北条麻妃

And Lili seemed to be thinking the same thing as me. Even after leaving the throne room, her face was still deathly pale.

"It\'s ok, princess."

I heard her quiet whispering voice and I hoped so too.

***

"You\'ve gained weight since the last time I saw you."

And after some more time had passed, Claude and I were the same.

It had only been five days since he saw me, there was no way I had gained that much weight.

"Hehe, Papa is pretty too!"

Claude and I met two more times, and during these times, I realized he wouldn\'t kill me just because I asked sassy and confident.

On the contrary, the more I appeared scared, the more emotionless his face became.

It was the scariest when Claude looked at me with a bored expression. It could\'ve been in my head, but I thought Claude was just keeping me alive for amusement.

And right now, I felt scared to death. I could see Lili be surprised from the side of my eyes after what I said.

But as expected, Claude didn\'t kill after what I said!

"Come follow me."

He narrowed his eyes at me and turned around. Then Lili and Felix let out the breaths they had been holding. I felt that the string that was holding onto my life was growing thinner by the second.

"I was just about to go boating, so get ready."

What did you mean, get ready? Also, \'just about\' my ass. He called me here at this time, I can\'t believe he was pretending it was a coincidence that I arrived at this time. If I needed to get something ready beforehand, he would\'ve asked me, so what he really meant was probably to shut up and follow him.

"Your Majesty, I apologize but the princess and water…."

"She\'ll be with me, so what\'s the problem?"

That was the problem!

Lili, who had courageously spoken up to Claude looked at me with anxious eyes. It was clear she was worrying about me because she couldn\'t come along.

Don\'t do that, unnie. What is he does something to you for speaking up?

To be honest, I didn\'t want to go with him either. What if he suddenly decided he was bored and threw me overboard?

But that damned bastard stopped in place and asked me.

"Do you not want to come with me?"

"Nonono, Ati wants to go with Papa."

I once again smiled brightly to show that I meant no harm. Lili\'s face paled again at my words, but there wasn\'t anything I could do. So I ended up feeling like I was being pulled to my execution and followed Claude to the lake.

I floated on a boat in the lake in the middle of the Imperial Palace with Claude, an exhausted expression on my face.

But this boat, it was really quite nice! It was smooth, and it didn\'t bump around.

Wait, but neither of us were rowing. How was the boat moving? Was there a motor? Or maybe there were slaves rowing for us somewhere under me.

"What are you thinking about?"

Don\'t talk to me. Don\'t look at me.

I was going to say \'The weather\'s nice!\' or \'The lake is pretty!\' but I decided to flatter him instead.

"Papa\'s hair is twinkle twinkle! Pretty!"

It was true that his hair was pretty. I liked my light blonde hair, but Claude\'s dirty blonde hair was more my style.

"I like twinkle twinkle! Hehe."

Claude lightly smiled upon hearing my words. No wait…when he laughed like that it was foreboding of something.

"You had that jewel pouch with you that day."

Hole in one! Player Athanasia isn\'t able to properly function!

"I\'m taking good care of your treasure so come to take it yourself next time."

Ack, this was bad. I was already devastated from leaving it behind but to think that Claude had it.

As I remained silent, Claude looked like he was getting bored again. He turned his eyes away from me to look at the far side of the lake. I was able to observe him easier than I was before.

Where did his clothes come from? Egypt? Greece?

I don\'t know. But his clothes looked good on him.

Last time I thought he was like a lion, but sitting here in the Sun, he looked like a sunbathing puma. Of course, whatever he looked like, it always resembled a carnivorous animal.

When I first saw him, I was so surprised that I didn\'t know what to do, but he really was handsome.

He had some kind of manly look, and with the gown type clothes he was wearing I could see his collarbones down to the top of his abs….

I remembered seeing that Diana had sincerely loved Claude in a side story on <Lovable Princess>.

I could see why women were attracted to him like a moth to a flame.

Claude\'s eyes really were beautiful too. His eyes seemed like actual jewels because there wasn\'t any warmth in them. His eyes seemed slightly green, reflecting the lake. Were my eyes like that too?

I was too scared to stare at him any longer and looked away. Hm? There was an interesting flower.

I thought I was seeing things, but as we got closer to it, I could see it from up close.

Whoa? What is this? It\'s a blue lotus! Oh wait, no it wasn\'t. It only seemed blue because it was reflecting the lake. It was actually almost transparent. But did lotus flowers grow in lakes too?

I wanted it.

I stretched my hand out so I could have it. I was aware Claude was watching me, but I didn\'t care.

It wasn\'t even that pretty a flower, but I had to have it.

Just a little bit more. Just a little bit.

And when my hands almost reached the petal…

*Splash*

I fell out of the boat.

"Cough cough!"

Water entered my mouth and nose as I frantically splashed around.

How did that happen? The dress I had worn today was a layered lace dress, and it felt heavy. I couldn\'t think because I couldn\'t breathe.

I can\'t swim. I can\'t.

"S-save ….."

No matter how hard I tried to touch the ground with my feet, there was nothing there. I wasn\'t able to pull myself out of the water.

Claude silently watched me fumbling in the water. I could tell the moment I saw his pitiless eyes.

He\'s not going to save me. Even if I drown like this, he\'ll just watch me.

The moment I realized that, the strength left my body. Something wrapped around my ankle and pulled me down. The feeling of water pouring into my lungs was horrifying.

Death by drowning. The thoughts I had before I got on the boat were happening.

"Cough!"

You son of a bitch!

At that moment, a strong force pulled me out of the water.

I endlessly coughed up water. The world was spinning and I couldn\'t tell where I was.

"My goodness, princess!"

I didn\'t even know how much time had passed. I heard someone running over and Lili\'s shocked voice entered my ears.

I realized that Claude had pulled me out of the water from the safety of the boat and put me by the lakeside.

"Felix."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Teach Athanasia how to swim starting from tomorrow."

He shook his hands to get rid of the water.

"Wouldn\'t it be embarrassing if my only daughter died from drowning."

That wasn\'t some he should say to someone who almost died. But there was no one here to point that out to him.

Lili hugged me after wrapping me in a large towel and looked like she wasn\'t in a right state of mind. Felix made an agitated expression at the Emperor\'s back and quickly followed him, who had turned away to walk towards his palace.

"Princess. Princess……it\'s ok. It\'s ok now, Princess."