It was the middle of the day on the day following the assassination attempt on King Henrik. After Braith collapsed, Flora rushed to heal him, and although his body’s injuries were healed and his condition stabilized, he was still yet to regain consciousness. Flora, exhausted from using so much magic, also had to rest. As for Tasha, she stayed alone with Braith in a guest bedroom all night and into the morning.

  Leonora, voicing her concern with Tasha’s condition, had arranged for the three girls to eat tea and snacks together in the same room where Braith and the others had rested the previous day. Thanks to some coaxing from Flora as well, Tasha reluctantly left Braith’s bedside and the three of them were now seated around a table together. There was also the same maid from yesterday, in addition to a pair of Iron Knights that stood off to the side. Another pair of Iron Knights were also standing guard just outside the room.

  “What would you like to try first?” Leonora asked Tasha, waving a hand over the variety of sweets, pastries and small basket of berries. Tasha did not even acknowledge the question.

  “Um, this looks good,” Flora responded on Tasha’s behalf, pointing at what looked like some sort of chocolate cake. “Oh, and this one, too.” Flora then pointed at a plate of stollen. “How about one of these, Tasha?” Tasha absent-mindedly looked at the food on the table, and then glanced over at the door. “Oh, maybe I should try one of them first, and let you know what it tastes like?” Flora took Tasha’s silence as passive agreement and sampled the chocolate cake. “Oh!”

  “What do you think, Flora?” Leonora asked.

  “It’s- it’s very sweet.” Flora responded genuinely.

  “Really? I’ve tried all of these before and I don’t think it’s really that much sweeter than the rest.” Leonora’s tone seemed to suggest a bit of disappointment, which Flora immediately picked up on.

  “Oh, I don’t mean that in a bad way, or anything, Princess. I just- well, I haven’t really had anything this sweet in a long time. That’s all. It is actually really good, though! Honestly!” Leonora laughed and smiled.

  “Relax, Flora. I don’t want you to be so nervous around me. Also, you don’t have to call me ‘Princess’. Just Leonora is fine. Or, if that’s too much for you, maybe even a nickname. Oh, how about Nora? Doesn’t that rhyme better with your name, Flora?” Leonora laughed again. “It’ll be like we're sisters.” Flora blushed at Leonora’s teasing whereas Tasha looked like she wasn’t paying any attention at all. “Come to think of it, is Tasha a nickname?” Tasha finally looked up at Leonora.

  “It’s my name.” It was hard to tell if it was intentional or not, but Tasha’s response seemed to have a tiny bit of anger in it.

  “I see,” Leonora began, her voice just as friendly as before, “well, it’s a lovely name. Did Sir Braith name you?” Tasha’s expression twitched slightly, and then she briefly looked away, almost as if she was embarrassed.

  “Yes…” Leonora looked on in silence for a moment before tapping her fingers against the table and turning towards the rest of the room.

  “Excuse me, could you leave the three of us alone?” Unlike Braith’s request from yesterday, no one left.

  “His Majesty insists that we keep guard,” one of the Iron Knights responded.

  “Oh, and you are doing such a great job, unlike yesterday.” You couldn’t see it on either of their faces, but the Iron Knights were likely hurt by the comment. “However, I think you could be doing an even greater job if you join the other two keeping watch outside. Unless, you have some sort of reason for thinking that it would be dangerous to leave me alone with them?” Neither of the Iron Knights has a good response, but they also didn’t want to just leave, either.

  “Oh, I don’t really mind-” Flora was about to do her usual mediation or de-escalation, but Leonora cut her off.

  “Hannah, could you bring us some more dishes? Or, maybe some more fruits?” The maid hesitated briefly before nodding, and turning to leave. “Oh, and I would hate for something to happen to you along the way. Would the two of you please escort her?” It looked like one of the Iron Knights was about to protest, but the other one looked at him and he relented. The two nodded and followed the maid out of the room. There was a small commotion outside, but in the end, they closed the door behind them and no one else entered.

