"Here we are! The Mides kingdom borders."
Cedric dragged Aefia by the wrist forward, with their cloaks fluttering behind them.
"Alright. Congratulations. But how are we going to pass through it?" Aefia asked while letting out a sigh. They were standing behind a bush just to keep distance while they figured out how to get to the other side.
"What else? I am the third prince."
"Correction... Missing third prince who happened to fall under employment for Aefia." She answered back with an annoyed expression at him.
"Well I am not anymore. I assure you most definitely, they will recognize me for my appearance." He beamed while pointing a finger at Aefia's forehead. "I look exactly like my father. Navy blue hair, and blue eyes. What else do they need? Oh! And I also have a very handsome face to top it off."
In confusion, Aefia titled her head sideways as she processed his words.
"I don't see a trace of handsomeness in your face. When did you get into that delusion?" She smiled mockingly at him. Her eyebrows furrowing under the pressure of trying to keep from laughing directly at him.
Being struck by her words, he hide his face which was flushing with embarrassment. Since the past few weeks, they had grown closer as friends then they had as master and butler. The past two days, they had gone out on their own mission to return him to the kingdom and help him get his revenge.
Finally, after taking a twenty minute ferry trip across the river, they made it to the edge of the Mides kingdom. Of course the journey in total was longer than that. They had left with a very swift plan of how they were going to get his siblings to suffer and quit, but they completely forgot about how they were supposed to get in.
"I have an idea."
"What idea?" Aefia asked while folding her arms.
"I will use face card and arrogance."
"Oh my god." Her hand slammed onto her forehead. She questioned her brain for what she had truly heard. However, before she could say anything else, he yanked her out of the bush. He threw her hood off and his own too.
"Now, you stay silent. I will handle the rest of this."
"Huh? Well I wonder what delulu you are going to carry out next." Her voice vibrated as the wind cut through her face. Her hair sweeped away from her forehead as she got dragged towards the border checkpoint like a weightless doll.
The unbothered guards, with her sticks of candies and fat-bellies, turned to look towards where Aefia and Cedric stopped. Aefia stayed quiet as she was told.
"Hey b*tches."
Wha—Is he insane?! Aefia cursed inside her breathe as she watched the guards immediately get offended and hold out their guns. Oh we are soo dead. Should have dug a nearby grave just in case before I came.
"Who are you to say such a thing?!"
"Oh. Are you newly hired?" Cedric asked back with attitude. Which made Aefia gag due to cringe. "Anyways. Forget it. I am someone who doesn't need entry permissions to get in. So... Move aside."
Their run resumed, and within the blink of an eye, they were at the otherside. A decade must mean the guards have been changed.
"Hey wait! That girl can't enter!"
"Why not?" Cedric asked with a pair of furrowed brows.
"She is... She is the— The missing princess to say."
"To what? I don't remember a missing princess from this kingdom. Oh don't tell me, did the pink-haired princess suddenly run away?"
So this is a conversation between dumb people... Now I understand why I need to stay shut up. Aefia silently thought to herself as she stared at the scene in front of her. Because if I tried to explain, I would want to strangle myself.
"What?! No! Definetly not!" The guard shouted as he placed forward a single step. "I am talking about her." A finger pointed directly towards Aefia standing right beside Cedric.
Nice... An involuntary side character got pointed at. Aefia rolled her eyes.
"Ah! This is my knight! She is no missing princess." Cedric tilted his head sideways while pulling at Aefia's wrist.
Oh my god! You have twin rapiers! Why do you need the Guardian of Death to be your knight! Ew! That is such a demotion!
"No that's not it... She is—"
"That's Princess Aefia Seraphina Smod who was pronounced dead by the Empress herself not so long ago!" The other one shouted.
Indeed, it was something Aefia told the Empress to do. In return, she would protect the Empire of Smod and the imperial family as an undead shadow. The empress had healed thanks to Helio's help and the cure has been circulating throughout the patient camps. It was a sort of relief for Aefia to know that she had gotten rid of one of her problems.
Now, it was to put Cedric on the throne.
Then, she had to get a particular type of artifact for another certain reason. But that was not for now, so she put that aside.
"I know." Cedric answered politely, but silently. "And she is my knight."
"Prince Cedric, you can't just steal the formidable princess of another Empire and make her your knight!" The guard argued back. "This is going to arise major conflicts between our Kingdom and the Empire!"
"Hm? But I don't care... They better have not kicked me out then."
"Sorry?"
Aefia stared between them, for a long agonizing second. Frowning as she tried to think of a way to get herself not tangled into this new situation. She didn't want her identity to spread any further.
"Avoid them Aefia, let's go. You have entry permissions from me." Cedric yanked her hand along with him towards a narrow forest route in a run.
"Wait!"
"Hold on! Step back!"
Aefia gasped as she took a glance backward, her hand immediately reached towards Spectrum.
Boom!
By the time she had lifted her gaze again, her blade had interacted with a bullet directly targeted towards Cedric's back.
"What in the sanity of human minds did you think you were doing?! Are you truly guards?!" Aefia shouted as she lowered her slightly chipped blade. Although, Spectrum was self-recovering with blood, the dent was still at the edge of the shape blade. "Shooting at royalty like that?! On the land of his family?! You should be fired this instant!"
[MASTER! FINISH THAT PATHETIC BASTARD! AAAH! IT HURTS!]
"Oh my blessed ears..." Her fingers immediately came to frame her ears as she looked away from the guards for a moment. Then immediately regained her composure, recalling she was a knight for a lost third child of the Mides family. This life is terrible!
"Uh... Anyways, just to let you know. The princess is an unwanted guest from an enemy district. We can't allow her in."
"But she isn't a princess. She is my knight." Cedric folded his arms in front of him. "Have you ever seen an imperial princess who lives under absolute luxury hold a sword? That is just what men do!"
