You stood warily as Claude stopped before Athy.

It was only seconds ago you were playing with Athy in the garden when Claude randomly showed up without warning.

Doesn't this guy have other things to do other than terrorizing you and Athy?

"I think you got a bit chubbier since I last saw you," Claude observed, holding his chin as he studied Athy. His robe swayed in the breeze and much to your embarrassment and annoyance--his toned chest and abs were on full display.

Your expression twisted at his words and you gave him a 'bitch what?' look. But the second he turned to you, you forced a smile.

"Greetings, your Majesty." You said. Sarcasm was heavy in your voice and you hoped Claude didn't pick on it.

Claude narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in his blue eyes. Unfortunately, he did pick on your not-so-subtle sarcasm.

"Look, who's starting to use her tongue? And quite boldly so."

Your pleasant smile didn't falter as you looked at him with feigned confusion, "I have no idea what His Majesty is implying. Should I stop greeting you, does it annoy you?"

"You need to work on your subtlety," Claude said, rolling his eyes. "As for what I'm implying, I don't need to outright spell it, any person with a half brain can figure it out."

"But wouldn't it save time for us if his majesty just spell it out for me." You said smiling sweetly, internally irked by his insult. "As majesty puts it I'm not good at subtlety. As a matter of fact, I'm not good at taking subtle hints either."

"You never were," Claude smirked condescendingly. "I doubt you'd ever be."

This jerk..!

You forced a laugh. "Your Majesty shouldn't be so sure of it. After all, people learn and grow up."

You paused dramatically before giving him a closed eye smile. "But then again not everyone does. Some do like to stay in their presumptuous childish phase. Isn't that right, your majesty?"

It's only after the words left your mouth that you regretted it.

Mouth, shut up!

You internally panicked when you noticed Claude's eyes darkening into a deeper shade of blue.

Felix and Lily paled at the sidelines. Athy's smile becomes more strained. She shot you a 'are you crazy?!' look.

Claude wordlessly stared at you, blue eyes flashing dangerously. You didn't break eye contact, holding your ground, even if the urge to cower was strong.

"Hehe, Papa looks pretty today! More than before!"

Athy cheerfully interjected. The tension in the air grew higher for a second as Claude turned his attention to Athy. His expression bored and stoic. Athy continued to smile brightly, but her hands shook discreetly.

You shuddered once his focus was off you, feeling cold sweats on your nape. Claude's attention was terrifying. Especially his cold glistening blue eyes. It felt like being plunged headfirst into ice-cold water.

"Follow me," Claude said finally after a whole minute of staring at Athy and walked away. Expecting others to follow him.

You drew in a long breath and beside you, Felix, Lily and Athy let out sighs of relief

"I was on my way to the lake. Get ready and join me."

Exchanging a dreaded look with Lily, you followed Claude.

Since last week after his declaration that he was going to treat Athy like a proper princess, whatever the hell it meant, you had more occasions where you sat through torturous father-daughter tea time. With Claude showing his master communication skill, and Athy's all cutesy sucking up to her father, you had half the mind to throw yourself out the window just to escape the awkwardness.

And the worse part was being painfully aware of Claude's cold sharp eyes dissecting you.

At least the best part was you caught on with his subtle mood swings.

During the meeting you realized, Claude didn't try to Athy even if she behaved insolent and impertinent. As long as she kept her cheerful persona, Claude looked intrigued.

On the contrary, Claude turned bored when Athy behaved like a proper, formal child.

And as for you, if you kept quiet for too long, his mood would turn foul. Claude didn't even make effort to hide it, glaring at you coldly throughout the bonding time. You were forced to join in the conversation just to appease him.

The problem was you didn't know how to control your tongue. You were snarky and sarcastic by nature, it was an inseparable part of you.

How were you supposed to act like a proper lady with uptight conversation skills?!

Suspiciously, Claude never appeared offended by your horrible etiquette and disrespectful conduct instead he looked amused when you would pale after every comment. That sick bastard.

But you knew Claude's patience could run out anytime. Ah, this mouth of mine is going to death of me!

You stopped before the lake. It was beautiful with crystal clear water reflecting the blue sky. And the surrounding greenery just adding to its beauty.

Claude turned to Athy who had taken a shaky step back and kept her smile.

You swallowed thickly before speaking, "Your majesty I don't think Athy should go on the boat with you."

"Why?" Claude questioned, eyes sliding to you.

There are tons of reasons, you being the main concern but for now, I'll give you the most relevant one.

"It's dangerous for her to be near the lake. What if she falls?" You glanced at the lake. Though the lake water was clear, the bottom wasn't visible.

"Pointless concern." Claude said nonchalantly, "I'm with her, what's there to worry about?"

You swallowed the urge to flip him off. Pointless concern, he says.

You scoffed. Yeah, right!

Lily added, "Your majesty, (Y/n) is right. Princess--"

One cold look from Claude shut her up. You frowned.

