Born As The Emperor’s Daughter - Chapter 209

Right now, I am in the middle of nowhere, drowned by a sea of people who just walked past me.

Unfamiliar faces and people everywhere, noisy and loud voices ringing inside my head which I couldn’t understand what they are saying, the aroma and scent coming from the different kinds of stalls, restaurants, and cafes near me wafted to my nose making me hungry but I just endured it. How did a princess like me get separated and lost from my brother and personal knight?

How did that even happen anyway?

A few hours ago.

The sound of the music coming from the vinyl record player found on top of the drawer beside her bed resonated inside the room, dominating the silence that once ruled over. Alexandra was sitting on one of the couches, holding a book with one hand as she flipped the page to the next one, reading each sentence carefully and not rushing because she might not understand it. There were also a few stacks of books placed on top of the table in front of her and those were the new ones that her father ordered or bought. Alexandra has nothing to do during the afternoon as her instructor had another event to go to, it was her father’s birthday and there was a banquet held for their family.

Well, it can’t be helped if it was your father’s birthday. Alexandra’s father, Alexander, his birthday was in autumn. The 3rd week of November, though no banquet or ball would be held just like for her or her brothers. He would usually just celebrate it inside his office with the work that he needs to do or in the dining room with his family. Sometimes, she and her brothers would plan something like surprising him like baking a cake for him and arranging a small celebration for him, trying their best to keep it a secret from him.

Of course, Alexandra and Christian was the one who thought of the surprise, and Gilbert and Calixander just went along with it. Chandler, since Calixander agreed and joined in, also decided to participate.

Chandler once threatened everybody, the people working in the palace, that if they decided to tell it to him, they would lose their jobs. That would always be effective and the surprise would always end up into a success.

The celebration would just be simple, very simple, and cheap for the emperor of this land. His reason was that it would just add up to the paperwork if he decided to hold a ball or banquet for him and besides, he is already old and he doesn’t find such events interesting.

The older you get, the less you appreciate your birthday. You just wait for your death while spending your time with your loved ones. That was true for her during her previous life, she doesn’t even remember when was her birthday back then and nobody was there to remind her. Ever since the death of her mother and the relative who took care of her, nobody was there to celebrate her birthday anymore.

So when her father held a banquet for her 11th and 12th birthday which just happened recently, a few months ago, happiness and excitement overwhelmed her, of course.

Yes, she was already 12. Almost 20 months have passed already and how fast does time flies because she didn’t notice that almost 2 years already went by, it just felt like last week when she had her coronation as the princess of this land. So far, nothing bad has happened to her. She thought that there would be a controversy or something that would be against her existence. Like they are on the negative side doing troublesome things that would affect her and her family. It was peaceful, everything was way too peaceful for her that she doubts that everything was a dream or something.

Moving on, the banquet to celebrate her birthday was similar to Calixander’s but there weren’t that many people, most of the noble girls who are around her age were invited and attended the party. Because of that, she was able to meet and talk with them but she was only able to become friends with a few of them. It felt like those banquets for her birthday only had noble girls in it, not even a single noble boy around her age was seen.

One of the effects of being an only daughter.

Alexandra didn’t mind that though as she was still young and wasn’t interested in those kinds of things although some of the noble girls around her age who are in her banquet were already engaged. Well, they are already either 14 or 15 while she was still 12, turning 13 next year. Aside from that, she was enjoying her life. Even though he still hasn’t met a noble boy who is wealthy and famous and handsome that seems like he came out of a novel or something, she was already surrounded by good-looking people though most of it were her brothers.

Well, her father is good-looking because if he isn’t, why would many girls chase after him when he was a kid and up until now.

Arthur is also good-looking and they would meet or see each other either once a week or once a month, during that time, he would teach her a few things about magic and she would slowly learn. However, that isn’t enough but she doesn’t complain as she knows that he was busy with his duties along with chasing after Harrison who always escapes. Harrison is also good-looking and pretty (if he would become a girl, he might be prettier than her) but he is a jerk. Even though he is good-looking, he is a jerk who likes to tease her and say some things to her.

They see each other almost every day unlike Arthur and her who would see each other rarely (that’s because Harrison kept on escaping from his duties just to either laze around or spend time with Alexandra).

She remembered that time where she was walking around the garden with Maribelle and she accidentally stepped on something which was Harrison sleeping and woke up because of the pain on his stomach where Alexandra was stepping on. He was actually hiding as he escaped from his duties but he accidentally fell asleep. Arthur found him in the end and was dragged back.

It’s amazing how Arthur could be patient and endure everything as he would work with him.

Well, Chandler would sometimes run around and look for him wanting to spar or have a duel with him while his personal knight just let him be as he laughs because he is already used to it. To think that he doesn’t get tired from all of that running and would just get rejected by Harrison then he would do it again then the same thing would happen again and again. It’s like a never-ending cycle.

