451 Here's Your Princess Back

"Tiara!! My babyyyyy!!" The Queen cried, rushing up to hug Tiara.

It was evening of the same day that Tiara woke up and Mother called over the King and Queen to meet their little Princess.

Incidentally, Tiara went back to her serious self again, though she looked quite embarrassed after she finished eating her cookies on my lap.

Mother was of course informed about Tiara's situation and didn't even comment on it when she came by to tell us the King and Queen were coming over to see her.

In fact, she barely even looked in Tiara's direction and went straight for me, pulling me towards her so that she could smush my head in her bosoms and cuddle me.

Even now while the King and Queen had just arrived, Mother still remained seated on the couch with me on her lap, all the while patting my head with a self satisfied smile.

"Mot… Mummy… Daddy…" Tiara muttered, her voice barely audible.

King Justinia also hugged the two of them, "My dear Tiara… Daddy is sorry for not being able to protect you…"

Tiara struggled against the hug but relaxed after a while, "It's… It's fine. This just means that the prophecy came to pass in the end which means that the threat of this is already over."

Naturally, the two monarchs immediately realised how different Tiara was compared to the one they remembered and separated from her.

"Ba… Baby?" Queen Levianne gasped, looking at the Tiara in front of her.

"Mummy… I'm sorry… But I'm no longer the little baby Tiara you know."

Mother spoke up from behind me, "Ufufufu~ Why don't you all sit down and listen to what the little Princess has to say?"

It took a while but the King and Queen eventually sat down opposite us while Tiara chose to sit by herself on another couch in between us.

The Princess then started to explain her situation to her parents, giving them the full details of her experience while she was captured by the demons.

Justinia and Levianne listened to Tiara's recounts silently.

While the King showed no emotions on her face, Levianne was tearing up the entire time as she heard what her daughter had to go through.

I wasn't really sure if Mother was listening as well since she was busy cuddling and patting my head the entire time.

Then again, I wasn't really listening either since this was the third time I was listening to her repeat the same thing. Poor girl.

Tiara then finished her story at where she was woken up by me, though she left out the method I used to wake her up and our little tea session after that.

Also, it does seem like Tiara only goes back to her sweets loving self when it was me offering the cookie to her.

When Katsuki, Aria or any of the other maids gave her cookies, Tiara did not even look interested in the cookies that she was offered.

And when I tried to give her more cookies in front of Katsuki and Aria, she did not jump on me like she would before and instead, reacted like how she would if the others were the ones who offered the cookies to her.

I realised that she would only go back to that cute side of her when it was just the two of us alone. If there was anyone at all nearby within sight, she would just act like this.

According to her, it wasn't like she was intentionally doing it either. She claimed that it was all just instinctive for her without knowing why.

I'm guessing it's just some kind of PTSD she's suffering from all the multiple versions of her that she experienced.

Unfortunately, I don't know what I can do for her but it doesn't seem like she was keen on fixing this either. She admitted that she had already accepted that this would just be the new her moving forward and there wasn't a need for me to do anything.

The King looked at the princess seated to the side with a complicated look on her face, "Tiara… I'm sorry…"

Tiara shook her head, "There is nothing to be sorry about, Fa… Daddy. I know that what you did was to save me… The real me… And you couldn't have known beforehand that I would experience it."

"But to know that I am the cause of part of that pain… It's not something that I can just brush it off as nothing…"

The Princess gave the King a wry smile, "If it makes you feel better… Big Sis… Ahem… Aster's maid did most of the killing."

I peeked at Katsuki who was standing at the side, her face inscrutable.

I doubt she felt any guilt from killing the other versions of the Princess and if she was asked if she would do it again despite knowing what our Tiara would experience, she would answer an affirmative without hesitation.

And I'm also quite sure that Mother would agree with her as well.

Well… I sincerely hope that there won't be another time that this happens and that it was a one time thing…

Tiara continued, "Ah, and one more thing, Daddy… Is it alright if I were to renounce my claim on the throne?"

Queen Levianne gasped, "Why would you say that?!"

"Mummy… I have lived through multiple lives where I am stuck as the princess… Including two lives where I actually rose up and became the Queen… Those paths for me are always filled with blood and pain. I do not wish to experience it again… I know I'm not even the first in line for the throne but I do not wish to participate in the race for it either."

Both the King and Queen looked at each other while Mother continued humming to herself while she started brushing my hair, making me wonder just where she had pulled out that hair brush from.

King Justinia turned back to Tiara, "Tiara… You do not need to make such a decision now… Especially--"

Tiara raised her hand to interrupt the King, an action that made Aria let out a soft gasp behind her since there's no doubt interrupting the King was definitely something the old Tiara would never do.

But either Tiara did not care or didn't even notice her own actions, she just went ahead to speak her mind.

"I know that now is not a good time for me to make this official Fath… Daddy… The people would think me weak and by extension the Royal Family weak if I were to withdraw so soon after my run in with those demons. Some might even theorise that I might be sullied by them as well. I will only make the decision official after a suitable time presents itself to me, I just want to let you both know that I have no interest in the throne. Perhaps if my siblings know of this as well, we might be able to get along better too. And if I'm not bound by the expectations of Royalty--"

Queen Levianne leapt up from her seat and rushed over to Tiara, pulling the little princess into a hug and stuffing her face into her bosoms.

"Ahhhh!! Say no more my little baby!! Mommy will support you no matter what!! It doesn't matter what my little baby says, you will always be Mommy's little baby Tiara!!"

"Mnngghh!! Mfff!!" Tiara screamed, though her cries were muffled by the two things currently shoved in her face.

"There, there~ Mommy knows how hard my little baby has suffered! You don't need to worry about it anymore! Mommy will take good care of you! You don't even need to stay up in that tower if you don't want to anymore! You can stay with Mommy instead!"

Tiara continued to struggle against the Queen but all she managed to do was wave her arms around futilely.

It actually looked really cute.

I was smiling at the sight when I suddenly felt hands reaching under my arms and lifting me up to turn me around, causing me to face Mother as she sat me back down on her lap with a smile.

"Ufufufu~ Do you see what Mama has to deal with when little Justi and Levia came over with their own children? But now that my little one is here, Mama can do everything they did too~"

Before I could even respond to her, she had already pulled me in and stuffed my face in between her bosoms just like what the Queen was doing to Tiara.

I let out a cry of surprise but my voice was also muffled by the two gigantic things shoved in my face, which also completely cut off my ability to breathe.

I tried to push Mother away but that only made Mother hug me even tighter while she even started to coo at me.

When she finally released me and allowed me to breathe, I realised Queen Levianne had taken the seat beside her while cradling Tiara in her lap, the princess looking none too pleased about her situation.

"Fufufu~ Isn't this the greatest joy, Madam Nilm?" The Queen giggled while patting Tiara's head.

"Ara, ara~ Do you even need to ask? Of course it is~"

The two women smiled knowingly at each other while the King pretended not to see us.

As though on cue, both women pulled us into their own respective bosoms again while they cuddled us to their chest.

…

This is torture…

Don't worry Tiara… Let's have another private sweets session later…