When the excited voices of the crowd finally reached the Commander’s ears, there was only one thing that came to the Princess’ mind that would stop her from turning around.

  "I like you!" Oriana boldly decred right to Valeria’s face.

  For a moment, she couldn’t hear anything but the frantic beating of her heart.

  The Commander wasn’t in a much better state either.

  With her jaw dropped and wide open eyes locked onto Oriana’s sky blue gaze, she couldn’t utter even a single word.

  It wasn’t often that something or someone caught Valeria off guard. After all, she spent years practicing and training for any situation that could surprise her, making sure that she’ll be able to minimize the impact the unexpected has on her.

  And yet, with a single sentence Oriana managed to disarm her and render her completely defenseless.

  "I mean…" The Princess blurted the moment she started recovering from self-inflicted shock. "I mean, I like it when you are so cheerful."

  Valeria blinked. Then again.

  "Oh" Her eyes darted away, nervously avoiding Oriana’s. "I see… I guess, I am in a rather good mood today."

  She felt completely clueless on how to react. It didn’t help that the crification the Princess provided made her equally relieved as it made her disappointed.

  On one hand, she yearned for some kind of confirmation that Oriana did in fact shared the feelings she had for her.

  On the other, being given a public decration like that, was more than Valeria could handle.

  Meanwhile, the Princess couldn’t believe her eyes.

  As it appeared, her perfectly pure intention to help Kyra out accidentally made her Swindler Commander completely, thoroughly flustered.

  Victory! At st!

  Naturally, this unexpected success emboldened Oriana to seize the opportunity. To have a payback for all the times Valeria turned her into a bumbling beetroot.

  A wide, very satisfied grin, spread on her face. She stepped in closer to the Commander and took a good look at her.

  "W-why are you looking at me like that?" Valeria stuttered.

  Valeria. Stuttered. Oriana reveled in this newfound control. She narrowed her eyes. Her voice dropped to a seductive whisper.

  "You do look very cute when you blush, my Commander."

  And then she pressed a long kiss against Valeria’s cheek, before proudly marching off.

  To say that the Commander was shocked would be an understatement.

  She was simply frozen in pce. Her fingertips touching on the spot where Oriana’s kiss still lingered.

  No earlier than st night, she was the one delivering such sneak attack to Oriana, and now the tables have turned. Valeria had to admit it was a completely different kind of experience when she was at the receiving end of it.

  "She can be quite a handful, can’t she?" A voice sounded next to her.

  "She can… Very handful," Valeria answered weakly.

  The daze she was sent into by the kiss was so strong that it took her a long while to realize that she had company.

  "Your Majesty! My apologies! I was… I was…" The Commander was thoroughly startled, causing her to struggle for words.

  Queen Hester hid a giggle behind her fan.

  "There’s nothing to apologize for, Commander. I am very pleased to see that you and my daughter are getting along," she said.

  Though, judging by how they are both grinning, ‘getting along’ is an understatement.

  Valeria ughed nervously.

  "We’ve known each other for a long time. It seems quite natural."

  "Mm," The Queen nodded "You and Kyra had been living with us for almost thirteen years. You’ve done so much for us during that time, Commander. I don’t know how I could ever repay you for all your help."

  "Your Majesty is too kind." Valeria answered from the bottom of her heart. "Besides, both me and Kyra, we owe you our lives." She paused "Though, I’m not sure I deserved your mercy after what I did…"

  "We all did things we’re not proud of. Things, that were forced upon us. This is, unfortunately, the world we live in. The best we can do is try to do as much good as we can whenever we can." Hester sighed and got lost deep in her thoughts for a short time. "Oriana is still very young. She haven’t seen just how cruel and unforgiving the life can be. And it is my fault. My love for my daughter made me want to protect her from the ugliness of the reality for as long as I can, but I am afraid I only made her weaker."

  The Queen knew very well just how spoiled and doted on Oriana was her entire life. It was hardly surprising as she was the only child and the heiress. Everyone in the kingdom wanted to win the favor of the future ruler, if not for themselves then for the sake of their families. Therefore, the little Princess Menace grew up surrounded by people who were willing to do just about anything for her.

  "That’s not true" Valeria protested. "Oriana is one of the strongest people I know. She’s not afraid to be herself and go against the current. This alone is not a small feat. There aren’t that many people who are brave enough to be themselves. And it was your love what allowed her to achieve this."

  Hester stopped walking and looked at the Commander. The comfort of her words easing the worry in her heart.

  "That’s why I can’t imagine anyone more suitable to stand beside my daughter than you, Commander," she said with a smile.