Athy grabbed your dress with a nervous look to stop you as you opened your mouth to protest again. She was startled when Claude spoke to her.

"Don't you want to join me?"

As if a switch was turned, Athy beamed instantly, "Yep, Athy wants to go with papa too!"

"Athy, no--" You started.

"Papa is with me, so don't worry, (Y/n)!" She gestured for you to bent and pecked your cheeks and happily bounced to Claude.

You straighten up and watched nervously as Claude picked her up from her armpits and placed her on the seat before taking a seat across from her.

The boat moved, sailing away and growing distant.

"Don't worry, his majesty is there with her." Felix tried to assure but the doubt and uncertainty in his own voice made it clear he didn't believe it himself. Even Lily seems doubtful.

You nodded distractedly. Eyes fixed on the boat. The lake was big, stretching from all directions. The distance grew between you and the boat. If the need came, it'd take at least 3 minutes max to reach the boat.

But in three minutes many things could be accomplished. Like murdering someone.

Your blood ran cold. Dammit, you should have gone with Athy. Let's hope, Athy could keep him entertained enough not to be killed.

Ether was nowhere to be found to aid you. And you had no time to search for him. You didn't want to take your eyes off them.

For minutes nothing happened. Claude spoke something and Athy seem to flush in embarrassment, hiding behind her hair.

After some back and forth, Claude seems to be grown bored. You bit your lips. God, it was a bad sign.

Claude lazily slouched back in his seat, turning to his side, his elbow propped on the pillow, knuckles supporting his chin as he spaced out.

His blue eyes flickered at you and you had to bit back a gasp.

His blue eyes glistened like sapphires shining in the sunlight. Rich golden hair framed his forehead, some strands falling over his eyes. His handsome face was set in a stoic expression like some perfect marble structure carved by peerless beauty. His bare skin seemingly glowed in the sun. He looked like some kind of Greek God, sitting there all regal and supreme.

Heart racing, you found yourself entranced by him. Deep lingering feelings strengthen and spread in your heart, filling it with warmth. Eyes softening in awe, lips parting in silent wonder. Your vision tunnelled on him, as everything seem to be blue around you.

You painfully reminded why your past self fell in love with him at first sight. There was nothing not to fall in love. If only you were unaware of his psychotic nature.

Claude's lips uplifted into a tiny smirk. You flushed. God, he caught you checking him out!

So embarrassing!

You coughed, eyes darting away from his frame and aimlessly looking at the lake.

Felix beside you chuckled, "His majesty is looking this way. I wonder whom he's staring at?"

"His majesty is staring at (Y/n)," Lily answered obliviously. Not catching Felix's hidden meaning.

Oh, god, you wanted to dig a hole and bury yourself in it.

"Felix, you're getting old," You deadpanned.

"Whatever you say, (Y/n)." Felix smiled, flowering appearing around him.

You looked at him exasperated. "Why are suddenly so happy?"

"It's just I'm reminded of old times," Felix said mysteriously. "It's good to see certain things haven't changed."

Your confusion skyrocketed. "Care to explain?"

Felix shook his head with a smile. "You're still oblivious as ever."

You didn't get a chance to ask him to elaborate. There was a loud splash and a cry of surprise. Your head whipped the boat.

Your eyes widened when you see Athy drowning. And Claude...

He was just gazing at her, apathetic, completely unfazed. His face set in boredom as he continued to look at Athy. As if there wasn't a child-- his own flesh and blood helplessly drowning in front of him.

"Claude!" You shouted, enraged and panicked. "Don't just sit there, help her!"

Claude turned his face to you and made no move to save Athy.

Bastard!

Cursing, you dove into the lake. There were cries of protest and worry behind you but ignoring it all you made a beeline to Athy.

You had to resurface to take a deep breath before diving deeper into the cold water.

The sight of Athy struggling to breathe as vines drugged her down-filled you with urgency. Taking out the dagger stashed in your boots, you immediately started slashing the ugly-looking tentacles.

Wrapping one arm around Athy's waist securely, while another continued to attack, you tried swimming back to the surface. But the vines wrapped around your ankle, jerking you deeper.

Athy was running out of oxygen, you had to think something fast.

You looked Athy going blue and dread and fear crashed over you. Your magic acted up on your command as you produced an air bubble around Athy. The air bubble encapsulated Athy and it floated to the surface.

More and more vines flew towards you, slithering around you tightly. You felt yourself weakening. Each time you jerked free more vines took place of the previous preventing you from resurfacing.

Your body grew heavy and sluggish. You realized that the vines were absorbing your mana. Draining your life energy. Your lungs felt on fire as they burnt with the need for oxygen.

Your eyes grew blurry. Even your attacks were growing weak and slow.

Is this it? Is this how I'm going to die? Fuck!

Your consciousness started to fade as black dots appeared in your vision. Water filled your lungs as you gasped. The vines snaked around your waist, pulling you deeper and deeper.

