Unexpected Return
"My Princess, now that this man is abled enough to feed and walk by himself, don't you think it'll be a good idea to send him to the guest room?"
The man who was eating some vegetables salad on the bed was completely oblivious to their silent discussion and he seemed uncaring about his surroundings.
Otherwise, he would have realised he was seating on an infamous Princess's bed and eating on her plate.
Poppy had been against the idea of bringing a stranger, and the Emperor's captive at that, into the Princess's personal bedroom and Cecilia could agree with her on that.
Cecilia was beginning to feel uncomfortable with keeping a man in her bedroom as well and seeing the man was indeed healthier than before, she agreed.
"Take him to one of the guest room, I'll come check on…" Cecilia's voice trailed off but Poppy immediately understood that something was wrong with her mistress.
She looked dazed all of a sudden.
"My Lady…" Poppy called.
"…" No reply.
"My Lady…" Poppy called again.
"…" Still no reply.
"My Lady!" Poppy's voice finally elicited a reaction from Cecilia.
"Is the Emperor expecting any guests today?" Cecilia's sudden question stunned the little maid. Her Princess was extremely quiet a second ago and now she was asking such a strange question.
How was she supposed to know.
Even though she was technically the Princess's lady-in-waiting, her identity was no less than that of the maids that sweep around the palace grounds.
She was like that trophy display for the Emperor. Her light pink hair colour and bright light red eyes where clear features members of the Imperialian Imperial family possessed.
She didn't really know if she was indeed an Imperial display but she was satisfied that she got to be with the Princess of all people.
She remembered the day she was found.
~Ten Years Ago in Imperialia~
Winter was at its peak and not one sign of soil or greenery could be seen in sight. Everywhere had been covered in snow.
Poppy, who then didn't have a name, had accepted her fate. She layed flat on the cold snow with a lifeless expression on her face.
It had been five years since the war, at least so she had been told. She could barely count past twenty with her fingers and toes.
She was also turning five this year and people she met for help called her an ill omen and the reason for their current pitiable situation.
Luckily she met an old woman who was kind enough to take her in, feed her and cloth her decently enough. She finally had hope for a future but…
The woman just had to die on this day, and again the taunts and curses, that had ceased due to the old woman overprotectiveness, rained down on her once again.
Useless, cursed and other whatnots, she lived the first five years of her life listening to these harsh words whose meaning she barely understood.
She shut her eyes even tighter as they began to hurt due to the cold, but her resolve to die was unwavering. If her fate choose to take her life, she might as well give in.
*Neigh! neigh!* The sound of horses crying and galloping they made made the little ten years old open her eyes in curiosity.
Her pupils immediately constricted when she saw the identities of the riders.
Their numbers where so large that it far exceeded her counting ability. And it seemed like they where protection and fancy looking carriage in the middle of the crowd.
She remembered the symbol on their chest-plates from the knights who had been roaming around the fallen Imperial capital awaiting some order of sort.
During that period, news of the massive plague in the form of the King of Gastonia had been no new topic to them as they had witnessed their might first-hand.
It was like watching a horror film seeing them approach in such large numbers.
"Their back… they came back…" The little girl involuntarily looked at the horizon and could already imagine them being bloodshot.
It wasn't all that bad, now death would come to her sooner rather than waiting for the cold to slowly and painfully take her.
A death by horse stampede was a lot faster, she presumed.
The terrain of Imperialia was located on a hill, about six kilometres on horse away from the residual areas which gave the people the advantage of foresight.
It wasn't long before the once calm, yet tension filled, city turned into pure chaos… and the intruders, more like new undeniable matriarchs, hadn't even arrived yet.
The incident of their previous attack, although five years had long passed, was still very fresh in the minds of these city dwellers. They had lost loved ones, family and even their beloved Imperial matriarch.
It was horror mix terror in flesh.
The little girl layed flat at the entrance of the capital city like a chubby piece of cloth.
Her light pink hair scattered around her face, the pale red hue in her eyes had turned completely lifeless and her delicate fair features had turned purple, to the point that they almost looked painful, owing to the cold.
The galloping of horses' hooves quickly neared and the little girl patiently waited in anticipation for her death.
This was going to be her freedom, the irony of the situation was just too overwhelming.
The last thing anyone would want to see was the thing that was going to grant her eternal freedom. She thought ruefully.
But to her surprise, the cavalry stopped right in front of her. The little girl immediately sat upright and looked at the dismounting warrior with an impending sense of dread.
The well built men looked at the girl with a conflicted expression on their faces. Some with pity, some with disgust and others with sheer confusion.
After collecting their thoughts, one of the men whispered to the other. The other fellow nodded and gazed back at the girl.
The burly man ran towards the carriage in the middle to inform whoever was inside of the current situation and immediately dashed back.
He whispered into the ear of the man the girl now recognised as the commander of the cavalry and the nodded before approaching her.
"Little girl, get up. There's someone who wants to meet you." The man extended his arm and spoke rather too politely for someone who came to reek havoc.
See me, why would anyone here want to see her? She questioned internally but didn't dare voice out her thoughts before such dangerous people.
She was not so foolish.
She slowly stood up from the snowy ground and dusted the dried icicles the had formed on her rather decent and shockingly cute outfit.
She wore a black knee length flail skirt and a white puffy handed long sleeve button up chiffon shirt that had a string knot to hold the neck together.
The man held her hands extremely gently as though it would break if he exerted too much pressure on her ghastly pale white palms.
"This way…" He ushered her to the carriage at the middle the cavalry and stopped right in front of the door of the carriage.
She couldn't help but notice the faint smile on the once icy expressioned man's face and felt a little relief, but that didn't last long.
"I can only lead you up to this point as I am not allowed in, you can go ahead from here on your own." He said and she nodded in a daze.
Yes, she'd noticed he didn't enter the carriage when he was speaking to whoever was inside. He stood beside the carriage's closed window and passed the information.
But what did this kind of powerful person need from a poor bumpkin like her. She exhaled strongly exactly the way the late old woman used to do when frustrated.
She slowly knocked on the carriage door, the door immediately swung open and a hand pulled her hand into the carriage before shutting the door with a loud bang.
The little girl was scared out of her wits that she tightly shut her eyes during the entire fiasco of the sudden reaction.
The way the person easily pulled her, a rather chubby child, so easily terrified her even more.
'Is this person going to hurt me.
If so, why didn't he/she just allow the horses to stampede me to death.
Why tutore a poor innocent rabbit like me.
Boohoo, I feel so wronged.' The little girl thought as tears began to fall freely down her face.
"W- what do y- you want me from, boohoo! Please let me go!" The little girl finally spoke since the incident had begun.
Her little childish blabber made her sound even cuter than she was.
"He he he he he…" The little girl heard a female childish giggle and slowly opened her teary eyes.
Expected to see a her doom, she braced herself for the worst. But, to say sight before her amazed her beyond words was a serious understatement.
--To be continued…