  “I should go, too.” Tasha prepared to get up, but Leonora got up quicker and put her hand on her shoulder, attempting to ease her back into her seat.

  “Come now, Tasha, you haven’t even had a single bite to eat yet.” That was true, and because of what happened yesterday, Tasha hadn’t eaten anything since arriving in Ironshield. The only thing missing was a cliched stomach rumbling, which did occur, but by Flora. Flora blushed harder and quietly ate more cake.

  “Okay…” Tasha decided to sit back down and ate one of the cake slices. Her expression gave no indication of whether or not she enjoyed it, but she did have another slice immediately afterwards. Leonora continued to quietly wear her smile for a bit longer as she watched Flora and Tasha quietly, However, she didn’t let the silence linger for much longer.

  “Tasha, I know that you are concerned about your father not waking up yet, but please have some trust. Please trust not just those who’ve checked his condition, but trust in Sir Braith as well. He will wake up. He just needs more time to recover, and it’s only been a day, after all.” Tasha paused for a bit before mumbling to herself. “I’m sorry, could you speak up a bit?” Tasha mouthed something else as she continued to look down.

  “...Y-yeah, Tasha. Mister Braith will be fine. Come on, let’s finish eating and we will go back. If I use my blessing on him again, maybe he’ll wake up faster?” Tasha grimaced.

  “I- I’m sorry, Flora.”

  “Huh? W-what are you apologizing for?”

  “You worked so hard to heal dad, that you even collapsed yourself.”

  “Collapsed? Oh no, I- I just got really tired. It really wasn’t that bad. I’m already feeling so much better!”

  “I didn’t even thank you for, yet, either.”

  “Oh, Tasha, I- Of course, I don’t need any thanks for something like that. You have both helped me so much.” Flora raised her hands in protest.

  “No, I haven’t. It was dad. Dad was the one who did all the work.”

  “What are you saying? Without you-” Flora attempted to reassure Tasha again, but she was quickly cut off.

  “All I’ve done was cause trouble.”

  “What? No, you-”

  “All I’ve done is drag my dad down.”

  “N- no, that’s not true! Mr. Braith-” Flora’s tone was filled with desperation, trying to do whatever she could to ease Tasha’s concerns, but it was to no avail.

  “I haven’t been able to do anything!” Tasha slammed a fist down on the table, which caused the table to violently shudder as a couple plates fell off and shattered, the pastries now smooshed on the ground. Flora looked at Tasha in shock as Tasha took in a few quick breaths. While the two remained seated, Leonora got up and went over to Tasha before kneeling on one knee. She gently placed her hands on Tasha’s fist. After a moment, she used her fingers to slowly pry open her fist. Tasha allowed it. With Tasha’s hand now open, Leonora rested one hand on it and then brought her other hand to Tasha’s cheek, where she gently wiped away a bit of water that had pooled beneath her eyes. Leonora then tried to turn Tasha’s face to make eye contact with her, but Tasha turned her head away. Leonora let go of Tasha’s face and leaned in closer to her instead, making no further attempts to make eye contact.

  “Tasha, I can see you must love your father very much.” Leonora could not see Tasha’s face, but she knew Tasha must have been confused by her sudden words. “Tasha, you know your father loves you as well, right?” Tasha said nothing. “Of course, he does.” Leonora responded on Tasha’s behalf. “He also trusts you very much. And, you trust him as well, don’t you?” Leonora could feel Tasha nod.

  “That’s right, Tasha,” Flora said, suddenly speaking up. “Remember what we talked about before coming to Brennan? If- if you still have any doubts, then you just need to talk with him about it.” Leonora still had some more things she wanted to say, but Tasha was ready to talk again.

  “Right…you’re right. Thanks, Flora…thanks, Leonora.” Leonora pulled back from Tasha and smiled.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “You’re welcome!” Tasha then looked down at the mess on the floor. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Leonora said preemptively.

