As they entered the library, Sasha’s eyes turned wide, as a huge hall greeted her.
At first, hearing the word library, Sasha thought that it would be so small room, but seeing the never-ending line of shelves filled with books around her made the little girl pause in her tracks.
She had completely forgotten about her previous anxiety, and was now sweeping her gaze across the entire hall.
"Who is she?"
Sasha paused her scanning as another voice reached her ears.
Turning to look to her left, she could see a girl, a little taller than her in height, approaching them.
Though the girl appeared to be the sa age as Sasha, her voice had an authority that made Sasha bow her head involuntarily.
Sasha wasn’t exactly scared of the girl before her, but the way in which she talked and walked towards them made her instinctively rate the girl as soone from the royal family.
"Her father is here to et the lord, so the head butler had instructed to take her to the library. If there’s a problem with this arrangent, I can take her elsewhere—"
"It’s fine. You may go."
Alia instructed the maid, who, after giving a small bow, exited the library.
Sasha quietly watched the maid leave the library, and then shifted her attention to the girl with red hair before her.
"What’s your na?"
Alia’s soft yet firm voice brought Sasha out of her thoughts, as her previous anxiety had begun to surface again.
"S-Sasha, Your Highness."
Sasha made an awkward attempt to bow, trying to replicate what the maid had done before.
Alia just watched Sasha bowing and stumbling with her words, as she found the girl to be a bit funny.
"My na’s Alia Dracoth."
Alia walked closer to Sasha, holding her hand out for a handshake.
But Sasha just kept observing the hand before her, not knowing what to do.
Alia, seeing her confusion, moved her hand a little lower and grabbed Sasha’s hand, making her learn how to replicate the gesture.
"It’s nice to et you, Sasha. And rember—whenever soone brings their hand out, it’s ant to be for a handshake."
"Handshake?"
"Yes—handshake."
For so reason, Alia too ended up repeating the sa word.
"You can read whatever you want here, as I have to study."
Speaking her thoughts, Alia walked away, heading to one of the shelves on the right.
Sasha just observed her, and then shifted her attention to the books near her.
But not knowing which book to pick, Sasha made her way towards Alia, her footsteps as silent as her voice.
"Hm? How can I help you?"
Alia looked up from her book, only to find Sasha standing next to her.
"Are you the Lord’s daughter?"
"Uh... yes."
Though Alia found the question to be quite weird, she replied nonetheless.
"So, does that make you a princess?"
Sasha’s innocent eyes brightened while asking the question.
"Well... I am indeed what you could call a... princess."
Alia spoke as she stared into Sasha’s eyes.
"That’s cool!"
It was the first ti since coming to the palace that Sasha had raised her voice in excitent.
"Is it?"
Alia frowned in return.
Personally, she had never found it exciting enough to be called a princess.
For her, being born as royalty was just a normal thing, and nothing to be pleased about.
In fact, she found it burdenso to be royalty, as many tis her freedom was restricted for simply being a Dracoth princess.
Then there were the various expectations that were put upon her since birth.
Expectations that she had long left behind, but were still sohow attached to her existence.
"How could it not be?!"
Sasha asked in disbelief.
In her excitent, she had already forgotten that the girl before her was a royal whom she had to respect.
"What do you think is so special about it?"
Alia asked, as she had begun to seriously analyse the excitent of the girl before her.
"Special?"
"Yes."
"Why does it have to be special?"
Sasha asked as she tilted her head in confusion.
"Huh?"
Alia’s mind had blanked out for the first ti—as she found Sasha’s answer to be the most ridiculous while at the sa ti being the most honest answer that one could have given.
Though it was a question that Sasha had asked in return.
"Do you train?"
Alia wasn’t soone who cared for formalities and all the other stuff.
A single answer from Sasha was enough to pique her interest.
"I... don’t."
Sasha lowered her voice at the end.
"Why?"
Though Alia had seen the drop in Sasha’s expression, she chose to fulfil her curiosity nonetheless.
"Father says... I am not ant for it—or whatever that ans."
Sasha spoke with a hint of disappointnt in herself.
There was a short silence between the two, as various calculations ran across Alia’s mind.
"That’s great."
Alia managed to speak the most suitable reply that she could muster.
She wasn’t great at comforting or motivating others, so this felt like the best words she could convey.
Sasha, hearing the praise, looked up, as the confusion on her face deepened.
"What is great about it?"
"What is bad about it?"
Without replying, Alia questioned back.
"My family wanted to be strong, like my brother, but I turned out to be useless."
Sasha replied, her voice still low as a whisper.
"Did your father say so?"
"Huh? No, but—"
"Then that solves everything."
Alia interrupted Sasha, her hands still on the pages of the book before her.
"If your family had abandoned you over it, then that would have been a different matter. But just different—not sothing of importance. It doesn’t really matter what people think of you or expect from you. It’s your life, your body—live however you see fit."
Though Alia explained all these things to Sasha, she herself found it difficult to make ands with her family’s treatnt towards her studying and not training like them.
Still, even if she could not be completely happy with the situation around her, she could at least elevate the burdens over the shoulders of soone who felt similar to her.
Sasha just listened quietly without making any comnts.
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