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Chapter Twenty-Three

Zorya

I walked past the other guests as they straightened.

"Is this why you wanted to come," Amoux asked as he walked beside me.

Spotting displeasure on the fifth princess's face, I smiled, looking away. "I can't be that petty in your eyes, can I?"

"It's not that you're petty; it's that you're a bit mad."

Stopping by the refreshment table, I plucked up a strawberry and turned it back and forth in my hand. "A bit; it looks like I should start trying harder."

"Why did you wish to come, Princess," Sena asked, picking up a glass of water. "There isn't anyone, at least that I know of worth meeting here."

Taking a bite out of the strawberry, I hummed. "It depends on your perspective of "worthy." Last night, I snuck out."

Sena's handsome face darkened. "Snuck out? Do you know what happens to students who leave Fhakian grounds when the gates are closed, regardless of rank?"

"Expulsion, but for me, that's not a concern," I grabbed a grape and tossed it in my mouth. "I was forced to attend the academy due to my "wild" behavior. My father's words, not mine. Anyway, focus, Sena," I chided him.

Amoux snorted, "Yes, Sena. Pay attention and do not derail the conversation. So, princess, in your own words, you snuck out and—."

"Went to the slums for a bit of a stroll, and on this long walk, along with my trusted knights, I came upon a very depressed beast man, a wolf-beat man to be exact."

The sound of a cough made me pause, and I looked away from the little cake I contemplated taking to see Amoux covering his face with hands and his shoulders shaking."

"Why are you laughing?" I wondered if my noble kindness was triggering Amoux. Then I felt a bit of pity; after all, would he have ever been able to experience noblesse oblige when he'd been running after my sister and ex-husband?

A heavy sigh from my other side drew my attention from Amoux, and I found Sena staring straight ahead his eyes narrowed and what looked like a vein ticking in his jaw.

Disturbed, I couldn't help but ask, "Sena, are you okay? Did you see someone you perhaps hate?"

He flinched as if I'd surprised him and whipped his startled gaze to me. "No, princess. I'm fine. I thought it must be hard for nobles to have foolish knights to serve them."

I shook my head and patted his arm. "That's kind of you to think about; finding good knights like mine is not easy."

Once again, I could hear Amoux scoff before he sounded like he was holding back his laughter. I decided to ignore him and continue telling my story.

"So, as I was saying, my dutiful and well-trained knights followed me in assisting this poor, poor beast-man to a bar where we met many of his friends. All big and strong but pitiful men who needed help. So—I decided to help them, and when I learned that the two top-scoring fighters in our school would be invited, I knew they wouldn't begrudge helping me."

I was eager to hear Sena praise me for my kindness. I did not feel guilty leaving out my strategic manipulation. He didn't need to know how cruel I could be...Wait, maybe it was too late. Well, I should balance it well with my kind act.

While I was lost in thinking about balancing my villainess behavior with my heroic appearance, two large hands landed on my shoulder.

"Princess, Zorya, I think I know my wish."

I looked up and met Sena's deep gaze. "Ah, can it wait?"

He leaned down closer, and I caught a whiff of his frosty smell. "No, it can't."

I glanced over his shoulder and spotted a few of the servants blocking the hallway, exchanging words before they walked away, disappearing down the long hallway.

"Are you sure?" I asked again, hoping he'd say yes. "I just really need to use the powder room, and I'm not sure I can hold back."

With another sigh that could move mountains, he finally let go of my shoulder and straightened. "Go, I can wait."

I smiled and patted him, "I'll be right back."

And I quickly walked in the same direction as the servants. Those I passed avoided my gaze and seemed to scatter to get out of my way. Children of rats would find it hard not to act as their parents did.

Just as I entered the hallway, I saw that it diverged into three different entrances that led deeper into the mansion.

"Which way?"

The shadows around the cracks shook and scattered, and two Panther tribe children appeared. Their skins were covered in intricate tattoos; one walked forward, grabbed my hand, and brought it to their head.

"Praise," the little one whispered, looking up at me with big purple eyes. His tail flicked back and forth.

