When Spera woke up again, she could almost feel the shift in the air.

At first, she dismissed her first feeling, telling herself she was just scared from yesterday's experience.

After a week Fon had recovered enough and finally apologized publicly to Warthon in front of the entire army after Warthon had attended for the first time after their dispute.

Not like she had been there in person, however, Mesana had told her about it with great enthusiasm.

But in the same sentence, she also told her that she would be absent from her side for a little longer which dampened her mood.

She soothed her by telling her that she would return to her as soon as possible, but couldn’t tell her exactly when.

Slowly over the time of a few months, she realized why everything felt so … wrong.

At first, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but after she witnessed her mother snubbing at her father at multiple occasions and sometimes even ignoring him totally she knew that something had happened between them.

But since she was just a little girl, not even two years old she couldn’t do anything.

However, this gave her an opportunity to get to know her new bodyguards better.

Daphne, Leon, and Samuel had taken up their duty almost at the same time of the incident and she was almost sure that they knew what had happened, which caused them to pity her quite a bit.

Her mother, feeling hurt by the current situation had distanced herself from Spera, wanting to spare her daughter’s feelings and not wanting to influence her relationship with her father.

Which made Spera very depressed.

For a moment she even thought that her mother hated her.

In her insecurity, she asked Lorain but was immediately reassured.

“No, my little lady, your mother would never hate you. She just has to take care of a few things that are not for your little ears. You see both your parents are very busy, work is just catching up with them. If everything is taken care of they will be there for you once again.” She said with conviction, her tone carrying a hard edge with it.

But Spera missed it completely, too exhausted by her emotions. This, however, didn’t apply to Lorain’s three children that were in the room with them.

Hearing their mother’s tone of voice and seeing the glint in her eyes made them involuntary shudder with dread.

Immediately all three gave a quick prayer for the royal couple.

Their mother was quite scary when she was serious.

Looking at their father that had hidden once again in the corner of Spera's bedroom, they saw him lightly shake his head at them, a slight smile playing around his lips. He also was very angry with the couple for making the little princess worry so much.

To distract the princess from her worries the three siblings started spending more time with her, playing with her and telling her little tales about their adventures, however, they still remained quite distant, their professionalism and understanding of their own power getting in the way of truly caring for their charge.

Even if this could not make Spera forget the tension between her parents, for a short while she could pretend that everything was alright.

At first, Daphne was quite cold to her, she couldn’t understand why.

But after Lorain had voiced her displeasure with her behavior, she at least tried to be nice to the little child.

It was one afternoon, about two months after they had started to protect her and Daphne was assigned the night duty.

She had heard from her mother that before both parents had taken over that shift, however with the current situation they had given this shift to the three siblings. At first, they wanted to protest, but seeing that both of their parents were quite angry at the current situation and not wanting to be the spark that would blow the fuse, they could only accept.

As such when Daphne first opened the room to start her shift she was both depressed and angry at her situation.

“I’m here!” She exclaimed, not looking at her charge and just throwing her body onto the armchair that had been placed next to Spera's bed.

She didn’t open her eyes and just massaged the bridge of her nose.

However, the silence that followed was unusual. Normally the child would at least reply, even if it was just a few words. Worried she opened her eyes searching for the child and freezing on the spot.

There, right in front of her, Spera sat on the bed, tears quietly flowing out of her eyes as she just stared at Daphne.

“Princess!” Daphne exclaimed, hurriedly moving towards the child and kneeling in front of her on the bed, her right hand reaching out to touch her but freezing just a few inches away from her.

Spera's eyes widened as she looked at her, glancing at her hand from time to time as if she didn’t know what to expect. But seeing the worry in Daphne’s eyes, Spera took a huge breath and exhaled slowly, calming herself and forcing a smile onto her face.

“Im alight …” She said, using her hands to clumsily wipe away her own tears.

