Promotion

The prison guards thought that that night might be their unluckiest night.

Not too long ago, they woke up from sleep and realized that someone did something to them. They were scared witless knowing that Commander Irvine might find out that they were negligent.

Fortunately, the person who they were supposed to guard had stayed in the prison and no one had let him out.

But now, the Princess had appeared in front of them, demanding to enter the prison.

"Are you going to let me in or not?" Princess Amelia shot an angry look towards the guards, but they all stood still, unmoving.

The guards were Commander Irvine's men and they were supposed to follow the Commander's command. No matter how much the Princess persisted to enter the prison, they absolutely will not be able to go against the Commander's order.

"Alright. If you won't let me in, then be it!" Amelia clenched her teeth. She then turned to his entourage and shouted. "Someone go and summon Commander Irvine to see me right now!" Then, she turned to the two knights beside her and spoke, "I need to go in."

Mori glanced at the guards and with a swift movement, drew out his sword. While the guards were preoccupied, Amelia took her chance to walk into the prison.

Her heart sunk when she finally found him in one of the prison cells.

Laif was sitting in the corner with his head buried between his knees, but the moment he sensed a movement, Laif immediately looked up. A look of surprise crossed his face and he immediately stood up. "Your Highness." He came to his senses and greeted her. "Your Highness, what are you doing here?"

Amelia did not answer him and continued to watch the man behind the bars. Gradually, her gaze softened and a breath of relief escaped him upon seeing that he was not badly injured. "Laif, are you well?"

"Yes." Laif nodded and quickly avoided her gaze.

After that conversation he had with Kain earlier, Laif found that it was hard to look at Princess Amelia and meet her eyes.

"Thank you for your concern, but, Your Highness, this is not a place for someone like you."

Amelia shook her head and a look of distress appeared on her face. "It was my fault. You would not be here if it was not because of me."

Laif finally raised his head to look at her. "Please don't say it like that. I know very well what I was about to face when I decided to help you out of the palace."

"Holding you in prison without meals for two days is too far," Amelia said. An angry look crossed her face.

Suddenly, there was a commotion coming from the outside. Princes Amelia stood up and came face to face with the commander. She straightened her pose and composed himself as she shot a dangerous look at him.

"Commander Irvine, you cannot treat my men like this! Release him now!"

Laif stared at the Princess and was surprised at her sudden outburst.

"Your Highness," the Commander greeted. "This is not a place where you should be."

"This is not a place for my guard either," Amelia argued.

Commander Irvine glanced towards the cell. "Laif was prisoned for a reason. He committed a crime."

"What crime?"

"He took you out of the palace."

"He did not take me out of the palace. I was the one who got out. Laif was doing his job by staying by my side and keeping me safe."

"He could have reported to me, and wait for my approval before he took you out."

"I am the Princess of Noa Kingdom, and right now, I am the rightful heir of the throne," Princess Amelia said. "I don't need your approval to go anywhere I wanted to go."

"Yes. That may be true," Irvine said. "But as the Princess of the country and the rightful heir of the throne, you should understand that Noa Kingdom is in a very delicate situation. What if something goes wrong during that time? What if your enemy were after you?"

"Laif was there to protect me. You've seen his skills. You know that he's capable to protect me."

"That's not enough," Commander Irvine spoke angrily. "What if he's outnumbered?" His face softened when he saw the Princess flinched at his tone. "Your Highness, you have to understand that I am merely worried about your safety."

"If you're worried about my safety, you will release Laif immediately."

Commander Irvine clenched his jaw. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"He broke the law."

"I am telling you that he didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who wanted to go out."

"I still cannot let him go."

The Princess's stared at the Commander with a piercing gaze. "Commander Irvine," her tone was a warning.

"With all due respect Your Highness, I cannot turn a blind eye to his act. You know very well that the nobles are watching your every move. They would be displeased if I didn't punish him. They will pressure me for being lenient." Irvine said. "Your Knights were under my authority. It is my job to discipline them. It is my job to punish them when they did something wrong."

Amelia closed her eyes momentarily. When she opened her eyes again, the anger did not disappear. "Well then. From now on, Laif will no longer be under your authority." She glanced to Laif and saw the puzzled expression. "I promote Laif as my Knight, and this will be effective immediately."

The commander was surprised by her stubbornness and soon his expression hardened.

Commander Irvine certainly was not expecting that the Princess will be promoting Laif to save him from his punishment.

When he was promoted as the Princess's Personal Knight, Laif will have to answer to no one, except for the Princess and he will have the highest authority to oversee the Princess's security. From then on, the other Royal Knights will be under his command.

This situation was indeed very worrisome as Commander Irvine did not trust Laif completely. To think that the Princess was willing to do this to help Laif...

"You cannot do that," Commander Irvine debated. "His Majesty will not allow this to happen."

"His Majesty is no longer here," the princess clenched her teeth as those words escaped her lips. "He's no longer here." Her voice trembled in anger, but it was not known if it was due to anger or sadness. "He cannot tell me what I can or cannot do."

The commander froze.

He was not planning to upset the Princess by reminding her of the King's passing.

Commander Irvine took a deep breath to calm down. "Your Highness, you have highest authority in the palace. Because of that, you need to understand that everything you say or do will be affecting your subordinates. The Royal Kitchen will be punished when you refused to eat. The Royal Infirmary will be reprimanded when you got sick. And your Royal Knights and I, the people who were in charge of your security, will be punished if something happened to you. It will be considered a treason if we failed to protect you."

The Princess stiffened at the Commander's words as she finally understood what Commander Irvine was trying to tell her. However, she immediately composed herself.

"I thank you for your advice, Commander Irvine. I will try and be more careful with my words and action from now on." she stepped forward as if she was going to leave the place, but paused when she reached the Commander. "I trust that you will release Laif soon. I want him to report to me before I depart to organize my brother's funeral tomorrow."

Once she spoke those words, Princess Amelia stepped out of the prison followed by her maidservants.

Commander Irvine watched as the Princess left with mixed emotion. He did not like the Princess's decision, but a part of him was proud that she had the courage to stood up against him. As her supporter, Commander Irvine wanted the Princess to grow stronger. Now that his brother has passed and she was going to rule the Kingdom, Princess Amelia needed to grow stronger.

Grunting, Commander Irvine fished into his pocket and took out a set of keys. He unlocked the cell and motioned Laif to go out. "You're free to go." His lips curled into a sneer. "Congratulation. You just got promoted as the Princess's Personal Knight."

Laif looked at the Commander with a hint of confusion. "Personal Knight. What does that mean?"

Commander Irvine crossed his arm on his chest and leaned against the wooden cell. "From now on, you are now responsible for the Princess's safety. It means that you will have to stick around the princess all day long, even when she sleeps."

Laif frowned upon sensing the Commander's anger.

There was a long silence between them and Commander Irvine let out a long sigh. He was aware that he wasn't supposed to unleash his frustration on Laif, but he just could not contain his anger.

"Please look after the Princess," Commander Irvine said. "If anything happened to Her Highness, I will find you and when that time comes, Princess Amelia will no longer able to protect you from me."