Chapter 43: Luckily...
Seraphine POV;
I jolted awake panicking, I remember we were being kidnapped, and then we were at a strong stream, the current carrying us away, then a waterfall...
"W-were still alive?!" I said to myself in disbelief, I looked at the surroundings and this isn't the room I'm staying at the palace.
"P-Princess, G-Good Morning"
I looked at the side and Aster was already awake, she had a faint smile on her lips, she was bandaged up, her head, her neck and her arms, I looked at myself and I had similar bandages.
"Where are we?"
"I-I do not know…" She shakes her head, her smile dropping, "I-I'm afraid w-we are in the e-e-enemies territory"
"An enemy won't let us sleep in a comfy bed Aster, and the one who kidnapped us is far from nice"
"I-I see…" She looked scared
"It's fine Aster, if they clothe us and bandaged us like this, it means they are good people"
"I...I-I trust you Princess" Aster nods
"Just call me Seraphine from now on Aster, can you?" I told her
"Um…" She blushes, shyly looking away "I'll try…" She mutters
"I'm okay with you calling me Seraphine, I'm already calling you informally, so you do the same"
"I'll t-t-try, I'm s-s-sorry for the way I-I speak…"
"It doesn't bother me, just be confident" I smiled at her," She blushes again, "when you're ready, call me by my name" she nods "we should see who the people that saved us are"
"I'll go w-with you…"
"Are you sure you can move already?"
"Y-Yes…" She nods
"By the way did you wake up before I did?" I asked
"Yes...um, just l-last n-night"
"I see…" I looked at the window, "it looks as if its early morning already" Aster hum in reply, "What did you do last night when you woke up?"
"I-I was s-scared t-to l-l-look around, and leave you h-here...I just, um...s-stayed up late, staring at the ceiling"
It's cute how she acts like a kid.
"Okay, let's go and see who our saviours are." She nods
We were about to get out of bed when the door to the room we were staying open, Aster and I stopped, we waited for the person to enter the room.
"...Okay"
A voice says behind the ajared door, wolve ears are peering from the door twitching, the door fully opens to reveal a girl that had wolve ears and tail, she had brunette hair and eyes, she looks like a doll.
"Cute!" I immediately said love-struck at the girl.
"Ah, both of you are awake!"
"Hello!" I greeted smiling at the girl, Aster gave a small wave at the girl and a smile as well.
"Greetings to your Highnesses"
"You know that we are princesses?" I asked
"My brother said that you are of royalty"
"Where's your brother?"
"Um, Brothers" She corrected, it was mostly directed to herself, than at me.
"Sorry about that, so where are they?"
"They went hunting, I am the one taking care of you"
"You dressed us and bandaged us up like this?" I asked
"No, that is my big brothers doing"
Aster blushed, I also felt my cheeks heat up, I shouldn't have asked that, and aren't royalties not supposed to get seen naked or the like? We broke that rule.
"In any case, Thank you for taking care of us"
"You do not have to worry, my brothers blindfolded themselves, and I am the one that directed them where to touch and where not to touch, they were careful"
"Oh!" Aster gave out a sigh of relief, I also inwardly sighed "Thank you" I said to the girl
"You must be hungry by now," She says
"Now that you mention it"
"I-I've b-been hungry s-since last night…" Aster says.
"Are you able to stand up? I'll lead you to the dining table" the girl says
"Come on, Aster" I beckoned. She nodded, and we went out of bed "wait" I stopped when I remembered Fries "where's Frie-"
"Meow!" The lion cub came out of the bed, it was also bandaged up, the head, the wings, its paws.
"Let's go, Fries" I brought the lion cub in my arms.
The girl leads us down, and into the dining hall, she then urges us to sit down, she gives us porridge, bread and cheese as well as milk. Fries just lazed around my chair as usual.
"Have you eaten yet?" I asked the girl
"Yes, I ate, with my brother before they left"
"Um…" Aster looked at the girl tilting her head "T-Thank you, b-but, w-we did not catch y-your name"
"I forgot!" She covers her mouth in shock, she steps down from her seat, and gave a curtsy to us "I am Ishana Dionysus" she introduced.
