Chapter 19: Chapter 17: Mom.
Chapter 17: Mom.
Elizabeth's POV
Victoria came back to my side, as I was trying to ease my mind by playing with the horses. The scattered bodies were not making it easy for me to be at peace.
"Your highness, are you still able to continue traveling to the Duke's estate?" she asked me, looking worried, there was a tinge of blood right on the leg of her uniform and I frowned. I don't know how this woman can get worried for another person when she's hurt.
The wound from her leg must've been when she kicked the mercenary over by the tree.
"I am fit to travel but... you're..." I pointed at her leg and she grimaced, now only noticing the blood and wound over her leg. Victoria holds the hem of her skin and hides it from my sight.
"I am fit to travel as well, your highness. The sooner we get out of the road and into your uncle's estate you'll be..." (Victoria) seemed unsure of herself, biting her lip and her eyes couldn't look at mine.
Seeds of doubt have already sprung.
"My Uncle, whom I've never met, has planned this, hasn't he? To kill me... it's his doing." I tell her with a calm voice, Victoria flinches but it was clear that my suspicions were right.
From the horses, the material of the carriages, and the timing is just- all too perfect.
"...It is what I am fearing." (Victoria) lowers her head before continuing her report. "The coachman of our ride has gone missing as well, he may have fled into safety or it was in their plan for him to run while we fought for our lives."
I turn towards the injured guards taking their time to rest while the others who were of water affinity cast their first-aid spell.
"Are... they alright? No one died right?" I looked up hoping that none of my guards were part of the bodies on the floor.
Victoria smiles walking over and reaching out to pat my head but stopped realizing it was stained with blood.
"Casualty report, there are five injured guards all minor injuries and nothing life-threatening. Some mercenaries escaped once they realized they stood no chance." Her voice was strained, sounding tired and strict. Her black eyes stared into mine, having the same empty look but soon that was gone once I sighed with a breath of relief.
"...I'm glad none of you were hurt so badly."
"..." (Victoria) stood speechless and ignored the blood in her hands holding me close.
She must've seen the tears falling out of me not stopping. I-I couldn't get them to stop. It was my first time in years getting out of the safest place I could go- now I saw blood, bodies everywhere- and Victoria getting hurt.
I tried not to cry, whenever I cried- I was always scolded right after.
The memories of my past life resurfaced, I cried that grandpa was hurt and now he was in the hospital because of some sickness we can't find a cure for. My father told me to shut my mouth and keep quiet, I wasn't allowed to cry.
"Ah... sniff. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for crying... I'm sorry, don't be mad." I held back my tears, using my arms to cover my face. I wanted Victoria to not see this side of me.
"Your highness, why are you apologizing? And I'm not mad. How could I ever be mad at you, shh... please rest your head on my shoulders and let it all out." (Victoria) softly wraps her arms around me and I could feel the other guards watching but soon looked away when they heard me cry for the first time.
"It's okay to cry?" I asked and I could hear her head nodding telling me it was okay.
"Crying... whoever told you it was not okay? We feel fear, sadness, and despair. It is normal for humans to cry, your highness... It's okay. I'm here with you there, there." (Victoria) continues to hold me protectively patting my back, and I try to wipe my tears but it still didn't stop.
"Sniff... wah..."
The same princess who threatened the coachman to cut off his tongue was crying, which is what I'm betting on what they were thinking. Agh... I sound like a pig getting butchered.
"Sniff... you're hurt because of me. I don't like it, I hate it." My tiny little weak arms clenched on her blouse and cried some more. "I don't like you getting hurt, mom..."
Mom...
I called her mom.
While crying, came a rush of red my head feeling hot. I didn't mean to call her my mother figure- I... I just- I don't know what came over me.
"Your highness, I'm... alright. I'm not hurt at all." (Victoria) hugs me closer while I try my best to stop crying.
I smiled soon after realizing she didn't point out that I accidentally called her mom.
I would've been embarrassed to look at Victoria after this.
"Sniff... liar."
"It doesn't hurt, I promise." (Victoria) assures me and soon I found myself to be no longer crying just smiling at her words of promise.