  “Sorry,” Tasha said anyway. “I- I should leave now. I want to be there when dad wakes up.”

  “Alright, but at least take some food with you. Especially the berries. I’m sure Sir Braith will love them.” Tasha still looked a bit disoriented, but she nodded and took the berries before leaving the room.

  “I should probably go, too,” Flora said awkwardly, missing the ideal timing.

  “Oh, and you’ll just leave me alone with this mess?” Flora panicked a bit as she struggled to find her words. “I’m kidding. Flora, you really need to be better at telling when someone is joking. You act as if you think people are constantly thinking poorly of you.” Flora looked shocked. “Well, let’s not dwell on something like that.”

  “R-right.” A new moment of silence dragged on as Leonora could tell Flora wanted to say something else. “A- anyways, I’m glad that Tasha is feeling better now.” Leonora felt that this was not really what Flora wanted to say, but she decided to not press on that directly.

  “Hmmm, well, I’m not completely sure about that. She might change her mind again when tomorrow comes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I think Tasha is a lot like you,” Leonora began, seemingly avoiding the question. Although you differ in how confidently you act, you both seem well-versed in playing straightforward characters.”

  “W- what do you mean?” Flora repeated, even more confused now.

  “The both of you think it’s easier to act the way people expect you to act. Even when someone tells you that you can truly be yourselves, you still can’t trust that. Although, I think your motivations for keeping your secrets may differ.” Leonora could see Flora’s panicked face dip into fear. Leonora beamed a smile at her and laughed.

  “Relax, Flora. Please don’t take this to mean I am suggesting that either of you have some wicked side of you that you keep hidden. I’m just saying…it’s not that unusual for children to want to live up to certain expectations, especially when it comes to a parent.” Flora’s fear faded back to confusion.

  “Is- is that the case for you, too?” Flora asked. Leonora smiled in response. She then took a piece of stollen and started eating. Flora interpreted that to mean that the conversation was now over, so she also picked up something else to eat, as she was still feeling quite hungry.

  “So, how long have you been traveling with Sir Braith?” Leonora casually asked less than a minute later.

  “Uh, um…not that long.” Flora answered as she quickly finished chewing.

  “I see.” Leonora picked up another piece of stollen. “Who were you living with before you started traveling?”

  “Oh, I lived with my grandpa.”

  “Your grandpa, was it? I see.” Flora nervously waited for the next question. “How was that?”

  “Oh, it was great. Grandpa took very good care of me.” Leonora put down the piece of stollen she was about to eat.

  “You must miss him, then.”

  “Y-yeah. I miss him sometimes.”

  “He must miss you as well,”

  “Yeah, I mean, probably. Right?” Leonora raised an eyebrow.

  “Did something happen to your grandpa?”

  “What? No- not at all. I mean- yeah, there’s no way.” Flora frantically fidgeted in her seat as Leonora continued to look at her, perplexed. Flora took a few deep breaths. “Yes, of course, grandpa misses me and he is perfectly fine.” Neither of the two seemed too satisfied with this being the final line of that topic, but that would have to be the end of it. The maid and the Iron Knights returned at that moment, and they also had some news to deliver.

  **********************************************

  During the night Braith, Tasha, and Flora infiltrated the Nature Clan’s capital of Eden.

  After that solider informed the Druids of the escaping prisoners, Dristan and the rest of the Druids went with him to deal with the situation. However, they did not immediately attempt to pursue the prisoners. Due to the many fires that the escaping prisoners started, and the ensuing panic of the citizens living within the tunnels, Dristan ordered for the Druids to prioritize putting out the fires. Many of the fires were started where blacksmith workshops were located, so the Druids also needed to take care in putting out the fires without destroying all the workshop equipment. At least, Dristan rationalized this for his men by insisting the King would have been very upset at such a loss.

