Chapter 3
I pointed at the image in the novel. There was a man planting a sword in a large throne.
"Oh my. Do you recognize this person?"
How am I supposed to know.
"Yes, you're right. It's your father, my princess."
Wait, what? The bastard who completely abandoned his wife and daughter?
"Ba ga! Tash!"
Bad guy! Trash! I cursed at the man in the fairy tale.
"Aw, how clever of our princess."
As I roughly pointed at the man in the picture, Lily stroked my head like she was proud of me.
I couldn't read the letters, but based off of what Lily said, this person was the current Emperor of the Obelia Empire.
The image depicted him as a hero who got rid of the violent past emperor who had made a contract with a devil.
I couldn't believe he had been shown as a just and divine Emperor when he had killed everyone in his harem and completely neglected his daughter.
I panted in rage.
"Oh, I've never told you his name."
My face grew sour as Lily spoke.
"Would you like to see the picture again?"
Nope! I'm not one bit curious about that bad guy!
But my face froze at the words in my ear.
"The father of Princess Athanaisa is Emperor Claude de Alger Obelia."
My head was filled with question marks.
What? What did you just say?
She must've felt my curious gaze because she smiled again as she stroked my hair.
"And you, princess, are Princess Athanasia de Alger Obelia."
Huh? Even my full name is the say as the princess in that novel? I remembered the name because it was my first time reading a romance fantasy novel and seeing such a long name.
"Usually names of the royal family aren't repeated, but when the Emperor saw you, he gave you the middle name. So you are definitely loved by the Emperor right now."
Wow, even that was the same. How uncomfortable….
But was it just me, or did anyone else feel something was off? Haha….
***
Let's see. How did the novel go?
<Lovable Princess> was a famous romance fantasy internet web novel.
Or that's what the middle school student who left if behind said. I tried reading it when I was bored during work, and I didn't understand why.
Like the title says, a lovable princess appears. The second princess of the Obelia Empire, Jannette.
There were two princesses in the novel, but one of them was just a tragic supporting character, and the main character was definitely Jannette.
She was an extremely beautiful princess with brown eyes and the exclusive blue eyes of the royal family.
Jannette was as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, so she was loved by everyone. Not just the citizens of Obelia, but all the males of the continent fell in love with Jannette.
And one of the people who loved her dearly was the Emperor, Claude.
Isn't it obvious that a father should love his daughter, you ask? Well, you don't know Claude.
Claude was an extremely cold and rational person who killed his own father and the original heir to the throne, his brother, to become the emperor.
Claude was revered as a savior because the past emperor always flung violence around, but that didn't mean he was nice.
Evidence being that he massacred everyone who used to live here.
But anyway, Jannette was the lovely princess who managed to melt that cold human's heart.
Claude discovered Jannette's existence when she was 14. Until then, Jannette resided at one of the three pillars of the empire, at the Duchy Alpheus family's home.
Jannette's mother, a Marquess, was Claude's fiance, but she died after getting kicked out from the palace during childbirth.
So Jannette's aunt, a Countess by marriage, decided to ask the Alpheus family to take care of Jannette because they owed her a favor.
It was dangerous to reveal Jannette's existence to the mentally unstable Claude. Slightly psycho. It was only after time had passed that he found out about her.
Of course, Claude didn't feel affection for Jannette right away.
But what kind of person was Jannette? She was the unrealistically lovely Princess Jannette who had received the 'female lead buff.'
And so Claude eventually fell over to her charms.
After that, Jannette lived happily ever after with her powerful father on her side, and with Duke Ezekiel, the most eligible man in the continent, whom she had grown fond of during her stay at the Alpheus residence.
"Das gu ing."
Disgusting. How unlucky.
Thinking of the novel, I angrily chewed the blanket that I had.
Was it because she was someone who had never experienced hardships? After reading the novel I immediately threw the novel down on the counter in frustration.
Sheesh, Claude and Jannette were real scoundrels. That was my review of <Lovable Princess>.
But wasn't the book awful? If you think about how Jannette received the love of literally everyone while Athanasia was left out.
Princess Athanasia with blonde hair and blue eyes, of the same age as Jannette.
Born from a lowly dancer mother, she experienced a completely different childhood than janette.
Unlike Jannette, Athanasia's existence was delivered to Claude as soon as she was born but he neglected her and put her in the Ruby Palace.
And Athanasia grew up being scorned and ignored.
So Athanasia grew up very weak, always having to care about what others thought of her.
She first met her father on her 9th birthday. Her father was holding a ball for emissaries of foregin countries. He didn't even remember her birthday.
Athanasia accidentally took a wrong turn after following the lights and sounds.
She met Claude in the garden of the Emperor's Palace. And he walked right passed her after seeing her. Starved for affection, Athanasia thought it was fate that she met him.
Even before Jannette appeared, she was depressed because of her father.
But still, Athanasia did everything shou could to be loved. So Athanaisa grew up talented and accomplished, but on her debutante ball, Duke Alpheus presented Jannette to the world and all her hopes were shattered.
Athanasia was somewhat gloomy and dull compared to Jannette, who was always full of sunshine.
So in a way, it was inevitable that Jannette would be more loved.
As the story continued on, Athanasia became even more timid as Jannette was emphasized as the perfect princes.
How bad was it, you ask? Well….when Jannette, who had arrived late to the party first arrived at the palace, she had a hard time getting used to the palace life. Even Claude didn't pity her at that point, so the person who helped her was Athanasia.
Gosh, what a stupid girl. She should've been worrying about her own life, not taking care of her rival.
The naive Athanisa got Claude's love that she so desperately wanted taken from her by Jannette. And she ended up being killed by her father.
On the day of a grand ball, Jannette was poisoned, and she was pointed to as the suspect.
Actually, it was a false charge. It was a trap set up by Jannette's aunt, the Countess, who considered Athanasia an obstacle in her niece's future to become the next empress.
Athanasia wasn't even an obstacle, however, because she didn't get an ounce of attention from Claude.
And most importantly, Athanasia wasn;t bold enough to do something like that. If she had known the truth, she would have drunk the poisoned glass herself to save Jannette.
Because she knew that Claude would be sad if something went wrong to Jannette. Athanasia was that pathetic and pitiful.
All the Countess expected was Athanasia to be incarcerated, or dethroned from her spot as the first princess.
But what kind of person was Claude? While Jannette was on death's door, he killed Athanasia, who wasn't even confirmed to be the culprit.
It was her 18th birthday. It had been exactly 9 years since she first met Claude. Wasn't it quite ironic?
Later, it was revealed that the Countess was actually the culprit, but Athanasia had already died, falsely charged.
And Claude, who didn't love anyone other than Jannette, felt no remorse for Athanasia.
The angelic main character Jannette felt responsible for Athanasia's death, and she was riddled with extreme guilt, but with the consolation of her lover, Ezekiel, she was able to move on.