Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Lydia-chan! Lydia-chan! Where could she have run off to?" A redhead asked herself as she traveled farther along into the forest. Early this morning the two women had agreed to hang out in the forest together, one on the hunt for herbs, and one practicing her archery skills. It was perfect for the two, that is, until Lydia decided to wander off on her own being the adventurous girl she is. Eventually Shirayuki found the brunette she was searching for shooting an arrow as a tree trunk up ahead. She smiled to herself and caught her attention, reminding her that they needed to meet with Mitsuhide and Kiki at the castle in a little while.
"We have to head that way soon, or else we'll be late!" Shirayuki exclaimed as Lydia sighed.
"I know, I know, it's just that- This is the first time I've been able to walk about a forest on my own without sneaking away. I haven't really been able to train my archery skills in peace either. I've always been dragged away from doing these tasks by my old guards and staff. I just wanted a bit more time to spend here and take on the fresh smell of freedom I suppose." She spoke, off in thought as she gazed up into the leafy trees. Shirayuki frowned and apologized for her rushed nature as Lydia only smiled at her and waved her off.
"Don't apologize to me. You couldn't control any of my past even if you wanted to. Let's just get going, I'd actually like to see Mitsuhide-kun and Kiki-chan right about now." She explained as she slung her bow over her shoulder and took her arrow back from the tree, placing it in the quiver on the other side of her shoulder. The two then walked off to the castle together, talking about random nonsense until they reached the gates of the palace. They watched as an old man came through the gates with a cart, only being allowed in after showing them some kind of necklace. Shirayuki asked about it and the two guards they had met the other day explained that they were passed into the castle and nobody could be granted access into the castle without one.
"Right, Ranbetsu has something along those lines too, but they have special bracelets and not necklaces!" Lydia called out as the guards asked her how she knew about their policies. She nervously chuckled.
"I er- I happened to love there for a long while and so I had to learn about some things like that whilst staying there." She explained as they nodded and told them that the two females were actually exceptions to that rule with special permissions from the prince. That was when they were finally let through, and Lydia walked side by side with Shirayuki into the castle.
"Did you ever need a pass into the Ranbetsu castle, Lydia-chan? Considering your true status I would assume not." Shirayuki inquired as Lydia shook her head.
"No, the staff all knew me well enough to tell who I was based on just looking at my face. I never really needed a pass unless we hired new staff or I was in my hood after sneaking out of the castle."
"Did you sneak out frequently?"
"Whenever I got the chance, yeah. I hated being cooped up in there with my father."
"Do you- Hate him?"
"Huh"
"Do you hate your father then?"
"I- No, no I don't. I just disagree with his rules. Maybe one day I'll go back and visit him, maybe we both will talk things out, but for now, I'd rather stay right here. I like this kingdom and it's people, I have no reason to leave just yet." She explained as they met up with Mitsuhide and started walking about the castle, unaware of a blonde lord watching them from a distance. Mitsuhide took Shirayuki to Zen's office space while Kiki came over and took Lydia to the courtyard where there were some targets set up.
"Huh? What's with the makeshift archery range?" She asked Kiki who smiled softly.
"Zen-sama wanted to keep his promise to you. The one where he said he'd let you train on castle grounds every now and again. He made us set this up so you could do as you pleased for the day."
"That's very nice of him, thank you all for your kind hospitality towards me. You could've just turned me in for a reward or something, and yet you didn't."
"Yeah, I think it's because Zen-sama understands your struggles. He kind of in the same spot himself. He wants to see his whole country, but with all the princely duties he has, it become a very hard thing to accomplish."
"I see..." The brunette trailed off as she went to get some target practice in for the day. Since everyone else is working hard to achieve their goals despite the odds, she should too, so with a determined gleam in her eyes she got to shooting. Kiki smirked and left her to her business and before long Mitsuhide came along with Shirayuki in tow to take the two home for the night.
The next day Shirayuki realized she had left a book of hers within the castle walls and the two were forced to come back because of it. Once they got through the gates, however, they noticed a strange man that they'd never seen before approach the guards at the gate with a paper in his hands. Lydia pulled Shirayuki behind a nearby pillars to listen in on the conversation. 'He has weird cat-like eyes, and black hair, based on his clothing doesn't look like he's of royal lineage. The man looks normal, and rather young, I also don't see a necklace on him, so does he have permission to even be in here?' The thought to herself. She blushed when she caught herself staring at the young man for a prolonged period of time.
The two women gasped when they heard that there was a new order released by the prince on the paper he held saying that neither of them were allowed within the castle from now on. They both were expressly forbidden to enter in fact. The two needed to find Zen quickly and ask him about the order themselves since Lydia didn't totally believe he was even meant to be there. Shirayuki and Lydia gave each other a similar look before nodded and making a break for the doors into the castle, running into it and through the halls until they came into contact with some of the guards who took in their appearances before speaking. "Red and brown hair, a light blue hood, bow and arrows, are you two perhaps Shirayuki-san and Lydia-san?" The two girls slowly turned to face them and answered their question.
