6 The Sleeping Beauty

"Princess you look so beautiful!" Jennett complimented her. Princess Lia stood in front of the big mirror in her room with her mouth agape. She felt like a clown in this dress. It was like someone took a gown and sprayed various bright colors right on it, colors such as red, yellow, green, and blue. However, she did like the way her hair was styled, in a nice half-up and half-down hairstyle. The curls were already dry due to the weird blow dryer like-invention that Lia made a mental note to take a look at later.

While the maids were discussing how to dress Lia up for tomorrow, the girl stared at her reflection with a sad frown. She was now someone else, with another family, and different people surrounding her. She was now a completely different person, but yet the thought and longing for her old life were strong. She'd rather prefer to be reborn without the memories of her past in order for it to be easier to move on, but the past cannot be changed. She had the memories for a reason. And all she had to do is find that reason.

"Now ladies, enough chit-chatting, his highness is waiting in the garden," the head maid, which Lia asked, was named Nancy. Her favorite one so far was Jennett while the quiet maid who also helped her was named Rose. Nancy and Rose stayed behind to help out the other two maids who were cleaning up the room.

"You look so beautiful my lady, everyone will want to look at you," Jennett complimented but to Lia, that wasn't much of a compliment. She didn't want people to stop and stare, she wanted as little attention as possible. In fact, she wanted to be able to become invisible, if it was possible in this world. Many people stopped and stared at her in her past life, that didn't bother her at all. But yet somehow it did now. She didn't know if it had something to do with her child body or the fact that she was no longer a confident woman with almost everything in the palm of her hands. And now she had absolutely nothing. She felt as if all her hard word had gone to waste.

As soon as the two of them stepped out of the room, they spotted two guards standing on each side of the door. They bowed politely as they saw their princess exit. Lia wasn't exactly fazed at how the guards didn't even look her in the eye when greeting her, instead, they just stared straight, barely even blinking.

"What's wrong with them?" Lia asked out loud by accident.

"Don't worry my lady, they are probably just as nervous as the rest of the empire. Since the princess has awakened, everyone had been so eager to meet the 'sleeping beauty'" Jennett said with a smile, although inside she was so happy that she got the privilege to spend so much time with the princess. Lia couldn't hold it in any longer, she started laughing out loud at the nickname, 'sleeping beauty'. Sure, the girl was sleeping half her life, and she admitted that she was pretty cute, but that nickname was too much.

"The name, 'sleeping beauty', haven't yo-" Lia stopped halfway through the sentence, she was just about to ask the maid if she ever heard the original Disney story. But without the knowledge of where she was and what kind of world this was, it was way too dangerous to ask this question. She almost slipped up!

"I m-mean...it's a funny name!" She quickly said smiling nervously at the maid.

"It suits you well, my lady."

* * *

They walked for a while and Lia was able to explore more of the castle without being chased by a mob of people. This time, she was able to fully take in the beauty of the designs on the walls, the tiled floor, and the garden which was their final destination. This grades was different from the courtyard she had previously encountered. As soon as she stepped foot into the garden, different scents of flowers filled the air. She couldn't help but stop every five steps to smell a different, more unique flower than the next. Some in which she recognized, such as lilies and roses, others were strangled but just as fragrant.

"Pretty," She said to herself.

"This way my lady," Jennett said, seeing at how the young princess smiled upon smelling the flowers. She hadn't seen her smile purely until now. Lia quickly ran after the maid, not wanting to keep her waiting for any longer.

"Please don't run, you can trip and hurt yourself!" Jennett said with worry in her eyes. Lia listened, her legs were still sore after being chased around the castle since it was clear that the body had never experienced that much exercise in one day, or any day.

"Your highness," Jennett bowed to the prince. The prince looked up from his book, spotting his sister and her maid. He placed the book down with a little frown.

"Took you long enough, did she cause any trouble?" Lia's eyes widened, she quickly looked at Jennett with pleading eyes. Although she did try to run away the first time and also the fact that she didn't let anyone undress her was enough trouble itself for the maids.