“How can that be?” Daphne asked under her breath, repositioning herself so that she would sit next to the child, giving Spera a bit of dignity by pretending not to have seen her tears.

“You know … it won’t change anything,” she said after a few minutes as it became apparent that Spera couldn’t stop crying by herself.

Sniffling loudly she looked up to her, her teary eyes pleading for her to give her a solution to her problem.

“Let me guess … you are concerned with the situation with your parents, aren’t you?”

“Yesh ....” She said, stubbornly trying to wipe her cheeks to get rid of the tears that didn’t stop.

“You have to understand that it has nothing to do with you. Trust me this is just something that happened between your parents and even if you want to you couldn’t help them …” Daphne said, feeling uncomfortable with the situation and even while saying it, she knew that you shouldn’t say something like that to a child.

Seeing Daphne’s pained expression at her lack of tact, Spera couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle, which as a great improvement at the moment.

Sighing Daphne leaned her upper body a bit backward, sustaining her position with straight arms which palms sunk into the soft mattress.

“I am not sure what happened … even my parents, that seem to know everything that goes on in this kingdom, can’t tell me what’s up. But you have to believe in one thing for sure … your parents love you with all of their heart and could never hate you. That I swear on my family.”

She said glancing at the dark corner of the room where she could make out her father, only because he wanted her to, and gave a slight smile. She, too, knew of the misunderstandings that could happen between parents and children.

Spera seeing her smile started shuffling closer to Daphne. She, however, started tensing up. When Spera was almost touching her, she even shifted her body a bit, creating more distance between them.

Seeing her reaction, Spera remembered her initial reaction to her crying. Even if at that time she was more preoccupied by her emotion, she was quite sure that Daphne had started to reach out to her, only to stop before touching her.

Slowly Spera reached out her hand towards Daphne. But just before she touched her arm, Daphne jumped up from the bed and took two steps back, leaving Spera sitting on the bed, her legs tucked under her and her hand reached out into the air.

But Daphne knew she had just made a blunder. Slowly Spera turned her head to her, her eyes narrowing. Not knowing why Daphne had the feeling as if she had just provoked a predator that was now on the hunt.

“Princess …” she muttered, looking to the corner for help, but her father had already faded from the room once again. Even using her magic perception, she couldn’t feel him in the room. Which meant that she was now alone with Spera.

Looking back at the girl on the bed, she could see a smile slowly spreading on her face, causing a shiver run down her spine.

Shaking herself she started thinking Don’t be a fool she isn’t even two years old. She can’t be a threat to you …

“Daphne …” The sweet high voice of the child shook her out of her thoughts. Focusing on her once again, she noticed that she had already slipped down from her bed and stood only a few steps away from her, smiling up from her.

Shocked she took a few steps back, in her haste, one of her feet slipped a bit and she had to catch herself by grabbing onto the armchair, unconsciously placing it between herself and Spera.

“Princess … what is wrong ?”

“Oh nothing … ould you ome back to the bad?” She said tilting her head to one side and widening her smile.

“ … I am fine.” She said swallowing hard.

“Daphne …” she said.

Seeing her momentary lapse in attention, Spera jumped forward, her hand latching onto Daphne’s right hand and hanging on. She could feel a prickling sensation start from her hand up through her arms towards her body, however, it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Daphne almost screamed in shock when she had felt Spera’s hands on hers. On instinct, she tucked her hand away but Spera wouldn’t let go. When her brain finally registered the situation and the implication that came from it she froze.

Looking down on the little girl who wasn't even two years old, she felt a shiver run down her back.

“Princess … are you alright ?” She asked a quiver noticeable in her voice.

“Yup, no Poblem!” Spera said smiling up to her.

Not breaking eye contact, Daphne knelt down in front of her on her knees to be eye to eye.

“Princess … can you tell me what you feel?”

“Wha ou you meen?” Spera asked inclining her head to the side.

