"But Thea really wants to eat chocolate with her big sister~."
____________________________
"Your father, his majesty Claude de Alger Obelia."
'What did she just say?' Athanasia asked, looking over at her sister who was still admiring their father's picture.
Alethea tilted her head, confused by her twin's reaction, before replying, 'She said, his majesty Claude de Alger Obelia'
'No way... Why does he have the same as the emperor from that stupid book? Ugh.'
'What do you mean why? It's obviously because he's ou-' Before she could finish, their nanny interrupted.
"And your guys' names are Princess Athanasia and Princess Alethea de Alger Obelia." Lily told them as she sat them back down on the floor to play so she could get them something to eat, "Now I'll be right back so play together nicely while I'm gone."
The moment she was out the door, Athanasia finally started to put the pieces together. 'It seems like I've actually become that tragic princess Athanasia.' The older of the two twins shouted as she cried.
'Wait, you're telling me you hadn't figured it out until now? What about all the times I told you? Or when the maids started gossiping and repeating lines from <The Saintess Alethea>?' The golden-haired baby asked, giving her sister an intense stare as if asking her if she was stupid.
'H-hey don't look at me like that, you said you were 14 when you died so I thought it was just your child-like imagination' Athanasia defended, 'and I only read <The Lovely Princess> one time and that's because I had nothing else to do. And I never even bother to read the side book, besides the novel was so cliché and childish.'
'WHAT?' Alethea bellowed in their mind link as she crawled towards her sister faster than she had ever before. 'What is wrong with you? <The Lovely Princess> and <The Saintess Alethea> are both masterpieces, the characters are top quality and the storyline is beautifully written.'
She shook her sister by her shoulder like a crazy person as if that would convince her.
'Well, it's a novel targeted at 12 to 14-year-olds so it's understandable that I, an 18-year-old, wouldn't enjoy it.' The platinum blonde said, gently taking hold of her sister's hands. Athanasia looked down at her sister and quietly begin to freak out when she noticed the tears in her eyes. She pulled her in for a hug and started rambling, 'It's ok for you to still enjoy the novels since it was targeted for your age demographic, and just because I don't like it doesn't mean you have to stop. And that's not to say I hated it but it's just not my favorite, you know? Please just don't start crying.'
'I'm sorry I ca- can't help it.' Alethea apologized as her tears fell harder as she clung onto her sister for comfort, 'It feels so hard to control myself and my emotions in this baby body so when I feel sad I can't help but cry'
As she looked down on her sister, her eyes started to water and before long, both babies were crying.
And right at that moment, Lilian walked in, holding two baby bottles and some snacks.
"Waaaaaaa!" "Waaaaaaa~!"
"P- princesses what's wrong?"
"Waaaahhh!" Athanasia cried harder as she now thought about her up-and-coming death. At first, she was just crying because her sister was but now it had finally hit her, that she was gonna die again. Seems like she wasn't destined to live past 18.
Lily quickly ran towards the princesses and picked them both up, rocking them gently to soothe them. "Why are my sweet princesses so upset?"
"Maybe you're both hungry? Is that it Princess Alethea?" She kindly asked as she pressed her nose against the younger baby, knowing that usually made her laugh.
But it didn't work this time as instead of smiling, the young baby wailed louder as a scene from <The Lovely Princess> played out in her head. The scene where Lilian York claimed Princess Athanasia was innocent and got killed.
Although Lilian York didn't come out much in <The Saintess Alethea> the golden blonde-haired child had grown attached to her. Lily, despite hearing about what happened in the Ruby palace, still volunteered to be the twin sisters' nanny and although the reason was because of their mother, Alethea knew the young maid had come to love them as much as she did her.
"Hwaaahhhh! Waaaaaahhhhh!"
'Claude you dirtbag!' Athanasia shouted as they continue to sob.
This time, Alethea had to agree with her new sister. His whole kill everybody and ask question never thing was bullcrap. If he had just investigated the poisoning incident a little bit, he would've found out that Athanasia had nothing to do with it but instead, he didn't care that he had sentenced two or more innocent people to die.
"D-don't cry, princesses." Lilian pleaded in an antsy tone. She set both babies down on a changing station and checked the diapers. "They're not hungry and it's not their diapers... They've been very needy nowadays."
'Oh Lilian, why for art thou Lilian' Athanasia poetically thought as her eyes filled themselves with more tears.
'This sucks, I don't want you or Lily to die' Alethea continue to cry but more softly then before, 'I don't want to die again either.'
"It's okay Princess Athanasia and Princess Alethea, I'm right here." Lilian comforted them, rocking them softly once more, hoping that this time they would come down.
'We need to make plans to leave this damn palace'
~~~
"Nanny, nanny~!" both twins cutely cheered together as they ran towards Hannah, one of the maids now working at the Ruby palace, "Athy and Thea want chocolate."
'Good job Athy, just like we practiced.' Alethea praised as she happily grabbed her sister's hand, smiling brightly at both the nanny and Athanasia.
Athanasia was filled with pride at her sister's praise, having spent many hours practicing to look extra cute, 'Thank you.'
'Of course~'
Hannah was left starstruck at the twins' cuteness, "My sweet little princesses really do seem to love chocolate, don't you?"
"Yeah, Thea and Athy love chocolate." Alethea chirps as she swings her and her sister's intro-locked hands.
The platinum blonde five-year-old stretched out her unoccupied hand, "Athy wants a lot."
"Me too! Me too!"
"Your Highnesses love chocolate that much?" Hannah asked as she bent down towards the kids.
'Okay remember we're supposed to say it at the same time.' The youngest of the two reminded.