  As such, due to allocating the Druids to deal with the fires, and prioritizing the safety of the citizens and treating the wounded, no more soldiers went after the prisoners, all of whom had already left the city. As the emergency response was fully underway and the order was given for any pursuing soldiers to return to the city, Dristan noticed something.

  “Where is Sir Boris and the rest of his men?” Dristan asked his second-in-command.

  “They weren’t with us when he first went to the palace. Perhaps they went there to attend to the situation in the courtyard?”

  “Maybe…but then why haven’t they come here, yet?”

  “Maybe they were ordered to pursue the trespassers?”

  “That’s possible.” Yes, either the King or General Garden might have given such a stupid order instead of prioritizing the safety of the underground. Well, if that was the order, Dristan was confident that it would not succeed. The trespassers would have left the city quite some time ago now, and they obviously wouldn’t just stick around. Especially given the identity of one of the ‘trespassers’. Wait. Instead of the trespassers…maybe they wanted to go after someone who did have a known location? “Could they have?” Dristan asked aloud.

  “Could they have what, Captain?” Dristan quickly finished putting out the fire in the workshop he was in and turned to leave, with his second-in-command and four other Druids following him. “I have somewhere I need to go. You stay here and take command.”

  “Huh? What do you mean? Where are you going?”

  “Could they have really done that?” Dristan mumbled under his breath. Dristan ran off towards the nearest exit to the surface. “Just stay here and take care of things!” Dristan ordered just before leaving earshot.

  Dristan got to the surface and immediately ran towards Eden’s wall. Using his blessing, he could sprint all-out without tiring. As he neared the wall, he veered off a bit, noticing the giant mound of earth that was left behind from the escape earlier that night. He ran up the mound and left the city. From there, he sprinted straight towards a certain cottage located atop a certain hill.

  Dristan ran as fast as he could, but as he neared the hill, he feared that he may already be too late. He couldn’t sense any disturbances from the base of the hill, and even as he neared the cottage, it was eerily quiet. Then, when he finally arrived at his destination, he stopped in his tracks for just a second.

  Dristan saw a wall of earth raised around the cottage’s garden, and near the middle of it, he saw it was partially broken down. By that opening was a Druid, lying face-down on the ground, and partially covered in soil. Dristan quickly got over his surprise and continued to advance. When he reached the opening of the wall, he peered inside, and under the moonlight, he could see four more Druids sprawled out around the area, also covered in soil.

  “Ah, so it was you. I was wondering who else was coming.” Dristan instantly looked towards the direction of the voice. Hiram was standing casually by the front door of his cottage, just barely visible through the darkness. Dristan, sensing a lack of any friendliness, neither moved nor spoke. “Well, are you just going to keep standing there?” After another moment of hesitation, Dristan finally spoke.

  “I did not order them to come here.” Hiram made a clicking noise with his tongue, but said nothing else, so Dristan continued. “However, I noticed they did not come to the underground so I thought they might have done something reckless.” Hiram made no response. Considering this as a favourable response, Dristan relaxed a bit and started walking towards Hiram. As he did, he scanned around the area again. “Is this everyone? I only see five Druids.”

  “Over there.” Dristan could see Hirma motioning to the side. Dristan looked over and saw what appeared to be someone’s head barely sticking out of the ground, the rest of their body buried in the ground. However, it was too dark to see his face.

  “Are they…”

  “They’re still alive.” Hiram’s voice remained cold.

  “I see.” Just as Dristan was almost close enough to see Hiram’s face, Hiram turned around and went into the cottage. Dristan paused for a moment when he did. When Hiram still said nothing, Dristan followed after him into the cottage, which was illuminated by a few candles and a lantern. Hiram was sitting down by the table. “May I take a seat?” Dristan asked as he approached. Hiram ignored his question and poured a single cup of tea for himself. Dristan patiently waited, and as he did, he noticed that despite having fought six Druids, Hiram didn’t even look injured.

  “Flora’s not here,” Hiram said, his voice still lacking in emotion.