Suddenly an invisible force jerked you away. Blue flames erupted around you, burning the vines and destroying them completely. Your body flew upward. Everything after that was blurred. You couldn't make out anything. There was a strong, firm hold on your waist. And voices. So many voices ringing in your ears.

Abruptly you coughed up water. Your whole body heaving and shaking. You were cold, your insides felt like it was on fire. Your hands fisted up on a hard surface as you curled up in tight ball heaving, and coughing.

The hard surface beneath you was comforting. You were out of water. Alive and breathing.

There was a warm palm patting your back as you coughed water from your lungs. After heaving a couple of times more, your opened your eyes to see a worried face of Felix peering at you.

"Are you alright?!"

"Athy..?" Your eyes widened as panic set in. "Felix, Athy? Where's Athy?!"

Athy, a couple of feet away was coughing up water, tears pouring down her pale cheeks. Lily patted her back, shushing as her own eyes filled up with tears.

You immediately shrugged off Felix's hand and stumbled to Athy. You pulled her to your chest. Placing your palm on her chest, you let your magic flow into her in gentle waves.

If the burning agony in your chest was anything to go, you knew Athy must be feeling the same burning pain.

"It's okay, Athy. You're okay now. I got you." You said soothingly. Rubbing your hand on her chest, healing her. It was draining. Your magic was extremely low and you were abusing it by using healing magic on Athy. You were minutes away from passing out.

Athy was crying, shaking as she cowered in your chest fearfully. Your eyes watered, feeling helpless as you tried to ease her fear.

"Felix."

Anger washed over his nonchalant voice.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Teach Athanasia how to swim." His right hand was drenched and dripping with water. "It would be a shame if an Emperor's daughter drowned to death in a mere lake."

Eyes widening in rage, you snapped your head to him. How dare he..! Glaring at him, you spat, "That's it, you asshole! Is that all you got to say after seeing your daughter drown?!"

"Y/n!" Lily called in fear. Felix was frozen over.

Claude raised his eyebrow at you, the same apathetic expression you saw before adorned his face.

You hated it. The cold apathy. The disregard his own daughter's life.

"No!" You shouted. "He needs to realize just what the hell he did!"

He was lucky your hands were occupied or else you'd have slapped him blue and black.

You glared at him in disgust, and spat out, "Were you going to watch her drown while she begged for help? Have you really grown so heartless to see a child-- a fucking child drown and do nothing?!"

"Stop with your tantrum," Claude said, his voice cold and emotionless. "She's alive."

"No thanks to you!" You seethed. "Really, Claude you're no different than your own abusive asshole father! Maybe even worse than him!"

The air chilled. A sharp murderous aura emanated from him.

Felix dashed over to your side and took a protective stance in front of you. Lily too, blocked you from his sight.

"Your majesty, please calm down. (Y/n) is still reeling from the shock of almost dying. She doesn't mean what she says."

"No, Felix I meant everything I said,"

"(Y/n), that's enough.." Lily pleaded. Athy let out a whimper as she shook her head, hands tightening around you.

Darkness fell over Claude's face, icy blue eyes peeking through the curtain of his hair. The chill surrounding him was terrifying.

You couldn't feel anything else above the anger at his unreasonable action.

"You hated your father for what he did to you. Hated the Empress for it. And yet here you are, imitating the same action of the man you hate so much. Playing the same damn role the empress did," You said through gritted teeth. "You're just turning into a person you hated so much. Becoming the same persona as them. And I hate it."

Felix looked over his shoulder, face pleading and helpless. "(Y/n) please for me, be quiet. Don't say anymore."

You fell silent. Head downcast as you tried to swallow down your anger.

"(Y/n), I'm s-scared.." Athy whimpered.

You suddenly realised your mistake. Guilt washed over you. Athy looked pale, eyes watery and trembling.

You forgot to take into consideration her feelings. How scared she must be after the whole drowning fiasco. And here you are starting another scene.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." You hugged her close, rocking back and forth. "But don't be scared, I'm here. I'll always be here. So there's no need to be scared."

The air was frozen and tense.

Your skin crawled at the oppressive pressure. You knew you had hit a sensitive core.

Claude stood terrifyingly still. His face was unreadable as he watched you coldly. Eyes flashing with frozen emotions. For a moment you thought you saw barely noticeable hurt in his eyes, but it vanished away in seconds.

You warily stared at him. Everyone did. It was like watching a ticking bomb and having no clue when it would blow up.

"Don't think you'll get away with this with a simple slap on your wrist." Face easing away in an apathetic mask, he said coldly. "I was being too lenient with you."

You had anticipated his words. Still hearing it made your body quiver fearfully, breathing becoming harder.

Claude smirked lifelessly, "Comparing me to my so-called father," He let out a sharp humourless laugh. "I'll show you what true cruelty is."

Your body froze over as thick, petrifying bloodlust was directed at you.

"I'll decide later what to do with you and your running mouth. For now, enjoy breathing."