Act Cute

"I don't understand why you are even taking this seriously Dear, it's going to be like all the others and your hopes will once again be crushed!"

The man on the other side of the conversation acted like he didn't hear her, which in turn made her speak even louder "It's probably just some poor street rat who wants take advantage of you! My Prince, please heed my words and let's head back to our home." yet again her words were ignored by the Prince.

The woman who was speaking heald an ugly scowl that didn't match her striking appearance. She wore a tight-fitting gown that had a simple design of white lilies from the hips downward, the top half of the dress was designed in lace as well as the log sleaves that covered her delicate white skin. This woman was named Elizabeth, former Lady and now Princess; married to the second prince of Xodale.

Her sun-kissed blond hair was curled up and put into a simple design hanging over her shoulder and like her simple styled hair, the makeup applied on her face was also kept simple, it made her delicate features even more striking. The Princess was known to be a quiet and fair lady, loved by all and cherished by her husband, yet if you looked into her eyes at this moment all you could see was an ugliness that one could only find in one's personality.

Her appearance was carefully planned to make her look as innocent and delicate as possible, but what hid under was the exact opposite of her image.

_____

Back at the Mansion

My "family" had arrived. Outside the window, Lee could see a single small carriage followed along with two more larger carriages pulling up to the front of the mansion.

Anne was already dragging me away from the window and into the crowded hall. On the walls leading down towards the front hall was a never-ending line of servants all in the same set of uniforms, they all bowed as I passed them but it was like Anne didn't see them and just kept on dragging me forward.

At the front of the house, the entourage of carriages arrived with the Princess being the first of the family to step out assisted by the head guard, next was the Prince himself who was joined by two children. One of the children looked to be around Lee's age, with the same honey-blond long hair as her mother and remarkably simple features, and the other was older if she had to guess maybe two or three years older.

Instead of blond, his head was dyed with black locks that were neatly combed back into a silk canvas, it was the type of hairstyle that you would see rich businessmen wear. His attire matched the description perfectly as he was wearing a black tailored suit with not a single crease insight.

When we got to the bottom of the marble staircase Lee was positioned in front of the door by Anne in a way that when anyone walked into the first thing they would see was her. Anne crouched in front of her as she proceeded to check on her appearance again until she was sure that everything was perfect, then continued to say something that made Lee turn her eyebrows.

"You look just like your mother" these were the words she had said, but the voice was a man's that came out instead of hers

Behind the maid stood a tall and blurry man, due to her height she had to raise her head until her neck couldn't bend any farther, his appearance had changed from the time he'd visited the witch. His round face had become chiselled revealing a handsome structure and his thick beard had been neatly cut. Not matching any of the three people behind him his hair colour was an orange hue, like the afterglow of a calm fire.

With only his voice this time the man repeated the words he'd said earlier," You look exactly like your mother."

To Lee's horror enormous tears tumbled out the second he finished his statement, and before she could figure out how he had moved from the door to the front of the staircase in what seems like seconds, Florence had already gathered her small frame into his arms as he proceeded to sob like a four-year-old child all over her lace and silk dress.

After hours of tears from the Prince, Lee was introduced to the rest of the 'family'. The first one was Princess Elizabeth Maine and her stepmother. Even before the woman had spoken she knew what kind of person this woman was, her pretty face didn't do much to hid the ticking of her eyebrows as well as the forced smile as she greeted the little girl, the next one was the clone next to the two-faced woman.

The little girl's name was Lizzie, named after her mother and her step-sister. Unlike her mother who had carefully plastered on a kind, or what she thought was a kind facade this girl didn't bother to hide the complete discontent she was feeling.

Of course, Lizzie knew that before she was born her father had lost a child while he was still with his first wife, but she was informed that the girl was dead and after years of people coming up and pretending that they were the lost girl, she had gained confidence that she was the only blood-related child of the second Prince of Xodale. Next, to the first and second princess, she was in the most powerful and well known Princess in their generation, and it didn't matter that her mother wasn't the first wife, Lizzie was still a respected royalty.

But when she saw her father hugging the strange girl she knew that what her mother had feared was coming true, her status as the legitimate heir of the man who is next in line for the throne was disappearing, and her dreams shattered.

Last but not least was the told dark-headed boy; the top of Lee's head reached his neck as he stared blankly at the little girl before him. It was like he was looking at a replica as he thought back to the photo that's hidden inside the prince's desk drawer, a replica was the only thing he could describe her as. She was no doubt the long lost daughter of Prince Florence and Princess Rosaline.

"This is Felix, a good friend of mine's son and your adopted brother" explained Florence " A tragic accident struck and as a promise to his father I adopted Felix as my own" he paused as his eyes misted over in memories. "And I'm sure you've already figured it out am your father Dear, Leeona"

The man paused and expectantly looked at his daughter, what he was expecting was tears of joy to come out of the girl's eyes and a cute voice to call him papa, but nothing of the sort happened. She did run, but not into his arms, instead, she ran to his... maid?

Not expecting the little miss to approach her especially in such a hurried manner, Anne squatted to Lee's height and before she could ask what was wrong a small notebook was shoved into her face. Since the miss had not seemed to want to speak, the maid had given her a small notebook to keep in the pocket of her dress in case she needed to say anything

On the piece of parchment, only one word was written, "Sleep". Understanding that this was all probably too much for such a little girl to hand all at once, pity overtook the white-haired maid, and she stood with Lee's delicate hand in hers. "It seems like the little miss is a little bit overwhelmed at the moment, Your Highness would it be ok if I took her to her room until dinner is served?"

Not wanting to be separated from his daughter that he just got back the prince was about to refuse but was stopped by Elizabeth's words, "Dear, this must be all too much for the poor girl, after all, she's been through so much already. Why don't we let her process it for a couple of hours then we can speak all we want during supper?" she said, not missing an opportunity to boost her image, the woman had supported the maid but it wasn't all for her image. She herself couldn't stand to look at that familiar face.

Florence took one look at his daughter hiding behind Anne's legs and finally resigned " Go ahead Anne, we'll also take this time to get unpacked and settled"

With his permission, Anne walked back up the stairs with Lee in tow; of course, the reason Lee wanted to leave in such a hurry wasn't because of a sudden case of exhaustion, it was because she had realized that something was strange since the second the old man had walked into the door, coupled with Anne's strange words as well as the Princes, it made her think back to the toad in her soul space. She thought back to his explanation and couldn't believe she hadn't realized this before.

Once she was alone Lee was going to dissect a toad, slowly and painfully.

In a certain secluded space hidden deep within a certain person's soul, the toad mentioned above felt a cutting chill on the back of his neck.