PRINCESS ASTRID AMARA DE ANEMOI
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Astrid did feel slightly guilty at not being able to support Lyra. But at the same time, she feels unable to comprehend her younger sister's actions. She despises their royal family and the whole system. If it were up to her she would have left everything behind a long time ago. However, no matter how much she hates to admit it, she has grown accustomed to the luxuries she gets to enjoy freely while being royalty.

Still, she did not want Lyra to think of her elder sister as someone who lacks confidence.

Therefore, she decided to do the one thing she detested most in the world. Read books.

In all honestly, she never once admitted to others or even to herself for all that matters that she finds books to be extremely dull.

Even if she tells others her pastime activities are reading books, she has never gone past five pages of a single book before moving on to another one.

She fancies the idea of reading books to enhance her knowledge however unfortunately she lacks the motivation and the interest to do so.

Therefore, the step she was about to take was a huge one for her as she wanted to gain more knowledge to help her sister.

What's interesting is that even before she was the crown princess, she never attended nor was interested in her Queen training and its classes.

On the contrary, Lyra would always excel at them even if she wasn't part of the class and was just a bystander.

Truth be told she was slightly jealous of all the praise and attention her sister would take. But paid no heed to it since she remained the popular one as she was declared the most beautiful royal princess ever. A title was given to her by the people. While she felt flattered and honored, she quite enjoyed it as well as she had an interest in keeping her skin looking young. She wanted to look perfect all the time.

Her sister would follow in her footsteps but most often she would not care at all about her appearance.

Astrid always claimed that perhaps God thought it would be too unfair to bless one person with all the looks and intelligence. Thus, he divided it among the two sisters with her having the looks and Lyra having the brains.

While she was still in thought, she was roaming the halls of the royal library of Helios. She wanted to find books on Anemoi's politics and public affairs.

However as she was lost, she kept mindlessly wafting here and there without any destination.

Until upon a turn she ended up bumping into someone's chest. It was a man, slightly taller than her. His hair was parted to one side and round-rimmed glasses fell on his soft nose bridge. His lips parted in surprise as his eyes quickly identified whom he had crashed into.

Astrid on the other hand was busy rubbing her nose all the while groaning,

"Ow"

"Are you alright?"

A familiar voice entered her ear as she glanced up to find Alexander.

CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER DE HELIOS

"Oh! It is you."

Lyra exclaims as she takes a few steps back but then once again screams in pain as strands of hair had gotten stuck on Alexander's coat's button.

She grabs her hair and roughly pulls it back but it ends up being tangled even more and she once again winces in pain.

"Wait. Don't pull. I'll untangle it."

Alexander claims as Astrid calms down and keeps staring at the button where her hair was tangled.

Silence spread as the only that could be heard were their breathing and the clock ticking.

Alexander softly grabs each hair and tries to as gently as possible untangle it. While doing so, his eyes fell on Astrid. His ears slowly started turning red as he kept noting her appearance.

Suddenly Astrid looked up as well he then averted his gaze.

"Let us just cut it. It is taking too long."

"Huh? No. We cannot cut your hair. It will be ruined."

"I know and I am not referring to my hair. I am saying that let us just cut off that button. Do not fret as I will get you a new coat. How does that sound?"

For some reason, Astrid's words made him let out a laugh as he then states,

"Just give me a few moments."

His hand which was unintentionally moving slower before as he admired her beauty, started moving quickly as he got rid of the tangle within seconds.

Astrid took a few steps back and said,

"Thank god."

She then nods her head and goes past him.

Surprised, Alexander turns around to follow after her to see what she is up to since he too was aware of the fact that she did not read and in particular found libraries to be the place where one can only sleep peacefully in tranquility rather than a place to read.

Astrid, oblivious, to the fact that she was being admired, went ahead to look for the destined books.

She went right and left and then pouted while muttering to herself,

"I doubt they have any books on Anemoi here even though they should."

"Are you looking for books on Anemoi?"

The familiar voice makes her jump in startle as she turns around to find Alexander there. She was about to ask what is he doing here when it flashes in her mind that she had just run into him a few minutes ago.

"Well....more specifically I need books about their political affairs."

"Those would be in the World and History section over there."

Alexander gestures in the opposite direction and then motions her to follow him as he guides her there. He then points at a row and states,

"These books here are all about the information on Anemoi."

"Alright."

Astrid then continues to look for a specific book that may enhance her knowledge so she could find a way to help Lyra.

"If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me if there is any particular reason you are seeking these types of books?"

"Well you know my past time is reading books so I just wanted to read something interesting."

"Is that so?"

Astrid nods in response as she then grabs the thickest book there. She then without even saying goodbye to Alexander goes to the patio outside to sit and pore over the book while being relaxed.

Alexander was a bit taken aback at her behavior but he recalls how Astrid is always this type of person. She doesn't have any bad intentions nor carries any ill intentions in her mind, still because of her gestures and obliviousness she gets misunderstood as being rude and arrogant by others. However, one thing he couldn't figure out right now was why was he so curious about her. Everywhere he goes, his eyes keep darting towards her direction as if she is always there even though it has been merely a few hours since she came here. Just yesterday, she was never in his mind but now, she is always there. Just why?

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PRINCESS ASTRID AMARA DE ANEMOI