The princess smiled before running into the woods, she gave them the last glance, Ashleah saw how the old Marquess gave her a meaningful smirk. A chuckle left her lips as she shook her head and ran even faster.
"Ah, so refres—" As she continued to ran, in the middle of her tracks, Ashleah stopped. "—Traps?" Then suddenly, her head turned to her left, there she saw a thick branch of three on its way to hit her.
The good thing was, she quickly kneeled down and rolled on the ground and ran to the nearest tree, starting to climb it up. She hissed, Ashleah was completely ticked on how the old marquess tried to kill her by doing this.
"Is he some part of noble circles that doesn't support me being the first ever Empress?" She tsked quietly, and then looked around, trying to find more traps that can cause her damage while hunting.
After checking on the trees, she quickly jumped down running to the opposite direction where the traps were placed. Getting inside a huge bush because she saw a deer near her, quickly getting her bow and arrow. The princess sighed deeply and closed her left eye. "1... 2... 3..." She said smiling, finally releasing the arrow.
A victory smile escaped her lips, as she exhaled excitedly and ran to the deer. She softly caressed the deer's head, a little whimper escaped it's small mouth. "I'm sorry." She whispered before wrapping the white cloth on its leg.
The hunt continued as she continued to avoid the traps that were created for her, she was guessing that it was the old Marquess' doing. "Does he really think that I am that stupid?" She then again ran around the forest.
Hours passed, with heavy breathing and closed eyes, Ashleah leaned on the tree where she was sitting and wiped her sweat using her small white towel. Her last life was kinda relaxing than this, not until she met Nash.
A small chuckle escaped her lips as she remembered how clingy and noisy Nash was. The smile that was holding a lot of meaning disappeared when she remembered about her parents, they were doing their best to make it up for her.
Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a strange looking bird tilting its head uncontrollably while its eyes were directly looking at her. She started to scan the weird bird, with it's unique pearl lavender fur and sky blue eyes, Ashleah can really tell that this bird was quiet unique.
"My, I guess I found a rare bir—" About to hold the cute little bird, it stopped titlting its head but never took its eyes that was directly looking at hers.
"I really am rare."
Her eyes widened as she quickly stood up, slowly getting the small dagger from her side, the bird was still looking at her. "WHAT THE F—"
"What are you planning to say, our dear princess?" Her eyes even widened as she saw how the bird spoke to her. 'AM I DREAMING OR WHAT?!' For she was scared, the princess turned and was about to run away but the bird quickly flew and went in front of her.
"HEY! GO AWAY TALKING WEIRD BIRD!" Ashleah said while covering her face using the palm of her trembling hands. She slightly glanced, and saw the bird tilting its head again to its right. "I told you go away!" She said again.
"Stop shouting at me Princess Izel!" The bird said while flying closer to her. "Why are you so scared of me? Is it really your first time seeing a talking bird?" It asked again, making her more confused than ever.
With furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes, pursed lips, Ashleah slowly moved her hands down and reached out for the talking bird. "Come c-closer then!" She stuttered, it was very obvious that she was trying to act tough!
The bird was now smiling, she can see it with the gleaming eyes as it flew to her hands that were reached out for the bird. As the bird comfortably sat on her hand, it then again looked directly at her eyes.
"Please do not be scared, Princess Izel. I've been guarding you ever since you were a kid!" The bird said with full of excitement, Ashleah's mouth was left hanging. The bird moved a little closer and with its sky blue eyes, she saw how it smiled. "I am Prescott and was found by your grandfather and trained to protect his granddaughter."
It suddenly flew to her shoulder, almost making Ashleah scream. Good thing she stopped in the middle of it, and gave the bird named Prescott with a trembling sigh. "H-How did you learn—"
"Oh my! I was the last in our tribe, sadly, when your grandfather saw me, everyone in my tribe died because of the massacre that greedy nobles did. When he found me, he also found out that you were born." He flew up high with the wind as it spread it's wing perfectly at the middle of the sun and clouds.
"So you—I mean Prescott why did you show up just now?!?!" She said, confused. If he was here to protect her, why didn't he protect her from her very first life in the first place!?
"I was hiding for a long time, seeing how you grew to the lady you are today. I can say, the late emperor will be so proud of you." Prescott said as he flew down again and landed on her hands.
A thought crossed her mind making her gasp loudly. 'Did everything change when they went back in time?' She thought, almost forgetting about the talking bird in front of her.
"I am very happy about it, but then.. I saw how men looked down on ladies like you. You may think that I am just a normal bird—"
"YOU'RE WHAT??"
"A normal—"
"HOW CAN A TALKING BIRD BE NORMAL—"
"Shhh!!" The bird quickly raised its left wing and it looked like he was facepalming, making Ashleah laugh because of its cuteness. "My tribe was gifted with magical powers and when we find our master, everything they say.. will do it for them, and when the time comes that they are in trouble, they can use us as their sheild, protection, etc."
It looked up in the sky, Ashleah felt a cold breeze that went through her skin giving her goosebumps all over her body.
"My last master was your grandfather, I served him in a short span of time, but his only wish was for me to take care of you, your highness.—" It stopped as it looked around and gave her the gleaming eyes again. "—You can only be my master when you say these vows after me." It flew again, making her heart beat a lot faster than earlier.
"Vows? Is it really necessary?" She said, as she stood up and looked up at Prescott, the bird nodded and flew with the same height as her.
"I accept you, Prescott of the Celeste Tribe." Prescott said, Ashleah took a deep breath and said the same thing as Prescott said.
"I accpet you, Presscott of the Celeste Tribe."
"To be my servant, and serve me for the rest of your life."
"T-To be my servant, and serve me for the rest of your life."
The bird's eyes beamed and said the last words "Give me my last name, Princess." Prescott said obviously waiting for her to reply.
"Colson, Welcome to my world.. Prescott Colson." She said, and then his sky blue eyes started to gleam even brighter, as Prescott flew high and opened his beautiful wings, she was left in awe on how beautiful this was.
"Well then, I'm going to take good care of my new master." He said, as he slowly flew down and landed on her shoulder.
"My, I need to go back!" She said quickly turning around as she ran back to the starting point of her hunt.
Forgetting about the bird that was behind her, she came back and saw how shock everyone was. She looked back and giggled on how Prescott was glaring at the old Marquess.
"Wow, you already finished?" The Emperor quickly walked closer to her daughter, and stopped when he saw the bird that quickly got in front of her daughter with those glaring eyes looking up and down, obviously scanning him. But what made him shock the most was the extraordinary color of it.
"I never knew that her highness has some weird taste in animals." The old Duke said laughing, making Ashleah scoff, was about to answer the shade that the old Duke threw at Prescott, but the mad bird quickly answered back.
"As far as I know, she won the hunt. Now saw sorry to her highness." Everyone was shocked, even Nash, Axis, Gab, Kian, Nanny Riley, and the Emperor himself!
But Ashleah started laughing and hugged Prescott. "My, don't scare them!" Ashleah said, giggling softly. The old Marquess suddenly pointed at the both of them with his trembling hand.
"A M-MONSTER!"
Prescott's eyes suddenly turned into red, making the Princess shocked. It quickly flew to the old Marquess with its glaring eyes, it hissed in front of the frightened Marquess.
"SAY SORRY OR YOU'LL DIE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!" The marquess just looked at Prescott with it's scared look making the pearl lavender colored bird even mad. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?"