. This was the emperor after all but… Claude was not a benevolent or kind individual.
Still, it was good to have the emperor’s attention—in the eyes of everyone but Athanasia.
Unfortunately, while Felix left to return Athanasia, Cale was left with Claude. The motherfucker. Literally.
Cale was left behind, stuck in his seat beside the emperor. As they were alone, Claude decided to ask again.
“While she answered the question, you did not. Tell me, who am I?”
Does he need a fucking ego boost? You’re a murderer. That's who you are.
Cale remained quiet. He held his mouth shut for a second before finally giving an answer.
“…You are His Majesty the Emperor, Claude De Alger Obelia.”
Claude clicks his tongue lightly before speaking again.
“I shall reiterate my question then. Do you know who I am to you?”
Silence and then a soft but regretful answer.
“…You are my father.”