I woke up to the morning chirps of the bird and the knocking on my door. I looked over at the door as Hilana came into the room with a gentle smile. 'I can always count on my nanny to make me feel better.' I got out of my covers and hugged my nanny as best as I could. "Good morning princess." Hilana said with her usual gentle voice. I smiled back at her.

"Morning, Princess!" I heard Avia yell as she came walking in with such perkiness. 'And I can count on Avia to be such a sun. So I guess this life isn't completely hopeless after all. Eh, I'll wait and see.' I looked at my bedside to see the same golden mask my mom was wearing. 'I wonder why she didn't speak. Maybe the dead can't talk, but she doesn't say anything in my dreams either. Whatever I rather not think about it. Yesterday wasn't exactly all happy and fun for me.' I thought back to that scene where I almost died on cliff rocks. "Yesterday's festival was so much fun! The bonfire was so big and bright!" Avia talked about how much fun she had last night while Hilana dressed me up all pretty for the day.

"It was quite enjoyable. Did you enjoy the festival, princess?" Hilana asked, and I nodded happily for my nanny's sake because I cant bear making her life any harder than it honestly should. "What did you think about the envoy's princess?" Hilana asked while brushing out my hair, making me think of the boy. 'Honestly, they are pretty mysterious, but also, that boy was giving off some shoujo vibes I rather not delve into.'
"Pretty eyes!" I said excitedly. I mean, it's true. He has lovely eyes, and I would kill to get them, but I won't because I'm not a sick pervert! I had to deal with plenty of them back when I took on requests, and honestly, it's pretty disturbing.

After, I was all prim and proper like a princess. The three of us walked out of my room, greeted by the passing servants and guards. I ate and played like normal, but the only unusual thing was I didn't see my father. 'Considering what happened, it's probably a good idea to not see each other. The awkward atmosphere will be very awkward, and I don't want to deal with him for now.' I nodded to myself, but then another thought popped into my head. 'Why did I even think about him in the first place? Am I desperate for his attention? I mean, am I that lonely? This seems kind of pathetic even by my standards.' I've transmigrated into one of those manhwa's I've read, and apparently, my need for familial attention is getting in my way of enjoying life! 'I have to get my priorities straight. That man is willing to kill me, and if I want to live to where I can kill him, I better make sure I live till then. Honestly, I feel like my regression has been getting worse and worse! If I don't find something to ground me to my mental age, I might become a child for real.'

We headed to the yard, where I played around. The snow melted, so everything was nice and warm. 'Weather here is so strange, but it's durable." I plopped myself to the ground and looked up at the white fluffy clouds and the light blue sky. 'It's such a lovely day. It must be so soft and delightful like cotton candy.' Don't we all have those moments when we want to do something humanly impossible but still wish we can somehow do it. 'What you doing, princess?' I looked to my left and found the demon lying beside me. 'What does it look like I'm doing. I'm living.' The demon laughed at my misery or fortune and viewed the clouds with me. "Well, viewing clouds like this is quite boring. Let's get a better view." The demon turned his head and smiled at me mischievously. 'I have a bad feeling about this.' I frowned at the demon, who completely ignored my expression. "Hilana, I'm taking the princess out to play!" The demon shouted to my nanny, who wasn't too far away.
"Make sure she is safe and comes back before dinner time." Hilana gave her permission with a lovely smile. I looked at my nanny, shocked. 'Nanny, don't let this demon take me to my potential death!' I cried internally as my nanny offered me as a sacrifice.

With Morium carrying me in his arms, we went somewhere. 'Where are you taking me?' He looked like he was having fun. "Somewhere you will like." We flew up to the top of the tower, completely ignoring the stairs that led to the same place. At the very top was an area with no walls and only columns supporting the roof with many areas for potential death. 'I really want to speak with the architect who made this castle because this place is missing some safety regulations.' The demon walked into the middle of the room? I don't know what you would call this, ok. I have never been in a room like this with extensive air quotes on the word room. 'What are you doing?' I was so confused. Is he going to kidnap me? "Be more patient, princess. We'll be there in just a bit." Morium chanted something under his breath I didn't understand.
The moment I blinked, I felt a strong pull and then a nice breeze and the smell of flowers and grass. That's when I noticed we weren't in the tower but on an open hill high in elevation, since all I see is the close-up of the clouds and a beautiful view of the trees. Flowers were spread across the hill ranging in different kinds, and overall this gave me a sense of bliss. 'What a nice place.' Morium set me down, and I laid back on the grass. This grass was much healthier than the one in the castle. Everything here is more vibrant, colorful, and overall pretty. 'I am actually enjoying this.' I refuse to look at his smug face.

