Zylith.

Liana looked every bit reluctant that she was, she eyed the parcel in her hands as if it were a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode at any given second. I raised an amused brow at her funny antics, I knew that trying to sneak a peek at her parcel was an invasion of her privacy, but I couldn't help but feel more determined to know what was inside that forbidden parcel as I watched her solo freak-out show.

"Do open it Liana, what are you waiting for?" I said in a sly tone.

Even though she wanted to rebut my order she was unable to as I was her superior and she was my maid, hence unwillingly enough, she slowly opened the said parcel.

The parcel was beautifully wrapped in multi-coloured paper and looked utterly girly if you ask me, nevertheless it can be seen from the way it was gift-wrapped that the sender was very thoughtful and meticulous about the gift. In a way it could be said that it mirrored the sender's feelings.

I never pegged Liana to be a slowpoke, until today that is, she was taking forever to open the parcel, half the time I had the urge of snatching the parcel out of her hands and unwrapping it by myself. Thankfully though, finally the wrapper came off before I could carry out my unladylike actions. And from inside the parcel leaked out a pair of cute pink lacey undergarments.

Liana widened her eyes to the size of an owl's at the sight of her supposed gift, and the box which contained a set of baby pink quite attractive underwears was almost dropped to my floor as if it were a hot potato.

I had an inkling of a clue as from whom the parcel was from before Liana opened it, but now that I had seen it's unspeakably beautiful contents, my doubts had finally found it's surety. Believe me when I say this, I was trying real hard to not laugh at the sight of Liana's twisted bitter face but looking back at the incident and everything that transpired after, I really could not keep my laughter at bay. That bodyguard of mine was really a blockhead when it came to ladies.

I turned my face away from her and started tittering silently under my breath, I did not want to torture Liana any further than she already was, the poor little girl was embarrassed enough to commit suicide as it is.

But seems like her senses had heightened due to her recent sheer mortification, she snapped her head towards me and knitted her brows in a very unappealing fashion, seeming quite unpleased at my hush-hush cackling.

Believe me when I say this, I bit my lip real hard to stop myself from cracking up while I questioned her casually just to hide my amusement at other's disposal. "(Ahem!) My! What an adorable gift Liana, I wonder who it is from?"

Little Liana could no longer keep her composure and in a fit, she threw the package out of my window as hard as she could (I'd say she scored a homerun looking at the intensity of the throw). I was taken aback by her sudden erratic actions which were not at all like her usual self. It seems like she was really riled up by my knight this time. But unfortunately so, that was not the end of the strings of surprises that were dropping off on me today.

I heard a very loud "OOWWW!" from outside my window and I then knew, there was more drama to come.

It was the time of the day when the sun was casting its golden rays down upon the clouds of billowing smoke, the clouds seemed like cotton-candy, as though they blushed at the warm touch of the sun and the silhouettes of birds that flew home across the sky that was now magenta was visible; the mauve of the dusky sky had the biggest star already set in, which would, in a while give way to a thousand others. Amidst this lilac panorama, I along with a startled Liana went to my window to witness the scene of Alexteris grabbing hold of the fancy pink underwears that seemed to have landed on his head and pulling them off his head in a sullen demeanour. Coincidentally so, knight Fredurd happened to be present at this alleged site and I watched his face withering like a dying rose at the scene transpiring in front of him, that is, Alexteris inspecting the underwears from left to right and from top to bottom. I could no longer hold back my laughter and ended up chortling like a stentor, sounding almost like the screech of a rusty hinge. I was aware I sounded pretty annoying but what the hell, in my defence, the entire world was being too damn funny. Destiny was conspiring to make jokes right in front of my eyes, who was I to hold back my laughter. So, I'd say, go blame destiny for all I care.

I felt both Alexteris and his guards including Fredurd look up to see me cackling like a loon by my window, but I couldn't care less. At this moment, I was out of breath due to too much laugher and was aching for air, where did I have the time to care for the upset looks on these background characters' faces.

