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After the abrupt arrival of my laughing second knight, Sir Amancio della Rosa, Hamilton quietly excused himself to prepare for the quest to find the troubling knight.

Not that I noticed. Amancio's words had me rooted in the chair.

My heart fluttered, but not the light hearted palpitations a woman in love experiences. No, instead I felt a hot fire burn in the pit of my stomach, anger suddenly invading my line of sight. It felt as if a storm were brewing, an unexpected one no one is prepared for. I grew fearful of what'll happen but, at the same time...

"Good riddance."

Amancio burst into another laughing session, dramatically dropping to his knees and feigning a heart attack. He was armour free, but his sword clattered on the ground.

I frowned. "This isn't funny."

"Oh yes it is. I can't say I'm surprised that Jake got seduced and kidnapped by a siren. He hated those Defense Against Magical Creatures lessons. Slept through everyone of them," Amancio got up.

I dryly reply, "Makes sense. Can we leave him with her?" I don't think he should come back. If anything I'll be less scandalised if the nation knew of my lack of restraint on my knights, compared to them finding out the youngest princess is a murderer.

"You can be quite cruel when you want to be, princess. What now?" he coughed out.

I glanced down at my half full cup. My father should be able to figure this one out but..

"These four men are your responsibility now," Father had said. And then he frowned, stern expression completely lost. He does this a lot, actually. "Damn. I never want to say those words to my beautiful, pure daughters."

Oh no. I can't pull him into this, can I?

The urge to scratch out the eyes of my fourth knight, Sir Jacob Alois Heron was enough to make me say the next words. I would bring him back, and I'll make him grovel. No one appreciates anyone going after a skirt, especially a military man. If word got out...

I drank the remaining chocolate before standing up. "Listen, Amancio. Get ready. We'll leave with Hamilton at dawn."

Amancio's grin dissipated. "Wait no Dem, we'll handle i--"

I raised a hand to stop him. "Nope. I'm coming with. Better bring him back, you know. Besides I need you guys to restrain me. To stop me from killing anyone."

He blinked. "But Demmy...."

"I don't wanna pull rank on you, you know."

Once again he gave me a wide smile and a tiny salute. "Fine. We'll protect you anyway. But, I just found this out from a scullery maid. I'll look more into who did it?"

Amancio nodded, taking that as a dismissal, and left the study.

I sat down behind the chair, drawing up my knees to my chest and let out a groan.

Why the hell does all this happen to me?

Sir Jacob Alois Heron was a bigger rake than my brother, and an asshole to boot. He was the third son of a wealthy advisor of my father, but that didn't stop him from being known in circles. He joined the army as a squire at a terribly young age, but his sole reason was the glory and the fame. He always thought with his other head and his father usually bailed him out of trouble.

I don't understand why he's one of my knights. He brings shame to the Glamaia. He's an arrogant ass of a knight. At age seventeen, he's one of the youngest to be appointed to royalty, but that doesn't mean he's responsible. Lazy, conceited, narcissistic, annoying, rude, and terribly stupid is what he is.

It's people like him who exploit unsuspecting maidens and take more than their virginities. They steal hearts and trample over dreams. Just because he's a pretty face doesn't mean he's good.

Gods I hated them. I wasn't victim to any of this but I hated them.

See sometimes I wondered where we went wrong with them. Maybe it was all the fanfare. I don't doubt that they could be great warriors, I mean look at Hamilton. Silent, but a force to be reckoned with.

My siblings' knights didn't cause them problems. In fact one of Freya's three knights is completely in love with her, not that she'd notice.

He's not the only one in love with my mad scientist sister, I smiled, looking back to Hamilton's blushing cheeks and refusal to repeat himself.

"What are you doing down there, Lady Demo?"

I sprang up to my feet in surprise. "Dan, what are you doing up? You're sick, remember." I rushed to greet my third knight.

Sir Daniel Henderson gave me a weak half smile, one side of his mouth turned up to reveal his hidden dimples. He coughed before stretching a hand out to stop me from getting near him.

He looked tired. For the past two nights he's been confined to bed due to the virus of the season. He was delirious the first, and even thought his sister Kelly was his long lost daughter Monica and that he was some Perluvian mountain god sent to steal the undergarments of all the women in the world.

He wasn't a rake, the opposite really, but I suppose the shy ones are the ones to watch out for.

"Demo, Cio filled me in before he got here. But then he told me you'll need help getting information?" he cocked his golden-brown curly head to the side. He was dressed impeccably, but the redness of his eyes and the sniffling gave it away. I forced him to sit down on the chair I previously occupied.

"I told Amancio I'll figure out who took Heron. Do you know any sirens?"

"Uh, I hope not. But I don't think with my dick and get kidnapped by sirens," he answered. "Lady Demo."

I narrowed my eyes. "Stop calling me that."

He gave me a full smile this time. "I'm sorry, but I can't. You're the demo for serving your sisters. You think I can get with Rebekah?"

Not a rake, but not so innocent either. I'm surprised I've lasted this long without a relationship.

"No, Rebekah is six years your senior. She's busy with the nobles anyway," I bit my lip thinking of what I had witnessed the most perfect princess of the family do behind closed doors with the Duke of Weston. I shuddered.

Siren, Dem, Siren. Lets figure this out.