  “Is that so? Are you planning to follow after her soon?” Hiram lifted up his cup of tea and appreciated the aroma.

  “No.”

  “I- if you are concerned about any other pursuers tonight, I don’t think that will be an issue.”

  “That doesn’t change my answer.”

  “What about the others? Where did they go?” Hiram put down his teacup.

  “Are you interrogating me?”

  “N- no, of course not! I- I was just wondering what your plans were going forward. I mean, are you waiting for the right timing?”

  “I already said I’m not going.”

  “...Grand-uncle, the issue in the city is quite serious. It might be a problem if you remain here for too long. Flora, she-”

  “I know what she did. I already heard the story.” Dristan could distinctly hear anger in Hiram’s voice now. “I heard about what you were doing there, too.”

  “Grand-uncle, I had no idea they were Flora’s companions when I arrived! If I knew-”

  “It would be okay?! If they were just some strangers, then what you might have done would have been fine? Is that what you want to say?” Hiram barely raised his voice, but it was still more than enough to make Dristan rethink his words.

  “...Grand-uncle-”

  “Stop that.” Hiram’s authoritative voice made Dristan physically recoil. “Only referring to me as family whenever it’s convenient to you…” Hiram clicked his tongue again. “I remember…a young man mocking a little girl who lost her parents in the war, calling her things such as weak, spoiled, and shameless.”

  “T- that… it wasn’t like that. I never said those words.”

  “You sure didn’t speak out against them when your friend said them.”

  “I- I regret that and I have long since reflected on it.”

  “Based on tonight, it seems you could still use some more reflection.” Dristan instinctively wanted to deny that, but seeing the way Hiram was looking at him, he didn’t dare to risk provoking him.

  “Yes… you are right.” Hiram stared at Dristan for another few seconds before finally looking away and picking up his tea to drink. Dristan breathed a sigh of relief. “If you have any remaining concerns, I will do whatever I can to help you escape, Grand- um….I will do whatever you need me to do to help you leave.”

  “How many times do I have to say I’m not leaving? If I was going to do that, would I just be sitting here sipping tea?”

  “I…I thought you were just concerned about more pursuers. I am willing to do what I can to prevent that.”

  “Well, I don’t have full confidence in you. But, even if I did, that’s not the reason I’m still here. I have some business I need to attend to in Eden.”

  “Business?” Dristan’s confusion came across clearly. “Do you mean… could you mean-” There was a feeling of anticipation that began to build up in Dristan’s voice right before he was cut off.

  “It’s definitely not whatever you are thinking right now. I just need to go to Eden to deal with something. That’s it.”

  “But, if you go into the city, they’ll arrest you.” Dristan felt stupid right after saying something so obvious.

  “That’s not an issue.” Dristan wasn’t sure if he should stop feeling stupid, or feel even more stupid for not understanding Hiram’s plan.

  “...how is that not an issue?”

  “For starters, I will already be arrested.” Hiram drank some more tea.

  “...what?”

  “You’re already here, aren’t you? You’ll be the one to take me to Eden.” Dristan finally stopped wracking his brain trying to understand Hiram’s intentions and just decided to go along with everything Hiram was saying.

  “Okay, I will do that. Is there anything else you need me to do?” Hiram drank again.

  “Take the other Druids with you along the way. I don’t want them waking up later and making a bigger mess out of my garden.”

  “Yes, I will also bring them back as well.” Dragging back six people, even with his Nature Clan’s blessing, would be difficult, but he would rather do that than ask Hiram to help. Hiram finished his tea and then got up. Dristan waited for Hiram to get to the front door before following after him. As Dristan went over to start gathering the Druids, Hiram suddenly spoke up.

  “Actually, Dristan, I’ve changed my mind.” Dristan turned around with a mix of shock and excitement, wearing a somewhat confused smile on his face. “Don’t you think you look too unscathed to be bringing me back? We should fix that.” Dristan’s smile disappeared.