After a peaceful night, the time came to the early morning of the next day.
Tina found it hard to imagine that she had actually slept in the same bed as Princess Lia, and yet nothing had happened all night.
Well, it’s not like she wanted anything to happen; it’s just that for a pure-hearted young man, lying next to a beautiful girl felt almost too dreamlike.
“Didn’t you sleep well last night?”
A sleepy voice came from beside her. Lia had just woken up, her voice still soft and drowsy.
“No, it’s not that. I just had a dream last night.”
For some reason, Tina had dreamed that she was kidnapped by a stranger and taken to a castle.
That person said something like, “Finally found you, this time you’ll never leave me,” and then used all sorts of means on her, which scared her awake.
Too terrifying. She definitely didn’t want to be chopped into pieces!
“It’s nothing.”
Lia said this as she buried Tina’s head between her twin mounds, making Tina feel deeply moved.
“Your Highness is so much gentler than that sickly person in my dream.”
“Really? So, Tina likes gentle people?” Lia kept her eyes closed, continuously stroking the ends of Tina’s hair.
Huh?
What does that mean?
Why does the atmosphere feel… weird?
“Of course. Being with gentle people naturally makes you feel at ease.”
“Then do you feel at ease with me?”
Lia asked casually, as if it didn’t matter, leaving Tina momentarily speechless.
If she said yes, that would mean Lia was a gentle person in her heart, and since she had just admitted she liked gentle people—
Rounded up, wasn’t that almost like a confession?
“Um…”
Seeing Tina stammer without a word, Lia smiled helplessly.
“Alright, I won’t tease you anymore.”
“Ah, I knew Your Highness was joking.”
***
Lia let out a barely audible sigh.
What if this wasn’t a joke?
She opened her eyes and looked at the girl in her arms.
This was the first and only noble lady she had met since going into exile who did not avoid her.
She had imagined countless possibilities but never thought the most arrogant young lady would be the one who respected her the most.
What Lia didn’t say aloud was this: in her heart, besides her biological parents, there was no one else who could tell her bedtime stories.
If there was, it meant someone close to family, or perhaps someone who had already become family…
“Tina, after today, will you still tell me stories?”
“Of course, if Your Highness wants to hear them, I can come anytime.”
After getting a positive answer, Lia finally looked a little happier.
“Then it’s a promise—I’ll prepare pillows for you.”
Tina felt that after last night, Lia had changed completely, becoming much more proactive, her constant advances catching Tina off guard.
“Let’s go eat breakfast. Tyr and the others have been waiting outside for a long time.”
“Alright. Hey, wait! Your Highness, what are you doing?”
Lia got up and began to strip off her nightgown, even attempting to remove Tina’s as well.
“Of course, I’m changing clothes. Could it be… Tina is the type who gets shy seeing a girl completely naked?”
“N-no, definitely not!”
Although she had seen it plenty of times before, and wasn’t averse to it, staring openly in front of others just felt too impolite.
“But we’re both girls, right? I have what you have, so why be shy? Surely you’re not…”
Lia dragged the last word with a sly smile in her eyes.
“Spare me, Your Highness.”
How long would this kind of life last? If every night was spent telling stories, then conveniently sleeping together, and the next day conveniently changing clothes together—
Soon enough, Tina would completely get used to having Lia around.
And when that time came, would the only ones hurt by a separation be just the other party?
She couldn’t help but ponder this question.
It would be terrible to want the heroine to live with regret, but be the first to fall herself.
“What are you so lost in thought about~”
Lia’s small hands slid around her waist. Before Tina realized it, Lia had already finished changing her clothes.
“Hmm, Tina’s figure is ordinary, but it still feels pretty soft~”
Tina, blushing deeply, couldn’t bring herself to tell Lia to respect herself and ran out of the room first.
“Phew—No, if I look one more time, I’m going to explode.” She felt a strange itch in her heart.
Just as she reached the hall, the conversation of men caught her attention.
It was Tyr and a hooded mage she didn’t recognize, chatting happily.
“Yo, hello, miss. Glad to see you returned safely.”
“Who are you?” Tina had never met this mage before.
“Ah, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Just call me Everett, miss. Rest assured, I’m on your side.”
Our side…?
So he already knew the princess was here.
“You don’t need to be so wary, miss,” Everett paused, “After all, both Tyr and I know your strength. If you don’t trust us, you could just take us all out.”
“How do you make me sound like some kind of maniac?”
“I just want to make you feel at ease because our goal is the same—we protect the princess and are enemies of the Moonmist Sect. So I hope we can trust each other.”
“The Archbishop too?”
“You also have a grudge against the Moonmist Sect?”
“That’s right. Before becoming a Sage, I dealt with them many times. But it’s like fighting with four hands when you only have two—you rarely get the upper hand.”
“The Moonmist Sect… are they really that strong?”
Tina was puzzled. At least this time the incident hadn’t escalated, and everything had been resolved before others arrived.
Or was there a more powerful force behind this cult?
“Miss, the one you killed was just one of their Archbishops. The truth is, they have ten such Archbishops across the continent.”
Keliweier Kingdom might only have one, or perhaps more were lurking, ready to make a move on the kingdom.
Unfortunately, it seems our king has already been deceived. Fighting alone is far from enough. I need someone who can overthrow him, and that someone is Her Highness the Princess.”
“Our king?” A possibility flashed through Tina’s mind.
“You mean the current king? The prince who issued the warrant for the princess? Mr. Everett, do you have solid evidence?”
“Of course. As one of the top mages in the kingdom, I can sense an increasingly heavy ominous aura on him—the kind that comes from making a pact with the Moonmist Sect. Our king may have long been used.”
Tina lowered her head, deep in thought.
If the prince was the one who made the deal with the Moonmist Sect from the very beginning, then the Assassination of the King and the False Accusation of the Princess were steps in his plan to seize the throne.
After that, if the Moonmist Sect intends to control him, the prince would inevitably become a puppet, and the entire kingdom would be the cult’s prize.
That means, to help Lia Reclaim the Kingdom, they must first eradicate the cult in the city.
Once cleared, using the Sage’s reputation and the evidence of the prince’s pact with the Moonmist Sect, they could bring him down completely.
It was an ideal plan.
“Do we have any leads on the Moonmist Sect’s movements?”
“Yes, miss. My subordinates have been tracking them recently, and all the intel points to a laboratory in the city.”
“They might be preparing a very dangerous ritual there.”