Five years have already passed since her reincarnation into this world, and everything was still smoothly going according to the plot. If she could still do the math then that would mean she still has about 13 years until the original Athanasia execution.

But before those 13 years are up, she has already plotted a plan to get her and Lily out of this hell hole. Her only problem was how can she get Lily to trust a five-year-old? She has already tried hinting to her over the past five years, but it seems Lily was just too oblivious to get it.

If plan A’ won’t work, then there is still plan B’ to turn to. She’ll just have to collect enough money and supplies until she is ready to leave the Ruby Palace with Lily. It might take longer than plan A, but as long as it doesn’t lead to Lily getting executed like in the original book she’ll be okay to go with plan B.

Athanasia was sitting on the carpeted floor of one of the many breathtaking rooms in the Ruby Palace, with a red color pencil in her right hand forcefully scribbling over a sheet of paper. There was a determined look over her face as she sketched out her escape plan. She was in the middle of drawing with her small hand when there was a lite knock on the oak door. Then the door slowly creaked open to review Lily standing outside with her commonly gentle smile always pasted on her face.

Lily walked in her direction, before kneeling next to her. She looks at her messy art piece with a neutral smile before letting a faint chuckle pass her lip. “Oh my your highness, may I ask what you might be drawing?”

“It's a picture of the Ruby Palace, can’t Lily tell?” Athanasia replied with an eye-catching smile as she held up the paper to Lily. She was sure Lily was going to buy it since on the sheet there were only a bunch of red doodle squares drawn together and a few lines here and there.

“It's beautiful, your highness!” Lily said with a joyous smile as she looked at the sheet as if it was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on. “Oh, I have almost forgotten. Would her highness like to go out and play in the garden today?” She said in a polite tone. “You’ve been inside for almost a week now.”

Athanasia let out a hum as she thought through the proposal. Lily was technically right; she was spending too much time inside, but that was only to work on her escape plan, or else she would be outside enjoying herself in the cool spring breeze by now. No one knew how much she was sacrificing to save her life right now, she was suffocating in this humid room for days.

“Okay, Lily\~!” She hurriedly replied, before scrambling off the floor, and out through the door. She didn’t wait for Lily to catch up before she was already outside the palace.

The first thing that hit her was the cooling breeze blowing past her, and the sunlight beaming down, both making her squint her eyes. She glanced behind when she noticed Lily leaning on a door frame while trying to catch her breath. “Athy, please wait for me the next time you go like this,” Lily said in an exhausted voice.

“Sorry, Lily.” She replied in an apologetic tone as she looked up with pleading puppy eyes. Lily averted her gaze before letting out a huff. “Go play your highness, I’ll call you back in for naptime.”

“Yay! Lily’s the best.” She cheered, before running off into the untamed garden. She peeks through the leaves as she eyes Lily. She decided to drop her guard once she was sure the only thing Lily was doing was peacefully knitting clothes, probably new dresses for her to wear.

She ran off deeper into the garden before stopping at a familiar black fence. On the other side of that gate is where she hid all of her treasures. Even better. The palace seems to store a lot of valuable things to sell for good amounts of currency.

She slipped her tiny body through the crack before slipping and landing on the other side. Her eyes wander around all the trees until she notices the pacific tree which she had put a mark on days ago. She ran to the base of the tree before squatting down and using her hand to dig out the dirt. Her hand was covered in muddy soil by the time she was finished, but she ignored it.

Her hand wrapped around the heavy pouch, its weight almost pulling her into the ditch. She pulled it out from the hole before flopping it onto the ground. She quietly counted the jewels and coins she was able to collect over the years, but let a disappointing frown cross her face when she saw she was still a few coins short.

“Maybe I should find more in that palace over there…” She mumbled to herself before proceeding in the direction of the distant palace. Her travel led her to a very well-kept garden filled with exotic flowers and unimaginable varieties of color. Her mouth was gaping open and she wasn’t even aware of it.

Her feet consciously carry her out from where she was standing as she looks around at the breathtaking sight. Her eyes were filled with adoration and admiration, to her, this sight was only possible to see on the television in her previous life as she was too broke to afford to go anywhere to travel.

She locks her gaze to the group of gold Cupid statues. Her eyes were practically sparkling with greed as she was drooling just looking at those gold. She slowly made her way to them as her hand reached out to touch one of the statues. She was barely a few inches away before the sound of footsteps could be heard coming her way.