I pressed my lips together to keep from releasing a squeal. This is why I wasn't allowed to be involved in their training. Placing a hand on his thick, curly hair, I rubbed a hand through it. "You both are doing so well, being my little shadows."

The lazily swaying tail immediately moved faster, and the corners of his stoic little face kicked up in the corners.

"Awe, you're so cute; tell me, little one, what's your name?"

"Shae."

I nodded and looked at the one who kept looking from Shae to my hand and then back to Shae. "And you, what's your name?"

Little ears that held swaying gold tinkling jewelry rang, and the little ones' faces turned bright red before they ran forward, grabbed my other hand, and boldly placed it on their heads. "Jui."

Softly smiling down at them, I gently rubbed their heads. "Well, Jui and Shae, can you guide me to the entrance to the secret path?"

The two flinched before retreating and, with a spin, turned into shadows and shot off. Seeing their shapes in the dark shadow on the floor, I followed them.

It was my luck that most of the newly hired staff appeared to be focused on the ballroom where the guests resided.

Pulling a double-sided blade from my dress pocket. When I'd told Scarlette what I wanted to do, she'd looked at me weirdly but followed my request as usual.

Ah, my sweet Scarlette, and to think I pushed her away when I'd been living in misery. The many people who followed me now weren't completely by chance.

All of them had played a role in my long... short? Life.

Whether it was good or bad, they'd all been another brick in the dark box of my story.

I sometimes wonder what my life would've looked like if I just left.

My thoughts paused when I spotted Jui reappear at a run. Just as a guard turned the corner, Jui leaped forward, her knees slamming into their chest, followed by her using the force of her slamming into their body to jump up, and, with a backward flip, her foot hit him under the jaw. With great force, his head flew back further. He hit the ground with a slam, out cold. Whisps of black smoke surrounded his unconscious body, and he evaporated from sight.

Landing lightly on her toes, Jui's body faded into the shadows again.

Walking past his body, I stopped at the corner, looked around, and frowned to see that a group of them seemed to have come back from eating.

They were talking amongst themselves.

"Is it true that Heir Bailes said he'd give us one of the women if we perform the handoff well? " One asked loudly.

"Shut it, Conner. Let's save that talk when those Nobles leave," another snapped.

Narrowing my eyes, I faintly felt like I knew what they were referring to, but I caught the children's shadows pointing in the opposite direction. Deciding to leave it for later, I followed them until we came to a large painting of women in different forms of undress.

Lifting my double-sided blade, I split it into two blades and slammed it into it.

There was a loud clink, followed by a shifting of gears.

Pulling out the blade, I stepped back and watched as the painting slipped aside, revealing a large entranceway with a staircase leading down into the dark.

"Well, that's not ominous," I muttered.

I glanced to the right, where Jue and Shae reappeared, "You two stick to the shadows; whatever is down there, I'll handle."

Taking the first step, I walked down, and the first person I met was a surprised knight.

"W-what are you doing down here?!" He went on offense, immediately reaching for his sword.

Before he could pull it, I was by his side, my knife pressed against his throat with a twist and pull his throat was slit, and his eyes widened. Lowering my arm, I stepped back and kicked him in the chest.

His body fell backward, flying down into the darkness. Within a second, his body hit the ground.

"What the fuck?!"

Shouts of alarm emanated as armor rattling echoed as more knights ran up the steps. The door behind me slowly started to close, the light shrinking to a slit.

If Sena saw me now, he'd probably curse me as he had no idea of my skills...and neither did I, but I decided it was better to go along as the first sword took a slice for me.

Dodging to the side, I stabbed my blade into the knight's side and shoved him down, yanking my blade from his side, whirling to the left in time to miss having my head taken. Lashing out with my foot, I kicked another attacker in the chest, followed up by another dodge.

Soon, I found my body moving more on instinct as I fought my way down the steps. My arm swung as if guided by another hand. The rhythm felt familiar in this battle that felt like my own version of hell.

I felt exhilarated.

Blood slipped down my hands and coated my cheeks. This would be hard to explain when I went back to the ballroom. This was supposed to be just an inspection.

Spinning my blades when I hit the landing, I aimed and threw both aimed true, slamming into the chest of two guards running toward me. Their bodies stopped short, skidding back as they slammed into the wall.