"I-It's nice to meet you, I-I am A-Aster Virgo Vega," She says to her
"It's nice to meet you, Princess," She says
"..."
I was quiet for a moment, I remembered what Uncle told me about my name, he said that I need to tell my whole name from time to time in order for the protection spell in my name to activate, so that if someone attacks me physically, they'd be repelled.
"I'm" I started "I'm Seraphine Gloxinia Stephanotis Bourgeon Convallaria Armaclei" I finally said with a smile.
"Greetings to your highnesses"
I felt a rush of energy course in my body, when I said my full name, after the introduction we continued eating. But I can't help the questions that are swimming inside my mind, I couldn't stop myself in asking Ishana.
"Ishana" I called out grabbing her attention "How many days has it passed since we arrived here in your home?" I asked.
"It's been five days"
"Five?!" I jump
"Yes"
"...If I'm not mistaken, the Empire is looking for us already Aster"
"I-I do believe that i-is the c-case, Princess"
"Seraphine," I said to her, Aster blushed again.
"After you finish, do you want to have a bath?" Ishana asked
"Sorry for imposing on your family Ishana," I said to her.
"It's fine, my brothers are very nice, they don't mind"
"We'll thank them when we arrive"
"I-I would l-like t-to take you up, on y-your offer in b-bathing"
"Me too" I seconded.
"Oh, but we only have hot water in this time of day, later the water will get cold, so you have to hurry, and you have to bathe together so that there's minimum consumption of water."
She's responsible for her age, how commendable.
"Sure, I don't mind," I said
"..." Aster's face looks like a tomato
"We're both girls, what's there to be embarrassed about?"
"I'm not used to bathing with anyone…"
"But you get bathed by your maids right?"
"Um…" She blushed even harder
"I'm the same, it's okay, I know that feeling, being violated like that"
"V-Violated…" She mutters.
"They have good intentions, however, and it's their job, even though we don't like it..." She nods.
"Let's go"
"I'll prepare the clothes you will wear"
"Thank you, Ishana"
Ishana leads us to the bathroom, as expected it's tiled and looks modern, well semi-modern, since this house is somewhat like a cottage, or it is a cottage house? In any case, the floor is tiled, but the walls are wooded, there's still a bathtub though.
When we were inside the bathroom, I proceeded to take off my clothes, Aster looked at me in awe.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"You're so c-confident of y-your body…" she says.
"I think, I just got used to the maids stripping me off of my clothes at the Palace"
"I-I see…" she looks down at her clothes and started to take it off.
I quickly took off the bandages that are wrapped on my head, arms and legs, I grimaced at the bruises on my arms and legs, it's caused by the rocks at that stream, my waist is also bruised, that's from that monster bird for sure.
"W-Where…?" She also takes off her bandages, she looks at me and gasps. "Y-Your body!"
"It's fine, it doesn't hurt even though it looks like this"
"I c-can lighten the m-mark of the b-bruises if you want…" Aster says.
"You can do that?" She nods
She steps forward and brings a hand hovering it over the bruises, a light green glow came from her hand, I looked at her amazed, the mark of the bruises slightly lightened.
"Thank you!" I said to her.
"N-No t-thank you n-necessary…"
"Why not?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Y-You saved m-me, e-even though, I-I am a s-st-" I waited for her to say the word "stranger, to you"
"It's just common sense to save a neighbouring Queendom's Crowned Princess, you hold as much as importance to this Empire, not just in your Queendom Aster, so I'd saved you or the other Crowned Princess, if it is needed, No need to thank me"
Aster blushes, I take the bandages from her hands and dump it on the rubbish bin beside the sink, there's no mirror inside the bathroom, so I can't see what I overall look like, but judging from Aster's reaction earlier to the bruises, I'm not looking so hot right now.
"S-Shall we...um…"
"Oh! Right!"
Both of us started bathing, I noticed that Aster's bruise is almost non-existent already, it looks like, the healing powers of Vampires are amazing, unlike humans…
"Your skin looks very flawless Aster"
"Eek!" She jumped at my touch.
