Born As The Emperor’s Daughter - Chapter 224

“Oh, princess,” Alexandra was greeted by a knight when she came out of her room. It was Carlos, as always. Alexandra smiled at him before she opened her mouth to speak. She just woke up from her short nap and she has to fix her appearance before she got out of her room, though her hair was messy and have to remove the pins and such, but she doesn’t know how to style it back so she just let it be. She only tucked the right side of her hair behind her ear after she combed it. Her side bangs were seen and it was quite messy.

Her long and silky silver hair reached her waist and from the middle part to the end, it was wavy. Since Alexandra was now 14, she has grown so much and become more beautiful like a flower on full bloom. She was quite a tall and slender girl. Long legs, small face with doll-like gem eyes, silky hair, and porcelain skin. Thanks to Vivienne’s lessons which have already ended or were already finished, she was graceful. That’s probably one of the reasons why people, especially boys, admire her.

The same goes for her brothers, especially Calixander who is still not engaged to someone and has been receiving tons of gifts and letters every day. Double the amount of hers, probably. But it seems like somebody caught his attention and he has always been visiting the café where they went to before. Lisbeth Graycole, a noble lady who owns a café along with her parents who have retired and are now enjoying their peaceful and happy days together.

Lisbeth is an acceptable candidate. Despite knowing that the person she was calling Sir Ruth who has always been visiting their café just to buy cakes and such was a prince, her personality and treatment towards them didn’t change. Well, yes, she learned about it thanks to the kidnapping incident and she always been doubting if ‘Sir Ruth’ is a royalty or not.

If Brother Calix gets engaged, I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s Miss Lisbeth, was what she always thought.

Lisbeth is also good at baking and Calixander would usually order from them. When they have balls and such, Calixander would go and ask them if they could like to help them bake and do the cake as well as the other sweets. Lisbeth and her family would also get invitations for the balls that are held at the palace.

It seems like my brother’s ice heart is being melted by Lisbeth. That’s cute, to be honest. It feels like my brother’s ‘single’ days would come to an end, she celebrated inside her head.

“Did you just woke up, princess?”

“Yes, and I’m bored.”

“Then would you like to walk around the garden?”

“Are my brothers training right now?” Alexandra didn’t answer his question and rather responded with another one as she stared at him. Her eyelids blinked and her eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly’s wings as her gaze bore on him, waiting for his response. Carlos hummed before he spoke, “I guess so. I think they usually train around this time,” Was what she said.

Since Chandler and Christian were on a vacation right now. Chandler is about to graduate from the academy and he only has a year left before he does so. While Christian still has 2 years to do so. I guess my days are slowly becoming chaotic and it wouldn’t be peaceful anymore as her brothers would be here, she thought. Christian could be in the library right now as he would rather spend his time reading rather than training.

“I see, then I’ll go watch them,” She said before she turned around and started walking. She was wearing cream-colored ribbon doll shoes and her pastel pink dress lightly swayed as she walked. “But, princess, it’s dangerous. Your brothers are probably battling each other right now,” Her knight said as he followed her behind while she walked down the stairs, humming a tune of a random song that she thought of. She only tilted her head back and looked at Carlos, a smile on her face though it was different from her usual gentle one.

“It’s fine, you’ll be there to protect me, right?” She said and let out a chuckle when she saw Carlos’ dumbfounded expression when she used that privilege against him before she started walking.

—

From here, she could hear the faint sounds of explosion and weapons clashing against each other. Her head started to beat fast due to excitement and she became curious about what kind of fight is going on right now. She was heading towards the place or training grounds where her brothers would always train. Funny how they wouldn’t even talk to each other before and somehow, despise each other’s existence but here they are, spending time with each other and are calling each other with nicknames that they made up.

Though they would bicker sometimes, but it’s not that bad.

“Are you really sure, princess? I could hear some sort of explosions from here. How about we retreat and read a book in the library?”

“I am sure about this and it’s not like this is the first time that I watched them train.”

“But those are different, they are not fighting or battling each other. They are just practicing swings and trying to chant and use spells.”

Alexandra just chuckled and she didn’t respond or say anything as she continued to walk, not minding Carlos’ worry. Alexandra then arrived at the training grounds that seems like a battlefield for her and she squinted her eyes while walking, trying to guess who those people are fighting.

It was Gilbert and Calixander, battling each other with their weapons. Gilbert’s weapon was a sword while Calixander’s weapon was a dagger. Honestly, she would have thought that Gilbert would have a dagger, and Calixander would have a sword but it was the opposite.

However, both of them showed that they can handle and use their weapons perfectly and displayed an interesting battle. Her eyes rapidly moved as she followed them around, it looks like they were dancing, to be honest, as they were able to dodge their enemy’s attacks swiftly. Gilbert was fast when it comes to reacting and dodging, the same goes with Calixander as he would sometimes throw his dagger at his direction but would retrieve it back.

“Princess, it’s dangerous, we should get out of here, right now.”

“Just a few minutes, this is the first time that I saw Brother Calix and Brother Gil engage in a duel,” She replied as there was an amused expression on her face, her eyes sparkling in joy. Dust would rose in the air but she would just disperse it by using a spell and summoning the wind, clearing everything for her.

Gilbert aimed his palm at him and chanted some words before a few layers of red magic circles appeared in front of him and some sort of laser beam was aimed at his direction. No, it was their direction as Alexandra was positioned meters away behind Calixander. Before Alexandra could react, she felt herself being pulled by someone and was protected by them. The laser beam that was produced by mana clashed against a sword and was being stopped by it as it was threatening to hit them.

But then it abruptly disappeared as well as the dust fog that rose.

Alexandra realized that she was being protected by Carlos and another person was walking towards their direction.

“Princess, are you okay? I told you that we shouldn’t go here because it’s dangerous.”

“Oh, thank you for protecting me,” Alexandra could only say as Carlos slowly let go of her.

“My apologies, Prince Gilbert but I have to do that as you were aiming in the wrong direction and the wrong person,” It was Harrison’s voice and she could see him walking in her direction. His voice sounded nonchalant. It seems like Harrison did something to him that caused him to cancel or stop the spell.

“Alexa?” Her brothers then walked towards her direction, Alexandra just smiled at him.

“Princess, are you okay?” Harrison asked her as he arrived in front of her, there was a grin on his face but it was somehow, unsettling. Mischievous or something like that.

“Yes, I am okay.”

“I see, that’s good.”

Harrison’s being weird. He’s unusually kind, did he ate something bad? She thought to herself, she felt something unusual from him. No, it wasn’t that feeling of being suspicious at him.

“You’re weird,” She blurted out as she faced him, crossing her arms.

“What do you mean I’m weird, princess?”

“You’re being kind.”

“I think being kind is not weird.”

“Stop smiling,” Alexandra pinched his cheeks and stretched it. Harrison only let out a chuckle but then Alexandra pinched it harder making his chuckle die down immediately as he winced in pain and held Alexandra’s hands which were on his cheeks, pinching it.

“Stop, stop. That hurts! Ow, I was just teasing you!” He admitted and Alexandra let go of his cheeks. They probably forgot that her brothers were still here, standing near them, as well as her knight. They already knew that they were friends and they were close to each other but somehow…

“You should go somewhere else, you know? It’s dangerous here,” Harrison said as he rubbed his cheeks, trying to ease the pain that his cheeks were feeling. Alexandra hummed before she responded, “Yeah, I’ll just go to the library,” She said and bid goodbye to him and her brothers before she turned around and started walking away from them. Carlos bowed at them before he turned around and followed Alexandra.

When they were out of their sight, the princes’ gaze darted over Harrison.

“You’re quite close to our sister, huh.”

“We’re close friends,” Harrison responded and her brothers started to attack him with words as he tried his best to avoid and escape this situation.

“She ignored us and only talked to you, that’s unfair, isn’t it?”

“She looked much happier talking with you than us.”

“Harrison, I challenge you into a duel and if you don’t accept it, I will not allow you to see or interact with Alexa forever!” Chandler said before he grabbed him by his collar and dragged him.

—

Alexandra was in Wistalia Palace’s library. It has been so long since she last went here since she would usually use her library or their family’s private library. The palace was still hers and was regularly being cleaned by the maids in the Crystal Palace. The books there weren’t moved to the current palace that she was living in because she requested them not to do so. It would be much better if all of those were just in here rather than getting mixed with the others.

These are old and historical books. There are like my collection and I don’t want them to get mixed with the others, was what she thought.

She was walking around the library, her eyes roaming around the place as she felt nostalgia. How long has it been since she last came here? She continued to walk around but then she abruptly stopped as her breath hitched. She was frozen in her position as she stared at this one spot, a woman was standing not far away from her.

Fear overwhelmed her.

The woman looked ghostly, transparent. She was wearing a long dress that reached the floor and her hair was long. But she doesn’t look scary, she isn’t like one of those white ladies that she saw on TV when she was a child. She was actually beautiful, however, that doesn’t change the fact that Alexandra was afraid. As far as she can remember, nobody aside from them was the only one here.

Don’t tell me a ghost?! But she looks too beautiful to be a ghost, a lost soul? She looks kind of familiar. But is she a ghost? A soul of a person who was murdered in this library? Wait, what if–

“Who are you?” Alexandra said, fear lacing her voice. She remembered one of the famous tales in this palace that there was a ghost in the library, a woman. God, no, this—

But then the woman looked at her and smiled. It wasn’t a creepy smile or something. It was something tender and warm as she motioned her to come and follow her. Somehow, Alexandra finds her familiar as if she already saw her. Doubts and suspicion overwhelmed her but she still followed her, slowly. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were forming into a thin line but her knees were shaking as she walked.

The ghostly woman turned to her left and Alexandra heard the sound of something that fell to the ground and she hurried to where that ghostly woman is but what she only found is a book laying on the ground. The ghost or something as standing near it and was looking at her, smiling with her eyes closed in the process. Her expression was telling her to pick it up and Alexandra blinked multiple times, she was doubtful and suspicious yet curious at the same time.

She bent down and picked up the book, staring at it. Isn’t this the sealed book Brother Chris saw back then? Like years ago during the winter star and she visited the palace?

[Referring to Chapter 50: Winter Star (2)]

She closed the book and looked at the cover then the backside. There were words seen though it was barely noticed as it was small.

‘As only the true-blooded

will be able to uncover

the hidden.’

And one the bottom part, there were also a few words.

‘For the truth that you seek will be found here.’