"Your Highness!!!" A horrified Liana's quivering frame nattered in exasperation beside me but sadly so, I couldn't keep myself in check even if I could feel her displeasure.

By the time I finally gained back my composure, Alexteris and Co. were at my doorsteps, practically knocking in their pent-up vexation.

Ah! They were a fast bunch, weren't they?

In came Alexteris and my knight Fredurd with a face that looked like that of a monkey's red bottom. Hmm, I could understand Fredurd's reaction, but why did Alexteris look weird as well? Wait... perhaps this guy had never seen female underwear before? Haha.... Now they seemed to be a flustered bunch as well.

"What brings the two of you gentlemen to my doors today?" I asked with a sly smile.

".... Shouldn't you already know why we are here?" Alexteris grumbled, a bit irritated, but mind you, his voice was quaking like jelly.

"I should?" I answered his question with a question as if ignorant of his insinuations.

"Here! You dropped something." He threw the package containing Liana's new underwears at me rather rudely. I almost didn't catch it if you must know. "So I took the curtesy of bringing it back to your doors." I took a look at them and they seemed to be packed back in quite well.

Both Liana and Fredurd on the other hand, weren't looking so well, Fred looked like he could just dig a hole right where he stood and burrow himself in it while Liana seemed to have been turned into a rigid statue right where she stood. I kind of pitied the both of them, but all in all, I was rather upset at this idiot brat who seemed to lack a bare minimal EQ of a normal human being.

"Your Highness. You had to give it back to me in such a discourteous manner?" I mouthed out in displeasure.

I couldn't see his face under his disguise, but I could still tell he must be looking like a lobster under his bandages. I thought he would refute my words of calling his gestures rude but surprisingly he didn't, maybe because he knew he was pretty impolite just now with his actions.

I eyed the utterly embarrassed people in the room in silent mirth for a while and then wordless gave the package of underwear back to Liana. Liana could only take the package from me in negated silence and squeezed it in her hands to the point where it's shape was deformed to that of something unrecognizable.

I gaze at her with sympathy in my eyes and mercifully dismissed her to ease off her humiliation for the day. When she left, Fredurd too, with a terse bow, left the room after, probably running off in her pursuit again. Sigh! That clueless kid.

"Are you dismissing me too?" I was mulling over the matter of these two of my subordinates as I got up and was about to unconsciously follow behind them when Alexteris's sarcastic tone strike me with a rude awakening.

"Hah! Who am I to dismiss His Highness." I muttered back in a grimace.

"Then I hope to have a bit of Lady Elizabeth's precious time over tea this evening." He talked in an idle manner, as if he were truly feeling reluctant to leave me alone today. I wondered what he, a person who wasn't at all fond of the little old me, wanted to discuss today.

"Of course." I answered as I sat back down, obviously a little disappointed for I wasn't able to witness the unfolding drama between my subordinates but what could I do? I couldn't really tell Alexteris, this short-tempered chihuahua that I wanted to ditch him to tail my said subordinates for I felt their shit was much more interesting than his sorry excuse of an existence. Besides, whenever he comes around, he always brings along bad omens with him. Who the hell would find his visits appealing? I knew I wouldn't.

So, in a reticent let-down, I ordered the maids to bring in the evening tea. "Has the pigs started flying today for His Highness to make a stopover at this humble subject's abode?"

And thus, Alexteris frowned in response, "Whatever do you mean by that my lady?"

"Ah! Nothing really, anyways," I handed him a piping hot cup of tea that was brought over by a maid and continued, "Why the sudden visit?"

"It's about the matter regarding the lady's chosen instructor," He finally stated the purpose of his visit, and as I had mentioned before, 'Bad Omen', he really was a star of doom in my life, "Well, I wanted to let the lady know that your esteemed instructor will make his appearance tomorrow at the earliest of dawn. You should prepare yourself to greet him. He is one of the most revered scholars of Reveldron and holds the title of an Earl. I hope Lady Elizabeth shall be on her best behaviour before the Earl of Leutenberg." There are some things that you should know about Alexteris, and that is, he was the rudest nobleman_ I mean royal I had ever come across during my stay in Reveldron. And this was the very first time I ever saw him display such unbiased respect for another individual. He wasn't this polite and deferential even towards Reuben if I remember correctly. He even sounded a little fearful when he mentioned my supposed instructor, now I wondered why that is. As such, I could only raise a curious brow when I heard him address this new instructor of mine.