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Dan assured me he wouldn't go and he'll stay inside like a good boy, so I let him come with me to the Green library.

The Green Library was named so because if it's colour scheme. Green rugs, green walls, green furniture, green flames (specialty courtesy of Harmonia), and green everything else. It contrasted with the wooden floor and wooden tables and shelves nicely, giving it an earthy feel. Easily, this was the best out of the three libraries.

We claimed the forest green armchairs in front of the fireplace-- it was winter now and the libraries weren't spelled to be warm unless there was fire-- with a plethora of tomes spread all over the floors.

Not that they actually helped.

I let out a yell. "Oh, Dan, what am I going to do?" I tossed the thick nine hundred page off my lap. Dan watched my actions with an amused grin.

"These books aren't helping, huh?"

I nodded, placing my face in my hands. "I learned about how cats can scare sirens but that they also make great avocado dishes. Sirens, not cats. And then I read how sirens can turn into both man and women to seduce their prey. You know, humans to add with the avocado. And then I read about a siren named Lesha who was defeated by the Grand Knight, but our Grand is a potbellied uncle who teaches Father those horrid dad jokes. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Dan snickered. "You can always read how to kill a siren?"

I gasped. Kill? What.....

Well I suppose I'd have to to get to Heron.

"But I've never killed anything," I pointed out.

"Don't worry about it, you have Amancio and Hamilton. If worse comes to worse you let Jake get eaten, Amancio kills the siren, and Hamilton whisks you away," Dan offered, flipping to a page in his leather bound textbook.

"Not helping."

"Sorry," the sick knight coughed an apology. "But here's something I found."

And he began to read.

"In the lands of Glamaia, there lies a spring. It faces the eastern sun, and northern moon. Once named, 'The Playground of the Gods,' it is now a more sinister haven for the darkest of creatures. Light has no claim over the dense forest. Once caught, no living soul ever leaves. The soulless, the dead, the dark, and the unknown are trapped within by a curse of the Gods, but the strongest manage to break free and wreak havoc. Feathers litter the grounds, but no birds loom overhead. A sad ballad of the winds, the non-existent tremble of the sea and the whistles of the dead should be watched out for. Once you enter, you may not be able to come back. However there is one advantage a wanderer has. This spring is also the site of Maerithium, a toxic metal that is known to kill those dark creatures that loom inside this formerly blessed place. Although blades are hard to forge with this, solid Maerithium can be used to kill the demons and escape the 'Playground of the Gods.' Now, it is named Janhala."

He closed it shut. "Page four hundred and seventy three, lines seventeen to twenty five, of the fourteenth edition of The Seven Worlds. By the late Queen Amaryllis Rebekah de Fleur Gervais."

"Father's first wife?" I didn't know she wrote. I most certainly didn't know that she penned the most updated version of the Seven Worlds. It was a textbook of sorts, owned by all but read by some. It didn't surprise me that she had written the eight hundred and some page thing. My eldest siblings were brilliant.

"You think he's there?"

Dan shook his head. "No. This is like hell of earth for creatures of hell. Sirens live freely."

I bit my lip. "Then what was that for?"

"Did you not hear me at all? Your old age is getting to you, princess. Maerithium!" Dan teased. "A weapon fashioned to kill a siren and get out A-S-A-P."

He dodged a book thrown at his head. "I don't understand," I huff, more distressed than before. "Eastern sun, northern moon? How does that make sense? How can there be both at the same time? Eastern sun is at dawn, because it rises in the east but what about the moon?" I stopped before I yelled, "I don't want to be eaten, Daniel!"

Dan had a plan. I could tell by his expression, and it made me groan loudly.

"Simple astronomy, really," he patted my hand. "Besides, I know there are some Maerithium inside the palace. I don't know where, but someone has it. And remember, we let them eat Jake, or Amancio."

As the day went on I was tempted to let Heron just survive on his own. He deserved whatever was happening to him right now.

"Then what do we do?" I asked, as I walked Dan to his room so he could get the rest he should have gotten instead of keeping me company.

"Well, word on the street has it that a group of dark creatures showed up at the Hope Bar two weeks ago. They didn't cause much trouble but maybe our kidnapper was a part of them?" he mused. His green-blue eyes flickered down at me. "Why not ask around?"

The Hope Bar was an exclusive tavern that the wealthiest seem to frequent. It wasn't something that children of the nobility or my family got involved in, but pretty interesting things happened there.

"Sure. Now take care, and I'll see you before we leave, alright?" We stopped at his door.

"I should be the one taking care of you, not the other way around," he winked. "Don't worry, everyone knows what Jakes like, so they won't blame you."

"Much," I added.

"Much," he agreed.

I should make a correction to the whole spiel about my hatred for knights-- I hated most, save for three.

Having spent most of the day reading in a random study, and then finding out all this B.S. and doing research, I find myself having an hour and a half until dinner.

Going back up to my room to prepare for the trip, I realised I needed the blades.

If I don't get the blades here, I'd have to go go Janhala and get the metals from there. Not something I wanted. If I got eaten by a troll I'm sure Father would notice.

I eyed the knights who wandered the halls, blades at their sides. Who would have Maerithium?

If you've read a certain manhwa, you know what the Hope Bar is.