Watching over Obelia's Precious Jewel // WMMAP fic

Chapter 27

  Athanasia looked at herself in the mirror while she dried her blonde hair with a towel provided by Lily just now. She put a finger on her chin and made a humming sound before she moved her hips a bit.

  "What on Earth is she doing?" Claude asked.

  "She's just appreciating herself in front of the mirror," Diana answered. "All of us do that sometimes when we want to feel pretty. Right, ladies?"

  Jennette and Lily nodded.

  Diana smiled slyly. "Don't tell me you've never done anything like that?"

  Claude narrowed his gaze at her, unimpressed. "I have no intention of doing something as embarrassing as that, Diana."

  "Lily, am I pretty?" Athanasia asked the brunette woman who was pulling up a blanket on the princess' bed.

  Lily smiled and answered in 0.1 seconds. "Of course you are. You are the most beautiful being in the world."

  "That is true. Athy really is pretty," Jennette said before sighing dreamily. She rested her head on the palm of her hand. 'She's really, really pretty. I wish I could be as pretty as her.'

  Others agreed with the girl's statement while Anastacius just glanced at her.

  '... Well, you are quite lovely yourself.' The black-haired man widened his eyes and covered his closed mouth. 'Why am I suddenly being so caring?!'

  'Athanasia takes after Diana after all, so of course, she would be quite pretty.'

  Lily walked towards the princess who was now seated on a chair. The princess' nanny grabbed a handful of her blond hair gently. "Let me brush your hair before you go to bed."

  Athanasia did not say anything. She stared off into the mirror as she watched Lily brush her hair.

  'It makes sense Ijekiel has feelings for me.'

  Ijekiel almost choked on his alive. 'S-she knew about that?! Was I that obvious about it?' he thought. He remembered all those times he made a move on her. He groaned and covered his face with his two hands. 'I was really obvious with my true feelings.'

  "Claude, can you please stop drilling a hole into that poor boy's head?" Diana asked before resting her head on her lover's shoulder. "Sooner or later you might melt that boy for having feelings towards our own daughter."

  Lucas smirked as he watched the flustered boy sinking into his seat. 'Thank goodness I'm not that obvious with how I feel towards her,' he thought.

  'At first, I thought I was just imagining things,' Athanasia thought as she remembered what had happened before she got teleported back into the palace by Lucas.

  'But it's hard not to notice when he acts like this.'

  Jennette stared at the boy beside her. "Ijekiel, why are you embarrassed now? I'm sure you were pretty confident when you did all that in front of Athy."

  "That was before I realised just how forward I've been towards the princess without realising that I probably made her comfortable from my advances." He groaned. "I just want to hide from this embarrassment."

  'I wonder if the story got changed because Lucas sent me flying at Ijekiel six years ago.'

  "Six years, huh? Feels like it just happened yesterday," Lucas commented while smiling lazily.

  'Is it okay for the novel to be rewritten like this?'

  "I mean, if the original novel involves her being executed by the cruel and heartless emperor because I was poisoned... yes. It's definitely okay to rewrite the novel," Jennette answered without a sweat, unaware of the concerned stares the others gave her because of the nonchalance in her voice.