Alexandra let out a sigh and she wasn’t paying attention to the book that she was reading anymore, she was lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that she flipped the pages multiple times, making her end up in a random page filled with unfamiliar paragraphs and confusing scenes. She just closed the book and placed it on top of one of the stacks of books and as if on cue, a knock on the door was heard.

Who might it be?

“Princess, his majesty, Prince Calixander is here to see you,” Carlos’s voice was heard outside and she immediately stood up from her seat. Why would brother be here? She asked herself as she glided her feet across the room, heading towards the door which serves as the entrance and exit of the place. She held the knob and twisted it as she gently swung it open, revealing a male wearing just some simple clothing, completely different from his fancy and extravagant ones.

Her eyes were wide with wonder, “What is it, brother?”

Calixander Ruth Ambryle Everly, 20 years old, not married, not engaged, no lover, still single even though most of the people around his age are either engaged or married. Even their father was already engaged when he was 20 years old. How is he still single? He always rejects marriage proposals, turns down everyone who confesses to him, and spends his time training, eating sweets, or with his siblings.

Well, all of her brothers are like that anyways. Single.

Christian is still too young and innocent while Chandler is young, reckless, and wild. Gilbert doesn’t give a damn thing about anyone and just reads every day, maybe he has a crush on a fictional character that’s why he isn’t interested in real people.

“Would you like to go out?”

“To the garden?”

“No, outside.”

“The garden is outside, what do you mean?”

“Outside the palace walls, literally outside of this place.”

Huh? Alexandra blinked multiple times as she stared at him.

“Like outside? To the town or plaza?”

“Yes, I wanted to take you to a café I just discovered a few days ago, the cakes there are popular and delicious and also, if you want, we can take a stroll and buy some things though we have to be in a disguise.”

Alexandra’s eyes glimmered and her expression brightened when she heard what he said, he doesn’t need to explain why they need to be in a disguise as she already knows it and she doesn’t care anyway. After months of not going out of the palace because her brothers were busy or in the academy, she was finally going to take a step outside. Without even hesitating, she nodded multiple times, “Yes, of course!”

—

“Wow,” Alexandra couldn’t help but gasp in awe as she looked around the place, it wasn’t big nor was it small. It was just the right size and multiple tables along with chairs were seen inside, some were occupied by people. Decorations such as lanterns, paintings, wall stickers accompanied by shelves that have books in it were seen on the solid walls as most of it was glass and you can see everything outside, from the stalls to the people passing by.

The sweet aroma coming from the kitchen behind the counter where a young woman was seen wafted to her nose and she felt herself relax. This place was paradise itself and most of the things that she likes are here.

“Oh, Sir Ruth, you’re here. To think that you would really come back, is she the sister you were talking about?”

“Yes, she’s 12 years old.”

“I see, you two resemble each other a lot.”

That’s because we really are siblings even though we are in disguise and hiding our true identities, she thought to herself and just smiled at the lady. She looks 18 and the way that she moves and speaks, it seems like she is a noble lady or something.

Alexandra and Calixander were disguising as nobles instead of royalties, probably the children of a duke or something. Their usual extravagant and expensive-looking clothing were replaced with something simple but you could still say that it was expensive and they came from a wealthy family. Even their looks changed but they didn’t use magic because that would just waste their mana, they used wigs for their hair but they just let their eyes be. Their current hair color was a dark blue one instead of platinum.

Carlos and Christopher (Calixander’s personal knight) were still the same though their clothing was different, their appearance was the same.

“Would you want the one that you ordered before?”

“Yes, but could you please add this, this, this, and this? And also this and that one too, don’t ask why there are too many.”

The lady just giggled as she writes down their order on one sheet of paper, perfectly following to everything that he was pointing to and writing it all down with ease. She must be used to it already.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah and also, one glass of juice and a cup of black tea.”

“Okay then, you may look around and take a seat. I’m sure there are still some vacant ones.”

Calixander just nodded before he took Alexandra’s hand and started walking, looking for a vacant table for the two of them. As they walked, some of the people’s eyes were on them.

“Are they siblings?”

“The two of them look cute!”

“The little girl looks like a doll.”

“It would be a waste if she gets kidnapped, I heard that kids kept on disappearing one after another during this week.”

“I wonder what the man’s name is.”

“If I have a little sister who is as cute as her, I would just keep her all by myself.��

“Blue eyes are quite rare to see nowadays.”

“Maybe they came from a high-ranking noble family.”

“My eyes have been blessed.”

Many eyes were on her and she could hear what they were whispering about, she felt proud of that and as she was walking with her brother towards that one empty table she felt a pair of eyes. Even though most of the people here in this place were looking at her, it felt like somebody who is far away from them was staring at her intensely and that sent a chill down her spine. It was quite different from the stares the people here were giving her. It wasn’t admiration. She looked around then behind her and outside but nothing was there, that intense stare disappeared afterward.

Was that just my imagination?