"Sorry, Aster" I gave an awkward laugh "I couldn't help but poke your skin"
"I-It's fine…" She nervously said
"Do you want me to scrub your back?"
"I-Is that O-Okay?"
"We're already bathing together, why not?"
She nods as approval, and I started scrubbing her back, her hair is also beautiful, it's like white silk thread, I can't believe, I'm bathing with a Crowned Princess, I'm also one but she has more royal qualities than, I'd ever have.
"You aren't embarrassed about bathing with me any more?" I asked, "Or you just got distracted?" Her ears became red. "Sorry, for teasing" I chuckled.
"I-I'm surprised that y-you a-aren't a-annoyed by m-me"
"Why would I be?"
"T-The w-way I-I speak...m-my t-timid mannerism…" She had a sullen tone of voice "T-The only one that a-are n-not annoyed by h-how I s-speak is, m-my family and the T-Terra Q-Queendom's f-family as w-well as t-the Sky Kingdom r-royalty..."
"What about the Sun Empire's Family?" I asked
"Y-Your family is a-also n-nice to me"
"Then who are the people, who gets annoyed by the way you speak?"
"T-The n-no-" I waited for her to utter the word out "nobles…"
"They make fun of you?" I asked, and she nods "like those noble ladies at the party?"
"Yes…"
"Ignore them, you'll get over your stutter someday"
"T-That's also w-what, mother and f-father said…"
"We believe you can do it!"
"T-Thank you…" She hiccuped, I peered at her face since her back is facing me, my eyes widen when I saw her crying.
"Whoa! Why are you crying?!" I shouted surprised.
"I-I am just h-happy…"
"You're crying out of happiness? What are you happy about?"
"I-I am happy...t-that you a-are accepting, o-of me Princess...w-when I saw you, I-I got scared…"
"I always give off that impression…" I facepalmed "Sorry…"
"N-No do not a-apologise!"
"Hm?"
"I-I'm sorry f-for the one t-thinking such t-thing first."
"It's completely fine, it's just a misunderstanding, now it's cleared up, I'd also want to be your friend Aster."
"M-My friend…?" She says with a tone of disbelief.
"You don't want to?" I asked.
"No! I w-would definitely want to be your f-friend!" She shouted with glee.
"Then it's official, we are friends"
"T-The only friend t-that I have is Nyx…but s-she is v-very busy"
"If she's a friend she won't be bothered by you"
"S-She s-said that but...I don't want to b-burden her, any more than i-it should…"
"You're also an overthinker I see"
"I'm s-sorry"
"Don't overthink too much, I'm done scrubbing your back by the way"
"Oh! T-Then let me do y-yours!"
She scrubs my back, after that was done both of us rinsed and dried ourselves, Ishana knocked on the bathroom door and gave us clothes.
The clothes are just plain big white dress shirts as well as fitted pants, we needed to improvise in order for it to fit us, luckily Aster and Ishana knows how to adjust clothing, I am useless at adjusting clothes, I know how to sew and patch up clothes, but adjusting clothing is a whole new other level.
"N-Now it perfectly f-fits both of us"
"You guys are amazing," I said looking at what I'm wearing.
"Now I need to do chores, why don't your highnesses go and relax in the room-"
"Let us help you Ishana"
"Eh?"
"It's the least we can do for having us stay here"
"But your princesses...you should not be, doing menial tasks…"
"That's bullshit, we aren't in the Palace, so it's fine, and the more hands you got the faster you get it done."
"I-I will do m-my b-best"
"Um…" Ishana looked hesitant.
"I know how to clean Ishana, as well as cook, don't worry, I won't destroy your house or set it on fire. I swear"
"Alright, please follow me."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
whiteribbon27
whiteribbon27 "Don't make fun of someone's disability, if you were in their shoes and you get make fun off, then you would know, how they would feel, be patient and understanding, since they have feelings too, In Aster's Case she has a stutter, because of anxiety and nervousness, I hope that everyone with disability or not can be more kind to each other, kindness changes the view of each people."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone