Josie's POV~

    I sigh and lay back on my bed, staring at the drab ceiling above me. For a moment, both Magnus and I were quiet.

    "You never asked why I was running away. You both just came with me, despite everything. Why?" Magnus looks surprised for a moment, then answers flatly.

    "You were going somewhere dangerous, and our duty is to protect you." Sitting up, I give Magnus a impatient look.

    "You helped me escape! Fath- The king, I mean- won't be kind if he catches you too. You've basically become a stowaway, for what? The girl who you were paid to care about?" Magnus looks down, seemingly upset or hurt.

    "...paid..." she says, spitting the word out with disdain. She chuckles mournfully. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. After all, It's not like we were communicating outside of my job... But..." She trails off.

"But?" I repeat, more out of surprise than asking her to finish her statement.

"I guess I thought that maybe we were friends, despite everything... I guess that was a big assumption." I... didn't expect that. Like, at all.

"W- really?" I couldn't help it, I started crying. Although my father was willing to give me anything, he never could give me friends. Sure, he tried, but when all of your friends are paid by your father, it really makes it hard to trust them. Magnus looked at me for a moment, then stood up and began to walk out.

"Mag-!" I started, but I remember that Evangelica is asleep. I don't want to get her involved, too. Magnus looks at me with the beginnings of tears in her eyes and quickly walks out of the room. I stand shocked for a couple moments, then go to follow behind her.

"Josie? What are you doing awake?" I looked back, facing a partially awake Evangelica. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, looking at me confused.

"Eve, I-I i'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up, b-but Magnus! She-"

"Listen Josie, it's late and you should be asleep. Whatever happened can be dealt with tomorrow, ok? We are going to need all the sleep we can get." Evangelica groans, lying back down in bed.

"But I-" I started, quickly cut off by my sleepy guard again.

"Josie, please c'mon. Go to bed."

Sighing, I turn to look in the direction Magnus walked off in. I debated ignoring Evangelica's orders and go after her. But at this point, she could be anywhere. Giving in, I walked over and wrapped myself up tightly in my covers. Hopefully Magnus is okay and I can get a little bit more sleep tonight.

~Time skip to Morning~

I yawned, sitting up in my bed. I looked as my covers were thrown around in a messy manner. I guess I must have gotten restless last night.

I hopped up from my bed, leaving the bedding situation for later. Noticing that Evangelica was not in her bed, I took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room. There was something I needed to do today, I just had to remember..

"Oh no, Magnus!" I shouted suddenly, my mind fully awake. That's what I needed to do! I had to find Magnus and apologize for last night's events. Rushing around the hotel room to find Evangelica, I didn't pay much attention as I walked directly into Evangelica, making me fall quite un-graciously to the ground.

"Ack, Josie! Careful, you gotta watch where you're going." Eve said, standing up. She stuck out a hand to help me up as well, which I accepted.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to, I'm just in a hurry!" I said, talking fast. Evangelica placed a hand on my shoulder, looking a bit concerned.

"Woah there, calm down. What's going on?"

I looked Eve in the eyes, studying her concerned face.

"Are we friends?" I ask. Eve looks surprised and stutters before responding.

"I- Uh, I-" Eve looks at me now, presumably to figure out what I want her to say, "What does this have to do with what's going on?"
I felt bitter tears begin to well up as a feeling of loneliness began to settle within me. Turning sharply, I ran out of the door and found a place to hide under the stairs down to the ground floor. Living with servants constantly hounding me, I learned early how to hide from people. I waited until I heard Eve run out of the door looking for me, then walked aimlessly into the forest. I found a quiet space at a clearing and decided to sit down. I began to wonder how all of this happened. Why did I run? I mean, I knew why I ran, but- Ugh, even trying to understand all of this is difficult, I thought. I had many people in my life, maybe even people who cared about me, but it was all so... shallow. Even my father only wanted me as a means to an end. Thought everyone had tried to hide it from me, I knew that father really wanted a son. He wanted an heir, and not a silly little girl. Maybe if I had been different... Maybe if I had-

    There was no time to finish my thoughts, as I heard leaves and sticks crunch near me. I turned over to look for the culprit who interrupted my thoughts, ready to unleash a full force of a royalty tantrum. I realised it was only a small girl, and relaxed slightly. Her hair was an unusual shade of black, in the light looking to be a navy blue. Her face was cute and round with a small button nose and big, curious eyes. The girl looked up at me with wide eyes. At first I didn't fully understand why, but then I realised that I had begun to twirl a royal amulet I always wore. I quickly dropped the amulet and attempted to act like a regular commoner.

    "Quite a nice day, Huh?" I asked in a hurried way. The girl, still gawking at me, pointed at my neck.

    "Are you the princ-" I panicked and shook my head vigorously.

    "What? That's crazy! What are you even talking about silly girl you have such an active imagination!" I spat out quickly. The girl seemed less than fooled.

"You can tell me the truth. I promise I won't tell anyone!" The girl's eyes were so sweet and so sincere, I felt like I couldn't lie to her.

"Alright," I whispered in a hushed tone, "I am the princess, but you can't-" I felt a sharp pain in my skull as everything began to become fuzzy.