  "Thank you, for putting so much trust in me, Your Majesty. I’ll do everything I can to not betray it." Valeria bowed her head.

  The answer made Hester very content. She knew that if there was one person that would keep her word , that would be the woman standing before her.

  After that they continued browsing the stalls in silence for a while. Eventually the Queen spoke again.

  "You know, Commander. If Oriana were to suddenly break off her engagement due to, say, personal matters… It would be difficult for Aelius." Hester paused briefly, weighing her words. "It would be difficult, but not impossible. There are still things we could do before we are forced to accept the lesser evil."

  Aelius was in a tough spot, torn by the issues at the border and internal problems with the nobles doing everything they can to undermine the influence and control of the Crown.

  Fvius knew that he wouldn’t be able to deal with both issues on his own. That’s why he eventually caved in and accepted Gideon’s proposition to arrange engagement between Oriana and Emil. It was a solution far from perfect, but it secured military support from Adler to at least help with the outside threats.

  The King, however, didn’t enjoy how this was pushing the power away from the Golden Pace, and even worse, that it required the Princess’ future to be put on the line.

  Even more so, that both Hester and Fvius were well aware that there was another way.

  Valeria, while living in secrecy and hiding her real identity, was still a valuable asset. Being Princess Eira meant that even though her kingdom was gone, there were still alliances agreed upon by her father, that granted her access to military support from those countries.

  Another important aspect was that in the minds of many people Princess Eira had achieved almost a legendary status.

  Her disappearance and inability to provide a certain proof for her death made many people believe she will one day return and recim her birthright. That was especially important to all of those in Aelius, who ran away after the fall of Faolán.

  There was also no denying that even as ‘Valeria’, she managed to accumute a lot of merit to her name. This was a conscious effort on behalf of the King, who made sure to use her talents from the very first day she came to the Golden Pace.

  "I…" Valeria hesitated. "I understand."

  Queen Hester’s eyes lit up. It was the first time that the Commander didn’t outright rejected the idea.

  "Good. Good. There is nothing more important to me than my daughter’s happiness."

  Meanwhile, back in the Golden Pace, King Fvius was enjoying a walk in the gardens. He didn’t join the others due to him still recovering from the recent attack of his mysterious illness.

  It wasn’t all that bad, as he did enjoy the rare quiet moments when he wasn’t forced to make decisions that would affect him and his people for generations to come.

  "Your Majesty, I wanted to ask you something" Lin Cao, who was accompanying the King, said after a moment of silence. Seeing that Fvius nodded, he continued. "Your Commander. Had she and her sister been in the Pace long?"

  "Almost thirteen years" Fvius answered.

  "How did it happen that she started living here?"

  The King looked at his companion suspiciously.

  "Why the sudden interest? Are you pnning to steal my Commander to Liung-Mun?" He ughed.

  Truth was, Fvius knew exactly why Lin Cao took interest in Valeria.

  He knew about the close retions between Liung-Mun and Faolán which were the result of decades of friendship between The Emperor and King Conall.

  After Andras Kleos attacked the Wolf Kingdom, the Dragonkin of Liung-Mun were the first to arrive with help. Unfortunately, being separated by the sea, by the time they reached the destination it was already too te. The Cult’s covert attack at the very heart of the nd proved to be too effective.

  Fvius knew that Lin Cao would recognize Eira if he saw her.

  "Not at all, not at all" the Emperor denied "She simply reminds me of someone I once knew and wondered if there was a chance she could be that person."

  A cunning smile crossed the King’s face. It was exactly the reaction he was hoping for.

  Both he and Hester were forbidden from ever admitting knowing Valeria’s secret or revealing it to others. That being said, nobody ever said anything about nudging someone into the right direction.

  "We found them on our way back from a diplomatic visit. We were passing through a ruins of a town when we stumbled upon them in the middle of the ruin. Both Valeria and Kyra were in a terrible shape." The King sighed. "The whole sight was something I will never forget."

  "What was the name of the town?"

  "Umbraelis."

  The Emperor grew silent. He was familiar with the name. Many years back, his Shadows reported to him about a viscous attack that happened in the Aelian towns.

  Apparently not even one building was left standing. Everything burned to the ground. Even more tragic was that supposedly nobody survived whatever cataclysm hit the pce.

  Lin Cao remembered vividly how Shun Ming described what she saw. The piles of rubble and ash, the bodies. But most importantly the marks she noticed around the area.

  Cws.

  Too big to belong to any kind of animal and yet, in a way, resembling a human hand.

  It so happened that the Emperor Lin Cao knew very well what kind of being could leave marks like that.

  A being inherently tied to the past and tradition of Faolán.