"Your Highness!" Demian cringed slightly as Alonzo threw himself at Demian and missing him as Demian quickly stepped away.
Fat tears flowed down Alonzo's red cheeks and his nose turned pink as he persistently sniffed the dropping snot. His fingers reached out to clutch Demian's cloak as he gazed at Demian with his large pleading eyes.
"Are you alright, Your Highness? I knew you shouldn't have gone alone with only four knights you should've taken me with you, Your Highness." He cried and Demian looked at Master Valentine who eyed the manchild clinging to Demian's cloak.
"Alonzo–"
"Don't you speak, Master Valentine you didn't let me go and look what happened!" Alonzo really seemed like he wouldn't listen to anyone and would literally stay glued to Demian's side all the time.
"But His Highness is all right, Alonzo and Princess Seraphina was also attacked, remember? She saved His Highmess's life." Master Valentine tried to coax Alonzo.
"I pray to the sacred Dragon for her long life." Alonzo sniffed.
"Well, she is being targeted too." Demian spike up and Alonzo looked up at him.
"You know just like me her life is in danger as well and she is just a weak human."
"His Highness can protect himself but what about Princess Seraphina? She needs someone strong to protect her too, right?" Master Valentine added, Alonzo seemed to be contemplating.
"Yes... what you say is also correct."
"Alonzo?" Alonzo turned as Demian called him, "You are my loyal subordinate, aren't you?"
"Without a doubt, Your Highness!" Alonzo jumped up to his feet straightening his back.
"Then, shall I give you a tough task?"
"I'll be honored to be of any assistance to you, Your Highness." The tears that flowed from his eyes were long gone and a glint of strong determination lit up his eyes.
"Then, be Seraphina's personal guard. I don't want her to get into any trouble and you have to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Master Valentine looked at Demian feeling slightly amused.
Alonzo's chest puffed up as a proud smile stretched his lips up, "You don't worry now, Your Highness. I shall be the best personal guard for Princess Seraphina and I will protect her with my life."
"Excellent. Now then, go do your duty." Demian almost shooed him away and Alonzo bowed low before rushing off towards Seraphina's chamber.
"I shall pray for Princess Seraphina's patience." Master Valentine said.
"I'll pray that she won't end up using him in some of her stupid antics."
Master Valentine noticed the lightness in Prince Demian's voice as he said so, it was quite less but there was a hint of relief which made the burden on Master Valentine's chest lighten a little. He didn't know if letting Seraphina stay around even after being an imposter was a sin or not but about one thing he was sure that with her being around Prince Demian had changed and was continuing to change. Master Valentine liked this change and prayed that Seraphina's secret wouldn't unfold before anyone.
*****
"I believe this human princess is not what we think of her."
Zenith looked at her brother Casian. "What do you mean?"
"She could be an imposter that the human king may have sent in the place of the real princess." He shrugged.
Zenith gave it a thought and she recalled how unusual Seraphina's actions are, she didn't have any grace or beauty that let alone a princess but a lady had. The stiffness, the way she talked, the way she fought like men. There was no way she would have been a princess just as she was doubting.
"But even so, how could I use her as my pawn?" Zenith asked, remembering she tried to say to Demian that she might be a spy but he disregarded it as if he knew she wasn't. And besides, Zenith may have felt a slim aura coming out of Seraphina but it was just as normal as a human. Casian's assumption might be right and somehow she felt it was.
The humans as well as the other races feared dragons and they had heard a lot of rumors of the Salamander brothers. It could be the human King's way to avoid his daughter getting killed as well as to protect his country.
Casian said, "Well, for that I have to go to the human country and find out by myself."
"Why do you have to go? Send your men."
"No. I'm tired of being in the dragon country. Sometimes, we need a change in the air," he grinned. She knew her brother. He would always pretend to be playing around however, he wasn't a her father's successor for no reason.
Zenith's eyes glinted at the suggestion as a wicked smile appeared on her lips and she nodded. "Then don't be late as the transformation might not be so late."
****
Zenith came back to her chamber and she called out her servants and the head maid of the castle.
The fat lady came with the pace of a hurricane and bowed in front of her highness. She was afraid of what the reason was this time. As the last time Zenith had called her with a complaint of a new servant who mistakenly washed her clothes with bleach and it was a horrifying memory of what happened to the poor maid later.
The other three maids of Zenith bowed down as well behind the head maid as they waited for her complaints. All of their hearts thumped in their ears.
"Catherine," Zenith called the head maid and added, "I have some questions for you."
Catherine started to sweat as she answered, "Yes, your highness."
She tilted her head as she found her highness sitting on her chair, her chin held high and a dark terrifying aura coming out of her. Catherine felt like a small rat locked in the gaze of a viper she was about to squeak in fear but that would cause her death.
"Have you found anything odd about the human princess's maid?" She asked, her face portraying seriousness, "What was her name again?"
Zenith threw her hand in the air as she added, "Well, I don't remember lowly human's names."
"Celia, your highness." The head maid answered, her voice shaking.
"Yes, have you found anything unusual in her behaviour?" she asked.
Catherine tried to recall but what exactly unusual was she talking about? Celia was an excellent maid and she knew how to make others comfortable around her and she always helped her even the other maids. Apparently, all of the maids were unable to understand her highness's demand.
"There is nothing unusual, your highness. She is worthy of being a head maid herself and she was serving Princess Seraphina from her childhood so she is very experienced as well." Catherine said truthfully what she had learned so far about Celia.
Zenith's hand found her chin. How odd! There must be something that would present itself as a suspicious activity. She had found so many odd traits in Seraphina. Why not in her maid?
"What does she do all day?"
