Well, for one, it was apparently longer than a certain princess could continue hiding one of her most important secrets.
In the dead of night, when the people of the Empire were supposed to be slumbering, one bright blue eye snapped open.
It was the kind of dramatic reveal only a toddler could pull off—pretending to sleep with all the seriousness of a soldier, only to spring awake the second she decided the coast was clear.
Her lashes fluttered, her lips pursed in determination, and then the second eye opened. Slowly. Secretively.
She lay still for a moment, listening with the intensity of someone three times her age. Not a whisper. Not a footstep.
Then, ever so carefully, the little princess turned onto her side.
A tiny shuffle.
A pause.
Another shuffle.
And just like that, she slipped into her secret base, the grand fortress she had built out of carefully stacked pillows and cushions. To anyone else, it was a mess. To her, it was impenetrable.