"This is a secret place that only I know of, princess. This place is restricted to all creatures except for the kyasha(1) and some others." I had to think about what he said for a moment. 'Restricted to all but the kyasha and some others? Am I gonna get killed?' He laughed at my serious question. "You truly are an adorable princess. The kyasha are the tree spirits that live here. In another sense, they are like protectors of this place. As long as you don't make them irritated or make a fuss, they won't even know you exist." He explained. 'Huh.' I thought as we stayed like this, chilling and viewing the clouds as they pass over the horizon.

'Demon.' He let out a hum, letting me know he was still with me. 'What was my mom like with my father?' Morium let out a sigh having to think about it, apparently. "Well, they were quite the couple I'll say. Lyer didn't change much from his time with your mother. Still acting like a prideful, arrogant, cold brat like always. Your mother, on the other hand, could be defined as the sun. Her personality wasn't the greatest but there was something about her that made the darkest of places shine with the brightness and warmth of the sun. She made people feel safe and comfortable. I wasn't there often when your mother was in the palace so I don't know much about her sadly, though I do know one thing. Your mother was able to tame Lyer like a kitten." I had to hold in my laugh. That's hilarious to see my father just listening to someone other than himself. 'I know it's meaningless now but I wonder if my birth caused her death. Like how those superstitious people say certain things or people bring bad luck or is a curse.'

Morium looked at me, and I continued to look at the clouds. "I won't deny that possibility. You were born with a frail body but an incredible abundance of magic. It's not illogical to think you may have been feeding off your mother's life force and sahir to continue living. There's also another possibility that she was in an extremely weak and unstable condition while having you, and that led to her death, another one could be the environment she is in. All beings are more healthy in their own habitat because that's where they thrive and live. Going somewhere that's not like that is weakening to the mind and body. There are many possibilities to her death, and the ones I listed are just of the many few." He really doesn't sugarcoat things. What he said isn't wrong, and it really does depend on multiple factors. 'I wonder if I can see her again?' I accidentally thought and hoped the demon didn't hear that one.

"Almost forgot, but your birthday is coming up real soon. You'll be two years old, princess. How do you feel about growing up?" Morium asked me, and I had totally forgotten about it. 'I want to hurry and grow up so I can leave this place and start a life to myself, for myself, by myself.' Morium laughed. With my slow mind, I finally realized some keywords. 'Wait-huh? Shouldn't I be turning a year old?!' Now the demon looked at me as if I was crazy. "You are a year old dear princess." I was super confused. 'But I should be a few months old physically!' I was super confused. 'Huh?! Demon, when is my birthday?!' He looked slightly sulky, hearing me call him a demon. "I can't believe this is how you portray me, princess! I'm hurt quite deeply." I looked at him blankly. "Come on now, princess, humor me won't you. Anyway your birthday is on the 20th of lunax(2)." I'm confused now, and it shows. "The lunax is the last of spring and spirits arrival. This lasts for 40 days and we'll switch to lumion(3), which signals the beginning of summer planting and long labor." I still can't wrap my mind around the fact there are 40 days to a month. 'How long is Lumion?' This calendar is out of whack. "Lumion has 50 days but every 4 years of the Hamir solstice(4) another 10 days are added to it." I call some bull, but I can't because this is a different world. "You still look confused, my dear princess. It may be too much for your tiny mind to take in so early in life." The demon said in a teasing tone, and I glared at him. 'Really, you're going to play the dumb card now.' He just laughed and looked back at the clouds, and I followed in suit. 'It's so peaceful. How nice of a place.' I closed my eyes, letting my thoughts wander off, and somehow fell asleep like that.

I woke up, hearing clinking, and looked around to find Hilana knitting beside me. I recalled what happened earlier and mentally sighed. 'What does he mean soon? I swear he's taking me for a joke. It's still winter, for peak's sake.' I looked at Hilana and watched her knit. "You can go back to sleep if you're tired princess." Hilana said, looking at me. I shook my head, determined to watch her finish this. Hilana went back to her knitting, and I just watched her. Though not long after, I got bored. 'I am really bored. I what to play, but I don't know what to play.' Then my saving grace came in.

Avia burst through the door with a bright, cheery smile. "Princess!" Avia shouted. 'Yes, I'm here.' "Let's go play!" I nodded my head. Avia picked me up, and we headed off somewhere. 'I can play now!' I don't know why I'm so happy. "Avia, don't take the princess too far out, and make sure to come back before sundown." Hilana said, and Avia replied with just a yes. The two of us headed off with a skip in our steps. 'Gosh, Avia's cheeriness is so contagious.' Avia suddenly stopped in her tracks, and I looked at her. She bowed down slightly, and I looked back up to see my father walking up to us. The two of us made eye contact, and it's also at that exact moment we both realized it was impossible to interact with each other like before. 'When I said awkward. I really meant it. Make it end...Now!' We broke our eye contact even quicker than we met, and once he was completely out of our vision, we went back to walking.