'Right!'
'one, two, and three...' They counted down together, sharing a glance and a nod as they finished.
"We love chocolate just as much as we love you, Hannah!" the twins exclaimed, jumping up and down in sync just like they practiced.
"Oh my." The nanny whispered with a blush. 'They're just too cute.' she thought as she reached into her pocket for some chocolate squares she always kept on her for the two five-year-olds.
"Hannah, what are you doing?" another maid, Ces, yelled, causing Hannah to step back.
"Ces!" Hannah said with a gasp, flinching as nervous sweats started to form all over her body. All the maids in the Ruby palace were forbidden from giving the two young princesses chocolate without Lilian's permission and if she was caught being tempted by them, she would be forced to listen to the head maid nag her for weeks.
Ces, the slightly younger maid, glared at her auburn haired friend, "Head maid Lilian told you already. You can't give the princesses snacks as you please."
"It's just one piece each." Hannah reasoned.
"But you won't be the only one giving them snacks." Ces retorted easily as if already knowing what she was going to say.
Athanasia pouted, already giving up on their quest for chocolate, 'Aww I really wanted some right now.'
Seeing how sad her sister was over the chocolate, Alethea put all her years of Idol training to use as she grabbed the ashy-purple-haired maid's uniform, startling her in the process.
"Nanny," She pleaded, using her secret weapon: puppy dog eyes to get her enemy to submit to her, she continued, "But Thea really wants to eat chocolate with her big sister~." she finished, adding a cute smile at the end as sparkles surrounded her.
The nanny looked away, not being able to take the cuteness attack but refused to give up, "I'm sorry your Highness but no."
"I really can't have any at all?" Alethea pouted as her sparkles intensified around her. She forced her eyes to look even bigger then normal, making her eyes twinkle as the light hit the jewel blue color just right.
And there was nothing the maid could do, she handed all the chocolate she had got from the kitchen to the young princess, "Just make sure you don't tell Lilian, okay?" she told the princess, thinking back to what the head maid had said about the chocolate rotting teeth.
"Thank you nanny Ces~!" Alethea thanked her and placed a soft kiss on the adult's cheek before grabbing her frozen sister's hand and skipping away as the two maids argued.
"Wow," Athanasia marveled breathlessly as she looked at her sister's smiling face. If the real Alethea smiled like her sister did then she could understand why Claude and the whole empire adored her so much.
"Hahaha" the five-year-old with golden hair just like her father, giggled joyfully as she lead her sister to a safe place to eat their chocolate.
~~~
After eating their chocolate, the twins returned to their room and got ready to pick some flowers, with Alethea wanting to make flower crowns for both her sister and Lily.
Before they could get far, they were stopped by a maid passing by, "Where are you two princesses off to?"
"Athy wants to pick flowers and I'm gonna make some flower crowns." Thea cheered with a smile.
"But don't you think you guys should wipe your mouths off first?" The maid teasingly asked as she knelt and began wiping the chocolate smudges off their faces, "So did you guys enjoy the chocolate?"
"You have to keep it a secret!" Athanasia quickly ordered, looking around the whole room to make sure Lily wasn't close, 'Oh I'm being such a kid.'
'What's so wrong with that? We are kids.' Alethea wondered, tilting her head in confusion.
Sighing, she answered her sweet innocent sister, 'Mentally I'm eighteen so it's painful to my pride when I act like a child.'
'Ohhh,' She muttered, mouth open wide as her eyes filled with little stars. She thanked their maid before counting, 'I forget how old you are with how you act most of the time.' Winking, she dashed ahead as she laughed.
'Why you...' she shouted with her hand clenched into tiny fists as she sprinted after her younger sister.
~~~
While running, Alethea noticed how dirty her hands were. 'Should I clean them off at the fountain?' she wondered as she subconsciously walked towards the fountain, taking in how the scenery looked.
"So pretty." The young girl whispered in awe of the beauty around her. "I forget how enchanting the Ruby palace is."
Every statue was expertly polished so it shined, she noted as she walked past them to get to the fountain.
She dipped her hands in the cold water, washing all the chocolate off. She hummed one of her songs from back when she was an Idol under her breath as she worked.
After a minute or two she was joined by her sister who also washed her hands. When they were done, they both chose to stare at their reflections, admiring how pretty they looked.
Alethea noticed for the first time how much she looked like her father. With hair made of silky golden strands and eyes of blue jewels that showed off her imperial blood, she wondered if she had inherited anything from her mother.
'Athanasia has hair just like her.' she would hear Lily whisper some nights when she thought Alethea was asleep. 'She'll be just as beautiful as you were Diana,' she would say other nights.
Sometimes she wished she had the courage to ask if maybe she had gotten her mother's smile or maybe the way they moved was the same. Perhaps she had her crying face or if the sound of their laugh was similar.
And maybe she would be brave enough to ask if only she didn't notice how close to breaking down Lily was on those nights.
The sound of Athanasia's less than pleasant singing broke her from her thoughts and she finally noticed the flowers around her.
As her gaze landed on a beautiful magenta flower, she smiled. In the novel <The Saintess Alethea> it's mentioned once that Diana, Athanasia and Alethea's mother, had mesmerizing magenta eyes that could take anyone's breath away.
She sat down and plucked a couple of the magenta flowers, using them to make a lovely flower crown for someone who would never be able to wear it. Alethea felt at peace once again as she finished the crown and gently hugged it against her chest, making sure not to damage it.
Everything felt alright with the world around her as she sat in the flower field.
That was until she finally looked around, not recognizing where they were. "Hey Athy, where are we?"