A Pledge of Loyalty

The king has been missing for a month with no leads to where he went.

That night, he had left the palace along with his two trusted knights, Daren and Leo. But after sending out the soldiers out to look for the three of them, Amelia did not receive any news.

According to Damian, they were unable to find their trace.

Almost everyone, including the nobles, began to lost their hope to find the King, but the Princess was sure that her brother is still alive somewhere.

Until someone brought the king's body back to her, she was going to stubbornly believe that he was still alive.

Inside the room, Amelia was seen holding a handheld fan. She spread the fan to cover half of her face and started to move. Her feet swept on the floor gracefully as she began to twirl in the room—it was a dance move that her brother had taught her.

Her brother, the king, was excellent in martial arts.

Amelia could still remember how she used to pester her brother into teaching her some move, but after teaching her for almost a month, Asher was frustrated that his sister was not making any progress. He had told her that she was someone who had absolutely no talent in martial art.

One day, Asher had shown up in her room and told her that he was going to teach her how to dance. Surprisingly, learning how to dance was easier than a martial art.

Once she had grasped the move, Asher insisted for her to always practice the dance.

At first, she could never understand why Asher would insist for her to teach her this dance steps, but her brother had told her that dancing would at least keep her fit because she was so bad at martial arts. And this habit to practice this dance had stayed with her.

Knock! Knock!

Amelia immediately stopped when she heard the knocking. She gave the other person permission to enter her room and soon, her maidservant walked in.

"Greetings Your Highness," Rae curtsied. "Lady Evans is here to seek your audience."

Amelia's eye grew wide as she heard the name. "Let her into the waiting room. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Rae nodded before she retreated gracefully.

A happy smile curled on her lips for the first time since she found out about her brother's disappearance.

Lady Miria from the House of Evans was her childhood playmate. Her father, the late King Louis, and Miria's father were long time friends and they would often spend their time together in the past.

However, once the late King Louis passed away and Miria began to learn how to manage the family's business from her father, the two girls have not met each other for a long time.

The princess freshened up and tidied up herself before she went over to the waiting room. Her gaze stopped as she watched the lady dressed in purple stood anxiously at the center of the room.

Lady Miria seemed to notice her presence and quickly turned around.

"Greetings Your Highness, Princess Amelia" Lady Miria uttered. She looked up and spoke softly. "Your Highness," her voice contained a hint of relief at the sight of the princess.

Amelia dismissed the guards at her door and signaled to the servants to leave them alone. When everyone had disappeared, she turned towards Miria with a faint smile on her lips. "How are you?"

"That supposed to be my question," Miria chuckled. "How are you? Are you okay? I came back as soon as I heard the news. I was surprised when I heard the news that you had step up as the acting king."

"I am still a Princess. Advisor Damian had suggested that I should have the title of Queen, but the other does not agree," Amelia said. She ushered her friend to take a seat and continued. "They decided with titling me as a Crown Princess for the time being. They said that crowning me as the Queen could create more chaos as my brother is still the king."

"I bet that those old men just didn't want to have you—a girl commanding them," Miria shook her head. "Men and their egos. I assume that the nobles still despise the idea of you stepping as the king's substitute?"

As a sole heir to her parents, Miria was chosen as the heir of Evans's family. Because of her gender, there were many times where she was looked down on.

Amelia smiled weakly at her friend's words and nodded. "I have never imagined that I will be in this spot. Even as Asher's substitute," she fiddled with her fingers and smiled. "I'm afraid of what will happen. What if the people protested to have me as their ruler? I'm not sure that I will be a good ruler. I don't like commanding others to do things for me. How am I supposed to command the ministers? Or my people?"

"You will be alright," Miria convinced. "The people might be confused for a while with the sudden change to have you as their ruler. But they will come around to give you their support, Your Highness. The people adore you."

Amelia clenched her hand into the fabric of her skirt—a habit of hers whenever she was too anxious.

"They adore you when you weren't their ruler," Miria continued. "I'm sure that they will adore you as their ruler. You cared so much about your people and they knew that too. You just got to give them a bit more time to adjust themselves to this situation. And as for the ministers, I'm sure they will soon give you their approval and trust."

"Thank you for your kind words," the Princess spoke. "But at this time, there were not many people are willing to give me their support."

Other than Adviser Damian at her side, the house of Callister had pledged their loyalty. As the head of the house of Callister was her late mother's elder brother, it was not strange for them to support her as the King's substitute.

Then, there was her uncle, the Duke of Jinan.

Although they were not blood-related, the Duke was recorded in their book that he was her late father's youngest brother.

When Duke Fady was still young, he was adopted by one of her grandfather's mistress. Before her late grandfather passed away, he had conferred to his adopted son a state in the eastern of Noa Kingdom. Since then, the Duke has been focusing to manage his land and only returned to the City once a year.

Amelia wasn't close to her Duke Fady. She had always been scared of him as he always had a stern look on his face. But knowing that Duke Fady was supporting her as her brother's substitute made her happy. At least she knew that her the older man cared about her.

"This is why I came to see you today," Miria said. She stood up from her seat and stopped in front of the Princess to curtsied. "I came on behalf of my father and the rest of my clan to pledge our loyalty to you."

The Princess's eyes grew wide at her words.

"Our clan might hold no political power in the Noa Kingdom, but Your Highness, you are well aware that we are the biggest trade consortium in this continent," Lady Miria spoke. "We can still assist you and provide you with our resources."

"W-why do you suddenly decided to do this," Amelia's voice trembled as she spoke. "Lady Miria, I know that we are close as friends, and I appreciate your intention to help me, but I hope that you do understand that by choosing my side, it might impact your family."

"This is not something that we decided on a whim," Miria said and smiled. "Your Highness, you must know that the late king and my father are friends. Once he heard that you and the King were in trouble, how can my father not offer his help? You do not have to worry about our clan. We can figure out something to protect ourselves."