"Yes, we are." The two replied in unison as the two told them that they were given special orders to let them through the castle as special guests of the prince. They also apologized for scaring and causing them inconvenience before letting them continue their walk towards Zen's office. They both slowly started gaining speed again and started running towards the tower nearby leading upstairs to his office. Shirayuki fell near the corner leading to said tower and Lydia carefully helped her up before continuing up to the stairs of the tower, running up it quickly. As they started up the tower stairwell with Shirayuki in front, Lydia noticed a lot of open windows in the tower before seeing a twinkle of bright light form across the estate. 'That light- That reminds me of-' Lydia gasped as she quickly realized that it wasn't just some random light either and she grabbed Shirayuki's arm before she pulled her back from the window ahead of her.
As soon as she did, an unknown arrow flew through the window and struck the wall of the tower, getting stuck within it. "An arrow? Where did that come from?" Shirayuki asked herself as the two looked out the window towards where the source of the light came from, not able to make anything out across the castle.
"Listen, where it came from doesn't matter right now. What's with the green ribbon of it?" Lydia asked as she looked back at the arrow and found writing on a dark green ribbon that was tied to the arrow. They both read it and found that it was a warning from somebody for them to stay away from the prince, but why? 'Did it have something to do with the guy at the gate? What could he possibly want with us if we've never met him before?' Lydia thought before shaking her head and continuing up the tower alongside Shirayuki, arrow in hand now, and extra aware of her surroundings now that they were being hunted down. As they ran through another hallway of the castle Lydia heard a rustling in the trees of the courtyard beside them, causing her to look out of the corner of her eye to find nothing. Just then Zen's voice cut through the sound of their footsteps, making them stop in their tracks.
'I'm sure I heard someone up in those trees...' The runaway shook off those thoughts as they walked and talked with Zen about what had just occurred. They all agreed on a new plan to find the culprit or culprits together before setting out to their respective new posts. "Shirayuki-chan, I'm sure there is more than one culprit. The guy we saw at the gate must've been in on it based on the false information he had given the guards, but he didn't seem like the mastermind type, so there must be someone else pulling his strings somewhere. I suggest you go find the puppeteer, and while you do I'll find the puppet, sound good?" Lydia asked as she nodded and they both walked in opposite directions. Lydia went to check the courtyard that she had a weird feeling about earlier. Just as she reached the center of it she heard a rustling in the trees again and instantly she pulled her bow off of her shoulder and aimed an arrow up into the tree.
"I know you're there, you've been there watching me for a while now, haven't you? Just show yourself already. The jig is up." She spoke as a male's laughter was heard from the trees and the guy from the gate appeared on one of the top branches of the tree, this time with an added hat sitting upon his head.
"Alright, you caught me, Lydia-hime." The female gasped at the title before her expression hardened once again. The male put his hands up moment before speaking again.
"Would you mind putting the weapons down? I only wanna y'all now that I've been caught."
"Not likely. Tell me, intruder, how is it that you know of me when we've never met?"
"Well sure my boss doesn't know who you are, but being the skilled assassin that I am I keep tabs on everyone. The princess of Ranbetsu hasn't really ever shown her face all that much, but she definitely did go missing as of late, and with you meeting her description as well as having the same name I was sure you were indeed the runaway princess. Now by the look on your face I assume I'm correct?" He asked with a sly smirk as she rolled her eyes.
"You don't know anything about me, let's just leave it at that." She spoke as Kiki and Mitsuhide joined her and stood on either side of her before aiming their swords in his direction. He then jumped onto the nearby wall of the castle and started talking with Shirayuki who had been standing there above them talking with the true mastermind along with Zen, and as the sun set over the castle walls, Haruka the lord in charge of the intruder left just like that. Then the male from earlier piped up and in turn got Zen to grab his collar as he promised not to come near Shirayuki or Lydia again.
"I'm far too scared of them now to mess with them again. Especially the little one, sure she's a runt of a runaway, but she is good with her weapon and I don't wanna mess with someone like her." Lydia's eyes widened as she put her bow and arrow away, catching that bit of him mentioning her, an irk mark appearing on her head.
"Just who're you calling a runt!?" She said as her hand formed a fist as she shook it at the male who turned his head to face her and beamed.
"Sorry, Lydibug, didn't mean to offend you!" He exclaimed as Lydia blushed brightly at the new nickname.
"Who gave you permission to call me that!"
"What? Don't like it? I thought it fit perfectly! Ladybug, Lydibug, it's perfect!"
"I get it, but I don't even know who you are!" She exclaimed as Zen dropped the male to the ground, and like a cat he landed on his two feet before turning to Lydia and grabbing her hand.
"Maybe now you can get to know me and who I am?" He asked with a signature smirk as she swatted his hand away from hers and turned around with a scoff.
"As if." She said as she crossed her arms and the new guy frowned, almost pouting even. Zen called down to them and told the three trustworthy people down there to keep an eye on this new dude. Kiki told him to follow them as he graciously agreed and Mitsuhide rolled his eyes at his pathetic attempts at charming the two women.
"I'd prefer it if you called me Obi, sir." He spoke as they all walked off together. 'Obi-kun huh? He's quite... Interesting to say the least, isn't he?...' She thought as they continued their way through the courtyard together, Obi annoying Lydia the entire time.
Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I'll cya next time~