"Nothing we couldn't handle your highness," Jennett replied. It wasn't a yes or a no either, but she did manage to catch the panicked expression of the princess which made her smile a bit.

"Good."

"I will take my leave, your highness," Jennett bowed again.

"Have a wonderful time, my lady," Jennett bowed to Lia before giving her a bright smile and walking away. Lia debated whether she should run after Jennett and beg her to stay. She didn't feel as safe with her own blood as she did with her maid. She looked at the direction where her maid left with a slight sadness before looking back at the prince who was watching her like a hawk this entire time.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Sit down!" He said rather impatiently which caused Lia to jump and hurry over to the chair that was placed on the other side of him and the table.

"So you can understand me?" Lia nodded, for some reason, she felt slightly frightened to even open her mouth.

"Eat," He demanded. Lia was confused at his request but then noticed the delicious aroma in the air. She was so preoccupied with the prince that she wasn't even able to notice the food in front of her. And just taking in once sniff, made her stomach grumble. She looked up at her brother who was staring at her.

Is he going to watch me eat, she thought.

The thought of being watched didn't faze her, but she lacked the proper table manners for a princess and that was a fact, however, this made her even more embarrassed and nervous. And looking down at all the food and dozens of different silverware made her even more confused. Why would anyone need so many different sized forks if all of them can be used for the same purpose?

"Do you need me to feed you?" The prince snapped her back to reality, she quickly shook her head and dived in with an frustrated look. She didn't want to piss him off any further, it already seemed like he was hanging on by the last string. She was so hungry that she couldn't help it anymore. She reached out for a random fork with her right hand and grabbed it. She looked around the dishes that were presented to her, she didn't even know where to start, there were so many! She didn't even have a clean white plate in front of her, the one that is used to put some food from all of the dishes so that only meant that the food was only for her. She decided to start off small, reaching for a nicely cut meat that made her mouth water. When she placed it in her mouth, she almost melted away at the fairly cooked steak and her anger completely disappeared. That meant that they had cows here! With cows comes milk, and cheese and everything tasty!

"That's a fork for dessert not steak," Her little happy moment was ruined by the little remark said by the boy. She couldn't say anything due to the food in her mouth but oh how she wanted to insult him and throw a tantrum, maybe even slap some common sense into him. She placed the fork down, chewing quickly with a look that could kill while her anger boiled inside her like a volcano.

"At least I don't mistake a sibling for an intruder," Lia snapped back causing the boy's eyes to widen. She was still quite salty from the first encounter with her brother, that almost ended her life for the second time. She thought that it also would be fine if she acted out of line, she was a royal and not to mention a young child who has been asleep all her life. Technically, she wasn't supposed to know what was right and what wasn't.

"And here I was beginning to think you were mute," Lia stood up, food wasn't worth this much trouble and she was sure Jennett could get her something to eat. She didn't some fancy meat or dessert, even bread would be more than enough for her.

"Where are you going?" He yelled after her.

"To Jennett," Lia replied, showing her golden attitude. She just wanted to hide in her room again, and lock herself in.

"I didn't dismiss you!"

"I'm a princess I can dismiss myself!" Lia yelled back, throwing her hands in the air. She rolled her eyes, feeling irritated. This boy was certainly testing her patience, whether he was aware of it or not.

"I'm a prince, I hold more authority!"

"Over my dead bod-," Before Lia could say another word, she was flying backward with eyes looking like they were going to pop right out of her skull. She landed gently on her chair that was glowing green. She looked back up at the boy whose eyes were also glowing green.

"I'm stronger," He said smirking while she struggled to break free. She put a fake smile on her face and debated whether she should say: Yes, yes, you are, I'm sorry dear brother. Please forgive me! Not let me go!

But like she was about to say earlier, over her dead body. She didn't know that she was also hanging on a one string until now, and that string just snapped.

"What is that?" She said looking behind the boy, his head snapped backwards and the magic disappeared. Just as she suspected, a weakness. She knew that there had to be a hole in such strange yet strong magic. And why not a weakness to serve as balance in the equation? Not wasting any time, she ducked and crawled behind the closest bush before getting up on her feet and running.

