Exposed

Laif never thought that they would be caught for loitering around the princess garden. He was sure that he was very careful when the two of them snuck into the palace, but they were still caught by the guards.

He tried to fight back against the guards, but once he saw the expression on Amelia's face, Laif immediately stopped from struggling. He wanted to flee and escape from the soldiers before they can identify who he was but, he was too worried about the girl.

Laif looked up out of worry about what was going to happen to Amelia. A breath of relief escaped him when he saw that the guards were not trying to hurt her. He tried to calm down to observe his situation, but at this moment, he started to notice that something was not quite right.

For example, the guards surrounding them seemed as if they were protecting Amelia instead of arresting her.

Meanwhile, Amelia was observing everything with a horror look on her face.

The situation was too chaotic that Amelia did not know what she wanted to do or what she should do first. Everything happened so fast that by the time that Amelia was able to react, Laif was pinned on the ground and the guards were surrounding her.

As if she finally snapped out of her trance, Amelia run forwards to Commander Irvine, but with the guards around her, creating a wall, she was not able to reach the Commander's side.

"Stop!" Amelia shouted from the top of her lung. "Release that man at once."

Everyone looked up in surprise when they heard the Princess's voice. The guards turned at each other as they were unsure of what was happening, or what they were supposed to do. Then their gaze shifted towards the Commander to wait for his next command.

"Your Highness," Commander Irvine stepped forward and bowed to greet her. "We've been looking for you all over the palace," he paused to give her a look over. Seeing that the Princess was unhurt, Commander Irvine let out a breath of relief. "Are you alright? Did this man do anything to hurt you?"

"No. He did not hurt me." Amelia walked over to the Commander. "I need you to release him at once, Commander Irvine. This is all a misunderstanding."

The expression on Laif's face turned ghastly as his mind whirled was processing what was happening before him.

Laif was sure that he did not mishear things when the Commander addressed the girl as 'Your Highness'. He looked at the guards around them and saw the way they were looking at Amelia.

"Your Highness?" Laif repeated the words in a whisper, but he knew that Amelia had heard him because she turned around to meet his gaze.

Amelia swallowed when she saw the mix of confusion and something else that she could not fathom in his gaze.

Suddenly, she was overcome with guilt. She knew that from then on, Laif would not look or treat her the same way again.

Their short interactions flashed through her mind and Amelia did not know how she should act in front of him.

"I," Amelia tried to speak, but she could not find the right words or explanation their current situation. As Laif continued to stare at him, Amelia began to panic.

Laif looked at the girl in front of him in disbelief. "You're... a royalty?"

As his words fell, Laif felt the guards behind him exerted more force to restrain his movement. He let out a painful groan as the guard continued to press his body on the ground.

"Behave yourself or you might find yourself in trouble! You're talking to Princess Amelia," the guard behind him whispered. "Of course she's royalty."

"I—I'm sorry." Amelia avoided his gaze, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath calm herself. When she opened her eyes, her gaze was set on the Commander. "He didn't hurt me and I guarantee that he wouldn't be a threat. Commander Irvine, I need you to ask your men to release him."

"Your Highness," Commander Irvine frowned.

Seeing that the Commander did not move to give an order to his men, Amelia was suddenly angered. She turned to look at the men surrounding them and spoke in a loud voice, "Guards! What are you doing? I said to release this man immediately."

However, the guards don't seem to obey her command. They were looking at both the Princess and the Commander back and forth and hesitated whether they should listen to the Commander or the Princess.

Although the Princess held higher authority, to the guards, the Commander was their direct superior. They were all soldiers under the Commander's direct command, therefore they should listen to his instruction.

Seeing that none of them reacted at her instruction, Amelia soon realized that the guards would not move an inch unless the Commander gave them his command.

Suddenly, Amelia found her breath stuck in her throat. Her hands balled into fists as she tried to bore the helplessness she felt at the moment.

"Please," her voice softened into a pleading as she turned to meet Commander Irvine's gaze. "Commander Irvine, I will explain everything to you later. But right now I need you to command your men to release this person at once."

Commander Irvine hesitated at her tone of voice, but he quickly recovered and steeled his heart. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but that is something that I cannot do right now. You might not think that this man possessed no danger to you, but we could not deny that he has taken you out of the palace ground without proper safety measures. As the person who was in charge of your safety, this is something that I have to do."

Amelia turned to Laif again when she found that there was nothing she could do to save him.

At this moment, Commander Irvine turned to stare at Laif for a long time as he tried to decide what he should do to him. After a while, he waved his hand to his men and spoke. "Everyone, listen to me carefully. Escort this man, Laif Hue, and take along his friend, Kain Elford back to the Royal Knight's quarters. Make sure they do not go out of the quarters until my further command," he ordered."

The guards answered him in unison.

Commander Irvine turned around to leave but paused after a few steps. "Make sure that no one speaks of tonight's incident."