‘Oh No!!!’ Panicking inside, she swung into action as she ran and leaped into the nearest bushes.

The footsteps stop at where she once stood as the owner of the voice let out a sigh of disappointment. “What a shame, I thought I saw a bug crawling around here.” The voice of the person was cold and emotionless as it was able to bring chills to her bones.

“Hmmm…” With that hum, the footsteps were picking up again. She was about to sigh in relief, but almost choked on her breath when she figured out that the footsteps were coming her way. She wasn’t able to help that her breathing was quickening by the second, her ears and chest were growing hot as she was shaking with anxiety.

Her nervous gaze traveled to a nearby hole in one of the brushes that were only a few feet away. ‘One, two…’

The portion of the brush was suddenly pushed aside revealing a striking-looking man with golden hair and sharp jewel eyes. Claude. That man looked down at the space with a bored expression.

“Your majesty!” A panicked voice cried out from a few feet away. The voice belongs to a red-haired man wearing noble attire. “Your majesty, this is urgent news! Their troops have already crossed the border and are heading for the capital as we speak!”

Claude turned his gaze to the general with a shocked expression before yelling out a command, “Tell the royal knight and guard to prepare for battle, they'll be a bloody one today.” At that, Claude matched away leaving the red-haired man to trail behind him.

A few feet away inside a large brush Athanasia lay on the ground with relief flooding her chest. She had no clue what Claude and that red-haired man were saying when she was hiding, but she knew she just got herself out of a lot of trouble.

She stood up to her feet before dusting her dress off. She patted her front dress pocket holding her money bag, before sighing with relief. She was a bit worried she would’ve lost it for a second there. When she was sure everything was in check she decided on heading back to the Ruby Palace. She decided that it was time to go back to Lily since today seems to just be too hectic for her to handle in one day.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Athanasia made her way back to the Ruby Palace, but what met her there horrified her. The ground she was walking on was littered with corpses and remains of maids who once worked in the Ruby Palace. She hesitantly took a step forward as her gaze was still glued to the horrifying scene, and was hesitant and quiet as she tiptoes back inside the Ruby Palace unnoticed.

She walks down the hall with shaky footsteps, before making it back to her room. As she takes the handle into her small hand, she pauses midway from opening the door as the sound of sodding could be heard through it.

“Please, don’t hurt the Princess!” a desperate cry calls out.

“Well, I’ll consider it after you tell me where she is.” another voice said, this time it sounds like it belongs to a man.

As the voices continued, Athanasia stood stunned at what was happening.

‘What is happening? This never occurs in the Lovely Princess, did I mess something up while meeting Claude.’ Athanasia thought mentally to herself.

While she was mentally arguing with herself, the door suddenly burst open. What was revealed was a man with golden hair and...jewel eyes.

“My, my, what do we have here?” the man said, with a wicked smirk on his face as his eyes landed on her little form.

Before anything else could happen, she sprinted down the hallway as fast as she could with her little feet. ‘Ah! Caulde is coming for my head. It's the next massacre!’

The man with jewel eyes stands there with an amused expression, before turning his attention to his men. Two of them were carrying the struggling nanny, while the remaining was standing waiting for his order.

He looks in the direction where the little girl has run off, before beckoning to his men.

“Get her.”

Athanasia ran as fast as she could. Her little feet carried her down the long hall without knowing where exactly to go. She was thinking of hiding in one of the rooms in the palace, but that went out of the window once she heard footsteps echoing behind her.

“Hey, you come back here!” one of the men yells at her.

‘I would be dumb to do that.” she thought sarcastically to herself, as she kept on running.

The hall was wide and dark with barely any candle to light the way, but she found that it was a good thing for her. She ran over to one of the curtains hanging by the wall and hid behind it. She waited shakingly as the guard ran past her hiding spot, before peeking her head out.

“There she is!” one of the guards cried out when he spotted her behind the curtain.

As if on cue, she made a run for it down the opposite direction. Her legs were getting tired from the immense exercise it was receiving, and it was greatly slowing her down. Even if she possesses the body of a child, it doesn't mean she can run like one.

As her running was slowing down, one of the guards was able to grab her by pinching her back.

“Ha, finally got you.” the man said with an almost satisfied smirk forming on his face.

His grip on her back was almost crushing, and she was sure there’ll be bruises left behind after this.

“Let Athy go, you’re hurting Athy!” she cried out, as she started struggling in his grip.

