"Anyway, let's just get breakfast for now"
She walked into the massive dining room. The ceiling had a beautiful chandler made up of glass. The walls were green and decorated with various items. There was a big dining table where 3 people were already sitting. One was a woman who looked like she was in her thirties. The second person was a child with black hair who resembled the emperor. The third was a girl who looked like an adult in her twenties and had blonde hair.
'she looks gorgeous.....' Athena thought in her mind, looking at the blonde-haired girl. The woman had an intimidating aura around her yet looked very approachable and friendly. Just like Athena, she also had a pair of sapphire eyes. She also had a sword which was kept beside her.
After evaluating the people in the room for an entire minute, she walked in and sat on an empty chair. The moment she walked in, everyone had a surprised look on their faces except the emperor who had escorted her to the room.
The emperor's son stared at her constantly, with neither a look of denial or acceptance. He just stared at her.
'Why does he keep staring?' she thought to herself while revealing a calm gesture. "So Athena, how are you here today?" The blond-haired woman asked, breaking the silence that covered the room. "Why can't I be here?" she questioned back, instead of replying to her.
"well.... you usually don't have breakfast with us," she said with a low voice.
"I just felt like having breakfast with everyone today," Athena replied stolidly, smiling a little.
The woman didn't probe into the situation anymore but just smiled at her.
[Reputation increased by 1!]
'Seems like increasing reputation is easy. I wonder if there are any rewards for reaching certain milestones in reputation' she thought while sitting and waiting for the food. The maids then arrived and served the food. The princess never had breakfast with the other members of the family, instead, she came for it later after the other members of the family had finished. This was not known to Athena.
They all started eating. It was very quiet. Although the etiquette is not wrong, silence during breakfast is not what everyone expects. "So, how have you been doing?" The emperor suddenly asked, once again breaking the silence in the room.
"I have been doing fine. Thank you for asking, father," she said.
This was yet another thing the other members of the family noticed.
'Since when did she call him "father"?' the blonde woman thought to herself as she inspected Athena closely. Although Athena hadn't commented about their relationship In her mind, she very well knew she was her elder sister. She was almost like a mini-copied version of her. Athena didn't know her name.
The conversations between them were very awkward. Not being able to take it anymore, Athena quickly ate her breakfast not paying attention to what was served to her. "Thank you for the food," she said before leaving the dining room. She remembered things quite easily, so navigating back to her room from the dining room was a piece of cake.
"So, now what?" she thought to herself with a dull look on her face. She was a princess, yet she didn't know what to do. 'I guess, for now, I will explore and make a note of things which I should generally know...... But where do I start from.....?'
"Aaa-theeee-na!" a female voice said while grabbing her from behind. "ark!" Athena was surprised by the hand which grabbed her. She quickly turned around and found the blonde hair woman standing with a smile on her face. Unlike the smile she gave in the dining room, this smile was somehow different. It somehow emitted the vibes "I am very pure" from the lady.
"You totally surprised me today! You never have breakfast with us, how come you came to have breakfast with us?" she asked with a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Athena concluded that the woman was on friendly terms with the original Athena.
"I just felt like having breakfast with everyone today," she laughed awkwardly with a smile on her face.
After hearing her response, the woman's smile faded. "you, who are you," she said in a chilly voice while holding her neck and pressing it.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
'I raised a death flag didn't I?' she thought to herself. The atmosphere was chilly, and pure anger flowed from the woman towards Athena. "You are not my sister, she would never smile at me, much less actually give me a reply," she stated, slowly increasing the pressure of her hands around her neck.
'I...I...' she tried thinking what to do, but couldn't think at all. The atmosphere of the room was suffocating.
[Status effects updated]
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[Player: Athena Felix Byzantine
Level: 4
Exp: 0/100
Title: The Manipulator
Age: 6 (21)
Job: None
Skills: Time Manipulation (Level 0), Endurance (Level 2), Fake Smile (Level 5)
Reputation: 1
Other names: Problem child, young demon, prodigy (Athena Valior [forbidden])
Status effects: Suffocation (Level 1), Fear (Level 4)
Info: The youngest princess of the Byzan Kingdom. Blessed by the gods.]
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She looked at the hovering box in front of her. Something suddenly clicked in her mind. She used all of her strength to lift her hand. 'Time Manipulation!' she screeched in her mind.
Suddenly, everything stopped.
[Ability triggered. Please choose]
[?? seconds in time]
[?? seconds in time]
[?? seconds in time]
[Time Remaining: 10 seconds]
'.... it can't be serious, you are saying this is rng*?"
"Level 0 of the skill is low right? if my luck is bad, it's all over...."
[Time Remaining: 5 seconds]
"ugh, which one do I pick!!"
[Time Remaining: 3 seconds]
[Time Remaining: 2 seconds]
[Time Remaining: 1 second]
"Screw it!" she yelled before picking option 2
[3 seconds in time]
[23 seconds in time]
[11 seconds in time]
The time reverted but she stayed in her position. The suffocation effect had gone but the fear effect remained. Athena looked very pale.
"You totally surprised me today! You never have breakfast with us, how come you came to have breakfast with us?" the woman asked with a hint of enthusiasm in her voice.
'cold, you say. Then here' she thought before replying to her. "I don't wish to talk to you, get out of here," Athena said with a disgusted expression on her face.
To this response, the woman smiled and said, "Aww, don't be that cold. I will be leaving for my sword practice then. Take care."
The woman then left her room. She then sighed a breath of relief. "How troublesome, my heart won't be able to take it if they jump scared me like that every time."
"She was cold, huh? Well, that was to be expected that's what usually the case in every manhwa and novel but.... I have to praise the female leads of their respective story for actually not faltering from their path."
She then thought of the Emperor and tried imagining how cold and ruthless the emperor could be. This was enough to give goosebumps to her.
While she was wondering about her goals, a text flashed in front of her eyes.
[Congratulation for Completing the Quest: Tutorial (Hidden)
Reward: Memory Fragment (1/?? pieces), Slight improvement for the body, proficiency in Time Manipulation Ability]
'Tutorial? hidden quest?"
A tutorial isn't supposed to be a hidden quest.... it is something essential for beginners. "Memory Fragment?" she mumbled after looking at the reward section.
Everything suddenly faded to black.
...
..
.
She slowly opened her eyes. "Where...?" She spoke, her voice was different. It was her original voice. Before she died. The voice of Athena Valior. She looked at herself and toughed her face, everything was herself from the past. "So, was I dreaming all along?" she questioned herself. "Or not...." she quickly rebuked her question after noticing the giant blue crystal in from of her. It was like a pointed crystal that glowed. Then next moment, a tiny piece of the crystal broke apart. The crystal fragment flew rapidly towards her, hitting her body and going inside it. Her body began to glow and after ten seconds, something had changed. Her body's color was now similar to that of Athena Felix Byzantine, but nothing else had changed. "Just what...."
A mass of information started to fill her mind. It was a flash of memories and a vast amount of details of how the princess acted, the names of people she knew about, how the world worked, and other small details. Some fond memories of childhood, some dark memories of the past. The memory of her deceased mother.
She fainted again.
...
..
.
She opened her eyes again and looked at the mirror in her room. She was back. Nothing had changed. She went close to the bed and sat down. "Memory Fragments... so I need to collect these then?" she mumbled to herself while biting her nails in excitement.
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* *RNG: A random number generator (RNG) is an algorithm that produces random numbers. In video games, these random numbers are used to determine random events, like your chance at landing a critical hit or picking up a rare item.