We stopped at a nice clearing with stone paths, grass, shrubs, and trees, almost like a garden. "Alright, princess, today, let's play Makta(5)!" I was confused, but I'll make a guess it's hide and seek. "It's really easy to play. One of us hides, and the other finds. You can move and hide anywhere you like during the game, princess, but you can't be spotted by me or you lose. One thing you need to do is tap on the ground or anything that makes noise to tell me your ready." Avia handed me a stick, and I banged on the ground, creating an echoing effect. 'Ok, so hide and seek it is. I'm getting good at guessing.' Seems pretty easy, but the echo will be a pain and this place has a lot of clearings. "I'll count down from 30 princess, and once I say kyush(6), the game starts." I nodded my head. Avia turned around, covering her face with her hands and counting down from some number. I quickly surveyed my surroundings to find a hiding spot and decided to hide behind some tall bushes to hide me just fine. Once Avia counted down, I heard her yell kyush. 'Oh boy, this will be awful.' There was no sound whatsoever except for the occasional footsteps, but even those are on and off.

I got paranoid and decided to move. I walked slowly while looking at my surroundings and hid behind a nearby rock. It was curved to a bowl shape but looked more like a snake than anything. I tapped on the stone a few times, and the echo reverberated. You can't even tell where it's coming from. 'This is not a simple game. I'm questioning this kingdoms ways of teaching children.' From the graphic depiction of bones and death in a children's book to this weird game. I can't tell if this is normal or not.

Once the echo had stopped, I tried listening for any sound of footsteps but nothing. 'That's weird. There should be footsteps somewhere. Did the echo mess up my ears?' I flinched as I was tapped from behind. I turned around, and Avia was grinning from ear to ear. "Found you, princess!" Avia said cheerfully. 'But you didn't make any noise...What are you?! An assassin in training?! Or is it that my skill have deteriorated with my mind?!' I was baffled. "Your turn to find me, princess." I nodded, still shocked, confused, and slightly worried. I handed Avia the stick and turned my back to her. I covered my eyes with my hands and started counting down. Thankfully I was paying attention to her number counting in the last game, so I can at least do numbers.

I yelled out kyush and started looking for Avia. Not even a minute had passed, and I heard the banging of the stick against something. The echoing made it hard to sort out the sound since it overlaps. I calmed myself and listened very carefully. It was a more dull sound but not muffled, so it must be a tree. I started checking the trees, and after checking two, I heard another banging. This time it was more sharp-wait. It was dull. 'This girl is mixing up the sounds to set me off track. She's good at this.' I tried looking near rocks since that was the first one I heard but nothing.

This round of hide and seek lasted all the way until sunset. "Princess, time to head back." Avia popped up on the other side of the bushes while I was looking at a tree. 'I suck at this game!' Avia picked me up, and the two of us headed back. "Was it fun, princess?" I nodded my head. 'It's super fun even though it's hard.' "That's good to know. You'll get better at the game the more we play it, princess." Avia encouraged me, and I nodded back with equal encouragement.

We headed back to my room, where Hilana was waiting with a tray filled with hot piping food and handed us a cup of something cold to drink. Hilana helped me drink the refreshing fruity drink. 'Kind of like sweet passion fruit with a slight tart and hint of oranges. "Tasty!" I said. The other two laughed.

"Then we'll have Druvem make more later on!" Hilana said with a chuckle. I cheered. 'All hail chef Druvem! The god of the kitchen!' I mentally praised. We ended the day having fun near the fireplace and just goofing off like usual.

(Song-Coffee Shop in Yume©, August 20, 2019, Composed by-ミツキヨ)

1.Kyasha (Key-ya-sha)- Tree spirits that are manifested after the trees have reached a thousand years old.

2.Lunax (Loon-aux)- Fourth month that represents the leaving of spring and the arrival of spirits. Last's for 39 days.

3.Lumion (Loo-me-yon)-The fifth month that presents the start of summer planting and long labor. Lasts for 50 days.

4. Hamir Solstice (Ha-Mear)- Changing of sun and moon where the rotation will become faster during Lumion making the day's increase by another 10. Happens only every 4 years and supposedly.

5. Makta (Mak-ta)-A game in the south that consists of one player finding the remaining players.

6. Kyush (Cue-Sh)-Same as saying start. This only applies to games and everything else is said as start.