Falling petals

A Sudden Visit of a Capture Target.

A few months passed after that day. Sakura got used to the life of a princess in those days. The big celebration that Raphael was busy preparing came and went with no troubles.

Sakura wasn't allowed to attend since her father worried people will try to approach her for their own gains. She spent some time with her father and the rest, except for Gabriel and Uriel, it seemed that they were preoccupied with some type of project or experiment, but no one told Sakura of what.

In those months, Raphael finally found two maids to care for her. Normally Sakura would have more maids as the future heir, but she was fine with this two, especially since they weren't scheming and are already married.

'My dad made a deal with the other nobles, he said he'll pick from the nobles, but he will pick those who are already married or had fiance's. The men agreed, albeit unwillingly. They had no choice but to, since they knew with the incident of me almost dying, my father could have executed those girls and their whole family as retribution.'

She turns in bed so she can face what she was looking for.

'Haha, he really is scary when angered.' Sakura can only laugh and stare at the very exact man she was thinking sleeping soundly and quietly next to her.

The only reason she is still sharing a room with him is because since those women are already married, they have to return home and care for their own family.

'So the safest bet for me is sharing a room with my papa.'

While thinking this, she stared at her father's face, the usual stern expression eased up and was even more beautiful to look at.

'But now when I look at this face, I can't help but think that this moments may never last for long, he would soon forget about me and share this kind and caring look to my half sister. For she was his favorite, right?'

She snapped out from those thoughts and quickly shakes them away.

'Lately, I started to think too negatively, I know that it's all a misunderstanding, so why do I still think that way?'
Feeling tired from those sudden pessimistic thoughts, she tries to remind herself that she shouldn't even worry so much like that.

'I shouldn't become to emotionally invested on this, the only reason why I care if he loves me or not is because it will lead to my survival, not because I actually wanted to have a family... right?'

Sakura frowns a bit and looks at him, she doesn't know how to explain this feeling.

"...will papa.... always love me, no matter what? Or will he abandon me again...?"
Sakura lightly mumbled her thoughts, her pronunciation getting better. She hasn't had a moment were she slurred her words, only if she gets overexcited and can't control her emotions.

"Papa...." feeling a sudden tug in her heart. She reaches out and lightly taps him in the cheek.

'He's here... he isn't an illusion... papa is really here, protecting and caring for me, he hasn't abandoned me.'
A dazed look filled Sakura's eyes, only to refocus when she felt a warm hand lightly holding her hand that was in his cheek.

She watches the man's eyes opened slowly, his eyes squinting from the sudden light, but he focuses his sight and looks at the owner of the small hand in his cheek. He sees the girls innocent and clear eyes look straight at him, her eyes round and beautiful with her eyelashes fanning her face. He smiles at the sight and reaches out, patting her messy yet smooth hair.

"How is my little princess fairing this morning?" His voice husky and low from just waking up.

But this sight was all to familiar to Sakura, that she doesn't feel embarrassed as she did in the beginning.