"Cleaning and stitching her princess's clothes, making meals, she sometimes helps us and she even has a good knowledge on herbs." Catherine answered, "The herbal tea I give you everyday is one of the recipes she has taught us."
Zenith felt her jaw slacking at Catherine's words. Lately, she had been feeling refreshed and she loved the smell of the tea, Catherine made for her. Was that a recipe from the human nation?
She found herself impressed with the maid, Celia but at the same time felt bad for her as she had a weird princess to look after.
However, she still didn't get anything to doubt about Celia and she thought was Casian's and her assumption was wrong?
While the princess engaged in her own thoughts, Catherine struggled to understand why Princess Zenith woild suddenly want to know about Celia?
Zenith hummed and began, "I have an order for you all."
Catherine hung her head low as she and the other maids answered, "Yes, your highness."
"Keep a close eye on Celia and princess Seraphina whenever they are privately talking and if you find something unusual, come report me at once."
"Yes, your highness." All of them replied in unison.
"You may all go back, now," they bowed and were about to leave when Zenith added, "don't let anyone know of our conversation."
*****
"Why do you always have scratches and wounds whenever you come back after you go out with the young prince?" Celia glared as she demanded while pulling Seraphina out of her clothes.
"But it's already healed. The dwarves had some good herbal ointments and they worked wonderfully!"
"That's not the point!" Celia growled at the careless girl in front of her. Honestly, no other woman would want to have permanent scars on their body, but this girl!
"Do you wrestle with the prince?" Celia asked as she opened Seraphina's laces and saw the wounds were almost healed. It was magnificent as how fast they had healed. The dwarves did have some excellent ointments.
"What! No! Why would I wrestle with him when it's clear who will be the winner," Seraphina portrayed a smug look on her face which earned her a smack on her head from Celia making her groan.
"Don't even think of it!" Celia brought new clothes and saw the piled up dirty clothes at a side. They had mud, dried blood and they smelled like they hadn't been cleaned for several years. She gave Seraphina another glare.
"What?" Seraphina asked, feeling the maid's eyes on her.
"Do you even know how hard it is to clean the blood from the clothes?" She growled and shoved the cleaned clothes on Seraphina's hands.
Seraphina scratched the back of her neck as she chuckled nervously, "Err... Sorry?"
Celia's brows twitched as she went to the table to take her lunch with grumpy steps. "And I thought I told you to be careful around the prince. What if he starts to suspect?"
"Then what other choices did I have?" Seraphina pouted like a little kid, "and besides I was tasked to protect him. So, I did my best, I suppose?"
"You did but..." Celia had no other lectures to give her as she had been doing it since the time she had arrived. But Celia felt angry not because Seraphina wasn't careful enough but because she was worried about her. And she thought, other than her Princess Naomi, she would never feel that way toward any other princesses let alone a wizard.
Seraphina changed into a light blue gown and as she came, Celia gave her the lunch she had prepared. It was just the things Seraphina liked. Celia didn't know when she had learned everything about the wizard's liking and disliking. She felt she didn't understand her own self anymore. She thought she would never see the wizard like she had seen Naomi and here, without her knowledge, the damn witch got under her skin.
Seraphina started to chomp down the food in a not-so-lady-like manner and instead of correcting her Celia just watched her. She now found it kind of adorable when she wasn't pretending to be a princess. She would talk without stopping for a moment and laugh on her own stories. Seraphina had already told everything about her friends from her guild. Celia was never interested but now she didn't hate it.
She watched her for a while as Seraphina started to talk while eating. She started to tell what happened there on their journey and how the sages were acting when they prophesied. And after some time, she finally finished her meal.
Celia untangled her hair as it seemed Seraphina hadn't even touched the comb and it was hard with her curly hair. She huffed in frustration. Did she even know how to comb?
"So, what was I saying?" Seraphina started to tell her all sorts of stories of the dwarf town, "They even had mines and their farms are way bigger than us. They are so hard working and the town's elder was so funny."
Celia had never seen a dwarf before however, she had heard of them. They were peaceful people and in the crossfire between the wizards and dragons, they had gone into hiding. It was said, their villages, towns, everything was destroyed and she could feel how horrible it could be for the dwarves.
It seemed humans weren't the only ones who had suffered; there were other races who were still suffering. Up until now, all Celia had heard how terrifying the dragons were and how cunning the wizards were but now everything was changing her views on both of the strong races. Somehow Seraphina made it seem like not every wizard was bad and both the Salamander Princes made it seem that they didn't always destroy everything. Yes, they had enormous power and a strong army but they had helped the dwarves and elves to stay in their lands. They protected them from other races who could harm them.
"Celia?" Seraphina called as she snapped out of her trail of thoughts.
"Yes?"
"I have brought you some souvenirs."
"What?" Celia could not believe in her auditory system, "Why?"
Seraphina tilted her head over her shoulder and said, "What do you mean by why?"
"Why would you bring me souvenirs?"
"Don't people bring gifts for their friends when they come back from another place?" Seraphina asked, making a small gap on Celia's lips.
Friends? When did that happen? Nobody ever brought her any gifts or souvenirs as Princess Naomi had always stayed inside the palace and occasionally, she would give Celia her own things but other than that Celia never had expected anyone to bring her something. She never felt like wanting.
"Ah! I didn't know what you liked so I brought many things I don't even know. Maybe you can use those," Seraphina said with a big smile on her face as Celia stayed as a stone statue unable to say anything.
"Well, Merlene likes weapons and Asilax likes good food but you..." Seraphina closed her eyes to think as Celia felt moisture in her eyes. That damn witch! She managed to break into the strong walls she had built.
Celia's heart thumped when a picture flashed before her eyes. Maybe, just maybe one day, dragons, wizards, even humans would laugh together, enjoy and there wouldn't be any of these fights among them anymore only happiness.