Why do you hate me?

Chapter 1

(As the title said, this is only a one-shot. Most likely never going to be made into a story. )

"Father, please tell me why you hate me so much?" Athanasia cried as she desperately clutched Claude's leg.

What she received was a cold glare from Claude. However, suddenly he smirks with a mad look in his eyes. "You know why I have hated you since the day of your birth?"

Athanasia quickly nodded, desperate to find the answer to her misfortune.

Claude stood over her in silence, with the same maddening smirk still pasted over his face.

"You were never my daughter."

"What!? What do you mean father?" Athanasia mumbled in alarm.

Claude only leans forward so his face was now directly in front of hers. "I have never slept with Daina, but yet she was pregnant in just 2 months after I left her in the Ruby Palace."

Claude could see the shock in Athanasia jewelry eyes, and it was sickeningly pleasing to watch. "I have confronted her about the matter, but do you know what she told me?" Claude said, "She says that I did sleep with her, and that she remembered the man had the same golden hair and jewel eyes like me."

Athanasia could only kneel there on the floor and listen to Claude's words, as she was too shocked to talk or even moved.

"The only conclusion I could think of is that the slut has used black magic to fool me, or that the mysterious man who dares to disguise as me is Anastasius all along."

Then Claude started to snicker hysterically and he stood with his head in his hand as if what he just said was the funniest thing. "You know, it was quite funny to play along as if I have believed that slut lies."

Athanasia looks up to meet Claude's cold gaze as fresh tears still keep spilling from her eyes. "If Anastasius is my father, then why haven't you murder me yet, like how you murder him in cold blood for the throne?" she whispered, before looking down.

Just then her chin was forcefully grasped and moved to where she was now facing Claude.

"Don't wish too soon, niece" Claude spat the last word out as if it disgusted him. He then threw her to the side and walked away.

Athanasia kneels where Claude has thrown her, holding her bruised chin. She stares at Claude as he walks away with Jennette at his side holding onto his arm as she smiles brightly at her 'father'.

She cried to herself in silence. She cried for how Claude had fooled both her and her deceased mother, but she also cried for never knowing that Claude wasn't her real father.

"Athanasia, it's not proper for a crown princess of Obelia to cry on the floor like a peasant." A man's voice said behind her, gently advising her.

She swiftly turned around and was met with the presence of a man with dark raven hair and midnight color eyes. He was leaning against one of the many poles in the room.

"Who are you, tell me who you are or I'll call the guards on you for trespassing!" She said in alarm and quickly stood off from the floor.

"My my, so this is how you treat your father after you just met me?" He said in a sarcastic voice.

"Father?" She mumbles in surprise.

The man didn't say anything as he slowly moved to where she was standing. When he was barely a foot away from her, he held out his hand to her. "Take the ring off."

"What?" She said in confusion.

"Take the ring off." He said as if it was the simplest thing.

Athanasia could only follow with shaking hands as she carefully removes the ring. When the ring was off she was shocked when the raven hairs of the man turned into a golden blonde. Then she looks up into his eyes and almost faints when her jewel eyes meet another pair of jewel eyes.

"Your Anastasius de Alger Obelia, the previous emperor of Obelia! You truly are my father." Athanasia exclaims in both shock and joy.

Anastasius chuckles at her antics before ruffling her hair playfully. "You've grown up looking beautifully just like your mother, but you inherited my intelligence." He said to her fatherly, "Unlike that other child who is only good at making tea and dressing up all day." He sneered.

Athanasia doesn't need to know the name of that other child to know her father was talking about Jennette.

"Father, now that you're still alive, are you going to take back your throne?" She asks in anticipation.

He looks down at her with a warm smile as he sets his hand on her shoulder. "Of course my child, and after I'm back on the throne you'll finally take your rightful place as the crown princess of Obelia." He said, with a grin.

"Thank you, father."