The Morning of the Landberht Princess

It was morning. The elaborate alarm clock on the desk started playing a tune to wake up the sleepy. It was just loud enough to wake somebody up, but not loud to the point of startling a sleeping person. Apparently, lots of professional finetuning went into achieving this, or something.

Anyway, Karen jumped up and turned it off almost immediately. Then, she quickly glanced at her older sister, who was still lying on the other side of the giant bed.

"Okay, safe!" Karen pumped a fist and smiled suspiciously. [Don't worry, I'll wake you up, Sis~]

Karen crept toward the unsuspecting older sister who was still fast asleep. Unlike Karen, who always woke up at the faintest sound of the alarm, Fiona needed more time to return from slumberland.

[Well, she worked hard until late yesterday, so she has the right to rest a little.] Karen nodded in understanding.

After they returned home from ProCenter, Karen was free to do as she pleased afterward. But, not Fiona. The ever-hardworking older sister had many more scheduled activities she had to participate in.

Piano, swimming, late-night jogging, and then some Classmancers training before bed. Really, sometimes it felt like the renowned Landberht Princess didn't even know the meaning of the word "rest".

Karen did join her sister in some of these activities whenever she felt like it, especially Classmancers, but otherwise, she had been dodging that stress whenever she could. That kind of schedule was practically inhuman.

Like for example, who'd even have the energy to jog after going through a bunch of swimming? Sure, Karen sometimes joined her sister for either swimming or jogging, but never both of them in a row. That was just overkill. Like, for real.

Yet somehow, Fiona had no trouble keeping up with all of this on a regular basis. Or at least, that's what she claimed.

But really, Fiona had always been carrying herself gallantly, radiating full confidence and consistency. Even as she went from swimming to jogging with barely any rest in between, there was not a hint of weariness on her face.

Nonetheless, as amazing as everybody considered the Landberht Princess to be, Fiona was ultimately a human. Though her fatigue wasn't immediately apparent, it slowly built up over time and eventually made her collapse on the bed like a puppet whose strings were cut.

[She's practically putting herself through torture.] Karen thought as she gently caressed her sister's golden hair. [How can you do this to yourself, day in and day out?]

This was a routine Fiona had been maintaining for years now. In the process, she seemed to develop incredible resilience to all of the stress and fatigue, but seriously, this schedule shouldn't be feasible for a human being to maintain on a regular basis.

Back when Karen came to live in this mansion, she was shocked to learn about this hellish routine. It was inconceivable that some "rich lady" would subject herself to such pressure.

Yet, Fiona always carried herself so confidently as she rotated through multiple harsh activities in a single day. She made everything look so easy, almost as if any kid should be able to do that much.

Seeing Fiona's hard work motivated Karen to practice more as well. Of course, half of her motivation came from the fact she'd be able to spend more time with her sister like this, but the other half was genuine admiration toward Fiona's ability to push herself to the limit and beyond.

Basically, this made Karen curious about her own limits. And to her surprise, once she started trying out some things, she discovered that she was able to achieve much more than she originally thought.

No matter how tough the practice was at first, over time Karen somehow managed to normalize it into a "daily activity" like any other. It became fundamentally no different from the effort required to go through lessons at school.

And so, by sticking to a regular schedule, Karen was able to keep up with her sister to a certain extent. But, her schedule was like 50% less packed than Fiona's.

[Chess and piano aren't my kind of thing.] Karen thought. [Swimming and jogging are nice, but doing them one after another in one day is way too harsh. But, you can do anything, right, Sis? Because you're that amazing~]

Karen rubbed her face against Fiona's arm and snuggled up to the sleeping beauty. Even as she was doing all of this, Fiona remained still as a log.

[Ever the heavy sleeper, aren't you?] Karen giggled. [That's one secret only I know~]

For most people, the Landberht Princess appeared as this invincible figure who could do anything flawlessly. However, underneath all that impressive stuff was still a human being made of flesh and bones. And, it just so happened that waking up in the morning was one cute weakness she had~

Like, real talk, even the alarm clock usually failed to wake Fiona up on the first try. It had to repeat itself multiple times until the sleeping princess finally decided to leave slumberland.

Things were especially rough on days that came after hard physical training, like the one from yesterday. Even though Fiona aced the hellish routine of swimming and jogging, it clearly took a toll on her body.

Since Karen was the type to wake up immediately, it was annoying to let the alarm to keep playing. So instead, it was always her job to wake up her dear sister~

"Meow~" Karen rubbed herself against Fiona. [Sis is so defenseless. I have to protect her~]

Though arguably, the most dangerous individual in the room at the moment was none other than Karen herself. Right now, she could do anything she wanted with this beautiful doll~

Truly, the mornings were such precious times of the day. Karen could never get enough of them~

Alas, all good things eventually had to come to an end and this was no exception.

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat. Karen was caught in the act, same as always.

A woman in a maid's uniform towered the bed. She was the head maid, Lydia. A very nice woman in general, but a big throne in the ass in the mornings.

"I understand that you love your sister very much," Lydia said. "But, I would appreciate it if you actually tried to wake her up at some point instead of just expressing your affection all day. It's already been five minutes since the alarm rang." 

"Wait, seriously!? That long!?" Karen jumped and turned around. The wooden clock on the desk agreed with Lydia on this one.

Well, this wasn't the first time this happened. Oftentimes, Karen felt like he had just started snuggling up to her sister, and then BAM! Five minutes gone! Just like that.

[Maybe I should start waking up earlier.] Karen sometimes entertained the thought but she never went through with it. [Nah, we're already waking up hella early. Like, it's still before 6 o'clock. I'm pretty sure nobody else in our school wakes up this early.]

Yet, Fiona had no choice but to get up early if she wanted to squeeze her absurd schedule into a single day. As a result, Karen had to wake up this early as well.

Of course, with the mansion being so big, Karen could easily request a separate room all for herself and divorce herself from all of this. But, that would mean giving up on these delicious daily routines, so no thanks.

"Would you mind hurrying up, please?" Lydia requested again. "You're already beyond schedule by over a minute."

"Meh. We already wake up earlier than necessary to have some leeway, right? So, no biggie."

"With that attitude, no amount of spare time would ever suffice."

"Haha, maybe." Karen laughed dryly and sighed. [Seriously, we've got more than enough time, but Lydia be Lydia.]

The head maid was nice and caring but also strict and punctual. She looked rather young for a position like this, probably still in her 30s, yet she had this "professional aura" around her that made it difficult to argue back against her.

"Alright, alright." Karen gave in. "I'm waking her up now."

"Please do."

"Sis, wakey-wakey~" Karen softly whispered into Fiona's ear while gently nudging the sleeping beauty.

At first, there wasn't much reaction. Fiona remained still like a statue. Only her faint breathing reassured her that she was, in fact, alive.

"Sis~" Karen rubbed her nose against her sister's arm while shaking the girl's shoulder.

Slowly but surely, Fiona started waking up. She lazily opened her eyes and blinked at her surroundings.

"Good morning, sis!" 

"Good morning, Karen... Zzz..." Fiona's head raised for a moment but then dropped again. 

"Whoa!? For real?" Karen exclaimed. "C'mon, Sis! We'll be late at this rate."

"Late...?" Fiona perked up again. It was like an instinctive reaction to something she deemed unacceptable. "Are we late?" 

"Nah, not yet," Karen whispered. "But, Lydia is giving us the evil eye." 

"I can hear you, Karen," Lydia said.

"Ehe." Karen stuck out her tongue. "Anyway, Sis. Time to wake up."

"Right..." Fiona's eyes were still half-closed but at least she finally developed the determination to rise from bed.

… however, she did it slowly, so very slowly. She pushed her hands against the fluffy bed but struggled to stand up. It was as if her arms were too frail to support her.

[I know that's horseshit, tho.] Karen commented. [Sis can do more push-ups and pull-ups than me. She be lifting.]

And yet, right now, there was no sign of Fiona's usual strength anywhere here. She looked like a toddler who was trying to get on its feet for the first time.

"You can do it, Sis." Karen gave her sister a little push from behind. Eventually, after a few long seconds, Fiona finally managed to leave the bed.

Lydia bowed. "Good morning, milady."

"Good morning, Lydia..." Fiona somehow managed to respond despite obviously being out of it.

"Your breakfast is ready, so please head to the dining room."

"Yes..." Fiona answered vaguely as she wobbled toward the door. She looked like a child taking its first steps.

Everything about this was a far cry from the usual gallant image associated with "Landberht Princess". If the media were to see Fiona like this, they'd surely jump on the opportunity to write dozens of articles about this tidbit.

Hopefully, they'd at least spin all of this in a positive light and call it "cute". Nonetheless, for Fiona, it'll still count as a disgrace. She cared dearly about the "strong and confident" persona she built.

As such, the Landberht Princess definitely didn't have any such cute weaknesses. Karen and Lydia swore to take this secret to the grave.

"The dining room is that way." Karen gently pointed her sleepy sister in the right direction.

"Of course... I know..." Fiona claimed so but she almost went in the opposite direction just now.

Along the way, they stopped at the restroom first. There, Fiona washed away her cute drowsiness with cold water.

Thanks to this one trick, Fiona once again regained her noble aura. She was now walking forward gallantly. "Let us go, Karen."

"Yes, Sis." 

Now, Fiona was the one leading the way. The cute sleepy girl from earlier was gone without a trace.

[It's a shame.] Karen shook her head. [But of course, I love the usual strong Sis all the same~]

They had their brief but luxurious breakfast. After that, they changed into school uniforms, took their bags, and headed outside.

"Good morning, miladies." Sebastian bowed as he opened the door of the jet-black limousine.

"Good morning, Sebastian." On that note, Fiona and Karen boarded the expensive vehicle.

Fiona's bodyguards were already waiting in the car, in a separate cabin to not interfere with the girls' private matters.

"Let's see. Today's schedule is..." Fiona checked the calendar on her smartphone. Karen drew closer to also see the details.

[Whoa, packed as always...] Karen sighed deeply. [Well, at least in volleyball and Classmancers we're together. As for chess… I could join too, but meh. Then, let's see, other than that...]

Karen methodically calculated how much time she'd be able to spend with her dear sister today within this packed schedule. As far as she was concerned, this was the most important question every day.

[Okay, I think I've got it.] Karen nodded in satisfaction.[ But still, volleyball practice first thing in the morning? That means we gonna run into HER, right? Good lordy. I wish these bodyguards did their job better and kept that nuisance away from Sis.]

Unfortunately, there was no stopping the inevitable from happening. The limousine arrived at the school and the sisters headed in.

And so, an hour after the awkward wake-up procedure, Fiona Landberht's busy day had begun…