“Urm … Sorry, I voiced that wrong … Can you tell me what you felt when you touched my hand?” Her eyes showing mounting concern for her.

“My am ingle a bid !”

Nervously, Daphne started inspecting her arms, even caressing them, while her hands shimmered in a light blue. Seeing the light Spera muttered “Pwetty …” In a small voice but loud enough that Daphne could still hear her.

Looking up from her arms, she saw Spera focused on her hands and gave her a little smile.

“You think so?” She said, shifting backward and sitting down on her heels.

Holding up one of her hands, the light suddenly started swirling around her hand, forming little flames on her fingertips. Closing her hand, the light started shining brightly while covering her hand.

“Here you go …” She said with a smile, extending her still closed fist towards Spera, her palm turned upwards.

Excitingly looking at her hand Spera moved closer so that her face was only a little distance away from the fist.

“Whoa ~” she exclaimed as Daphne opened her eyes and a little translucent Dragon sculpture could be seen on her palm.

Taking it from her, Spera turned around towards the light and the sculpture started to shine in a light blue light.

“Daphne! Look! Look!” She said turning back to her and smiling brightly.

“Yes, Princess … I can see it. It looks nice, doesn’t it?”

“Yesh! … What ish it?”

“... That, my little princess, is a secret. I hope you can keep it with you.”

“Bud I don laik seeques … Daphne, can ou ell me whad id ish?”

Stroking her hair with her other hand, firstly tentatively then getting more confident with each stroke.

“Princess… You have to remember that there is always a time for certain things. Right now is not the time for you to know what it is.”

“Bud ou will dell me in whe fiutshue, ighd?”

“Yes, princess. When you are old enough I will. For now, think of it as a friend ok? If you ever need one, just talk to it.” She said with a smile that said that this topic was now finished. Spera had so many questions, but just as Daphne had said, time will tell.

So she let out a “Un!” and nodded her head strongly. She trusted Daphne.

Spera had to initiate physical contact with Daphne who didn’t want to touch her even after she must certainly have had a very good reason for not telling her the truth.

“Princess … I think this would be a good time to go back to bed,” Daphne suddenly said, looking out of the window into the dark night.

“Alright,” She answered, stepping towards the bed, but stopping on the edge.

“Daphne ... up!”

And without hesitation, Daphne stood up again, walked towards her and lifted her up by grabbing her under her armpits and sitting her onto the bed.

Quickly turning around, Spera reached her arms out towards her and hugged her waist.

This once again caused Daphne to freeze on the spot.

Even if she knew that she didn’t hurt the Princess it was still strange for her to be willingly touched by anyone.

Slowly she relaxed.

Looking up towards her while still hugging her waist Spera gave her a bright smile.

“Daphne, an ou day wif me undil I fall asliep? “

“Of course, Princess.”

Letting her go Spera shuffled to the other side of the bed, patting the place next to her obviously wanting her to sit next to her.

Climbing onto the bed, she leaned against the headboard making herself as comfortable as possible.

With a jump, Spera suddenly dived towards her, making her groan as a slight ache spread through her abdomen.

But she was soon distracted from the uncomfortable feeling as Spera cuddled up next to her, placing her head on her lap and tightly gripping onto her thigh.

Seeing her like that, Dahne couldn’t help and let out a small smile, starting to pet her head as she had done before.

When her breathing had evened out and Daphne was sure she had fallen asleep, she leaned down and placed a kiss onto her forehead.

“Thank you… You don’t even know what you did for me, but I now owe you my life, my little princess. Sleep tight, nobody will ever get to you with me here.”

She said, but she knew that the thing that would probably hurt her the most wasn’t something she could protect her from. Since it wasn’t an enemy one could destroy.

She knew it since she had lived with it her whole life.

A tear trailed down her cheek as she looked down on the little girl in her embrace.

“She is just a child…” She said while stroking her head. A sigh slipping from her lips as she leaned her head against the headboard her eyes falling closed.