Bending down, I picked up a sword and looked around at the mess I'd made. "Well, let's go find our little pup."

Jui and Shae hopped out with wagging tails, and I followed them deeper into the lower dungeon.

Sena

"You know, you'll have to work on hiding your anger better," Amoux drawled by my side.

I tightened my hands into fists at the sides.

"Her knights are why she does such foolish things," I muttered. "Why would they allow her to go to slums? Isn't it their job to protect her?" I was irritated, no, infuriated. While the princess was not normal by any means, she should still be protected and afforded all the respect she deserved.

He rolled his eyes, tossing back the rest of his champagne. "She's told you, she's an Argyos. Only a fool would go against them," his black eyes turned cold. These fools still think they would be protected by the fifth princess if they moved against her. Or, they believe in his ties to the third prince. " Amoux's gaze shifted to the Bailes heir apparent.

It was surprising that Amoux had even been offered an invitation. His reputation as the bastard prince from a fallen nation was often mocked in comparison to his brothers. It didn't help that he wasn't friendly; he tended to fight those who mocked him and spent his time being truant from classes.

As a commoner, I didn't have the place to judge him, but he was another man who spent time around the princess. Another person she looked to for protection, and I...I didn't know why she'd even offered to "buy" my loyalty.

I was nothing but a commoner who'd been lucky enough to gain a sword master who thought I had talent, and once we graduated, this fun phase of hers would end.

"Why are you following her," I found myself asking.

Amoux bared his teeth at me as he pointed at his collar. "Got caught, so now I'll serve the little princess until I figure out the key to getting free. You? Why did you follow her? From what I last heard, Rodney had his goons beating you because you rejected his offer to be his—" he drawled the last word as Rodney Fisher hadn't wanted a knight but a toy boy.

Expression Hardening, I looked away from his probing stare. "The princess made a better offer."

"Well, we'll work together for a while." Just as he said this, he stiffened his expression, turning cold. "Fuck, not this."

I frowned, followed the line of his sight, and spotted someone I hadn't ever expected to see here. Red hair, the color of blood, denoted him, and the men who walked alongside him had a similar shade of red eyes.

Both could cause a stir no matter where they went.

"Why are the two most notorious men from the capital here," Amoux muttered as he moved to my side. "This is bad; if they are here, the guards will tighten up and become more alert. Whatever that princess is after, she might be unable to slip out after getting it."

I stiffened, looked back to where the princess had left, and felt my worry rise.

And just as I thought of what move to make, the majordomo announced.

"His Lordship Duke Amauri and His grace Count Qupar."

Behind them were eight well-dressed men who appeared to be part of their entourage, and the ballrooms' entrances and exits seemed to be filled with servants and guards.

Amoux leaned over and whispered, "Stay here; I will find our princess. Find out why they're here."

With that, he disappeared into the crowd, and I cursed. Hopefully, whatever the princess was after wouldn't let us get caught up with these two.

"Why would the Duke of North's heir even come this far south," I mentally cursed again.

Dalton

There were many times I questioned my loyalty to Princess Zorya. Sure, I was currently contemplating whether I should stay by her side, but the high from being next to her with her mad purple gaze, always looking for trouble, was getting hard to let go of.

I wanted to be by her side.

Even as I was still trying to decide in what way, I knew we should have considered her request when she'd made it. Even though we want to be loyal, sometimes we should put our foot down.

"Hands up," Cilios shouted from behind his mask.

"Hahaha, if you don't get your fat ass off the carriage, I'm going to light you and everything on fire," Boros threatened from atop the carriage he'd jumped atop of. "Come on, come on. Lord Bailes, we want a little bit of your gold."

I sighed from where I sat atop the stack of Lord Gregor Bailes, the current head of the Bailes family, men, my large sword stuck into the dirt road from where I'd head to put it when I had to get more hands-on.

"Come, Lord, come out and give us your money, and we'll let you go," I shouted.

Surely, this was asking for too much. I didn't even get the chance to have a wish like those two fools who'd unwittingly walked in to being tools for the princess.

Sometimes, I truly questioned my loyalty to the princess.

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