"Why do you sound like someone who just got their knickers in a twist?" I enquired niftily.

"Whatever in Alzyreil's name, do you mean Lady Elizabeth?" He frowned as though he had no idea whatsoever about what I was talking about. And I did not doubt that he really didn't.

"Ah! It's just that you sounded as if you were incredibly nervous while talking about this new instructor." I shrugged at him in nonchalance.

"Wha-What!" He looked even more to be in tenterhooks when he heard my words. "Don't be ridiculous! You're imagining too much."

Hmmm, really?

"Whatever, I just came to inform you of his visit tomorrow, and that's that." He abruptly got up and left the room in a haste, without even taking a sip of his tea.

I in turn, frowned my brows in discontent; These royals and their mood swings (Sigh!)

~ •••••••••• ~

Tonight, before going to bed, I called upon Liana as I could no longer contain my curiosity. I was in full preparation to abandon my pride and dignity as a lady and stick my nose into another's business, but miraculously so, I didn't even have to utter a peep for Liana finally broke her silence.

"Your Highness!" She cried, "Please hear me out! ~~~"

And at that moment, a wide cheshire-like grin finally broke through my lips as I nodded quite enthusiastically to her humble request.

"This horrid ordeal took place yesterday," she started in a snivelling tone, "As you know, we are extremely poor despite belonging to the House of Duke Brikenhead, and as such I have only a couple pair of underwears to spare. Yesterday, as any other day, I was going on about my business as always, hence I had no idea that I would be pranked once I got into the public bath after my day's work was done." She looked especially miserable as she continued.

"I placed my clothes in the allotted general cabinet and left to take my bath, but I had no idea that my underwear would just vanish into thin air after I came back. I found a note in the laundry basket where I placed my clothes saying, they mistook my underwear for a rotten rag and so accidentally misplaced it, and now, it was all upto my finding skills to successfully locate it or I could just go around without any underwear." She wept even more as she narrated her sob-story.

"I was livid at first, and then worried for I never wanted the likes of my underwear to taint anyone's eyes if you must know, my Liege." Yes, I could probably understand why she felt the way she did about her underwear thinking back to the state it was in. Forget Fred, even I would mistake it for a rag if I were unaware of the fact that it was Liana's precious underwear. "I desperately searched for it high and low Sire, but my underwear was nowhere to be found. Hence, having no other place to look for, I finally winded up in the knights' tourney hall. And as fate would have it, it ended up in the Knights Arsenal chamber and had to land in the hands of knight Fredurd." By the conclusion of her narration, Liana was already wailing like a banshee, her eyes glimmering with watery tears flooded like the waters rushing down from a waterfall and the only time she'd stop was to fill her lungs with fresh air.

"When I found out that my underwear was in the possession of knight Fredurd I tried to diminish my already tattered self-esteem by silently leaving after retrieving my underwear, but knight Fredurd turned out to be a very very cruel man. He just would not have that. He had to follow me and persist with my underwear only to further escalate my humiliation, not to mention, he started justifying his actions selfishly without taking my awkward situation into account. Before yesterday, I thought knight Fredurd to be a chivalrous model knight of Reveldron, but yesterday I came to know of the true face of this supposed knight." She sobbed yet some more, "and when I thought that the nightmare from yesterday had finally passed, today that man decided to increase my humiliation threefold by daring to send me such a vulgar token of my humiliation. Not to mention, he still was adamant on pestering me by following behind me for the rest of this evening."

"It seems like you guys are really tied together by the pink strings of fated underwears." I started hollering like a mad woman while holding tight onto my stomach, which was hurting a lot now due to my recurrent laughter.

"Your Highness!!!"

To be Continued..........