Rude! Aefia side-eyed Cedric from behind him, which she had moved to not so long ago. But makes sense since acting as a stereotype helps to cover up the fact that he had been under proper care and understanding the past decade that he had gone missing. However, I will not take that insult!
The guards looked at each other with utter bewilderment.
"Prince... That princess is a hazard. She can kill whoever, whenever she wants and she has no mercy. It is for your own safety and the kingdom's"
"Oh really?" Cedric smirked at them. "Because the last time I checked, she is the reason I have survived up until now. My family didn't even let out a search crew to look for me, while she already knew my identity and how to return me. Truth be told, she has quit her title as princess to protect me as long as I return to my family."
"Sorry?"
"You better be."
"Wait!"
In the midst of the confusion, they both ran. At the same time, Aefia had sliced her forearm to draw blood and feed Spectrum. The pain that was left behind couldn't be patched up for the time being, however, there was a way to remove the pain without actually removing the pain.
It was to divert attention from her forearm and focus on other things like running and trying not to easily get exhausted. It was a simple thing that Aefia always kept herself alert of to just stand a few more minutes.
It was her way of managing pain without painkillers and her sedatives. The sedatives stood for the sleeping pills she used to take to fight away the pain and allow her to sleep in peace for only three hours.
As they ran through the woods, Aefia suddenly stumbled upon the traces of dark magic again. However, she was absolutely certain it wasn't as ordinary as she thought. It was that strange fearful one which had made a second worth of interaction with her.
Added to it, was Cedric's warning.
The fear itself was the first of its kind, while she ran without her own willingness to. Her body went into autopilot, she felt her breathe leave her lungs in uneven quantities. Her free hand came to cluntch her throat in a painful grasp.
Then, she stopped to take a breathe while leaning against a tree. Her head hurt so bad, it was becoming hard to think. The excrutiating pain from her forearm combined with the environment she was in.
Cedric turned around in surprise at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"Do you know the shortest way to the palace?!" Aefia hissed as she looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Yes. It's only thirty minutes from here. It's the shortest. I can lead us through, and then we can access a teleportation chamber from which we will land directly in front of the palace. Why? Is there something wrong?"
"Yes, there is something wrong." She replied while covering half her face as she tried to stabalize her breathing. "I am unsure if I can accompany you longer. My magic is reacting to something strange."
"Why? Is it around right now."
"I—About that I am not sure yet." She huffed as her airways repelled oxygen even as she tried to breathe in hard. Her arms were turning numb and her heart was speeding until it felt like it would burst any second.
Then, a sort of presense materialized out of thin air and she tried to reach out to where Cedric was standing. Her entire body felt like tied with red threads and being controlled by a foreign being, who is also someone Aefia had interacted with. And with a sudden motion, she felt her knees buckle. Her breathe came rapidly as she felt sick all over.
Two entities... One person.
However, she still managed to to stay stood and continue walking along with Cedric.
"You are overexerting yourself! Where is your physician or whoever usually heals you?!" Cedric asked her as she leaned against his elbow. "How did you meet them the last time when you fell sick like this?"
"Don't worry about me..." Aefia muttered while mastering enough strength to move forward. When she glanced down, her arms were covered with the same flower and vines pattern that she remembered from long ago.
"Haha... How vile." Aefia laughed under her breathe as she came to a stubborn stop. Her crimson eyes stuck to whatever was in front of her, which Cedric couldn't see.
"Who?!"
"Do you know your brother is silently aware of our positions? For some reasons."
"What?"
When he turned around, Cedric's eyes turned dilated as he glared at the person with long hair the same shade of blue as him. He immediately neared Aefia who was already drawing Spectrum at her side, but held it half out, half in.
It was a combat between gazes at first. One bright golden and the other icy blue.
Aefia stood slightly away trying to look out for other threats. When suddenly, Cedric turned tense and stared directly towards her.
It was only then, did Aefia realize the shift in air around her. Her breathing stabalized and so did her heart decelerate its constant beating. Her entire body returned to her as if the red threads snapped. However, she couldn't move this time.
It felt exactly like how she was met with the most bone chilling situation when she was trying to run away from George. Only this time, it felt longer and more prolonged.
Cedric too looked frozen in time and only twitching as he tried to break free from the curse. His eyes were narrowed with concern as Aefia took in the situation.
"A—Aefia! Behind—you!" Cedric shouted as she immediately looked sideways to watch for what he was trying to signal.
She felt a chilling presense behind her. A knuckle reaching out to trace her jawline as she flinched. Her hand still stuck on the hilt of Spectrum was twitching violently in disgust.
"Hello. We meet again... Aefia."
Sheesh! What does he want?! His brother is standing right of him! So why is he trying to get rid of me instead?!
"Nice to meet you. I see the little sister of my close friend has entered as a terrorist. Should I call your elder brother to come pick you up? You look... Lost." He whispered as his knuckle travelled downwards to her chin.
Spectrum. Do your thing. Get rid of him! Aefia muttered as she looked towards her sword. And before she knew it, its curse took over her mind which caused a sort of ache in her head, while she was pushed backwards.
With a violent jerk, Aefia's hand moved to pulled the sword off the scabbard and immediately travelled backward. In the blink of an eye, Aefia's appearance changed, she was facing the devil and the sword was already spiling blood.
The sword had slammed against the person's neck, however, the person stopped it with his index finger. His grin widened as he watched Aefia struggle.
"You are a little too strong for a fifteen-year-old. However, I can see what sort of power you possess to protect Cedric for this long." The person spoke while shoving the sword away.
But Spectrum was quicker to protect its master's body from the person's claws.
In that time, Aefia just felt like gagging whenever she saw him.