"Okay... if you promise then I trust you." We let go of each other and the guards were still looking away in the other direction.
Victoria picked me up, her arms carefully carrying me softly and I was high up in the air looking at my guards at the same level as their height. "We continue our journey, it has been ten minutes and hopefully some of you have recovered. Our pace will be slow. I fear the carriage made out of shimmy wood would start to crumble."
"Shimmy wood... such a funny name."
"It comes from the native shimmy tree in the north, your highness. They make good pencils, vases, wooden frames, and such, their textures are quite nice to feel because of their lightness. To see it on a carriage would not be rare, the wood was cheap- these are what commoners use as transport to travel." (Victoria) walks over to the carriage provided by my Uncle that had a lot of cuts and holes.
"I never expected for it to be painted so skillfully that it didn't seem like the carriage was made out of shimmy wood." My maid frowns before carefully getting inside the broken carriage, she places me down on the leather seat making sure it was safe.
The carriage might have been missing a door due to the fight but- "It's salvageable." I told Victoria who seemed mad to see me experiencing these conditions.
"A princess should have a better... carriage than this." (Victoria) tells me as she sat down, motioning for the guards to go back to their original position and get on their horses.
They all stretched their bodies and cleaned the blood off their weapons before putting them back to their sheathes with a swing.
Tobias volunteered to be our coachman and he sat right up the front. I could feel the carriage slightly rocking before it gained some balance.
I smiled at Victoria, my hands brushing on the ruined surface of my Uncle's cheap carriage he provided. "Perhaps... but this is a wake-up call for me. It's not so far until I'm crowned to be the crown princess first in line to the throne, I recall I not only have an Uncle but an Aunt too who might plot against me."
They might kill, poison, or even frame me for something I haven't done. It's now what I'm fearing after getting a taste of Uncle Damien's plot of greed.
"I won't always have a wonderful carriage, there will be times people will put me down regardless of my status. I just need to learn... how to adapt to it." My finger stops at a slight cut of the sword on the leather seat. There will always be a target aimed at my back. "If there is no carriage, I will walk. If there are no horses, I will run. If you were not there to protect me, I have my own hands to try."
Victoria's eyes widened at my words and lowered her head.
"I should get used to having nothing, so I shouldn't expect others to help me without something in return. I don't want to live like the other nobles where what they've asked for was always given." I recall all my noble acquaintances when they asked for a new dress, a new toy, a new horse to play with, and their wealth.
"I want everything to be earned."
...
"Sniff..." (Victoria)
Is she... Is Victoria crying?
"Do... children usually... sniff... grow up so fast?" (Victoria) looks away covering her face, sniffing all the while. I could hear Tobias shifting his seat to the side where he was trying to give us proper privacy to talk.
"The parent guide never prepared me for this- I don't know what to do I'm just your maid but I can't help but feel so happy," she revealed a sudden piece of information I was happy to hear.
Victoria... read a parent guide for my sake?
"Your highness... I wanted you to grow up like how the other nobles should. I observed them, the lives of different ranks from the children of Barons to Dukes- but then I realized all nobles were raised differently and that includes you too." (Victoria) moves over to my seat and sighs holding my hand, her roughed dirty hands did not mind me.
"I just wonder if I did enough..." she mutters out looking dejected, Victoria was taking herself for granted.
Hmm...
"..."
Hmph!
"Eh-?! Your Highness-"
I tackled Victoria into another hug, while the carriage rolled its way out to the Duke's route for the estate.
"You protected me from assassins, you made sure I ate- you took me everywhere I wanted to go- you gave me a warm meal- you read me bedtime stories whenever I couldn't fall asleep- and you tuck me in bed every single night…"
She did more than this… one of them being that I couldn't tell her, it was my first time in years that I felt comfortable and safe crying in front of someone.
"I have never felt lonely when I was with you."
The other guards gave us enough privacy that I felt confident enough to tackle her in the middle of the day, and out in the open.
"You- were more than enough, Victoria."
She really was more than enough.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone