Familiar Face

Amelia shuffled the papers on her table to read its contents. After taking over the office for months, Amelia was beginning to get used to reading the documents quickly. With Adviser Damian's help, it was not hard for her to decide whether it was appropriate for her to stamp her signature on the paper.

Although Amelia could always rely on the adviser to let him decide on the administrative matters before she signed the documents without minding too much at the contents, Amelia thought that it would not appropriate to do so.

It was important for her to know the matters discussed or else, she would not be able to survive the nobles during their meeting. There was no way that she was going to give a chance for the nobles to treat her like an idiot!

A sigh escaped her at the thought of the Duke of Jinan's timely return to the city. With the Duke's backing, the nobles at least did not dare to look down at her. Amelia was grateful that the Duke had agreed to return to the city to assist her in her administration.

A sudden knock came to her door as she continued to look at the report on the north part of Noa Kingdom. When Amelia looked up, her maidservant, Rae walked in and greeted her with a curtsy.

"Your Highness," Rae smiled. "You have a visitor. Lady Evans is here to see you."

...

A wide smile appeared on her lips as Amelia saw her friend. It has been months since Lady Evans left Noa Kingdom for a business trip. As the next heir of a reputable merchant clan, Miria was always busy managing their business.

The House of Evans was the biggest trade consortium on the Eastern Continents and they have also had several businesses with a few countries in the Western Continents. Because of that, Miria was always busy with managing the merchant group.

"Your Highness, Princess Amelia" Miria greeted once the Princess walked into the garden.

"You're back!" Amelia said in excitement.

"I have," Miria smiled as she rose. "I haven't been around for months to check on you, but how have you been, Your Highness?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "Come to my room. We've got some catching up to do."

"Of course," Miria nodded. She suddenly paused when she saw a familiar face behind the princess. Her heart jolted in surprise when she recognized that the man dressed in the Knight outfit. A frown appeared on her face as she wondered why was that man standing among the Princess's Knight. Was he not...

"What's the matter?" Amelia asked.

Miria quickly pulled herself from her thoughts and shook her head. "Nothing."

The two of them returned to the Princess's quarters and Miria sat down as she watched the Princess spoke to Rae.

"I heard that you have officially appointed a few men as your Royal Knights," Miria spoke as Rae and the other maidservant retreated from the room.

Amelia nodded. "Yes. Just a few months ago."

"That man out there... the one who was dressed in his Knight outfit was one of them?"

Amelia recalled that just now, Laif was the one who was on duty to join her and her entourage. "Laif? Yes. He is."

"Laif... is it?" Miria had a smile on her lips. Noticing the questioning gaze from Amelia, Miria quickly said, "He's good looking."

The princess laughed. "Are you here to check on my Knights?"

"Of course," Miria said. A playful smile appeared on her lips. "But not for the reason you might think. I am just curious to know about the people that Commander Irvine chose to entrust your life to. Tell me about your newly appointed Knights, Your Highness. How many Knights passed the Commander's test?"

"Well... out of thirty-seven applicants, only six of them passed. Adviser Damian seems to think that there are not many talents applied for this position, and Commander Irvine then decided to hire those who are really capable." Amelia paused as and smiled. "Let's not talk about them. Tell me, Lady Evans... How was your trip?"

...

Laif watched the Princess and Lady Evans entered the room and frowned. Just now, he was able to detect Lady Evans's gaze on him. It was then that he thought that the woman looked very familiar to him.

After thinking about it for a while longer, Laif then recalled seeing Lady Evans when he accidentally walked into the princess's garden. It turned out that back then when Princess Amelia had snuck out from the palace, it was with Lady Evans's help.

As the thought crossed his mind, Laif could not help but think that Lady Evans was a very interesting person.

Sensing a presence coming towards him, Laif then tilted his head up and saw Kain walking towards him.

"You know," Kain said with a sigh. "The King and the Queen would faint when they know that you now work under the Princess of Noa Kingdom. Imagine how their reaction will be when they saw you bowing down to others." His voice was almost a whisper as he was afraid that someone might overhear their conversation.

"Let's not forget that while we're here, we are only commoners," Laif pointed out.

Kain shook his head. "You throw away your position because you hated the palace life, and now you're back into somebody else's palace."

"It's not the palace life that I hated, it's the politics. Look, I know that you're worried about this whole plan, but trust me. Everything is going to be fine."

"Is it really going to be that simple?"

"The Princess trusted me, and was beginning to trust me more, "Laif said. "Soon enough, we'll be able to find the magic artifact. We just need to be extra careful around the commander. That's all. You know that he is still keeping his watchful eyes on me."

"It's not the commander I'm worried about. It's the setting. There's the missing king. A Princess, stepping in as the King's substitute. Assassination attempt... There are so many complicated things going on in this place."

Laif looked away to hide his face so that Kain would not be able to read him. If Kain saw his expression right now, he would be able to find out that there was something that Laif was hiding from him.

Their intention to come into the Princess's palace was to find out about the magic artifact. He had wanted to stay around the Princess once he noticed that she was someone who could practice magic.

But recently, this reason has started to change a little bit.

After being by her side for a few months, Laif was starting to get curious about the princess. A part of him admired her, and a part of him wanted to take pity on her.

He wondered how can she agreed to reign the kingdom in her brother's stead. Laif knew how hard it is to survive a palace politics. There were so many things at stake, not to mention dealing with the nobles and the palace politics.

Laif had fully understood those things. After all, he had once been in her place before he decided to give up that life.