"Come back here!" He yelled after her. As long as she's out of his sight, he can't use his magic on her. She spotted a slight motion in the corner of her eye, causing her to duck and start crawling.

"You're smarter than you look," the prince said. "But I'm still stronger"

The second time he spoke, it sounded as if he was above her. Looking up, her eyes widened as she saw the prince floating in the air, with a pissed off expression. Lia sat up, crossing her hands and rolling her eyes while mimicking her brother in her head.

'I'm stronger' he says, well I'm older and wiser, she ranted.

"Why did you run?" He asked, floating towards the ground. Lia debated what to say, she could easily ignore him, tell the truth or even a lie.

"You scare me," she said honestly. Before she knew it, she was crying. She was not only scared of the unknown, but she also wanted to go back home, to the time where iPhones and sweatpants existed. She lifted up her hands to wipe her tears but the boy stopped her.

"Use this, your hands are dirty," he held out a white handkerchief. Lia looked up at him before standing up, she dusted off her dress, wiped her hands on her dress, and used her arms to wipe the tears away.

"I don't need your pity," she said, speaking like a grown up. She started walking away but to only be lifted of the ground again.

"Let me go," she said, struggling while wiggling her arms in the air. She floated back towards the table, and was gently placed down on the chair. Lia just sat there, with her brother watching her every move to make sure she won't run.

"Eat," He said, clearly losing his patience. He felt irritated, but he also felt bad for his sister.

"Then don't watch me," Lia responded. The boy raised his eyebrows and picked up his book while kneeling back against his chair. No one ever spoke to him the way that his sister did. Lia wasn't the only one with questions, her brother was curious to know what had finally awakened his sister and why did she know how to speak their language so well.

Lia could now relax without his intense cold eyes staring at her every move. She felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off her. She grabbed a different fork, a much bigger one this time, and decided to go for the steak again. As she ate it, she managed to forget her anger and her sadness and fangirled at how delicious it tasted.

The next thing she tried was macaroni, then chicken meatballs, then some kind of salad, different fruits, and so many other dishes that she didn't recognize. Lia was a big foodie in her past life, it was very surprising that she didn't recognize many of the other foods.

As she ate, she hadn't realized that the prince was watching her eat and react to different flavors. He felt sorry for her since she was asleep for seven years of her life without being able to eat anything delicious up until now. In a way, he felt kind of guilty giving up on trying to awaken his sister from her slumber. He was watching her stuff her mouth improperly using wrong silverware but he didn't blame her, it's not like there are classes you can take in your sleep.

"Your highness," Lia didn't bother looking up at the voice, she was enjoying herself way too much to be distracted by someone. But her eyes did flicker from her food to her brother who was caught staring at her. She quickly looked back down, pretending she didn't notice.

"We've got a situation,"

"What is it?" He asked slightly annoyed at being disturbed.

"The rebellion, sire. I don't think it is proper to discuss in front of the princess," Lia barely heard them, she was on cloud nine, dancing with angels and melting at the deliciousness of her food. Nothing even came close to comparing to it, it was a completely different taste, with more meaning and emotion behind it. And she wasn't surprised, it was probably made with magic!

She only noticed that the prince wasn't with her after he was already gone. She freely reached out to the farthest of plates by standing up on her tippy toes while cursing her small height and hands. She also knew that it wasn't healthy for her to eat so much food at once, her stomach might not even be able to take it but she didn't care. Every time she told herself this was the last dish she'd try, something else catches her eye. Before she knew it, she was about to pop from so much intake of food. It was worth it to her. She folded her hands on the table and placed her head down to relax.

No one was here to judge her as she sighed dreamily. If it meant that she could eat all this good food for the rest of her life and as much as she wanted, then forget about running away! She closed her eyes and allowed herself to take a little power nap until her brother returns, then she'd get the chance to talk to him and ask him a couple of questions. And then maybe, everything will be okay in the end.