The man lifted her to his eye level and she was able to see the man glaring at her in irritation.

“Look here, this is what's going to happen blondie, ” he said, trying to sound nice, “You’ll nicely let me bring you back to the boss, and we’ll go our separate ways.”

“And what’ll happen to Athy?” she asks.

At her question, the man's expression changes to almost a menacing look. “Since you’re the daughter of that bastard, the boss will probably kill you just like what he’s doing to that bastard right this second,” he said, “And since I was the one who brought you back, I’ll probably receive a noble title as a reward, and best of all I’ll ask the boss to let me keep your eyes as a souvenir on my shelf.”

While the man was explaining in full detail what would happen to her once he handed her over to his (Boss), she was trembling in his grip like a trapped prey.

“Athy doesn't want to die.” she was able to mumble out.

The man looks at her with an amused expression as he leaned his face to her eyes level. “Oh, and what are you going to do about that?” he said mockingly.

“This.”

Before he even knew it, she kicked him right in the face. The pain made him lose his grip on her, and she landed on the floor.

He fell to his knees and was covering his face with both his hands in pain. He then turns to her with rage clearly showing in his expression.

“How dare you!” he said, in both rage and pain.

“Sorry evil man, Athy got to go now,” she said, innocently standing up, before flipping him off. The man kneels there stunned, mouth gasping in shock. Before he could say any more things to her, she ran away past him with a pleased expression.

As she made her way down the hall, she suddenly paused on her step. The once straight hallway that she was following was now split in two.

‘That’s weird.’ she thought in confusion.

Before, Lily would lead her down this same hall to the palace's secret back exit. Usually, Lily and she would only use that way whenever the main door to the garden was being cleaned. But if her memory was correct then the hall used to only be a straight path down to the back exit.

Glancing at both of the halls intensely, she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

“Left or right…”

“Left or right…”

Athanasia stands there, mumbling to herself with a serious expression on her face. She looks between the two before deciding.

“Let's go left,” she said with confidence in her voice, “I’m sure that's the right path.”

She started heading in that direction. As she got deeper into the hall, everything started to get stranger. The hall was now more furnished, all the candles were lit, and the once plain hall was covered with gold at every angle of each wall.

“This is weird, is this a section of the palace where only high-ranking concubines lived?” she asks herself in confusion.

As she moved deeper, she was able to see the end. Right at the very end was a large oak door painted white with many unique designs and carving on it, all made from pure gold.

“Wow, I wonder why none of the maids have robbed this part of the palace yet,” she said in wonder.

When she reached the door, she looked up at the handle nervously before grabbing it. ‘This got to be the exit.’ she thought hopefully before pushing the heavy door open.

Once the door was open, she looked inside and what met her was a pair of jewel eyes staring straight at her.

“Well look who finally came.” said the man sitting on the throne.

Athanasia's first instinct was to dash for the door behind her but was stopped when the door automatically shut itself closed. She launched her hand onto the handle and tried pulling the door open, but unexpectedly a dark shadow was now looming over her.

“You’re trying to leave when you just got here?” the man said in amusement.

She turns around shaking in fear as her eyes meet his. “No…” she replies nervously.

The man stands there looking down at her form with an amused smirk, before doing something surprising. He lifted her into the air before placing her securely into his arm.

‘What the!’ she thought, petrified as she sat in his arms.

The man then starts carrying her in the direction of the throne in a tight grip so she couldn't struggle free. Athanasia nervously looks around the broad room in curiosity before spotting something. Over on the side were two men being held down each by two guards, one of the men was the red hair general she saw earlier, and next to him was...Claude?

She blinked in disbelief, before looking up to the man carrying her. They both look the same, but something was different, yet she couldn't tell what it was.

As she was thinking to herself, she didn't notice that the mysterious man holding her had already stopped walking. She could tell that he was focusing intensely on the throne in front of him, but she was curious why. She turned her gaze to the throne and gasped in shock.

The throne that she was expecting to see was a sparkling chair made of pure gold and decorated in all kinds of pearls and precious gems. Yet what she was seeing was the same throne, but it was covered in a pool of blood. There was blood everywhere covering the throne that if anybody were to see it from afar it would look like the throne was the color red instead of gold.

The man then looks straight into her jewel eyes with his own, before leaning close to her ears, whispering with a wicked smirk.

“Do you wish to sit on it one day?”